I've got no problem with metal musically except that I personally find that there tends to be less going on in a good metal band than in a good jazz combo.
The problem I have is the way that many of the fans (metallica fans come to mind) seem to think that because they like their favorite group/guitarrist/whatever, that this group/guitarrist is the best. I.E. Vai plays really fast and knows modes thus he is the most technically skilled and most knowledgable about theory. First of all, rock guitar players tend to ignore a lot of the less flashy points of theory. They tend to hurry up and get to the part about soloing, and thus I've never heard a rock guitarrist who was skilled at comping. Ask a rock guitarrist to play an F7 chord and he'll play you one of 2 clunky 6 string voicings. Does it ever occur to him that maybe a different voicing would work, maybe one without the root note, as it will only get in the way of the bassist if you play it? True, its not part of the rock style, but it an aspect of jazz that makes it more interesting (to me) to play jazz rythym than rock rythym. The fact that you can improvise different chord voicings even when you are reading them off a chart is something that I find adds a whole other dimension to accompanying, and gives you choices that you don't have in other styles where theres a set chord progression.
As for soloing, how many of the revered rock/metal guitar gods use passing tones well? No, I don't mean play long chromatic passages just like they did to the metronome, I mean connecting target notes and chord degrees with chromatic tones. It takes years to make this a part of one's improvising style that you don't even have to think about and can still sound good with. Most (most, i think petrucci is actually good at this) metal players I've heard are either playing in their minor scale of choice, or playing chromatic passages, but never seamlessly interspersing notes from the chromatic scale into their solos. Also, people who worship Vai/Yngwie/Petrucci always seem to think that there is nobody who practiced more than them ever, and that they play faster and more cleanly than anybody else ever. I'm sorry, but Pat Metheny played 10-13 hours a day too, either playing or studying harmony at the piano. If you want to hear an example of a very technical jazz guitarrist, listen to Jimmy Bruno. Unlike many metal guitarrists he won't be playing top speed for entire solos, he usually wont do it at all. When he does, (And this is on an archtop with 13 gague flatwound strings, not tuned down, much harder playing on an ibanez with 9 gagues,) if its not as fast as petrucci, you won't be able to tell the difference. I'm not saying he's better, I'm just saying that there's more to life than rock/metal, that there are also people who were inspired by wes montgomery, not Jimmy Page.
I've never seen a metal band where the musicians interact with each other in the way that they do in a good jazz band. It's pretty much impossible in a style with improvisation that is as limited as rock/metal. It's really impossible in a style where the improvisation is usually limited to one instrument-guitar-playing a solo in one given scale. (Again, while LTE may not be geniuses of tasteful improvisation, they're not afraid to go all out, so I respect them for that.)
If I came off as anti rock/metal, I didn't mean to. I am a fan of Satriani, Johnson, Vai, Zeppelin, Clapton, lots of non jazz musicians. My point was simply that by no means is the pinnacle of knowledge and skill with the guitar achieved in 80s metal. There is no such thing, and while there is lots of stuff that jazz guitarrists can do that metal guitarrists can't, in areas such as whammy bar technique, and creating sound effects a la EVH, metal guitarrists are more skilled. There are things that classical guitarrists can do that other guitarrists can't, such as play complex multiple lines simultaneously. Even the best classical guitarrists don't have the incredble rythymic skill in their right hands of the best flamenco guitarrists.
Finally, the point, there is no such thing as best guitarrist, and I suggest you all go out and buy some pat metheny, some jimmy bruno, some paco de lucia, and some allan holdsworth, and it will expand the horizons of those who previously only listened to metallica.
