Some guys were trashing Eddie Vedder's guitar skills the other day saying he was a poor player so it got me thinking... Where does Eddie Vedder rank as a guitar player?

He's OK as a third guitarist...

Doesnt matter, he's an amazing singer and not supposed to be a great guitar player. So who cares.

he also has a huge cock*

*so i've heard

i think he is great at playing at perfectly right time with the band. Saw him solo and thought he was good. Definitely wants to be another Townshend and i cant blame him

Who cares? A lot of people care. I think Eddie Vedder is an awesome guitar player and I'd like to see him with guitar solos more. He is not just a singer like you say, he is a musician and composer.

He's good enough to support himself, his voice and to positively participate in Pearl Jam. His playing usually adds something to the compositions instead of detracting from them. But he's a singer first, and a player second. Or rather... he's an exceptional song writer and a good enough guitar palyer.

He's better than I am (not saying much) so I look up to him as a player. But I'd bet Stone and Mike don't really think of Ed as a "guitar player."

He has upskilled as we heard with Into the Wild, but he seems to have learned one trick and is now repeating a bit too much maybe? Hope he continues to develop. The folky finger picking can only go so far.

He continues to improve.

He probably can't solo like Mike, but that doesn't really mean anything. What he can do is write a damn good song, and he can express really interesting musical ideas through his guitar work. I find his musical arrangemens more interesting than Mike and Stone's...my favourite songs on the last 4 albums have been written by Ed, and it's usually not even close.

Regarding 'technical' ability, I think he's underrated - his fingerpicking has really developed, and it's a challenge to play songs like Guaranteed and Just Breathe with the fluency that he does.

I think it's important to assess his guitar playing with consideration to his songwriting, and for that I'd give him high praise, his ear for melody is second to none in Pearl Jam.

He has also mastered the EBow. He really started using one on Yeild and then even in the intro to World Wide Suicide. In some live versions of Wishlist Ed plays some nice EBow improve stuff at the end.

if you listen to early boots you can see ed's playing wasn't strong. he was hiding his deficiencies with fuzzed out guitar tones. probably around the time of 2000-2001 when he did those concerts where he just played uke solo and transitioned to a cleaner sound, you could tell that he'd been really focusing on his guitar skills.

I agree with the consensus here, ed's strengths are his voice and his songwriting. ed is clearly the most adventurous and interesting songwriter in pearl jam. but it's great to see ed invest in his guitar playing and continuing to improve.

He is just okay.... He just plays chords, mostly cowboy or barre chords, and he falls off timing pretty regularly.

He wipes the floor with me, not that that says anything. Songs like Just Breathe I struggle with, I've been trying to learn it but it's easier said than done. He's also a multi-instrumentalist - guitar, harmonica, uke, accordion. And as had already been said he's mastered various accessories like the ebow (I'd love to have one of them, although I find anything that needs batteries as opposed to mains power a pain).

ed might be my favorite writer in the band, but i don't see how you can say he's the most adventurous writer. riot act has help help and you are which are more daring than his most adventurous piece on the album (can't keep i'd say). i'm not sure where we've seen him as the most adventurous member of the band... sleight of hand is another jeff song that seems to me to be more of an adventure from the norm for the band.

lolz at Vedder doing more "solos"

I'd like to see Eddie Vedder wail away a time or two.

let me make a differentiation, what i mean adventurous, i mean, ed writes in a lot of different styles. jeff's compositions are always kinda slightly off in some way, perhaps too cerebral? look at pilate or something like well you pointed out, sleight of hand. they are so typically jeff. ed writes in so many different styles. look at corduroy or not for you to porch or even just breathe. ed's all over the map. don't get me wrong, ,matt is clearly the most musically gifted, mike's probably the best raw musician, but ed has dabbled in enough different styles. jeff might be a good songwriter but he doesn't often venture outside of his "zone".

even if he wasn't Eddie Vedder, i'd have to tip my hat to the guy who wrote the main riff to Sad and sung while playing it. it's really something. Eddie has his own bite to the guitar - something not everyone has. i can hear a lot of Pete Townshend in his rythm but it's pretty much digested. of course, skills don't play much a part in how i appreciate a guitarist or not. i think his personality comes through a lot more in his guitar playing than Stone's for instant instance (but Stone's got all those bitches so it's kinda even).

ah, i see what you're saying now. though i'd argue that including stuff from solo albums and side projects, stone has been as many places songwriting.