Jimi Hendricks was great in his ability to make a great sound and write songs that will be known forever. But there are a lot of guitarist that just play good clean guitar. A lot of the old blues guitarist that Hendrix played with BB King & Muddy Waters and many that had an influence on him like Koko Taylor , John Lee Hooker , James Cotton and Rory Gallagher. He will always be tops in his own rights, but there were many that are better. |
Been thinking about this question for a few days now, fought back and fouth with Clapton, SRV, Johnny Winter, Otis Rush and other obvious choices but based on just over all satisfaction, mine of course, I am going to go a bit against the grain and say JJ Cale. Enjoy the music. |
All great guitarists mentioned here. As a guitarist myself, I am amazed at the perfection demonstrated by Joe Bonamassa.. He is the best I have ever heard either on record or in concert. |
Gary Moore Emil Ernebro Albert King |
I don't have an overall favorite... how could I? When I'm in the mood for Hendrix, he's my favorite. Likewise, Freddie King, Grant Green, Ralph Towner, Jeff Beck, Otis Rush, Emily Remler, Richard Thompson, Peter Green, Sonny Sharrock, Duane Allman, Tony Rice, Pat Martino, J. Garcia, Santana, Jimmy Raney, Ronnie Earl, Philip Catherine, Roy Buchanan, Wayne Krantz, J. McLaughlin...
It would make sense to me to ask us to name a favorite guitarist in one genre, but this, I don't understand. . . |
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The first who comes to mind in Rock would be Jerry Cantrell, although I have a lot of love and respect for Johnny Winter and Jimi Hendrix of course. In the world of Jazz, it would have to be Joe Pass. |
It's interesting: Rock'n' Roll was the result of the combining of disparate elements: mostly Jump Blues (a form of Black dance music popular in the late 40's and early 50's, played in Juke Joints in the South. That's the Black music Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, etc. were going to the Jukes to hear. The lead instrument was usually tenor sax, not guitar), Hillbilly (all the Rockabilly guitarists had the same main influence: Merle Travis. On the Moontan album I recorded with Evan Johns---a maniac of a Telecaster player---we did an instrumental song Evan wrote, entitled "Shoot The Merle". Get it? ;-), Pop, and a little Gospel.
Yet the majority of the guitarists mentioned in this thread are primarily Blues-style players. The Yardbirds and Stones, then Cream, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and all the other UK bands (the U.S. musicians following their lead) made non-Blues-based music passe'. Yes, Hendrix (@730waters: show some respect, and spell Jimi's last name correctly ;-) was American, but he came out of England. Jimi's influence amongst other players is unquestionably the greatest of any guitarist to have ever been recorded.
When Dylan went electric, he chose Mike Bloomfield---a very influential American guitarist largely forgotten---as his guitarist. Mike came out of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who did purely Chicago-style Blues. But after his Blonde On Blonde album, Dylan's taste went hard Country. He had already been recording in Nashville, but his John Wesley Harding album went very much against the current in Rock music in 1968: completely devoid of any Blues elements, pure acoustic Hillbilly.
In the wake of the JWH album, and then Music From Big Pink, the Hillbilly strain in Rock 'n' Roll found a new awakening in a growing underground movement in both the U.S. and UK. The music of that movement has endured, and currently resides in the Americana scene. Unlike Blues players, Hillbilly/Country players approach the playing of music in a song-first manner. It was that approach (heard by him in Music From Big Pink) that caused Eric Clapton to completely abandon his Cream-style playing, and move toward the Southern-style playing he heard in that of J.J. Cale. Mark Knopfler obviously likes J.J. a lot, his playing very similar to Cale's.
Jeff Beck is a very interesting player. He has a huge love of Rockabilly, and unlike most of his generation UK players is not really a Blues-based player. Too subtle for most, perhaps, is Ry Cooder. You younger fellas think of Duane Allman when the subject turns to slide guitar playing, but Ry is the true master. He and Jerry Douglas, master of the dobro. |
It's a tie: Jerry Garcia and Dave Gilmour |
My favourite guitarists are Julian Bream and John Williams for classical.
Although I am not a great lover of jazz I still greatly admire two of the greatest jazz guitarists, Joe Pass could do more with a pick than most guitarists could do with four fingers. The other one who I have seen a few times and has the most perfect technique I have ever witnessed is Martin Taylor. He can do things on his instrument that most others can only dream of. In one of his concerts he showed the audience his approach to music. He took one of his tunes and dissected it, by showing us how he would pick out the tune on one of his fingers then he would use his other two fingers to pick out chords and then he used his thumb to pick out the bass. The audience were gobsmacked at this as he layered these pieces together to make some of the most complex arrangements I have ever seen. To cap it all I was in the front row one concert and I had a look at his Guitar a Yamaha semi acoustic and on it near the pick guard was a signature, it said "Martin you are the best Chet Atkins". Enough said. |
It's certainly very interesting to see what qualities people most admire in their favorites and which adjectives they employ when describing these qualities. "The best", "The Greatest", "Perfect", etc. do more to express the poster's enthusiasm than to inform others about the player's actual attributes. We tend to deeply identify with our favorites.
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... which renders us deeply vulnerable to confusing subjective and objective.
We'll say "He/She's the best" when it would be more accurate to say "They appeal to me the most".
The two can become very easily conflated. . . |
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@stuartk Having been a guitarist and lutenist for forty years I would like to say I know a bit about my subject. Please look up Martin Taylor on You tube as it is there for all to see and you will see that he is all I say he is. |
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Posted in here I think a while back.
There is no one guitar player I’m a favorite for.
There are too many to list.
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Chet Atkins album "Stay Tuned" features guest guitarists in duet on different cuts. Song "Sunrise" as example featuring George Benson. Really great!! |
joe pass for straight ahead jazz
larry carlton for fusion jazz and pop
mark knopfler for pop |
I could listen to Chet Atkins play the phonebook.
Jimmy Page is underrated.
I’m a big Steve Hackett fan.
Lindsay Buckingham is uniquely awesome when he is on his game.
Love it when Justin Hayward decides to let it rip. |
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I am very late to this thread, but naming an overall favorite is next to impossible for me.
For example, Allan Holdsworth may be my favorite guitarist (his inventiveness, his technique, those otherworldly chords...), but I certainly wouldn’t want him playing in Steve Hackett’s place in Genesis, or Franco Mussida in PFM. His style, as good as it is for jazz and fusion, he is not a classically influenced, prog guitarist.
I guess, Holdsworth would be the one guitarist I would listen to, if I could only choose one. But that does not make him my overall favorite.
As far as the OP choosing Steve Morse, that is a great choice. One of the best! |
Some great common threads here. I'll throw those who come to mind consistently over the years in no particular order; many are mentioned here. Hendrix, Clapton, Allman, Garcia, Atkins, Pass, Knopfler, Hackett, Lowell George, Peter Green, Gilmour, Howe, Carlos, BB, Leo Kottke, Cooder, Mike Bloomfield, Stills, Wes Montgomery, John Scofield, Roy Buchanan, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Beck, Buddy, Mike Campbell, and Robbie Robertson. |
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P.P.S: -Most underrated guitarist in the history of rock (imop): Ron Wood |
Three final shout outs (promise) to Joe Walsh, David Lindley, and Jesse Ed Davis. |
