Many great ones to choose from. Who is your favorite guitarist? Mine is David Gilmour. Here he is making a surprise appearance at the Roger Waters concert in London:
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I think one of the greatest guitarists has not been mentioned yet. Not only is he a brilliant guitarist and improvisor but an excellent songwriter and singer.
I give you Lindsey Buckingham…
That is not a quantifiable question.
Qualifying it though:
Jeff Beck
David Gilmour
Joe Bonamassa
John Lee Hooker
Eric Clapton
Ritchie Blackmore
I am not even going to get into metal….
There some outstanding guitar players all over the spectrum.
I always liken this kind of question to the caliber question.
If it is on-target it is good.
ZFG, out.
P.S. Pink Floyd all the way for me. Gilmour with his later stuff showcases that blues side. Animals has his best stuff though. Some of the bootlegs from 72 to 78 live have some insane riffs.
Clapton was once asked what it’s like to be the best guitarist of all time. He replied “….don’t know, ask Prince”.
Bullshit! That question was asked to Jimi Hendrix, and his reply was, “I don’t know, you’d have to ask Rory Gallagher”.
Rory or Mike Bloomfield, saw Rory in LA around 1979 with his Strat and a Fender Super twin, my ears rang for two days afterwards.
Chet Atkinson. Jerry Reed. Glen Campbell. Roy Clarke.
Many people think that only rock players are good. Those 4 above could match it with anyone. Chet could play base and lead lines simultaneously. Jerry had a picking technique called the “claw”. Glen was an enormously good guitarist, and played lead for many other artists. Roy could play just about any damn thing with strings.
Glen Campbell was amazing.
Roy Clarke definitely deserves to be on any list, but he was just a heck of an all ’round player of anything, is why I find him the only one mentioned worth commenting on.
To me the song is all that matters, so my favourite bands are the Ace in the Hole Band, The Western Underground, and the Heartbreakers. They make good noises together.
saw Roy Clarke on the Tonight Show, playing Ghost Riders in the Sky, middle string (g or b) snapped right at the begining of the solo, you could see him go ‘oh well’ and just killed the solo working around the lost string; great entertainer, musician and talent
Late to the nominations, but here with a good one folks!
A thumbs up, because that song…that VERSION of 157 Riverside Avenue brings back a lot of good memories, so Tanks for posting, MG. Tell Nick I said Hey.
Way late here but was listening to Roy Buchanan anthology disc today. WOW.
Tommy Bolin Private Eyes album is a classic, too.
One hundred! I did it! Oh, where are you Mr. Thistle?
Not sure what your reference to Thistle is, but it reminded me of this ode to thistles.
Off topic of the post, but so what.
Great scene from a great movie, and when they link back up as adults, and he gives it back to her, to show her that he kept it, treasured it all those years they were apart…magic.
Mark Knopfler
Top 5 for sure.
lenny breau
hank garland
Warren Haynes is got to be on the list.
An amazing performance
Shameless ham, but I had no idea the boy could play like that. That was a neat performance.
Yes I agree. Wow!
Hendrix then Randy Rhoads
So many to choose from. I nominate the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Frank Zappa.
Montreux Jazz Festival 2022 concert program just released:
https://www.montreuxjazzfestival.com/en/
Buck Dharma
memories of Heavy Metal…
saw them live in a tiny little club in like ’81, f’ing awesome
Randy Rhoads was a prodigy.
Many good ones mentioned. My all-time favorite is Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits with Sultans of Swing). He’s still active and I think ultimately he’s a better story-teller than guitarist. Here are 3 lesser known guitarists, two with physical limitations that they overcame.
Django Reinhardt (with one hand crippled after a fire) had a unique style. His music was partly the inspiration for Tomi Iommi (Black Sabbath) to keep playing guitar after a steel factory accident took off the tips of a few of his fingers. Ralph Towner had an interesting style mixing rhythms and very esoteric chords. Videos are a short Django Reinhardt piece (fastest stuff around 40 seconds in). One of the many versions of Ralph Towner’s “Jamaica Stopover” played live over decades of his career. Black Sabbath’s Paranoid.
I nominate several as “originators”: Joan Jett (arguably first successful female hard rocker), Maybelle Carter, Rosetta Tharp, Keith Potger (Seekers’ 12-string lead player).