Welcome one and all to the Guitar Wars. These battles feature songs nominated by you, the folks from the Realms. This isn’t about who the better guitarist is, or what band is better. This is about the instrument and the song. Great solos are something that make us sit up and take notice, but the guitar is more than that. There are great riffs like the one in Beat It, which was not done by Eddie Van Halen. You know, that awesome riff that permeates the song is also the part that EVH had nothing to do with.

There are ways that the guitarist wraps his playing around the melody and makes a perfect fit that’s so subtle and imperceptible that most times it gets missed. And of course, there are the solos, some with blinding speed and some played so eloquently and with so much feel that you can get lost in one sustained note after another.

You are hear! Hendrix, Clapton, Lifeson, Atkins, Page, Abasi, Santana, Morello and a host of others will be popping up. Come on in and check out the virtuosity of these and others. Find new songs you can add to your shuffle or just reminisce on songs you may not have heard in a while. Enjoy.

Listen to each song and pay attention to the guitar part and vote for the song whose guitar part you liked better. Maybe you’re a fan of the slide, or finger-picking or electric solo, but give each song a chance and then vote for the performance that you liked better. We’ll go round by round and match by match until we have a winner. That song will be crowned best overall guitar song to listen to on the Realms. All the songs will have the main guitarist or guitarists listed along with the band’s name and the name of the song. Critique it if you want, and judge it as you will, but keep in mind, this isn’t a battle of what band or artist is better. I for one may not be a fan of a certain band or solo artist, but that will not keep me from voting for a song of theirs if that song has one of the most gorgeous guitar solos ever heard.

Matchups will close on the fifth day after they are posted.

So, without further adieu, here we go:

FLING THING/ROCKER – Angus Young/AC/DC

SWITCH 625 – Steve Clark/Def Leppard

ROUND 1 MATCHES:
1 Chet Atkins Vs Buddy Guy Chet Atkins wins 11-9
2 Clapton/Allman Vs Joe Satriani Satriani wins 13-8
3 John Mayer Vs Duane Eddy Duane Eddy wins 11-10
4 B.B. King Vs Alex Lifeson B.B. King wins 16-5
5 Jimmy Page Vs Eric Clapton
6 Adrian Smith Vs Mick Jones
7 Pete Townshend Vs Friedman/Becker
8 Ronnie Montrose Vs Allen Collins
9 Angus Young Vs Steve Clark

Please do not let the AC/DC song being a live version hamper you in voting for it. Give it every chance as if it was studio.

i don't really like AC/DC nor do i like live recordings, but i have to give this round to FLING THING/ROCKER – Angus Young/AC/DC it is just a far better song. the def leppard song just sounds kool.half the stuff steve clark is playing is way too simple too interest me. the ac/dc one is creative and way more talented.

If I could have found the studio version of "Fling Thing" I would have put it up.

Angus gets my vote here.

Here is the link I found for ACDC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUYZOh-ZUl4

My vote goes toward Def Leppard it was fun yet simple, which can be good.

This is the first time that I felt that one guitarist was clearly more talented than the other.

Angus Young

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's been following the 80s Rock Wars, but I really think the entire Def Leppard just plain sucks. I honestly haven't a clue why people like them, as they always felt like the epitome of generic rock to me.

I don't like AC/DC either but at least Angus Young can play. Vote: Angus Young.

If anything, it had the opposite effect.

Fling Thing.

A note about DL, though. It was all downhill after their first album.

I loved Def Leppard's first album and enjoyed their second. Not too wild about their later catalog except for Desert Song but I don't mind it.

Think I'll give this one to AC/DC though.

Angus Young and Fling Thing/Rocker for me.

It's been like 50 years and I 'm STILL waiting for Angus to learn how to play his guitar. Or at least more than the same 3 chords he's played for the last 50 yrs.

The other guy gets my vote ( I never bothered to remember any of DL individually) and I feel good about it cuz I'm pretty sure that this will be the only guitar challenge he'll ever win.

Sort of a toss-up for me. I'll vote for Def Leppard/Switch 625 just to keep it from being a blow-out. I like AC/DC, and went to a concert a couple of years ago, but I like the guitars in both.

Going to give this to the late Steve Clark and Switch 625.

I like AC/DC, but I like them as the complete package. No single element is great, but it all works together to occasionally make something really good.

That was not one of those occasions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And as an aside, the 12th link down the side of that Japanese girl is interesting. She does some pretty amazing stuff, especially since I think she was only 12 or so when she posted most of her songs.

Both worthy songs in my book, going with Def Leppard here.