Where does The Edge fit on the Pantheon of Guitar Greats?

Well “pantheon” is described as “a group of particularly respected, famous, or important people“ so that doesn’t indicate how limited the list would be, and Edge seems to be ranked highly by many people anyhow, so surely he would make it on to this “pantheon”.

For what it’s worth, Rolling Stone put him at #38.

 

I was hooked on The Edge the first time I heard New Years Day. Don't care if he is technically proficient or not, his playing moves me and that is what matters.

 

of pantheon have you ever seen a pantheon with a crowd in it! in france the pantheon is very limited ! in italy too! only the cream of the cream!

 

I think the Edge would say exactly the same actually.

 

Most likely. He seems like a very modest guy and would probably give himself less credit than he deserves.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Hardly any guitar players have their own distinct sound. He does and it defines U2's music. So, with this alone, he should be considered one of the greats.

 

I can subscribe to that. I’ll go a step further:

Any guitarist that is wellknown usually is it for a reason. Personality. Whether they fall into our personal tastes or not. That alone makes them great.

 

The solo on Love Is Blindness in Sydney 1993 is a masterpiece.

 

I'm not aware of Edge having a unique sound. I'm not a huge U2 fan, but I like his playing on Sunday Bloody Sunday.

 

Who else sounds like Edge really? He’s very much his own.

 

Yep, it's really good, and the one on the studio version is quite nice as well.

 

Interesting I always assumed all of Miracle Drug, was sung by Bono. And that outside of NUMB , seconds and van Siemens edge didnt have lead vocals

 

It always amuses me on the guitar round table when Jimmy Page is finding it hard to keep a straight face when watching The Edge do his stuff..

That said, he was great at an original approach and I really enjoy what he did on Achtung Baby.

 

He's definitely in the top 50 Irish post-punk guitarists in my book.

 

I'm a Will Sergeant man myself. As I imagine is The Edge. Though no one can say he didn't make full use of the inspiration and make it is his own.

I've never been able to hear the Tom Verlaine as an influence on U2 thing myself. When I listen to Verlaine I mainly hear Richard Thompson in his Fairport years!

 

I always notice the Quicksilver/Jefferson Airplane/Electric Prunes guitar riffs in Verlaine's 70s and 80s guitar playing...hence all the unsophisticated early Television
reviews that compared the band to 'The Grateful Dead' (probably because the reviewers were unfamiliar with those other California 60s psychedelic groups).

 

I agree; it is a favorite of mine in all of rock music. To me, what made that solo so powerful was that it was set against the quiet despair of the song that it serves. It quickly soars and punctuates the band's two hour set in an era when they were at the top of their game. One could even argue that that particular solo was the culmination of almost two years of ZooTV.

 

How to make your guitar sound like The Edge.

 

Steve Hackett

 

He doesn’t