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Originally published at markmcguigan.com. Please leave any comments there.  The closing date for Guitar Idol has been and gone with the competition closing on Saturday 24th May.
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It’s been fantastic exposure to and for the guitar talent out there. Of course a shame to see the usual guitar forum bickering about ‘player A’ being better than ‘player B’, vote spamming, blah blah blah. No wonder I tend to stay clear of guitar forums, moany whiny bunch those guitar players  .
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Ignoring the negativity, the competition has fairly caught the guitar world’s attention with over 600 odd entries from around the globe. It’s great to see a high profile for the instrument and its players, the guitar grows from strength to strength. I have to admit though, style wise, there were not enough entries from other genres of the guitar. Most would come under the banner of ‘instrumental rock guitar’. Maybe next year’s competition will bring out a more diverse field.
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Anyway, before the Official 12 finalists are announced, and just for a bit of fun, I’d thought I’d list 12 players that caught my ears and were stored away in my youtube faves. Of course this excludes all the audio entries to the competition and I’m also excluding those video or audio entries that featured one of the supplied backing tracks!  ( Which excludes the likes of Scott Jones and GottyBoy ) Harsh I know. 
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Here are the 12 players ( in no particular order ) ( if any make to the final I very much look forward to seeing them live )!
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Gustavo Guerra
The winner of the popular vote and therefore a guaranteed finalist and, imo, deservedly so. Impressive marketing from the man ensured many many votes but to be honest he didn’t need them. Aanyone who has seen his vids on youtube will know he’s a stunning player with great feel. He also looks to be having great fun whenever he plays! It’s meant to be fun isn’t it?
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Muris Varajic
The winner of the Lick Library Competition, Mr Varajic has one of the smoothest player styles going. I have to admit the Junk Medley doesn’t ring my musical bell like some of the others but Muris’ class is clear for everyone to see.
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Serge Yudin
One of the greatest things about the whole competition has been exposure to players previously unknown to me. When I first watched this I was instantly hooked, a fab laid back octave style intro with Vai ‘Tender Surrender’ vibes a go go. I love the way he builds the piece and of course the great tone and feel.
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Gustavi Di Padua
I blogged about this very man recently. Yet another Brazilian maestro with great playing and sound.
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Silvio Gazquez
Fab entry from an Argentinian player that caught my attention due to some very tasty note choices and of course stunning playing.
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Mattrach
A lot of the bickering in the alloutguitar forum was centered around another youtube sensation, Mattrach. I came across a vid of his a while back and loved it ( in fact I think it would have been a better entry to the competition imo ) though this piece has a great main melody. A real young talent for sure.
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Efren Camilo
Maybe not my most favourite ‘tone’ but I really liked the melody of this one and how it developed throughout the song. Nice Mario poster too .
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Martin Wichmann
I’m such a sucker for a good groove . Love some of those lines, a definite Guthrie Govan influence going on. Though he has messy string ends. Tsk.
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Ignazio Di Salvo
Top fusion playing from Italy, interesting style of using a thumbpick to enable 8 finger tapping mayhem!
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Maneli Jamal
Dear lord! An acoustic player! Sadly there weren’t that many acoustic players in the competition and I include flamenco or classical style players in that category. Maybe they were put off thinking it was a rock shredathon? Anyway, yes there may be quite a few players around at the moment slappin and tapping those harmonics. But I care not, it sounds fantastic and I love this piece. A breath of fresh air amongst the electric entries.
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Sandor West
Clever use of the looper to build up this track. Interestingly I think the only entry that used a looper. Lovely song with a nice melancholy chord progression. Once again a breath of fresh air after listening to about a hundred sweep arpeggios .
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Dreuz
Ah good something heavy \m/ Like this one very much. Great riff and melody, almost Andy James vibes in fact.
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Dallton Santos
Another pro feel to the vid on this one with a great catchy melody and tasty riffs. A winning combination everytime imo.
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OK OK OK! I couldn’t pick 12  ( I have no idea how those judges will ). I actually have about 20 vids in my youtube playlist, check it out for some other great entries.
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