Best Guitarists...

Lifeson

It's hard to find a serious poll of the world's best guitarists. any suggestions? And by serious I mean one without Kurt Cobain or Noel Gallagher...

Rockee

This is going to turn into a bitching match. No such thing as best guitarists....define

GBX

I agree with Rockee.
Everybody has their own opinion and will consider their favourite "the best". It is impossible to say any guitar player is the best. Their are so many styles and genres of music that have top rated guitarists within.

If your so concerned who is the best guitarist ... why not have a think about it yourself... write down everybody YOU think is really good.. and You decide who you think is your best.

spacecoyote

hey, its just opinions the guys looking for. So he doesn't rate Kobain et al. If you do, then argue your case, thats the purpose of this place isn't it?

Anyway, i like Stu Hamm and Victor Wooten myself, both great guitarists

Rockee

spacecoyote wrote:

hey, its just opinions the guys looking for. So he doesn't rate Kobain et al. If you do, then argue your case, thats the purpose of this place isn't it?

Anyway, i like Stu Hamm and Victor Wooten myself, both great guitarists

I rate everyone, anyone whos ever picked up a guitar is different in their own way. Its not about being best because as I said wtf does best mean? Ok, you 'like' Stu Hamm and Victor Wooten. Im not familiar with them but I imagine I would too.

noh showband

On the other hand, there never has been and there never will be a guitarist better than Carlos Santana. And by better, I mean 'more good'. Everyone else can just de-string now and use their guitars as tennis rackets. The pinnacle has been reached, the peak surmounted, the envelope pushed, the lid lifted, the ...

I think I've made my point.

(Oh, and EC's quite good, and Django Reinhart, and Edge, and George Harrison on his best day, and Nils Loffgrin, and Richie Blackmore, and Hank Marvin, and Dave Gilmore, and Bert Wheedon (who??), and Paul Simon though I never heard him play lead, he sure knows his way around his ax, and I once heard Joe Brown in a documentary play a throw-away lick that blew me away at the time, so he's probably quite tasty, too, and then there's my mate Dermot...)

I nearly hit 'send' without mentioning Hendrix!!! Or BB King! Or Carlos Santana - oh, wait a minute, I think I mentioned him.

Rockee

noh showband wrote:

On the other hand, there never has been and there never will be a guitarist better than Carlos Santana. And by better, I mean 'more good'. Everyone else can just de-string now and use their guitars as tennis rackets. The pinnacle has been reached, the peak surmounted, the envelope pushed, the lid lifted, the ...

I think I've made my point.

(Oh, and EC's quite good, and Django Reinhart, and Edge, and George Harrison on his best day, and Nils Loffgrin, and Richie Blackmore, and Hank Marvin, and Dave Gilmore, and Bert Wheedon (who??), and Paul Simon though I never heard him play lead, he sure knows his way around his ax, and I once heard Joe Brown in a documentary play a throw-away lick that blew me away at the time, so he's probably quite tasty, too, and then there's my mate Dermot...)

I nearly hit 'send' without mentioning Hendrix!!! Or BB King! Or Carlos Santana - oh, wait a minute, I think I mentioned him.

Great guitarists one and all, blessed with a talent. Best=an opinion.

MrJones

what about rory gallagher?
obviously the best irish guitarist ever.
best ever overall? not far off it. he had as much talent as jimi hendrix
had except maybe the image.

spacecoyote

noh showband wrote:

, and then there's my mate Dermot...)

jeez i can't believe i never mentioned dermot in my post

Neo#

Well I consider great guitarists as people who have skills but who also use those skills to create amazing music. Not just "look how fast I can play this!". So I would consider Cobain a great guitarist for this reason. Go into a music shop and there will always be some amazing gob****e guitarist playing something amazing by someone else. But can he write a tune himself. Most likely no. I agree with those mentioned above. I think John Frusciante is amazing too.

Heinrich

Angus Young!

Owen

MrJones wrote:

what about rory gallagher?
obviously the best irish guitarist ever.
best ever overall? not far off it. he had as much talent as jimi hendrix
had except maybe the image.

Wow, best Irish Guitarist ever? You haven't met young Mr. Alan Lennon then, have you? Alan's frightening. I love Rory, Vai, Satch, EVH, Django, Pierre Bensusan, but Alan's got all their chops.

/not a troll, just impressed!

Lifeson

Wow, touchy subject. By best I would have to say talented and melodic. Everybody says Hendrix without even thinking about it, like it's beyond argument, but that's the point. There are session guitarists out there who could probably play anything Hendrix ever played... Pete Townsend was once considered within the top ten but in hindsight he wouldn't stand up to Randy Rhodes or whoever the hell played in Europe. I must be missing the whole Clapton thing, he's called Slowhand!! I don't mean this to be a popularity contest, I'm just wondering is there any guitarists that are underrated? I would put Rory in the top 10 at least. With Edward Van Halen, Mark Knopfler, Maybe Eric Bell for originality and Brian May... Fightin' words??? :eek:

Lifeson

And Jimmy Page of course. There's lots more I know....

killer kid

MrJones wrote:

what about rory gallagher?
obviously the best irish guitarist ever.
best ever overall? not far off it. he had as much talent as jimi hendrix
had except maybe the image.

what are u on about?theirs no ****en way that he has as much talent as hendrix

Lifeson

Please explain. Are you familiar with Rory Gallagher's work? I have pretty much Everything by both of them and although Hendrix is extreemly skillful and could play in his sleep, Rory definitely has a much broader range and so much more control. how much feedback can you listen to?

Padwick

While I don't think for one second that Dave Gilmour is the best technically, I just feel that his ability to make the guitar singe with sheer emotion is what makes him best for me.

noh showband

Lifeson wrote:

I must be missing the whole Clapton thing, he's called Slowhand!!

It was originally an accurate description but became an ironic nickname as his playing improved, largely due to his association with John Mayall.

I think it's time we all stood a little back from this discussion and thought about the original question. It is, ultimately, unanswerable, because all we can do is list our favourites. We'd have to audition every guitarist in the world, living or dead, famous or unknown, to arrive at a conclusion. And even then, 'best' means different things to each of us. Is the 'best' the fastest? The most melodic? The most emotional? The most technically astute? Can any single guirtarist embody all these attributes and the many more I can't be bothered to think about? And are we talking best in terms of lead playing or rhythm, itself a skill? The guitarist with the best picking style? Because surely we have to include Jose Felliciano and John Williams in any top-ten guitarists list and I never once heard either of them plug into a Marshall stack - though I'm sure they could.

What most of the previous messages seem to be is a list of personal favourites and a run-down of some of the most famous. Hendrix will be on all our lists, surely, because he was the mould-breaker, the pioneer of a style that has been much emulated and, let's not kid ourselves, superceded. Clapton will be there LARGELY because he's the one who created most of the cliches we've (probably) all practiced and copied, who set the standard. He's still heart-breakingly melodic at times, but others have since built on the foundations of his style and the new edifices are just as impressive, sometimes moreso.

There will be others most of us can agree on and we all have one or two others that the rest have never heard of. I've never met anyone play lead better than me, but only because I don't personally know any better lead players - well, possibly just the one. I do, however, know at least two who leave me jealously grieving when I hear them strike out a tasty rhythm - using ALLL their fingers!

Am I taking it all too seriously? Sorry. Let's just remember to respect each other's views. Am I being a pompous ass? Well, probably. Just be glad you don't know me personally. I could bore you to tears in under five seconds (I currently hold the record at 3.2, but Boris Boring of Boringtown Villas, Borham Wood hasn't replied to the challenge yet).

Gary Moore and Jeff Beck.

elvis2002

Mark Knopfler for me.

I listen to everything though, vai, satch, johnson, santana and everybody else but I always seem to come back to Mark Knopfler. The guitar solo in Sultans of Swing never seems to get old.

baggins

Anyone ever notice how many great guitarists have long dark curly hair at some point??

Off hand i'm thinkin Santana, Page, Slash, May, but there are more...

Also a big fan of Young, Gallagher, Hendrix, Townsend, Cobain (not technically great, but his songwritin is class)

melekalikimaka

Steve Vai of course

Patricide

Ok Before i put down theese guys i put them down cause not only can they PLAY( as in not just shread real fast but play everything brilliantly) and they can write songs worthy of multi platinum records.

Dimebag, Jake e. lee and randy rhodes.

kc66

As mentioned already- David Gilmour. Such melodic guitar. There are some excellent tunes on his new album.

Lifeson

Patricide wrote:

Ok Before i put down theese guys i put them down cause not only can they PLAY( as in not just shread real fast but play everything brilliantly) and they can write songs worthy of multi platinum records.

Dimebag, Jake e. lee and randy rhodes.

Jake E and Rhodes are fantastic alright. How about Alex Lifeson and Neal Schon.. pretty good eh?

garred

Ritchie Sambora. Great singer aswell, better than Jon.

MrJones

have you listened to both??i bet you never even listened to rory gallagher. its my personal opinion anyways. not doubting hendrix had a few good tunes but lotta hype with him and his music.

killer kid wrote:

what are u on about?theirs no ****en way that he has as much talent as hendrix

Abby D Cody

But for Hendrix, there'd never have *been* a Gallagher.

The Bollox

I am a big fan of Satch, Vai and Petruci. my favourite out of the bunch is Satch tho, it's his presence, he is extra-ordinary

MrJones

Abby D Cody wrote:

But for Hendrix, there'd never have *been* a Gallagher.

dont agree man. fact is that gallagher was influenced by blues guitarists like r johnson,blind boy fuller,muddy waters,big joe williams.. all the great blues guitarists from the 20s on..hendrix and gallagher were contemporaries.

Abby D Cody

Absolutely right: Taste and The Experience both emerged some time in 67. Both were also apparently hugely inspired by Elvis Presley, though I don't see where, myself. (Or why)

I hear that Pete Townsend was one of the earliest pioneers of distortion and feedback and that Hendrix may have built on those influences to develop his own unique style. Perhaps Gallagher drew from the same origins. I have personally never felt the same sense of uniqueness while listening to Gallagher that I have with Hendrix. I've heard stylistic similarities between them which I take to be Hendrix's influence on Gallagher rather than the other way round.

But fair enough. Gallagher would have been Gallagher without Hendrix. Just a different Gallagher, I think.

This quote from www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000343.html (fascinating interview, btw, thanks for making me read it)

Reporter: And Hendrix?

Rory: [Smiles that Rory smile and nods] I saw Jimi in Belfast twice and in London one night I was in the same room as him and shook his hand, but we didn’t really meet. He was frightening, superb. I think that he’s the supreme showman of the guitar . . .

(Sorry, I'm one of those annoying people that googles everything - a bit like David Brent in that respect)

ttfn

MrJones

fair enough. sure its a matter of taste(pardon the pun) and what you connect with that determines who you see as being better.
elvis is just champagned as the beginning of it all.
i dont know did hendrix have much to teach gallagher in fairness , i doubt it.,but sure we'll never know.

Abby D Cody wrote:

Absolutely right: Taste and The Experience both emerged some time in 67. Both were also apparently hugely inspired by Elvis Presley, though I don't see where, myself. (Or why)

I hear that Pete Townsend was one of the earliest pioneers of distortion and feedback and that Hendrix may have built on those influences to develop his own unique style. Perhaps Gallagher drew from the same origins. I have personally never felt the same sense of uniqueness while listening to Gallagher that I have with Hendrix. I've heard stylistic similarities between them which I take to be Hendrix's influence on Gallagher rather than the other way round.

But fair enough. Gallagher would have been Gallagher without Hendrix. Just a different Gallagher, I think.

This quote from www.stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000343.html (fascinating interview, btw, thanks for making me read it)

Reporter: And Hendrix?

Rory: [Smiles that Rory smile and nods] I saw Jimi in Belfast twice and in London one night I was in the same room as him and shook his hand, but we didn’t really meet. He was frightening, superb. I think that he’s the supreme showman of the guitar . . .

(Sorry, I'm one of those annoying people that googles everything - a bit like David Brent in that respect)

ttfn

elvis2002

Anyone claiming that Rory was better than Jimi is off on one. But I can see that your just being patriotic and all but there is no compare between the two. Jimi is far and away much more talented than Rory was. Someone mentioned 'how much feedback can you listen to'? Well it seems that nearly every guitar poll shows that alot of people can listen to Jimi forever.

MrJones

im not off any anything actually nor an i being patriotic.
i genuinely believe he was a better guitarist than hendrix.
every man to their own.
i will say one thing,i am more into the blues stuff.

elvis2002 wrote:

Anyone claiming that Rory was better than Jimi is off on one. But I can see that your just being patriotic and all but there is no compare between the two. Jimi is far and away much more talented than Rory was. Someone mentioned 'how much feedback can you listen to'? Well it seems that nearly every guitar poll shows that alot of people can listen to Jimi forever.

herbieflowers

My favourite guitarists, thoguh subjectively may not be - in some people's eyes - the "best" are Hendrix, Joe Pass, Dave Gilmour, Jonny Greenwood

herbieflowers

elvis2002 wrote:

Well it seems that nearly every guitar poll shows that alot of people can listen to Jimi forever.

Guitar polls count for nothing

daveboy

Dave Gilmour, or Preston Reed for acoustic

Johnny Storm

Here's a few underappreciated (but IMHO great) guitarists:-
Buck Dharma
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
Phil Manzanera

Batty

Carlos Santana
Johnny Marr
Steve Vai

Tomohawk

Vini Reilly
Johnny Marr
Will Sergeant

Diamondmaker

Not one mention of Squire!!
Amazing lead and amazing song writing. Catchy poppy Melodies and Hendrix driven rock!
As far Gallagher he played a gig once my Da told me about with Clapton and Hendix the 2 guys were blown away by his skills!
Noe if thats not a good recommnedation to have him in your band what is?:D

Karl Hungus

Mikael Akerfeldt is the best guitar.

But also:

Chuck Schuldiner
Steve Vai
Marty Friedman
John Petrucci

nohshow

Diamondmaker wrote:

As far Gallagher he played a gig once my Da told me about with Clapton and Hendix the 2 guys were blown away by his skills!
Noe if thats not a good recommnedation to have him in your band what is?:D

Nah, only Clapton has enough, what i would call, "livingness" left in him to join my band.

deaddonkey

eric johnson

the man can do anything. If you haven't listened to him yet then you should.

I've not heard any guitarist who can equal him.

herbieflowers

Yeah Eric Johnson is incredibly competent. What spearates Johnson for me is hat he doesn't limit himself to electric guitar, he's as able on acoustic which is aharder instrument, in many respects, to master. Most "best" guitarists are electric players, check out Leo Kottke - possibly the most technically gifted player ever.

Charm Offensive

Christy Moore

jcoote

alex lifeson (such a unique player)
gilmour (feeling and tone)
brain may (not really noted because of the nature of queens music but listen to 'i want it all')
eddie van halen (speed)
pertucci (techinal as anyone)

deedee lepoopoo

hard to name the best guitar player because originality, composition and technicality all come into 'play'.

Hendrix
Marr
Richards
Buckingham
Davis
Reinhart

would be my twopenny's worth.

Nightwish

My current favourite guitarist is Alexi Laiho. Might change after I see Steve Vai next month though.

18AD

In no particular order.

Buckethead Very versatile style.
http://tinyurl.com/ozzsz That's the most varied solo of his I could find. Quality isn't great.

Victor Wooten vs his brother. http://tinyurl.com/lgbsu
Amazing video! Vic owns.

John Petrucci. Mainly because I like Dream Theater and Liquid Tension. I don't really think he's the best out there but he can sure write some good music.

SRV rules. Good songs, good playing.

Al DiMeola is excellent. http://tinyurl.com/qu5b2 - Full concert.

I dunno who my favourite is though :rolleyes: ...let alone the best.

conzy

jcoote wrote:

brain may (not really noted because of the nature of queens music but listen to 'i want it all')

Brian May is amazing, His playing on Innuendo is great:eek:

Mark Knopfler, Telegraph road/private investigations = over 20 minutes beautiful guitar.......Money for nothing WHAT A RIFF:D

Paul gilbert, Amazingly technical and fast with Racer X, great songwriting with Mr Big

Steve Vai
Joe Satriani
Jimi Hendrix (but IMO not the best ever)

Anywhoo, You know a guitarist is great when the average Joe can appreciate them...

sturgo

I don't think technical ability is that important. For me it's about the tone and emotoin of the overall sound. Here's my top 5.

The Edge
Scot Gorham
John Squire
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Jimmi Hendrix