How Do You Rank Sambora to the Likes of Joe Perry, Slash?

Do you think Sambora is underrated or is he where he is?

On a Bon Jovi forum everyone is going to think he's under rated

I think his recognized well enough. He hasn't done anything note worthy in awhile though

I'd say Slash is better than Sambora.

Richie's just far too lazy these days. He's found a comfort zone and really needs to break out of it otherwise his best days are behind him unfortunately. Compare his improvisation technique of the early-mid 90s to that of today and the difference is astounding.

He's still a great player, just not one of THE greatest.

All of three of them are doing well in what they do. I think they're all pretty much on a similar level from a technical point of view, with everybody having their own, special qualities.

People who care for guitarists know about Richies qualities, so no, Richie is not underrated in my opinion.

As what exactly?

As a vocalist, Richie is better than Joe Perry (and I'll assume better than Slash - don't think he's ever taken lead vocals on anything has he?)

As a guitarist ... well, they've all got different styles and I'm not sure I could say that one is particularly better than the others overall. Richie has gotten very lazy though, I would possibly rank him last of the three nowadays ... although hoping his solo tour may change my mind

As a solo artist ... well, I rate Stranger and US higher than anything Slash has done outside of GnR. Not heard any of Joe Perry's solo work so can't comment

As a human being ... no idea

And finally, as a maker of hot sauce, definetely Joe Perry

Slash is the best lead player technically. he can play.

Sambora was awesome around KTF era. He's lost his chops the last 14 years.

Perry....iconic band mediocre player. Does what he does well.

Slash keeps his guitar too low, so he can't really use his wrist properly because of angle between his arm and strings. Sambora is doing everything properly, in a way that John Petrucci and few others does. And you can see it - especially nowadays when he can play sixteenth in 126bmp (born to be my baby, keep the faith MSG version and few others), not by shaking his arm but working a wrist. If you are a picker you should notice that. Slash is never gonna do that. Neither is Perry.


Sambora have on of the most loose and properly working technique. And in concerts like Tokyo 2008 you can see his control over harmonics, muting and everything else. To me he is very technical player. Perfect learning material.

Musically of course he can be very interesting or completely boring. His solos are generally more and more repetitive, that's true. I think his playing was great in 2008, and really poor sometimes in 2010-2011.

And the worst of his playing I've heard is on this new album. Not even one good solo to me. On the other hand he is doing great in ambient, ballad U2/Jeff Beck guitar painting (I mean Forgiveness Street, You Can Get So High).


And what about Tokyo 2008 - please take a look here

His palm muting, harmonics, whammy work and everything else is beyond perfect here (not even the solo, just whole song). I can't imagine anybody doing this so perfect, subtle and musical. And still rocking.

Tokyo vid...i think richie is just cool. that's something you can really learn

the playing isn't great...he botches the harmonic 1.13 minutes in.

the rest is standard...he's done it for 25 years.

not the tidiest solo. And to compare him technically with Petrucci and Satriani is just laughable.

I'd much rather listen to Richie but those guys are proper guitar mechanics.