Illustrated Encyclopedia of Guitar Heroes

I was excited when I found this in the bargain section at Borders. I spent at least half an hour reading it there. I loved how it listed these heroes by genre, thus allowing guitarists who should have been getting their due for ages to finally be recognized. What cinched it for me was the inclusion of Eric Johnson and Gary Moore. Two guitarists who are often overlooked. But as I got it home I found many oversights that really dectracted from the book's overall appeal. These are usually what I call "What were they thinking?" moments. First is how is it that Vito Bratta, guitarist for White Lion is included, but Buck Dharma, aka Donald Roeser, guitarist for Blue Oyster Cult is not even listed. While Bratta may have had the talent mentioned in the bio, he didn't have the staying power. White Lion was a one-hit wonder band, despite Bratta's talent. And the bio lists no accomplishments of note after Lion for Bratta. Meanwhile Dharma has been recording with BOC for almost 40 years, and a slew of albums to back him up. Dharma is noted for his stripped down, precise solos, giving metal a cleaner edge with which to cut yourself. ;) Perhaps I have an older version of this than the one listed here. Here the publishers say classical guitarist John Williams is included. In the edition I own, however, Williams is listed in the back section under "Other Great Guitarists," with no bio information. What were they thinking?

I picked this up in a bargain bin, thinking I had found my best deal of the year. It has a ton of guitarists in it, each giving a 1-2 page blurb about records and a quick bio, with a full page picture of the guitarist. The pictures are all great, most being live-concert performance pictures. I then noticed Dimebag missing, and Pantera not being listed at all. Dimebag is thrown in as a small after-thought on the "Other Guitarists" list in the back somewhere. His name and a date listed, that was it. I am a Metal fan, it's not my first pick to listen to on a daily basis, but when I noticed this issue in the book I somehow felt I needed to come and share it with someone. I'm sure it would be hard to include every single guitarist within this book, but with the range and depth they went into every genre / aspect of guitarists, there should be no way that he would be left out. It's plainly obvious he was stepped over for whatever reason. It's pretty unforgivable. This fact alone turned me off to the book, which is a shame. The layout of each entry, along with the quick, easy to read but thorough bio's make this book easy to recommend. Unfortunately, I can't get this issue out of my twisted OCD brain. If you can, which most normal people will, this book is awesome to have laying around. Many people have sat for long periods in my living room not saying a word with this book in their hands.

I recently picked this book up at my local bookstore and was amazed out how extensive it is while only giving somewhat brief (1-2pg each) descriptions of each of our amazing guitar heroes. However, I was shocked and found it very unsettling to see that while some of the greats of Heavy Metal, such as Zakk Wylde, are listed; there was not even a single mention of the man who most Metal fans would describe as the best of all time, Dimebag Darrell Abbot. How he could be overlooked for a collection such as this, I find deeply disturbing and disrespectful to the big man. With the exception of Dimebag's absence, again, this book is amazingly thorough without being overbearing and overwritten.