Best Guitar Players of All Time

[Mingdu]

Clapton is amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nVDA0v43Rk

[KotOD]

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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.

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“Heaven is lying at Buddy Guy’s feet while listening to him play guitar.”
--Jimi Hendrix

"Buddy Guy is by far and without a doubt the best guitar player alive...if you see him in person, the way he plays is beyond anyone. Total freedom of spirit, I guess… He really changed the course of rock and roll blues."
--Eric Clapton

"Geez, you can’t forget Buddy Guy. He transcended blues and started becoming theater. It was high art, kind of like drama theater when he played, you know. He was playing behind his head long before Hendrix. I once saw him throw the guitar up in the air and catch it in the same chord."
--Jeff Beck

“Buddy Guy is an absolute monster”
--Jimmy Page

"Buddy plays from a place that I've never heard anyone play."
--Stevie Ray Vaughan

“Buddy Guy is a master. He’s the bravest guitar player I’ve ever seen on a bandstand. He’ll pull you into his trap and kill you. He owns that bandstand and everyone knows it when Buddy’s up there."
--Lonnie Brooks

[PITTM]

Last week I saw maybe the coolest thing i have ever seen on television. Some local san francisco channel was showing Blind Faith's first performance ever from Hyde Park. I sat and watched intently for like an hour ignoring everything else going on around me. Definitely one of the best live performances I have ever seen. Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood all in one band is awesome. If anyone hasnt heard Blind Faith I would definitely recommend it. Ther were one of the earliest supergroups.

[TalkingDonkey]

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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

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None of these guys are even close to legendary, even factoring in Rhoads' post-death bump. Playing 1000 notes a second does not a great guitarist make.

[turnipmonster]

I love a lot of the guys you mention, but lists like this are a little silly as they reflect much more on the tastes of the individual. my list fwiw:

1) bireli lagrene - no one is as fluid in any context as bireli. flawless technique, huge ears and he is incapable of sounding bad. he's the best living guitarist imo, and to top that off he also plays upright and electric bass as well as accordion, and can sing like frank sinatra.

2) kazuhito yamashita - really not a lot to say. the most impressive technician I've ever seen on the instrument.

3) bill frisell - a complete original. a lot of guitarists are easy to imitate, it's impossible to sound anything like frisell. another guy who's incapable of playing a wrong note.

4) jimi hendrix - I have heard some truly horrendous hendrix recordings, but when he was on he was transcendent.

5) sylvain luc - may very well be france's greatest accomplishment. astonishingly original.

edit: I can't believe I left out wes montgomery. [censored].

[PITTM]

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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

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None of these guys are even close to legendary, even factoring in Rhoads' post-death bump. Playing 1000 notes a second does not a great guitarist make.

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No way, i TOTALLY disagree. Saying that Joe Satriani isn't a legend would make the pool of legends like 10-20 strong. I would say that satch is def one of the top 25 guitar players of all time.

[gusmahler]

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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.


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Loud and fast DOES equal at least one type of skill. The question is whether loud and fast equals musical.

[TalkingDonkey]

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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.


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Loud and fast DOES equal at least one type of skill. The question is whether loud and fast equals musical.

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Bingo.

[JackWilson]

Well, I dunno about the criteria. If you're going for the more technical, Joe Satriani definitely deserves to be up there, he's amazing. Or if purely technical, there's none better than Michael Angelo Batio. But, I assume you're not. So I'll toss in my vote for Keith Richards. Amazing guitar player. Some of the greatest riffs of all time. Incredibly entertaining and innovative rhythm playing. And he just has this great blues sound.

Oh, and Jimmy Page's solo on Stairway to Heaven might be the one of the best musical moments ever, so beautiful. I don't know if overall he deserves to be top 5 though.

Clapton definitely. Genius.

Hendrix. Knopfler if you factor in songwriting and he's a bit of a personal favourite of mine. Something along those lines.

[Dan.]

Buckethead, quite possibly the most talented guitar player I've ever heard.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4q3p_o8A6g

Kind of a weird intro, but it gets really good ~1:50