Crega, SRV blows Eric away as a blues guitarist. I know personally, I have been playing for 30 years. Go rent the Austin DVD of SRV and then tell me what you think. Stevie Ray was responsible for bring blues back to the forefront of music single handedly. Everyone admitts that, and Dick Betts and the Brothers owe their revival to him (per Dicky).
Stevie mastered the traditional blues licks and played with more emotion than most players ever hope to.
Peter Green was more true to traditional blues than Clapton is/was. Duane Allman was one of the best blues guitarists but he is know as a southern rocker, mentioned already Roy Buchanan, Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, J. Giles (go hear his blues CD called Blues Time), T-Bone Walker, NOT Buddy Guy, Ronnie Earl (one of the best still alive today), Stevie Ray, BB King, Albert King, etc.
Buddy Guy? What a hacker. Ronnie Earl can out play BG with on finger. The original question was Clapton or Green. While Eric had a blues sound to his style, this is not true blues as anyone who studied the blues and plays the guitar knows. Green played more to the original blues masters. T-Bone Walker and players from his era were the blues masters that many guitarists learned from, even Stevie. Stevie brought the blues back to a new audience but even he copied many of has licks from the old blues masters. He was more fluid at playing the blues style then they were and much more exciting. I learned to play the guitar because of Duane and then looked at his roots to discover where he got his chops. He also had great tone and energy to his playing. I cried when he died.
IMHO Buddy Guy has not played a lick that was worth anything. His notes don't send a message to me. Sure he played with a bunch of guitar greats but I never found one of his licks to take a solo anywhere special. Listen to T-Bone who played in one position the entire time he played his solos. That basically means that he was limited to the number of notes he could play but when you listen to his solos, most of the time his licks sound very different even though he is using the same number of notes. Buddy Guy uses the entire guitar and he basically says nothing with his solos, same old crap to my ears. I have been play the guitar for 43 years, own 30 plus guitars. I could hold my own with just about anyone when I played regularly. I can send you a copy if you want to hear what I can do. There are so many better guitarist then Buddy Guy, he just bores me to death. There is always something to learn from another but Ronnie Earl blows Buddy away. Just my opinion.
Kbuzz, ever listen to Clapton doing Nobody knows you when you're down and out or the solo for Bell Bottom blues, or even while my guitar gently weeps? Just a few examples of Clapton playing the blues on a studio recording. In the early years he played da blues, not like the originals mine you, but his way, and it was very effective. He is more of a song writer these days and seems to care less about using the guitar as a voice for him or his emotions. Duane was my all time favorite guitarist but don't forget what Dickie Betts can do with a Les Paul. He has one of the sweetest sounds and is a fantastic blues player and blues rhythm player.
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