Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Bathory recently named the 10 guitarists that changed his life in a feature with Louder. Many great guitarists made the list—James Hetfield, Dave Murray (Iron Maiden), and Logan Mader (Machine Head, Soulfly, Once Human) to name a few. But one name in particular caught our eyes—and our small black hearts: Scott Ian of Anthrax.
“During the 80s, there were guitarists who were famous for being shredders, or technical guitar players, but Scott Ian was a rock star even though he was a rhythm player," Bathory wrote. "That’s because he was special; When you look at the thrash scene, he was different to everyone else.
"When I’m going through thinking ‘how does he do this rhythm stuff?’ I noticed he does this alternate [way of] picking…. What he’s playing is not possible if you only down-pick. It changed how I played guitar; I loved Anthrax so much for that I hitchhiked to Germany to go see them. Scott is a very modern, precise player.”
Rounding out Bathory's list was: Vinnie Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Dimebag Darrel, Wolf Hoffman of Accept, and Randy Piper of W.A.S.P. Not a bad list, if we say so ourselves! And here's another shout out to the great Scott Ian with a few videos featuring some of his best rhythm parts!
