Frank Zappa - egomaniac? He simply realized that the vast majority of humans are stupid. At least he concentrated on what -he- wanted to hear, not everyone else...at least for the most part.

Tasteless? That's highly subjective. At least he didn't throw a bunch of fake emotion into his work.

BTW you can't get a feel for who he is from a single album, or even two or three. Most of his albums are explorations of different areas of sound. You need to get the whole picture.

ANYWAY yeah great guitar skills, got what was in his head out through an amplifier, five stars.

Its near impossible to judge 'stirctly' on guitar technical mastery. Composition, timing, presentation, the use of silence between notes, subjective opinions of style etc...
As a fellow who plays several musical instruments (guitar among them), I'd rate his guitar playing (just his guitar playing) a 4-star out of 5.
Now take into account the difficult, the uniqueness and the composition and wide range of expression....that has to be a 5.

200 yrs from now, a group of bassoonists in hamburg might pull out a song like "Echidna's Arf of You", and a chamber music quintet may take a shot at "Peaches En Regalia", a brass ensemble may be looking at sheet music for "Rollo" in 21/16 time and feel thoroughly challanged by it.

Over intervening centuries, 'entertainers' are largely forgotten. History, in the long view, remembers composers. We remember Dvorak, not his cute well dressed flautist; we remember shakespeare not the names of his actors, we study Vivaldi-not how damn good looking and cool his violin soloist was.
The cute and cool people will be forgotten, its those who leave a body of real artistic composition, who are remembered in the long run.

Give Frank a 5!

Frank Zappa: #1 !!!!!

Zappa was a genius!  An astounding guitarist and a totally brilliant composer!  Maybe the best sense of humor in rock history.

He was a good guitarist , but a great musician. He was kind of a jerk, humorous, and very creative. His work was unique, silly and intelligent. The guitar work was a lesser part of the entire result.

On one of Frank Zappa's 6 or 7 or so ALL GUITAR albums, he stated, and I QUOTE, "THIS MUSIC IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN OR REPUBLICANS." Truth be told, judging by some of the asinine comments here, I would say he hit it "RIGHT ON THE MONEY"! Wouldn't you?

FZ is the best. Just listen to him go 

Zappa was a virtuoso.  I was pondering whether to give him 4 or 5 stars until I saw the comment about his being tasteless.  His guitar-playing is being graded here!  Nothing tasteless about it!  The fact that someone might be perturbed by the content of such ditties as "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" or "Dirty Love" is irrelevant.  Mr. (or Ms.) one star, cite and example of where his guitar-playing was tasteless.  Otherwise, do the right thing, and upgrade your vote without the subject matter of some of his songs as part of the criterion!

  No one else even comes close...

any sissy ass pimple face punk that says otherwise is just a flat out ignorant moron

RIP Frank

So many of the comments here represent a STUNNING level of ignorance, an appalling degree of HOSTILITY and just plain stupidity.  Zappa himself once said that the most common element in the universe is not hydrogen. The most common element is STUPIDITY! Sadly, having read some of the comments here, I would have to agree with him. "Average musician" my ASS!

Strange but beautiful

what an amazing guitarist. steve vai even said hes the best guitarist ever next to hendrix

An average musician.

Very tasteful.

Very tasteless

I guess he hits about in the middle of the pack.

frank was a top notch musician and quite a wonderful person.fave:dancin' fool

Most innovative guitarist ever. The 20th century's most accomplished Musical genius

1 star is generous for this ego maniac.

I can see by some of the comments on this page that some people have never gotten past basic music theory. Frank did, and was truly one of the top innovative musicians and guitarists of all time, since he not only thought outside the 9 dots, he lived out there. He was just tired of the nine dots and had to create others. Some cannot understand innovation.  Edgar Varese Lives.

this is nuts! zap, 2 stars? amazing inovating guitar work on every song. just a great musician in general.

Truly woeful. Maybe the most distasteful guitarist ever.

Often considered just an amazing composer, Zappa was an incredible guitarist. No one can improvise like he can. He played with such fire, fury and passion but in such a controlled and thoughtful manner. Infinitely better than EVH.

Just plain bad. Real garage material.

American genius or just too many cocksucker balls?

The world is a poorer place with out Frank. I was lucky enough to see him play 5 times in my life. Each show completely amazed me. He was a musical genius. I miss him, his musicianship and the way he looked at the world.

Even noisier and more self indulgent than Jimmy Page. Very bad.

black napkins, apostrophe'

Dreadful egomaniac. His passing is no great loss to the guitar world.

No style or grace. Self indulgent noise.Sorry folks, he does not rate.

I've been to well over 500 concerts, seen thousands of bands, and heard thousands of guitarists and Zappa could mop up the floor with most of them. Zappa is and was a huge influence on countless serious musicians and is much more popular in Europe than he ever was in the United States. But then, we elected George Bush. Go figger. Zappa belongs in the ranks with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page. Neil Young? Mark Knoffler? Ritchie Zambora? I don't think so!!!

Top three of all times. Obviously Seosan man doesn't play guitar.

Not my favorite music by far,but some of his solos really command my respect.Gotta give the guy his due!

Usually left off the "top guitarist" lists, Frank did more things to more guitars for more time than anyone else. You will generally find Vai or Satriani on the lists. Just ask them to name their #1. Whether "Variations on Carlos Santana" or "Sofa" or "My guitar wants to kill your mama," Zappa took it to another level.

My first listen to Uncle Meat and The Grand Wazoo made me a believer!

one of the greatest musical ears and talents of our time. was a good guitarist but not the best. as a composer he ranks top five.

Frank was an AMAZING composer, with technical ability beyond what i can comprehend.. he may not have been the MOST technical guitarist though, but his knowledge of EVERY instrument and how they fit together and his arrangements for the guitar make him so.

my guitar wants to kill your mama!

While perhaps not the most technically proficient guitarist ever, Zappa was indeed talented and highly influential. A much better target to single out for the invention of the tapping technique often credited to Eddie Van Halen, Zappa's ability to create extremely rhythmically and melodically complicated lines alone should earn him a rating as one of the all-time greats.

This guy is more of a musician/composer than a guitarist, although he did have skills on the guitar.