Favourite Guitarists

Simply my favorites, with no claims as to “best:”

SRV

Pat Metheny

Eddie Van Halen

Eric Johnson

Danny Gatton

Terry Kath

Mark Knopfler

Joe Walsh

Jeff Beck

Jimmy Page

 

Honorable Mention:

Al Dimeola

Steve Vai

Joe Pass

Glen Campbell

Slash

Larry Carlton

Steve Howe

Alex Lifeson

Zappa

 

 

Steve Kimock

Henry Kaiser

Derek Bailey

David Lindley

Mark Ribot

 

Nuno Bettencourt 

1. Buckethead

2. SRV

3. Can't decide (Michael Batio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Guthrie Govan)

 

I play guitar, so I lean more toward ability than compositional skills. If you asked who were my favorite composers who play guitar, Buckethead would still be at the top of the list, but the rest of the list would be different.

So many greats to choose from next time let’s list the ones we’ve seen first ….

Frank Zappa

Eric Clapton 

Jeff Beck

Alex Lifeson

Lindsey Buckingham

Steve Howe 

Steve Hackett

Adrian Belew

Daniel Ash

Johnny Marr

Boz Scaggs 

Niel Schon (spelling it’s late lol

Rodrigo & Gabriella 

The Edge 

Joe Walsh

Pete Townsend 

Prince……& ones I haven’t seen Hendrix & BB King, Joe Satriani, and whoever I forgot 💫definitely Glenn Campbell 

I enjoyed Mick Ronson a whole lot. Superlative tone. One of the best practitioners of the one note lead guitar solo ever to strap on a guitar. I'm not putting him down with that remark, either. Just as Bruce Springsteen once sang, Ronson learned how to make his guitar talk. Or more accurately, scream.

Eddie Van Halen

Michael Hedges

Mick Ronson

Among the not yet mentioned guitarists that also appeared on a Steely Dan record:

Elliot Randall; Rick Derringer; Dean Parks; Ben Benay; Hugh McCracken; Jeff Mironov; Jay Graydon; Steve Kahn & Hiram Bullock.

 

What can I say? As much as I enjoyed the Mothers of Invention I never much cared for Zappa's guitar playing. Just too mechanical for this guy.

++ Jorma Kaukonen - 82 yrs old and still going strong !

 

Lots of great lists (nice one @audi-owe!), many of my faves---but not all---already mentioned.

 

Al Anderson (The Wildweeds, solo, NRBQ)

Dave Edmunds (Love Sculpture, solo, Rockpile)

Albert Lee (Heads Hands & Feet, Emmylou, The Everly Brothers, solo)

Ry Cooder

James Burton (Ricky Nelson, Elvis, Emmylou)

George Harrison

Steve Cropper (Booker T & The MG's)

Paul Burlinson (The Johnny Burnette Rock 'n' Roll Trio), a fave of Jeff Beck.

Don Rich (Buck Owens Buckaroos)

Roy Nichols (Merle Haggard)

Richard Thompson

Kenny Vaughan (Lucinda Williams, The Fabulous Superlatives, solo)

Nokie Edwards (The Ventures)

Scotty Moore (Elvis)

Carl Perkins

JJ Cale

Buddy Miller

Danny Gatton

Evan Johns

Tony Rice

Albert King

Freddie King

 

There is a separate category reserved for three whose influence exceeds all others:

 

Grady Martin

Hank Garland

Merle Travis

 

I am tempted to bring up the subject of the large number of UK guitarists included in lists not containing the original guitarists the UK guitarists are emulating. But I won't ;-) .

Andres Segovia 

The GOAT:  SRV

New commer: Billy Strings

“Carlos Santana”

Paco De Lucia

Earl Klug

 

Paco Pena
Andres Segovia
Julian Bream
Narcisco Ypes

Pat Martino

Jim Hall

Louis Stewart

Bill Frisell

Billy Gibbons

 

Dont beleive I saw Albert Collins , Carlos Santana, Johnny Copeland, Robert Cray, and James Burton.

Rich Robinson is a phenomenal guitar player...    Jason Isbell , another great guitarist...

@baylinor once again you're spot on. Love your picks.

I have to agree wit everyone here as "favorite guitarists"  like someone else above been playing the guitar for 50 plus years.  To me Danny Gatton was the top.  Al DiMeola, Winters, Duane, Eric Johnson, Roy, Beck, SRV, Howe, Green, Jan Ackerman, god just so many great players, some technically advanced, some just played beautiful music.  Too many blues guitarists to name beginning with Robert Johnson.  I played with Coryell and Carlton way way back in the day.  I sure miss those days.

Thanks for reminding me of all the memories.

 

 

I forgot Doc Watson!  

 Roy Buchanan was my favorite several years back. His version of "Hey Joe" in my humble opinion was better than Hendrix's.I noticed Eric Clapton didn't make your list. 

Neil Young w/Crazy Horse I have not seen mentioned.  Down by the River. Cowgirl in the Sand.  Great stuff.

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Page

I'm not a fan of Bonamassa, not a big fan of SRV, either, though I acknowledge their talents

Wife caught Richard Thompson in the mid-80's. Changed a broken string during a tune and never stopped.

It's so weird to me that Trey Anastasio is never on these lists.  He's the most lyrical, most virtuosic and has played more (very extended) riffs and more versions of those riffs than almost all the guitarists on many of these lists put together.

It's just so weird to me

Some great choices listed in this thread. My list includes:

 

Django Reinhardt

Kenny Burrell

Tony Rice

Mark O'Connor (and he's an even better fiddle player!)

Jimi Hendrix

David Gilmour

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Jerry Garcia

Trey Anastasio

Bill Frisell 

Julian Lage

Memorable moments:

  Leo Kottke, in the middle of 12 string magic breaks the hi g string and without missing a beat starts transposing around it...Utah late 70's

  Santana, last note of the Caravanserai performance rings for at least 2 min after the band had departed the stage...Newport News early '70's

  Dicky Betts making Elizabeth Reid cry with his little finger...William & Mary early '70's  (maybe inspired Roy Buchanan or vice versa?)

  Steve Miller, my ears still ringing 2 days after standing in front of his speaker stack...Newport News early '70's.

List looks pretty complete. I would add John Frusciante the on and off again Chili Pepper. Some of the most beautiful tone and feel in Rock.

In no particular order...

Richard Thompson (with Fairport, with Linda and solo)

Jim Messina

Ralph Towner

Carlos Santana, particularly Santana III, Caravanserai, Lotus and Welcome

Larry Coryell’s post Fusion recordings

David Hidalgo and Cesar Rojas of Los Lobos

Derek Trucks

Jimi

Jeff Beck, in particular Rough and Ready and Blow by Blow

Mick Taylor

John George and Paul on White Album, Let it Be and Abbey Road

Allman Bros.

John McLaughlin, particularly Mahavishnu MK1, Shakti and his acoustic trio recordings with DiMeola and de Lucia.

Ronnie Earl

Danny Kirwan

Albert Lee

Grant Green’s Blue Note recordings

Bert Jansch

Warren Haynes

EC with Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith and the Dominos

Freddie King (after he switched from the LP to the 345/355)

Peter Green

Tony Rice

Garcia -- ’70 - ’77

Pat Martino

John Abercrombie

Bill Connors with RTF and his subsequent acoustic ECM recordings

Bob Weir, particularly ’72 - ’74

Roy Buchanan’s early recordings

P. Townshend with The Who and on his own

J. Page’s acoustic playing

The Hellecasters (Jorgenson, Donahue, Ray)

BB King

Keef , particularly Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile

Little Feat (George and Barrere) 

 

 

 

+1 Joe Satriani

Warren Haines 

@retrofan 

Are you sure you don’t mean Marcus King? You must be a Celtics fan. 

In case somebody missed them :)

Bryan Sutton, Marcus Smart and Billy Strings

They’re all in my tight rotation along with any generation of Allman Brothers guitarists and the incomparable slide work of Bonnie Raitt and Lowell George.

Kossoff was brilliant in staying within the song- nothing flashy but tasty as hell. The first Free album is my favorite-- it was produced by Guy Stevens (who later went on to produce the Clash for whatever that is worth) for Chris Blackwell at Island. It is not a very produced sounding record- they just let it rip. Which is what blues (even British electric blues) should be. I think Mr. Blackwell took over production of their second album because he wanted a more polished product. (Blackwell had great ears and an affinity for interesting music).

An early UK copy -- doesn’t have to be a first which fetches some money-- of Tons of Sobs-- gives you that band at its unvarnished best in my estimation.

Apparently, Ronnie Van Zant, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s singer, was hugely influenced by Free when he heard them back in the day with Stevie Winwood. Love Kossoff. And Rory G.

Don’t forget Paul Kossoff.

Unique and Great: This guitarist is often overlooked

So many greats listed. I would add Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin on "Love, Devotion, Surrender" as beautiful. 

Frank Zappa, Prince, Robert Fripp, Buddy Miller, Mark Knoffler, Billy Springs, other usual suspects.

Lately I have been listening to Eddie Roberts. Started with The New Mastersounds and other collaborations. Jazz, funk. Very well produced and recorded.

Hans Theesink (Especially on Songs Of the Southland)

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Julian Bream

Fun topic. So many greats above. I don't think I saw Ricky Wilson from the B-52's mentioned. Extremely underrated. Also, +1 for Johnny Marr (The Smiths) -- so melodic. And I may have missed Marc Bolan (T-Rex) being mentioned. 

Agree on music streaming and discovery. I'll throw on some Rory Gallagher later. :-) 

1.Johnny Winter

2.Jimi Hendrix

3.Rory Gallagher

4.Kim Simmonds ( just passed 12/13/22)

5.Robin Trower

6.Carlos Santana

7.Joe Satriani

8.Joe Bonamassa

9.Freddie King

10.Albert King

11.BB King

12. Albert Collins

13.Luther Allison

14.Toni Iommi

15.Martin Barre

16.Allan Holdsworth

17.Al DiMeola

18.John McGlaughlin (sp)

19.Frank Zappa

20.Jimmy Page

21.Jeff Beck

22.Christone Kingfish Ingram (very young)

23.Alvin Lee

That's good for now, includes Rock Blues and Fusion

 

 

Best innovator....Hendrix....Best all around....Atkins...best Picker...Scaggs......Funnest to listen to....Beck.......best style...Blackmore.

And in the Classical Guitar mastery:  Paco de Lucia

Just to add one in the Country section, for sheer professionalism:  Tony Rice  RIP

Good lists. I agree with just about all of this. Two names I didn't see were Roy Clark and Danny Gatton. 

many of my favorites are mentioned - add a few more

Mike Oldfield

Andy Latimer

+1 Buckethead

Andre Segovia

Derek Trucks

Eric Clapton

Duane Allman

There are no bad answers, just personal preference.

Some of the best young jazz guitarists to check out:

Mary Halvorson

Lionel Loueke

Gilad Heckselman

Charles Altura

Miles Okazaki

Lage Lund

Matthew Stevens

Mike Moreno

Julian Lage

Nir Felder

(I probably forgot someone.)

Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Derick Trucks, Jeff Beck, Joe Pas, Peter Berstein, Stevie Ray V.  The young lady that played for Michael Jackson What1s her name family? Buddy Guy.

Buckethead 

 

These are the ones that make up a lot of my listening

Lightnin Hopkins

Peter Green

Jeff Beck

SRV

Kenny Burrell

Thank you, @mewsickbuff . The OP asked for favorite guitarists, not lists of who people think are the greatest. I don’t believe there really is a greatest guitarist, but there are plenty to love and admire.