Best Guitarists Evah!!!

[EPICURIOUS007]

You don't really care for music,

Do ya?

hallelujah!!!!!

 

[EPICURIOUS007]

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.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQkcBXUH3I2tmkPQCfq4sXWzFhY96sCIZ

 

[mpw]

I'll bite.

Technical abilities, originality, feel, appropriateness of composed (or played) part, consistency of style(s).

Must excel in at least a few of those.

Examples: In the 90's there were a lot of shredders (technical), but other than that, unremarkable. If you took one of those players and put them in a different band you would be hard pressed to be able to identify which of the 100 of them it was. Not saying they are not good players, just not in the "best" category.

To the contrary, when you listen to People Get Ready (Rod Stewart singing) or Beat It (MJ) there is no doubt to who's soloing.

Same goes for any instrument. You can learn parts and play the muted trumpet and still not sound like or inflect like Miles. Or Jaco. When a player is elevated, and becomes the reference in the "he sounds like/plays like" sentence, they get into that "best" category IMHO.

Van Helen meets your criteria .

 

[ahofer]

So for all of you folks making these judgement calls, what characteristics make a great guitarist worthy of "best"?

I put some of them down here

Best Guitarists Evah!!!

Charlie Christian's importance today goes on even though he's long gone from tuberculosis at the age of just 25 in 1942.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[DanielT]

It depends, of course, on how you define it all.
I mean, take Tony Iommi. He’s described like this:
The Iron Man. The Riff Master General. The Godfather of Heavy Metal.

Not a master at playing scales at lightning speed, but rather The Riff Master General.

TONY IOMMI | Official Website

Tony Iommi. The Iron Man. The Riff Master General. The Godfather of Heavy Metal. Discover the music of Tony & Black Sabbath including lyrics and more.

www.iommi.com

There are many great examples of Tony Iommi's masterful riff creation. Here is one of them:

 

[AdrianusG]

It depends, of course, on how you define it all.
I mean, take Tony Iommi. He’s described like this:
The Iron Man. The Riff Master General. The Godfather of Heavy Metal.

Not a master at playing scales at lightning speed, but rather The Riff Master General.

TONY IOMMI | Official Website

Tony Iommi. The Iron Man. The Riff Master General. The Godfather of Heavy Metal. Discover the music of Tony & Black Sabbath including lyrics and more.

www.iommi.com

There are many great examples of Tony Iommi's masterful riff creation. Here is one of them:

If not mentioned yet...

Not in any specific order btw.

Dweezil Zappa ; Steve Lukather ; Alan Holdsworth ; Frank Gambale ; Pat Travers ; Scott Henderson ; Pete haycock ; Jan Akkerman ; Kazumi Watanabe ; Gary Moore ; Michael Schenker ; Roine Stolt ; Al Di Meola ; Denny Dias ; Carl Verheyen (who sounds very similar to Eric Johnson)

 

[Multicore]

It depends, of course, on how you define it all.
I mean, take Tony Iommi. He’s described like this:
The Iron Man. The Riff Master General. The Godfather of Heavy Metal.

Not a master at playing scales at lightning speed, but rather The Riff Master General.

I give Iommi props also for technical innovation, in playing and use of equipment, and, of course, influence. In a sense he's a bit like Django.

War Pigs. Every part of that song is the best.

 

[JayGilb]

I give Iommi props also for technical innovation, in playing and use of equipment, and, of course, influence. In a sense he's a bit like Django.

War Pigs. Every part of that song is the best.

Here's one of my favorite covers.

 

[DanielT]

If not mentioned yet...

Not in any specific order btw.

Dweezil Zappa ; Steve Lukather ; Alan Holdsworth ; Frank Gambale ; Pat Travers ; Scott Henderson ; Pete haycock ; Jan Akkerman ; Kazumi Watanabe ; Gary Moore ; Michael Schenker ; Roine Stolt ; Al Di Meola ; Denny Dias ; Carl Verheyen (who sounds very similar to Eric Johnson)

Lots of great, talented players. A solid list. You included Dweezil Zappa but not his dad; I actually rate the dad higher. Frank had a guitar sound that was instantly recognizable.

Frank Zappa played quite wildly but could—if he wanted to—play with more restraint. For instance, here—with guitar work that I actually think would appeal even to fans of David Gilmour’s more restrained (yet full of feeling) style:

 

[DanielT]

Speaking of covers—and the original—that streaming ticket I bought to watch this concert last year was worth every penny:

Back to the Beginning concert, anyone there?! Please tell us about the experience.

Back to the Beginning is an ongoing concert by English rock band Black Sabbath, with a number of supporting artists, and is taking place on 5 July 2025 at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham.[1] It is intended to be the final concert for both the band and lead singer Ozzy Osbourne.[2] This will...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Many talented musicians performed. Naturally, the highlight was when Black Sabbath performed with their original lineup.

I think Lamb of God performed the best Black Sabbath cover—Children of the Grave—at that concert.

 

[Krusty09]

I think one player who is often overlooked that is very good maybe not the best is Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze. He someway always surprised me.

 

[Wesseling Audio Lab]

Zappa plays Zappa live shows. We Really enjoyed it

 

[Wesseling Audio Lab]

Interesting that Steve Vai was hired by Frank to transcribe his solo's

 

[Wesseling Audio Lab]

T Pain War Pigs is great. thanks for that
but I do have major dissatisfaction( I want to use foul language) with a lot of video production. I just simply want to see the band performing with quality steady video, maybe a few camera angles(mostly macro) with smooth switching between them. Some on Youtube are so annoying that I don't watch do to useless video production that adds zero value to the enjoyment but is simply distracting visual noise

 

[AdrianusG]

Lots of great, talented players. A solid list. You included Dweezil Zappa but not his dad; I actually rate the dad higher. Frank had a guitar sound that was instantly recognizable.

Frank Zappa played quite wildly but could—if he wanted to—play with more restraint. For instance, here—with guitar work that I actually think would appeal even to fans of David Gilmour’s more restrained (yet full of feeling) style:

You are of course absolutely right, Frank should have been included, although i personally rank his Son higher, more versatile, (personnel preference)

 

[boswell]

Frank Zappa was innovative (as was Hendrix as was Peter Green et. al.) and it is hard to make comparisons with recent younger players who had others prior work available when they developed as musicians and are simply delivering it with more finesse and variation.
I guess I am saying it is a skill versus creativity thing. You can't get skilled in that not yet created.
Hot Rats from 1969 was just so different at the time for example and has some magic guitar but so much more.

 

[DanielT]

Frank Zappa was innovative (as was Hendrix as was Peter Green et. al.) and it is hard to make comparisons with recent younger players who had others prior work available when they developed as musicians and are simply delivering it with more finesse and variation.
I guess I am saying it is a skill versus creativity thing. You can't get skilled in that not yet created.
Hot Rats from 1969 was just so different at the time for example and has some magic guitar but so much more.

Spot on.

 

[Gio-G]

There simply isn't a "best". It has no meaning as most listening is subjective.

Best at what? Speed and accuracy? Composing, feel, or the ability to copy another guitar player's licks?

Yngwie Malmsteen is an incredible player. I remember being one of the first if not the first in my area to own his solo release. I got hooked on him when he played for Alcatraz. I can honestly only listen to him for short periods. I find him technical and overall excellent but the style is boring and repetitive IMO. Not everything he does, but the neo-classical stuff seems to leave "emotion and feel" (subjective) out of it for my taste. He's awesome though and I like him if that makes sense, just not for long listening sessions.

Jimmy Page is a player I adore. He is often sloppy, but that makes his style unique and to a certain extent, Ed Van Halen could be sloppy, although he was usually under the influence and it was often during live performances. In the studio he was sharp.

Jimmy Page wrote excellent music as did Ed. Ed is also a sensational rhythm player.

If you were to define best, the criteria would probably have to be based on the technical aspects of playing. Classical guitar has a very "schooled" approach. The blues,,, not so much. But can the true classical musician go play the blues and blow you away? Maybe some, and vice versa for the blues player.

There's probably an unknown out there that can play every style to a T and we'll never know who they are.

I can't and won't pick a best. Somebody mentioned earlier that "favorite" and best are completely different and I agree. My favorites change frequently as does my mood and that's the beauty of music.

All of the above is just my opinion. I love guitar and some of the artists mentioned here, I've semi forgotten about or have never heard. Now that I have a dig them.

Here's a solo that I've always enjoyed. Neil is not the center of the band, Pat is but he's the music mastermind. He's rarely mentioned as a "Top Guitar Player" but listen to this slick little solo that totally fits the song.

One thing I like a lot about really good and humble guitar players is that they always find something good to say about another player.

My silly rant is over. I love music of all kinds and players as well.

EDIT:
Thankfully there is an edit option here. That rant was filled with misspelled words, some were auto corrected to words I didn't want to use at all.

I'm not offended if anybody thinks I'm an illiterate moron. I have it coming after what was first posted LOL!

 

[mpw]

How about Keith Richards with all his great riffs, Duane Allman short life but a great player, Derek Trucks, Dickie Betts. Riche Blackmore, Joe Bonamasa( owns more vintage Fender amps then anyone else). Leo Kottke great 12 string acoustic player, Gerry Garcia ...

 

[Gio-G]

How about Keith Richards with all his great riffs, Duane Allman short life but a great player, Derek Trucks, Dickie Betts. Riche Blackmore, Joe Bonamasa( owns more vintage Fender amps then anyone else). Leo Kottke great 12 string acoustic player, Gerry Garcia ...

Nice list.
Derek Trucks is arguably one of the, if not the top slide player on the scene today.

I'll be using this thread as a reference when I want to search up some guitarists I haven't heard in a while, or have never heard of.

I'm also a huge fan of John Sykes, and I liked Randy Rhodes as well.