Great guitar players

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Yngwie J. Malmsteen

(if you know...you know)

Saw him live along with Triumph.

Which reminds me about Rik Emmett.

[irv]

Originally Posted by steve B

Saw him live along with Triumph.

Which reminds me about Rik Emmett.

Did you see the Triumph documentary that was released this year?
It's a good watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_w05t6qpCY

[Michael B]

A lot of interesting choices. Two of the popular picks I feel are terribly overrated, but I will leave that for another day.

You cannot say someone is the best of all time due to so many genres. Also playing loud and fast while acting like you are squeezing a watermelon out your butt does not mean you are great or even good.

Some of my choices:

Brian May
Carlos Santana
George Benson - especially his 1960's recordings on Verve
Paco de Lucia - one of the finest flamenco guitarists
Al DiMeola
Roy Clark - master of the guitar, banjo and fiddle
Glen Campbell - a musicians musician. There are always stories about bands asking other musicians to play on their recordings. One of the great stories of him is he would be in a recording studio working and he would ask bands if he could play with them. This was during the time when the musicians knew who he was, not when he was unknown.

Others to consider:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - listen to her recording of "Didn't it Rain" which she first recorded in 1947/48. You can see where Chuck Berry, Duane Eddy, Carl Perkins and many others got their style.

Mother Maybelle Carter - mother in law of Johnny Cash. Known for her two finger style of playing. Picking the bass strings with her thumb while fingering the other strings.

Django Reinhardt - a Gypsy/Romani and probably the first European jazz star.

Peter Green - check out 'Hypnotized' by Fleetwood Mac

Steve Howe - rarely mentioned in this category, but a lot of his work on the early Yes albums is quite complex.

Alan Holdsworth - King Crimson and UK

Brian Setzer - re-popularized rockabilly with Stray Cats and his own band

Larry Carlton

Bonnie Raitt - mistress of the glass/bottle slide

Nancy Wilson

Robert Fripp - King Crimson. Ignoring the fact that he is a bit of a richardhead. I saw him perform a private Frippertronics show in NYC in 1981.

Jennifer Batten - mostly known as a sidewoman. Lead guitar Michael Jackson's Bad tour

Steve Cropper - Booker T and the MG's, Blues Brothers and hundreds of top 10 songs and albums. Stax session guitarist who also co-wrote "Knock on Wood", "In the Midnight Hour" "Soul Man" and "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay".

Link Wray - the original grunge guitar player.

Johnny Ramone - most people dismiss punk guitar as 3 chords fast and loud. A lot of it was, but listen to the Ramones covers of songs like "California Sun", "Surfin' Bird" "Come on Let's Go" (w/Paley Bros) and "Little Bit of Soul"

Rick Derringer - I think he gets no respect. He has been performing for over 48 years. Starting with the McCoys to Edgar and Johnny Winter, Derringer and solo. He also played on quite a few other bands albums - Steely Dan ("Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is about him), Air Supply ("Making Love Out of Nothing at All" his favorite guitar solo), Bonnie Tyler ("Total Eclipse of the Heart"), Barbra Streisand, Todd Rundgren and Meatloaf. I also heard he played on at least one of the songs on "Kiss Alive II". Along with his rock albums he has also recorded blues and Christian albums.

I have been fortunate to have met a number of them (Santana, Benson, Cropper, Carlton, DiMeola, Howe, Holdsworth, Batten, Wray, Ramone and Derringer) and photographed many in concert as well (May, DiMeola, Howe, Holdsworth, Batten, Wray, Ramone and Derringer). I was fortunate enough to photograph Link Wray's last and only U.S. show of the year on October 14, 2000 at Clark University, Worcester, Mass. Most of the 70 or so people in attendance could have been his grandchildren and probably did not know who he was. He signed my rock book and I got his guitar pick after that show.

queen-3.jpg

[pawpawdiv9]

I love the blues/rock/country guitarist.
All the above are greats.
Grew up on Clapton & Stevie Ray Vaughn
I also add Joe Walsh (from the Eagles)
Johnny Lang
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
and the new kid --Marcus King

[Tere1071]

Julian Bream, Joe Pass, Eliot Fisk, Li Jei (check out her interpretation of Paganini's 24th Caprice on YouTube as a 13-year-old), Johnny Winter, George Van Eps, and Ted Greene because of his dedication to teaching guitar and that I knew personally in the late 70s as he was also a football card collector.

I also enjoy the music of Robert Fripp and Paul Dresher. My favorite in terms of rock would be Jimi Hendrix and the most fantastic guitar solo that plays through my head constantly is "I Heard Her Call My Name" by Lou Reed on the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat."

I guess the best guitarist is the one whose playing is pleasing to a particular listener.

Phil aka Tere1071
A listener, not a player.

[judsonhamlin]

Two underrated guys who I haven’t seen mentioned yet are Robert Quine who was behind some of Lou Reed’s best sounds and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.
Fripp, May, Knopfler, Vai and Stevie Ray all rank up there with Hendrix and Prince in the top tier.

[Peter_Spaeth]

As I said above, I couldn't care less how "good" he actually was. When you can generate joy like this, that's what matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6swgiM9vSEE&t=0s

[BobC]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

Two underrated guys who I haven’t seen mentioned yet are Robert Quine who was behind some of Lou Reed’s best sounds and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.
Fripp, May, Knopfler, Vai and Stevie Ray all rank up there with Hendrix and Prince in the top tier.

Another mention of Fripp. For those unaware, Fripp and his wife, Latoya Wilcox, have regularly throughout the pandemic been releasing their "Sunday Lunch" performance videos online for all to see and hear.

Some examples, including their Christmas 2022 release:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/toyah...-lunch-3371713

https://consequence.net/2022/11/robe...k-and-destroy/

https://www.goldradiouk.com/news/mus...-lunch-videos/

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by BobC

Another mention of Fripp. For those unaware, Fripp and his wife, Latoya Wilcox, have regularly throughout the pandemic been releasing their "Sunday Lunch" performance videos online for all to see and hear.

Some examples, including their Christmas 2022 release:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/toyah...-lunch-3371713

https://consequence.net/2022/11/robe...k-and-destroy/

https://www.goldradiouk.com/news/mus...-lunch-videos/

Toyah Willcox was originally a 'new wave' singer performing just as "Toyah'. I remember when she first started out in the late 70's early 80's. She had multiple hits in the U.K though she never caught on here in the States. She is also an actress, author and as they say over there 'tv presenter. I believe she may have had some health issues in the last decade or so.

[Tere1071]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

Two underrated guys who I haven’t seen mentioned yet are Robert Quine who was behind some of Lou Reed’s best sounds and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.
Fripp, May, Knopfler, Vai and Stevie Ray all rank up there with Hendrix and Prince in the top tier.

Another unique guitarist was Glenn Branca.

[Tere1071]

How could I forget Elmore James and some of the members of the Wrecking Crew (Tommy Tedesco and Barney Kessel), which also included Glen Campbell?

Phil aka Tere1071
a listener, not a player