Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt: the 10 guitarists that blew my mind

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Prog titan on the players that inspire his work

7. Europe (Kee Marcello/John Norum)

“Can we make this one a tie? They’re such different players. John is much more blues-based, you can really hear the Gary Moore and Michael Schenker in his playing. He wears those influences on his sleeve and plays hard. 

“Kee is more difficult to pin down, but he seems very American West Coast-inspired. His lines were very melodic, yet super fast and somehow you could still sing along to them… which was less the case with John Norum, who you could say had more fire to his playing. Both of them, regardless, are exceptional guitarists.”

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Amit Sharma
Amit Sharma

Amit has been writing for titles like Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Guitar World for over a decade and counts Richie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan and Jeff Beck among his primary influences. He's interviewed everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy to Slash and Jimmy Page, and once even traded solos with a member of Slayer on a track released internationally. As a session guitarist, he's played alongside members of Judas Priest and Uriah Heep in London ensemble Metalworks, as well as handling lead guitars for legends like Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols, The Faces) and Stu Hamm (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, G3).