Who do you guys think is the best guitar player?

[RiskKid.]

There are many of which most all have been mentioned.....I'm surprised Mark Knopfler has not been mentioned more. He is among the elite in my opinion.....not to mention that he is one of my favorites!

[Guest muddy]

Hey 4 Bizz; I was just going over the edge, In reality what you like is what youi like. My backround was one of growing up and I had an uncle who was a garbage man in the village, and loved Jazz. A lot of the club owners let me in because of this. The Jazzers are the finest musicans America produced, period. That even goes for the blues and soul I love so much . These men were the soundtrack of my life; First and foremost: LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND MILES DAVIS, my favorite composor is THELONIUS MONK, i also loved JOHN COLTRANE,BUDDY RICH,ART BLAKEY,MAX ROACH,PAUL CHAMBERS, TED WILSON, Charlei Parker LIONEL HAMPTON,WYTON MARSELLIS,Duke Ellintion and Coount Bause AND A HOST OF OTHERS

THEN I moved to New Orelans and was exposed to the music of Louie Prima, Jelly Roll Morton, Allan Toussiant and Dr.John.

  This list of musicans and some of the guitar players I mentioned before just are eons ahead, in talent, structure and exectuion. Truth is the truth  There are a lot of great pitchers then there is Bob Gibson and Sandy Kofax, there are a lot of great every day ball players then there is Willie Mays. GREATNESS IS AS GREATNESS IS.

 There are not many who even can understand what these musicans did . So with this as my basis and my constant exposure to them I can say even though I was a mere blues drummer in this case i am qualifed to know a master musican from a good one

[Dan:]

Any time I've ever tried to discuss this topic it ends up exactly as it has here, with metal vs blues and rock. The fact is, it's really up to the listener. Guitar styles are different and their difficulty varies, but each genre has its masters that are highly skilled. It's useless to debate all this because it's all subjective....

My list would include:

Robert Johnson

Muddy Waters

Son House

Otis Rush

SRV

Eric Clapton

Jimmy Page

Jimi Hendrix

EVH

BB King

Mississippi Fred McDowell

Buddy Guy

Johnny Winter

John Lee Hooker

Warren Haynes

Joe Satriani

Steve Vai

Lightnin' Hopkins

and more that I can't think of right now...

[Red]

i like stevie ray alot...didnt jimi play his guitar upside down?  i heard how that came about...dont know how much truth there is to it but i was told that he was very poor growing up and he bought his first guiter at a pawn shop, it was a "righty" and he taught himself to play it "lefty"  anyone know if there is anything behind that story?

Cliff

[=Matt 5.0=]

Dick Dale, the man, the myth, the legend...king of the surf guitar!

Link Wray

Brian Setzer

Deke Dickerson

Johnny Ramone

Angus Young

SRV

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

5.0 has spoken!

And much respect to the spoon man

[Guest muddy]

i like stevie ray alot...didnt jimi play his guitar upside down? i heard how that came about...dont know how much truth there is to it but i was told that he was very poor growing up and he bought his first guiter at a pawn shop, it was a "righty" and he taught himself to play it "lefty" anyone know if there is anything behind that story?

Cliff

Yea Red its true. They didnt make Starts lefty so he restrung it and plyed it upide down. One of the managers from Hard Rock Cafe, got fired for buying one of Jimi's Strats for 10,000. When they got it it was a right handed knock off, wasn't even a Fender

[Red]

i am sure everyone has heard this and maybe seen this video...but i think it rocks!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSpbuFSr2o

[Jake P]

My personal favorite is Stevie Ray Vaughn, I listen to little wing almost everyday. I wouldnt single 1 person out becuase there is so many but heres a list of some incredible players.

Brad Paisley

Jimi Hendrix

Eric Clapton

Van Halen

Santana

The list could go on forever but my hotwings are ready  .

[Sam]

B.B. King.

I just can't remember the name of his guitar.

Is it Lucile?

Any help?

[fourbizz]

B.B. King.

I just can't remember the name of his guitar.

Is it Lucile?

Any help?

Yep, except I think it might be spelled Lucille?

[Oregon]

steve vai

[burleytog]

The best?  Who knows.  Music is in the ear of the beholder.  It cannot be quantified in terms of best or worst.

Some of my faves in no particular order...

Joe Perry

Brad Whitford

Brian May

Ted Nugent

Dean Roland

Synyster Gates

Lester Flatt

Jim McReynolds

Kyle Gass

Neal Schon

[jdw174]

Jimi Hendrix, Played with LITTLE RICHARD<IKE AND TINA URNER AND THE ISLEY BROTHERS, under his mom's madien name JIMI JAMES, then when he came back from the army he took his dad's name. TO say he is the bridge between the originators of rock and roll and among the founding fathers of R&B and electric blues guitar is an understatement. He had 2 pedals to work with the rest was all manipulation and explotation of the nature of tube amps. Listen to: Third Stone from the sun; The Star Spangled Banner, VOODOO CHILD , Manic Depression, Belly Button Window and Machine Gun ) listen to the rythm tacks on Fire and Dolly Dagger, this guy was an inovator all over the place, BEFORE HIM THERE WERE NONE.

Having lived and played in New Orleans for several years myself, I saw SRV numerous times and never once did I leave a show saying this guy was boring or repitious.John Hammond Jr. who signed the likes of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzfgerald, Bob Dylan and Coltrane called SR: ONE OF THE SINGLE BEST MUSICANS he had ever seen nuff said 8-)

PS HE WAS 27 WHEN he dies; he did all that in only 27 years 8-)

I spent two hours watching an SRV concert on public TV not too long ago, and was bored after the first few songs.  I began hearing the same runs/riffs, only in a different key.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it :

[Guest muddy]

Knock your self out and I hope you enjoy your Captin and Tonelle Records

[Guest muddy]

Hey Fish Tank: I took the time to read the Rhodes bio, thanks for the link. He really does not have a 1/10 of the formal education musically that most of the fellas I posted have, To be honest though I must state that all the education in the world does not make up for talent.practice and execution. Many of the fellas I have mentioned( Particularly Marsallis; have studied and taught in places like Julliard, where Wyton is the head of the Jazz dept and is working on his 3rd Opera) Mr.Armstong and Mr.Davis both took Jazz to the forefront and thier music is studied on a college level in every country. Part of the problem with Jazz popularity was a snobbish , itellectualism that crept into it during the sixties, when it first came out is was popular music and danced too, Miles,Dizzy ,Trane and Monk, where such great composers and musicans and Be Bop( what they brought to the table) was so intricate that it became sit down music , for lack of a better word,

[Olebiker]

Knock your self out and I hope you enjoy your Captin and Tonelle Records

Hey, I liked "Muskrat Love."  ;D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbh9c0noR4s

[senile1]

I've avoided stating a strong opinion on musical subjects for awhile now.  Since I've played guitar for a number of years, I find that my view of a musician's talents is often different from the average listener's viewpoint.  I think it is this way for most musicians.  I've read some strong opinions here, so I am presenting mine.  

As a guitarist, classical guitar pieces are the most difficult for me to learn.  

I've played covers of Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads, Ted Nugent, Inqwie Malmsteen, Al Di Meola and a host of other guitarists.  I've also played a ton of blues covers including SRV. (When I say I played their music, believe me, I'm not saying I played it as good as they did.)  The blues was always the easiest for me to play and learn.  It is so much easier to design and lay out a solo over the top of a blues progression.  Many Rock 'n' roll songs are based on blues progressions as well.  The reason why many jam sessions are performed over blues progressions is because it is easier for everybody to play together.

No offense meant to you, Muddy, but as a guitar player I can tell you that songs by Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, and some other guitarists in that genre were more difficult for me to learn than blues songs, especially the blues guitarists from way back.  Few people know that Randy Rhodes was considering playing classical music full-time.  Not only could he play pure classical music, but his guitar parts incorporated classical progressions and lines.  He and, especially, Ingwie Malmsteen were pioneers in the neo-classical style of heavy metal guitar playing.  Ingwie is an expert at sweep picking a number of sweeps in succession which is extremely difficult.  

I have full respect for the greats from the past because they were pioneers and they were doing something new.  But like any field of endeavor, what these guys started has been taken to new levels of performance.  Now some will say that these guys had heart in their playing.  Well, there are guitarists in every decade who have played with heart.  

I agree with you that I wouldn't place Slash and Nugent in my top guitarists, but they are good guitarists.  Nugent plays most of his songs in the key of A.  Many rock guitarists always play in the keys of A or E and in their relative minor keys.  Why?  Because the top two strings on a standard tuned guitar are E and A, respectively, which allows you to play more notes on open, unfretted strings.   Many rock guitarists learn to play in these keys first and they never move on from there.  They may be fast and vicious in those keys, but when you ask them to play in a different key they are lost on the fretboard.  

My opinion . . . . my .02.  

[senile1]

Another point . . . . when we speak of great musicians are we speaking of playing ability or composing ability.  Having the ability to play anything and everything is far different from having the ability to write and play a song that sounds great to many people.  

[Zel]

I can't carry a tune to save my life, but I do like music.  Can't comment on guitar technique, only on who I think sounds great from the types of music I like.

Eric Clapton

Frank Zappa

George Harrison

Pete Townshend

The Edge

Neil Young

David Gilmour

Duane Allman

Robert Johnson

Jeff Beck

Bo Diddley

Stephen Stills

Henry Vestine

Johnny Winter

[Guest muddy]

Hey Ed it's a discussion among friends, I love talking and arguing music. Blues is probably the simplest form of music to play. Jimi, more than SRV, was into a whole lot more. He was about to record with Miles Davis when he died . You make the same point as me how cool was it that all thos Be Boppers were able to both write, and play on that level.Then go out and improvise every night, the solos took on a life of their own! I am blessed to have had seen so much of the later stuff.

I conceded that no blues is on this level But I also gotta say put Joe Pass or Charlie Chistan on and thos metal guys get rusty very quickly also. Pwer chords just about hold my ionterest as long as a Pepsi commerical and I just don't get their solos. With the exception of that Satriani guy, I will admit sometimes he catches my ear.

[senile1]

You have a good point, Dominick.  There have been a lot of boring metal solos and power chords do get old, though a number of the better players have incorporated other chord types in their playing.  And thanks for mentioning Joe Pass and Charlie Christian who both belong among the greatest.  Joe Pass was a monster on the guitar.  His chord-melodies are unparalleled in my opinion.  To some, his playing may not sound that difficult, but when you try to do what he did, it's some intricate stuff and beautiful at the same time.  To me his technique is a cross between classical finger picking and jazz chord progressions.  The substitutions used by these jazz players in their chord progressions are wild.  

[Guest avid]

Son House.

One slide with that bottleneck and he has my attention.....instantly.

Jimi

SRV

EC

Dickey Betts

[MALTESE FALCON]

These are my favorites:

Eric Clapton

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Carlos Santana

Jimmy Page

Falcon

[FishTank]

Here is another one of my favorites.  He has not been mentioned yet.

If you're a fan of Glenn Campbell, you might like it.

[Guest muddy]

He was on my list! He did a lot of studio work, with diverse performers from country to that great lick in Wilson Picketts 991/2 Just won't do