Who is your overall favorite guitarist?


At 44 years of age, I personally feel fortunate to have lived in an era along with some of the finest guitarists who have ever lived. I have always had an overwhelming love of music. As I look back to my earlier years of music appreciation (I took formal piano training for 17 years) I remember how my instructor would suggest exposing myself to the many different styles and disciplines of music.

These were such valuable words of wisdom. Considering the fact that this suggestion, more or less, forced me to be more open to musicians other than those that played in strictly rock and roll bands.

Wow, was I surprised to find that I could be as entertained by Chet Atkins and Les Paul as I could be by Ritchie Blackmore or Carlos Santana. Just think about some of the finest from our time. Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Johnson, Steve Howe, Al DiMeola, the list could seem almost endless. All such incredible musicians.

Although it's very hard to pick one person or style in particular, let's remember the key words, "overall favorite".
I would probably have to say that my overall favorite would have to be Steve Morse (from Dixie Dregs fame).

Who is your favorite?
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Three final shout outs (promise) to Joe Walsh, David Lindley, and Jesse Ed Davis.
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.
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!
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.
joe pass for straight ahead jazz
larry carlton for fusion jazz and pop
mark knopfler for pop
Chet Atkins album "Stay Tuned" features guest guitarists in duet on different cuts. Song "Sunrise" as example featuring George Benson. Really great!!
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. 
   
@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.
... 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. . . 
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. 






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 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. 
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.
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. . . 
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. 
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.
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.
I am once again reminded of how few people have heard Danny Gatton. He is one of the "Pro's Pro" guitarists, one who was nicknamed The Humbler by a "pretty good" guitarist himself, Vince Gill. Dave Edmunds is a big fan of Albert Lee, and he's not alone. I saw Albert in the late-90's at a little club on the coast between L.A. and Santa Barbara, and the place was packed with guitarists watching his hands.
John McLaughlin deserves a mention for his playing with Miles Davis and then the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I saw him in concert with the M.O. in 1974 at the Vancouver Colosseum. 
Frank Marino #1
Rory Gallagher #1
Gary Moore #2
Joe Satriani #3
Al Dimeola #4
Jimmy Page #5
Allan Holdsworth  #6
Jimmy Hendricks #7



I haven't heard at any length many of the guitarists mentioned previously, but the guitarists I enjoy listening to the most (recordings and live) is Phil Keaggy.  So he'd be my favorite.

After him, I also really enjoy listening to Mark Knopfler, early Pat Metheny, Roy Buchanan, Leo Kottke, SRV.  I'm sure if I listen more, I'll be able to add many more names.

I can't really like a guitarist's performance unless I also like the music.

Guitar is obviously the most important instrument in Blues and Rock music. But prior to the mid-60’s, it’s primary function, it’s role in the making of Rock ’n’ Roll (as opposed to Rock), was NOT the playing of a solo. First Clapton and then Beck in The Yardbirds, then Hendrix, Clapton and Peter Green in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and Page (along with many other guitarists) changed that. Their Blues-based playing (George Harrison was a Chet Atkins/Carl Perkins/Scotty Moore/James Burton influenced player, Keith Richards almost purely Chuck Berry) brought the guitar solo front-and-center, and a guitarist’s talent became at that time assessed first-and-foremost in terms of his abilities at playing a Blues-scale solo.

In 1971 I had had it with jamming, and made a considered, deliberate decision to involve myself exclusively with songwriters, singers, and musicians who were focused on the playing of superior songs. I was not alone in that; Nick Lowe was following that path in The Brinsley Schwartz Band, Richard Thompson the same in Fairport Convention (though he could and did play great solos. Not Blues-scale ones, however.), as did the guys in Fleetwood Mac after Peter Green left, Moby Grape, Spirit, Little Feat, NRBQ, and many others. In my opinion, many of them made that decision after hearing Music From Big Pink, but that’s another story ;-) .

But the influence of The Yardbirds, Cream, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin remained overwhelming. The style of guitar playing found in the music of those artists (and those they influenced) was the new norm. I sadly watched as the departure of pianist Matthew Fisher from the great Procol Harum resulted in the guitar playing of Robin Trower shift from contributing excellent song parts to, yes, primarily playing Blues-scale solos. Procol Harum, a group whose music with Matthew Fisher had been song-focused, and those songs Classically-informed. Trower’s subsequent guitar playing turned Procol Hrum into just another white Blues-based band. What a shame.

In 1974, I was talked into jamming by a guitarist I had met. He had a nice Gibson L-5 (the guitar Jerry Miller played in Moby Grape, a fantastic instrument), so I figured how bad could he be? He was terrible. He brought along another guitarist who, while better, was just another average Blues player. I cut the jam short, and mentioned The Band, to give them an idea of the kind of work I was looking for. The second guitarist said something to the effect that he didn’t think much of Band guitarist Robbie Robertson’s playing. I started pointing out examples of what I considered great guitar playing on the Band’s albums, and all I got out of the guy was a blank stare. I then realized, the guy related only---solely---to guitar playing in terms of Blues-scale solos. All Robbie’s beautiful, musical, song-enhancing guitar parts were wasted on him. Pearls before swine.

If you are into jazz you have to mention Martin Taylor I have been to many of his concerts and what he does with a guitar has to be seen to be believed you literally would think there were three guitarists playing. The guy is a pure magician, definitely a musicians musician.
Oh my ... only one overall? ... um ... Michael Bloomfield! ... no wait ... Grant Green! ... no wait ... Albert King! ... no wait ... Rory Block! ... no wait ... Duane Allman! ... now wait ... SRV!, no wait ... Never mind. 
Gary Moore!! Come on guys, he can squeeze more emotion out of those strings than most!
Ha, cool Fargo reference there @tostadosunidos ;-) . @dentdog may have been thinking was that Les Paul invented the electric guitar, but even that assertion would be incorrect. What Les DID invent was the multi-track tape recorder.
"Les Paul, cause he invented it."
I'm not sure I agree with your detective work there, dentdog. 
I have to go with Danny Gatton, too. I only saw him live once, but it changed my world.

Depending on your tastes in genre, you might pick Paco, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, Tal Farlow or Pierre Bensusan. All perfectly good choices. But Gatton blows me away.

^ Paco de Lucia RIP

Chuck Berry the creator of rock´n´roll guitar style died yesterday.

Thanks for Rock´n´Roll Music RIP
Paco de Lucia is dead. Here's what I consider his very best performance. I never heard anyone play like that. The quality or the recording is poor but you can hear the essense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-aV9eWP20&index=128&list=FLHAEL8Iwz684WaGFx1rQchA
Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Robin Trower, George Benson, Al Demiola, Eric Clapton.
I did a three night gig a couple of years back with Jonny Kaplan, and he was getting great tone out of his simple set-up: A Les Paul Jr. (with two P-90 pickups) into a current Deluxe Reverb cranked just enough to put a little bite into the sound. Just enough sustain, too. He's the rhythm guitarist in his band, and that set-up worked really well for his brand of country-rock/Stones style music.
Im saving up for a Swart amp.Not that expensive compared to the Matchless I wanted ,but sounds very good.
I'll look into those Marty. I have been meaning to go play the Epiphone version of the J-200, which is pretty cheap, though how it sounds I don't know.

Tostado, I've never heard an AC-15 by itself, only as a group of amps. Speaking of which, have you ever seen Ry Cooder live? He has a whole pile of little combo amps, switching between them for different songs. I saw/heard him with Little Village, and his playing was just fantastic. Ry is probably my all-around favorite guitarist, now that I think of it.
If you're looking for a J-200, you should try to find a Kopp Trail Boss to compare. Kevin Kopp is an ex-Gibson guy who makes great (and unfortunately very expensive) variations on the standard Gibson models. The Trail Boss is his take on the J-200, but he adds a 12 fret neck. It ends up sounding like a (very beautifully finished) J-200 on steroids. You do give up some upper fret access, tho. Either way, if you can find one to try (and that's tricky given the very limited distribution) the Trail Boss is a very cool instrument.

BTW, Rainsong does something similar in carbon fiber body. Not nearly as cool looking, but a great sounding guitar at not much more than half the price of a J-200.