[OrangeCat]

There are players who are not close to being virtuosos or even especially good but because they were in a great band you have to consider them great. The Edge and Keith Richards come to mind. You take these guys out the band and they are nothing special.

There are players who have amazing technical proficiency. That list is very long but once you get past the wow factor they are not so good. I mean, Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert can play some amazing stuff but how much of that can you take? After a point it stops being musical. John McLaughlin is a guy who could play as fast any anybody but also made good music.

There are the legends who have the respect of everyone who really knows about guitar. Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Segovia, Bream, Django Reinhardt, Steve Howe and the like.

Then there are the guys who changed the world. I think Hendrix is the top of the list here. It is hard for anyone under 40 to fully understand how JH changed the way the guitar was played and thought about. Nowadays, a lot of his stuff now sounds very dated and rather crude but that is really because he was so imitated. EVH, Prince, Tom Morello and just about every modern guitar player owes Jimi a huge debt.

Clapton deserves a special category because while not being the most innovative guy (after all, his best guitar stuff is 12 bar blues) he is by far the best in his genre. EC is very generous in his comments about his idols - Buddy Guy, Albert King, Sun House, etc.. – but EC is probably the best blues guitar player ever. There are just so many examples of his astounding playing that it is even difficult to argue that anyone is as good.

While on the subject of blues guitar, I still think “VoodooChile Slight Return” is one of the best blues guitar tunes ever. At the time, it was so over the top crazy that after listening you wanted to run out and drop acid.

Right now, my personal favorite is Wes Montgomery with honorable mention to Jeff Beck and Clapton. Those guys can really play and I can listen to then all day.