Best Guitar Players of All Time

[PITTM]

So i was kinda having a wikipedia fest at work this morning and wanted to see a lot more details about some bands i liked from the 60s and 70s. I was reading Blind Faith's wiki and was really surprised steve winwood was in this band as i remember him singing "Higher Love" and "Valerie", but nothing else.

However, There was a link to the Rolling Stone, 100 Greatest Guitar Players of all time. In my head I formed my own and readied myself to read rankings from the same people who brought us eminem having 5 top 100 ROCK songs of all time...

I expected to see Duane Allman and Dickey Betts like consecutively, somewhere in the top 5. Maybe sharing a 4th spot or something. Instead, Duane Allman is second while Dickey Betts is 58th. This just blew my mind. When I think of the Allman Brothers, the songs that immediately pop into my head are: Jessica, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Ramblin man. Dickey Betts wrote these songs and performed lead on them. To me, it was completely ridiculous that there are 56 spots separating these two and while that is pretty insane, if it were any way, i would imagine Dickey as #2 and Duane as #56.

I mean, they put Jimi at #1, which is entirely acceptable, but then they put Kurt Cobain at 11, which puts him ahead of the following guitar legends:

Jeff Beck
Freddy King
Buddy Guy
Dick Dale
Ritchie Blackmore
Dickey Betts
Mark Knopfler
Stephen Stills

Okay, so obviously Rolling Stone is going to have some biases, and anytime a list of favorite anything is made it will obviously be incredibly controversial.

However, from a "sophisticated" board like EDF, I would like to see a top 5 list of member's favorite guitar players and WHY. please dont just make a list and give no explanation. Here is my list:

1. Jimi Hendrix-Really, lets be honest, no one did what he did and no one does what he does. His creativity and skill is just ridiculous. He was incredible at changing styles to adapt to the music. While he probably used a bit too much distortion for me, his sound is just awesome on all levels.

2. Stevie Ray Vaughan-This choice is easy for me, if Jimi is at the top, Stevie only has one place he can go, top of the rest. The emotion he put into his guitar playing was just unreal. To this day, when i listen to The Sky is Crying, my eyes get a little bit teary with the thought of how strongly he felt. It is a massive tragedy that we lost both of the top 2 in such a horrible way.

3. Duane Allman/Dickey Betts- My strongest childhood memory is my parents and I driving from Illinois(where i was born) to our new home in california. We did it in an old Karmann Ghia and I believe we listened to the Allman Brothers the vast majority of the way. Songs like In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Jessica are just completely etched in my brain forever because of this. These guys just make music that makes you feel like you want to go out take a road trip and just listen to their beautiful music. I dont think there is more relaxing music than the Allman Brothers and the perfectly flowing, natural guitar sound really has a huge part in that.

4. Eric Clapton- Wow, what a resume, seriously. He went from The Yardbirds to Cream to Blind Faith to Derek and the Dominos to one of the greatest solo careers in history. The list of songs he has written is pages and pages. He is ridiculously versatile as he plays anything from psychedelic rock to blues to folk to reggae to pop songs. Probably the greatest LIVING guitarist at this point. While many think his MTV unplugged performance was kinda meh. It sticks out in my memory as being the best live performance i have ever seen on television and CERTAINLY the best live acoustic performance i have ever seen. Also, tears in heaven still makes me sad to this day.

5. Brian May- Yeah, whos Brian May? Brian May was the guitarist for Queen, who imo is the most underrated rock band in history. Not because people dont know who they are, but because people hear the wrong Queen songs on the radio all the time and just think of them as a gimmicky band that had the same songs in all of the mighty ducks movies. The Night at the Opera album is just a masterpiece and certainly on my top 5 rock albums of all time list. The Prophet's Song is one of my top 5 favorite rock songs ever and whenever i get a new piece of sound equipment, the first 3 tracks I listen to for reference are: Prophet's Song, Today was a good day by ice cube and There'll be some changes made by mark knopfler and chet atkins. Also, many people say that he "invented" the delay effect that is often a popular effect for modern guitarists. He also built his own guitar and never used a pick, opting instead to use a coin(kinda cool imo).

Honorable mentions: Mark Knopfler(he was in dire straits if youre wondering who this is), Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Robert Johnson, Stephen Stills(Suite Judy Blue Eyes is my favorite song of all time).

I am hoping to see what the rest of you think about either my list or we can see what you think of guitarists in general by making your own list. Hope everyone enjoys this.

[jeffnc]

Agree about SRV. I'm not a big blues fan but that guy is too much. Brian May - basically I agree with everything you said, and I really like Queen and him, but note you really didn't say anything about him as a guitar player. He's not necessarily a great guitarist just because of all that stuff. Inventing his own guitar had a lot to do with his sound, but that is not guitar playing per se.

But, how about Eddie Van Halen? Innovative, unique, and pretty cool.

[Event Duality]

B.B. King gets no love?

[jws43yale]

I think your idea is decent, but the problem with these types of threads is it all depends on what kind of music you like and what you consider being the best.

Is it most investive or creative; ability to play the toughest material; ability to play different styles well; etc.

I think a much more accurate way to do these list is by styles. E.g. best jazz guitarists, slide guitarists, acoustic guitarists.

Also, even with this being a sophisticated forum, you are going to see a bunch of people throwing out hair metal guitarists, because just like many of my friends, they think loud and fast equals skill.

I am not familiar with enough guitarists to consider myself an authority of any kind, but I can tell a good one when I hear one and I definitely agree with the Clapton, Hendrix, and SRV nominations.

[firstyearclay]

I have been on and off playing guitar for 15 years and have to say I was more influenced by some of the modern guitar Gods.

Three that come to mind are:

Randy Rhoads - Classically trained and a major influence on rock n' roll today.
Joe Satriani - Talented lyricist and guitar wizard suffered with TMJ in his greatest years. He also managed to work with Ibanez (I think) to make the first mirrored paint guitar.
Steve Vai- So good he added another string.

P.S. Another one came to mind: Yngwie J. Malmsteen A PURE shredder.

fyc

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]
I think your idea is decent, but the problem with these types of threads is it all depends on what kind of music you like and what you consider being the best.


[/ QUOTE ]

i dont see any problem with this. I like pretty much all kinds of music. If someone said a guitar player i had never heard was one of their 5 best I would certainly give it a listen. However, I think with guitar players it should be fairly obvious that it is limited to the genres of music that use guitars. Which tends to be most western, non hip hop music.

[PITTM]

AH damnit. Clay is right. I had originally thought to make my honorable mention section for one reason. To put in Yngwie J. Malmsteen. There is a video he made called "hot licks" that is the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen. It is an instructional video where he teaches people to play his songs. Keep in mind that i have never seen anyone tap anywhere near as fast as him and he is like "well, this song is simple, just do this and youre good". After which he shreds some ridiculous song that I couldnt even begin to make out the chords to. Black Star and Blitzkrieg are two of my favorite songs ever. Riot in the Dungeon is rad for its cheesy 80'sness.

[PITTM]

[ QUOTE ]
B.B. King gets no love?

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny you say this, because my original #5 was going to either be Albert King or Freddy King. I never really thought BB was as great as everyone else says he is. I honestly (yeah, string me up for this) think that freddy king is better than BB King.

[owsley]

not even an honorable mention for jimmy page? WTF, I hate saying this but I have to, I can't take the list seriously without him even getting mentioned once. Agree about brian may though.

[PITTM]

i just dont think he is a top 5 guitarist. Feel free to make your own list. fwiw, jimmy page is #9 on Rolling Stone's list. Right behind my boy Ry Cooder.