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Best Guitarists Evah!!!

DanielT said:
Superbly played by two guitar giants.John McLaughlin and..? Guess who. Maybe quite easily because he has such a recognizable guitar sound.:)

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Django Reinhardt? Duh, can't be him-he died in 1953.
 
Jazz: Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessle

Fusion: Mike Stern, Greg Howe, Jeff Beck

Rock, gun slingers/lead specific: Vai, Satriani

Rock, rhythm: SRV, Walter Becker, Joe Perry (but not live)

Rock, melodic: Neil Schon, Gary Richwrath, Lukather

Not-much-into-their-music-but-man-the-talent: Holdsworth, McLaughlin
 
Sal1950 said:
Naw, Jimi was pretty good at sticking his guitar into the amp and turning the Star Spangled Banner into a bunch of ear bleeding noise.
But David Gilmour knows how to use the strings to play actual notes and chords. JK Ya
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You don't really care for music,

Do ya?
 
AA63 said:
Jazz: Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessle

Fusion: Mike Stern, Greg Howe, Jeff Beck

Rock, gun slingers/lead specific: Vai, Satriani

Rock, rhythm: SRV, Walter Becker, Joe Perry (but not live)

Rock, melodic: Neil Schon, Gary Richwrath, Lukather

Not-much-into-their-music-but-man-the-talent: Holdsworth, McLaughlin
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Good list, but Dann Huff more than belongs in it. Also Ian Thornley for Alternative and other genres. Obviously, Eric Johnson and Eddie Van Halen belong somewhere.
 
Robin L said:
You don't really care for music,

Do ya?
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Nope, I've only spent a small fortune on it over the last 60 years to look at the purdy boxes..

Of the 4000+ albums in my library I've only got 1 Hendrix, the Electric Ladyland bluray simply to hear the Atmos mix.
One and done it was for me.
Are you so big a Hendrix fan you can't stand any negative opinions?
 
Carlos Santana and Bill Nelson are right up there. There is technical ability and musicality. These two guys are a great combination of both
 
Sal1950 said:
Nope, I've only spent a small fortune on it over the last 60 years to look at the purdy boxes..

Of the 4000+ albums in my library I've only got 1 Hendrix, the Electric Ladyland bluray simply to hear the Atmos mix.
One and done it was for me.
Are you so big a Hendrix fan you can't stand any negative opinions?
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There's only one hendrix, there are lots of DGs!

DG would say Hendrix was better or even the best, Hendrix would say nobody is the best. They were both right ;)
 
Eric Johnson is a great guitarist. He really shows that in Cliffs of Dover. What I also really like about the song is that it puts me in a good mood. It has a lovely melody. It’s been a while since I last heard it, but I get the same feeling now—starting at the 2:40 mark in the video::)

 
Robin L said:
You don't really care for music,

Do ya?
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I’ve noticed that for @Sal1950 it’s Gilmour or nothing, almost as if Gilmour is the only guitarist to ever play a heartfelt solo and somehow pointing out other good guitarists is an insult to his good name. I love his style, and his string-bending technique is just about as good as it gets, but man is there ever a lot more to the world of soulful and innovative guitar than David Gilmour. He’s the best, and in some ways the first, at the somewhat narrow thing that he does. I feel similarly about Clapton and some of the great blues guitarists. Or Al Dimeola, although his stuff leaves me cold.

It demonstrates the futility of the search for the ‘best Evah’. Most of the candidates are innovators who added something new to guitar vocabulary. In this sense Hendrix is a giant. But even technically tepid guitarists could be tone innovators - like George Harrison.

The studio greats, like Larry Carlton, Steve Khan, Dean Parks, Michael Landau, or the omnivores like Guthrie Govan, they can play a hundred different styles and craft a perfect solo on the spot, never “mailing it in”. I personally tend to be more impressed by that because of the sheer chops and energy, but you need both types to grow the art.
 
DanielT said:
Eric Johnson is a great guitarist. He really shows that in Cliffs of Dover. What I also really like about the song is that it puts me in a good mood. It has a lovely melody. It’s been a while since I last heard it, but I get the same feeling now—starting at the 2:40 mark in the video::)

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ten thousand hours of playing scales pays off there :)
 
ahofer said:
I’ve noticed that for @Sal1950 it’s Gilmour or nothing, almost as if Gilmour is the only guitarist to ever play a heartfelt solo and somehow pointing out other good guitarists is an insult to his good name. I love his style, and his string-bending technique is just about as good as it gets, but man is there ever a lot more to the world of soulful and innovative guitar than David Gilmour. He’s the best, and in some ways the first, at the somewhat narrow thing that he does. I feel similarly about Clapton and some of the great blues guitarists. Or Al Dimeola, although his stuff leaves me cold.

It demonstrates the futility of the search for the ‘best Evah’. Most of the candidates are innovators who added something new to guitar vocabulary. In this sense Hendrix is a giant. But even technically tepid guitarists could be tone innovators - like George Harrison.

The studio greats, like Larry Carlton, Steve Khan, Dean Parks, Michael Landau, or the omnivores like Guthrie Govan, they can play a hundred different styles and craft a perfect solo on the spot, never “mailing it in”. I personally tend to be more impressed by that because of the sheer chops and energy, but you need both types to grow the art.
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George Harrison should be on the list great guitar players with 2 of best rock/pop composers in Lennon/McCartney.
Clapton for sure. Jazz Jim Hall.
 
ahofer said:
I’ve noticed that for @Sal1950 it’s Gilmour or nothing, almost as if Gilmour is the only guitarist to ever play a heartfelt solo and somehow pointing out other good guitarists is an insult to his good name.
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Oh my, we have a Best Guitarists Evah !!! thread and since I list David as my personal fav, I'm a dog. All the while we have a 28 page thread full of folks doing the exact same thing about their fav's? Sounds much more like we have a few here with an agenda other than the focus of the thread. Or some who get their panties in a bunch over my disrespect of Hendrix, LOL. Folks have listed a ton of great guitarists here which I would also agree on. Still, IMHO Hendrix is a greatly overrated hack who's biggest talent was making a lot of what to me was unmusical noise and feedback. No thank you. ;)
 
There's really no such thing as "best" IMO. There are so many extremely talented players out there and they all have their own style, they have different areas of expertise and they play different kinds of music.

I have a different favorite to choose from depending on the day and what I'm in the mood for. Back when I was a younger lad, I was only into hard rock, and then heavy metal. These days I appreciate talent and music from a wide variety of styles. My father was always telling me how great these two players were back in the day.



Here's a fella that isn't mentioned a lot but was/is a great player IMO.


I have looked at this whole thread and have discovered incredible players I'd not heard of.

Fun thread.
 
mpw said:
George Harrison should be on the list great guitar players with 2 of best rock/pop composers in Lennon/McCartney.
Clapton for sure. Jazz Jim Hall.
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Well, if you narrow it to Jazz, I’d rank them as follows:

1) George Benson. Combination of great chops plus wonderful melodic and rhythmic invention. Best timing and touch in the biz, IMO.
2) Joe Pass. Both an innovator on solo guitar and a monster player
3) Wes Montgomery (cited by literally every modern jazz player and a bunch of good rockers as an influence. Peter Frampton, Rick Mitarotonda, Andy Summers, e.g.)
4) Pat Metheny. Innovator, great melodic soloist
5) Martino, Hall, Farlow, Kessel, Peter Bernstein, Django, Charlie Christian and probably a few others. Julian Lage, but he may end up even further up the list as his career goes on

But I’d be first to admit ranking is a flawed and subjective practice. They are all giants and might be the best in a given moment.
 
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Sal1950 said:
Oh my, we have a Best Guitarists Evah !!! thread and since I list David as my personal fav, I'm a dog. All the while we have a 28 page thread full of folks doing the exact same thing about their fav's? Sounds much more like we have a few here with an agenda other than the focus of the thread. Or some who get their panties in a bunch over my disrespect of Hendrix, LOL. Folks have listed a ton of great guitarists here which I would also agree on. Still, IMHO Hendrix is a greatly overrated hack who's biggest talent was making a lot of what to me was unmusical noise and feedback. No thank you. ;)
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LOL. Nobody said anything about ‘dog’. But you are *very* loyal. I do think that’s a lousy characterization of Hendrix, whom DG knew and rather admired…

 
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