Who's the best guitarist ever?

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  • Reply 21 of 117
    mlnjrmlnjr Posts: 230member
    In no particular order:



    Trey Anastasio

    Ryan Adams

    Stanley Jordan

    Walter Becker

    Jeff "Skunk" Baxter

    Wolfgang Muthspiel



    That's right. both one half of Steely Dan and a celebrated Steely Dan session player make the list.



    As for dead musicians: Nick Drake.



    Jerry Garcia? Yawn.

    Eric Clapton? His career peaked with MTV Unplugged

    Carlos Santana? Hoping Michelle Branch's fans will buy his records = Way past his prime.
  • Reply 22 of 117
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Moogs

    Eric Clapton shouldn't even be on the invite list. I don't know where people get the idea he's this amazing guitarist. Yes his stuff is pretty distinctive sounding and he's a great song writer, but he's not even close to being one of the best guitarists in the world.



    i seriously don't see how you can say that.



    Listen to the Jams CD on the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs Box Set or Live at the Fillmore or any Live Cream and tell me he should not even be on the invite list.



    Clapton never plays a bad note. He's amazing clean, extremely creative, smooth, you name it... he can do it.



    He can adjust from heavy to jazz to acoustic to blues to pop to whatever.





    Jimmy Page is of course amazing but he certainly wasn't a clean playing guitarist. Different style.



    I don't know. This is too hard to judge. Waste of time to try to decide
  • Reply 23 of 117
    Me.
  • Reply 24 of 117
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I say Tim Reynolds, too. I have heard him do stuff with a guitar that I didn't think was possible.



    If you get the chance sometime, listen to "Live at Luther College," the album he did with Dave Matthews. Track 2 ("Stream") on Disc 2 will blow your mind. He gets to a point in it where you would SWEAR that there have to be two guitarists, but it's just him. Wow.
  • Reply 25 of 117
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Bioflavonoid

    Me.



    ahhh yes, the legend of lakewood....
  • Reply 26 of 117
    enaena Posts: 667member
    Steve Howe

    Trevor Rabin





    I can't believe you guys missed them!
  • Reply 27 of 117
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Dale Sorel

    That's an easy question...Eric Clapton of course 8)



    You obviouusly don't really know much about guitar playing . . . or the blues . . . Eric Clapton is amazingly OVER RATED . . . amazingly so . . . his styly is languid, his chops are hack and tend towards cliche and his song writing is terrible with the exception of a few good songs with Cream and Derick and the Dominoes . . .





    just reviewed the thread and very glad to see MOOGS who sees through the smog!!!!



    right on Moogs.
  • Reply 28 of 117
    enaena Posts: 667member
    Let's not forget the classics:



    Andre Segovia

    Christopher Parkening



    ......as good as it gets.
  • Reply 29 of 117
    Quote:

    Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar

    ahhh yes, the legend of lakewood....



  • Reply 30 of 117
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BR

    Tom Morello.



    OMG That's wut I wuz going 2 say! We R liek twnz!



    Well "best" I think is completely ridiculous to even discuss, what the hell does it even mean?



    But my favorite is Morello. That guy is rokken like Dokken.
  • Reply 31 of 117
    enaena Posts: 667member
    Oh wait!



    Steven Stills

    Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme)

    Lindsay Buckingham

    Paul Barrere (Little Feat)

    Duane Allman

    Ronny Montrose
  • Reply 32 of 117
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    There's just no way to tell who is the best pop/rock/blues guitarist, because those genres just don't put anyone's abilities to the test. Yes, I'm a dick for saying that. But it's true.



    This is not true . . . anything can become about skill and talent and creativity . . . even if it were a genre of one note music



    there would be people who would understand that one note and pluck it perfectly while others would only copy them




    Truly good guitar playing transcends "ability" and "technique" and becomes voice, style and sheer creation



    And there are many truly amazing voices in Jazz in rock and in blues



    Clearly the best, and his live albums and bootlegs show it is:



    Jimi Hendrix



    He took the medium to a truly epic place: his playing transcended the genre and became an artistic act . . . hell they are works of LITERATURE of high magnitude



    Version of Machine from the film sountrack album

    The version of Are You Experienced from the Concerts Album . . . (not the intro but the middle part)

    THEY ARE SUBLIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





    There are also some real Blues Masters whos playing is phenomenal . . . they wouldn't be able to play a Back Etude . . . . But a classical master would sound like a fool trying to grasp their work as well . . .
  • Reply 33 of 117
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar

    buddy guy maybe too, i once saw buddy play an open air date that had train tracks run parallel to the stage, and sure enough midway through buddy's set a train blasted it's horn as it was passing by, deftly buddy and the band shifted keys to the key the train horn sounded in and proceeded to duet with the locomotive into the distance. i will never forget it.





    That's not as hard as it sounds
  • Reply 34 of 117
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    And also add that Stevee Ray Vaughn was good but he was really just another in a whole row of immitator blues guitarists . . . post Hendrix . .(randy Travers, Robin Trower etc etc) . . . who missunderstood where Hendrix's real genius lie : not just in fast blues runs but in tradition-deep invention and contact with the spirit of the blues . . .



    SRVaughn was a Blues-Bar guitarist



    The only guitarist that comes close to the depth of Hendrix is a SAXOPHONIST - - - and that is, of course, John Coltrane
  • Reply 35 of 117
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pfflam

    That's not as hard as it sounds



    i didn't say it was hard.

    i said it was memorable.

    besides the train only knew one note.
  • Reply 36 of 117
    enaena Posts: 667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pfflam



    Jimi Hendrix



    I agree---too bad he couldn't put down the sauce---he made a huge impact.....



    Moon Turn The Tides, Gently



    8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
  • Reply 37 of 117
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by applenut

    or any Live Cream and



    I was 17 and learning guitar . . . it was when I heard Live Cream, after going through the other Cream stuff, that I knew that Eric Clapton was NOT A GREAT GUITARIST



    listen to his endless aimless rambling, he has no sense of developing a phrase or building an arc . . . no sense of developing a story with his playing . . . he strings together some cliched blues riffs and that's it . . . .aimless . .



    if improvisation is the story then the player has to be able to develope and speak in sentences that lead to paragraphs that lead to stories that mean something:



    Hendrix

    Zappa was actually an incredibly inventive and poetic soloist

    Mark Ribaud (sp?)
  • Reply 38 of 117
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pfflam

    I was 17 and learning guitar . . . it was when I heard Live Cream, after going through the other Cream stuff, that I knew that Eric Clapton was NOT A GREAT GUITARIST



    listen to his endless aimless rambling, he has no sense of developing a phrase or building an arc . . . no sense of developing a story with his playing . . . he strings together some cliched blues riffs and that's it . . . .aimless . .



    if improvisation is the story then the player has to be able to develope and speak in sentences that lead to paragraphs that lead to stories that mean something:



    Hendrix

    Zappa was actually an incredibly inventive and poetic soloist

    Mark Ribaud (sp?)




    with your logic I would say Raffi is the best guitarist ever :-)



    Baby Beluga......



    got i love Raffi
  • Reply 39 of 117
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pfflam

    I was 17 and learning guitar . . . it was when I heard Live Cream, after going through the other Cream stuff that I knew that Eric Clapton was NOT A GREAT GUITARIST



    listen to his endless aimless rambling, he has know sense of developing a phrase and building an arc . . . no sense of developing a story with his playing . . . he strings together some cliched blues riffs and that's it . . . .aimless . .



    if improvisation is the story then the player has to be able to develope and speak in sentences that lead to paragraphs that lead to stories that mean something:



    Hendrix

    Zappa was actually an incredibly inventive and poetic soloist

    Mark Ribaud (sp?)




    i think clapton might agree with you regarding cream.

    marc ribot

    if you're talking about the guy who plays with waits, and yes he's fantastic. so was frank.
  • Reply 40 of 117
    dale soreldale sorel Posts: 186member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pfflam

    You obviouusly don't really know much about guitar playing . . .



    Hey, it's a freakin' Internet forum already...why am I supposed to know anything about guitar playing



    Still, Vaughn is a close second to Clapton
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