Who's the better guitarist in your opinion, Dimebag Darrell or Eddie Van Halen?

I don't think that it's really a competition. Eddie Van Halen is definitely the superior guitarist.

Dimebags' music was so different from Van Halen a comparison is not really meaningful. It's almost like asking who's better, Van Halen or Andre Segovia?

With all due respect, it's not even remotely close.

Like, EVH is far and away better, I actually consider him one of the top 5 guitarists ever. If you've ever seen him during the David Lee Roth years, that band could toe to toe with anybody if they wanted to. Dare I say even Led Zep. His stage presence alone was amazing, a truly larger than life guitar hero.


Edit: This is a live recording from 1977 in Pasadena. Expose yourself to a true guitar god.

https://youtu.be/_VuthIU6jl4

Van Halen.

You're joking, right? I knew kids in high school who were better than Dimebag. So the dude could shred. Big fooking deal. Any stoner retard who sits with a guitar for 6 or 8 hours a day will eventually learn to play pretty fast. The dude's riffs were garbage - downtuned, boring, chromatic garbage. Pantera is easily the most overrated band of the past 30 years. The rhythm section sucked, the singer sucked, the riffs sucked, Pantera was a fooking joke. Van Halen inspired hundreds of thousands of people to pick up the guitar. He's on everybody's list of best guitarists of all time. No one has done more for guitar based rock than Van Halen since Jimi Hendrix. You think you could compare some dead stoner to him? Nobody gives a damn about Dime today, you think anybody will remember Pantera in 50 years? Van Halen is a God. Dime should have been a gas station attendant. What a laugh. Just when you think the dumbest comparison can be made, someone just takes it to a whole new level. (Pun.)

Can't decide both are outstanding

Darrell was undoubtedly talented, and I loved a lot of his stuff, but Eddie is by and large considered a virtuoso. When it comes to pure ability and technique, he's simply on a whole other level than the large majority of guitarists.

Firstly, the answer to any, “who’s best?” Question is impacted by a person’s preference which makes this highly subjective.
But from a guitar historical perspective, Eddie literally changed rock guitar. He did this by being the first person to bring two hand tapping to rock music. He built his guitars because what he was looking for didn’t exist at the time. His tone was amazing and is looked at as the, ‘holy grail’ of guitar tone. And his songwriting and rhythm guitar playing were amazing as well. Now i’m Speaking about Van Halen when they came out with David Lee Roth back in 1978.
The version of VH with Sammy Haga has higher charting songs and albums but were a shell of the original band.
Dimebag was a member of a niche band in a niche market. Although a great player he didn’t have near the impact on rock guitar as Eddie

Eddie

Eddie Van Halen

eddie van halen

Van Halen

From what I read Eddie V wasn't an ideal band member where no-one stands out among the other. In many cases the lead singer/writer puts the backing member ahead. Listen to Stones Exile Main Street. Mick is in the middle of the room. In clip 2 Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown who was an pretentious jerk takes 2nd lead for the good of the song. It gives it a nice twist. If re-listen to VH Eddies virtuoso guitar style overshadows everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EymLq0htbL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yistc4W45u8

Eddie Van Halen

Van Halen

Well I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them