Whose The Best Guitar Player Ever?

[M.D. Holloway]

Our Son asked me this question - told him it really depends on your definition of best. But he insisted that there must be one that stands out from the others.

I don't really know. Any ideas?

[slodave]

Andrés Segovia?

[GDSOB]

Whoever you like the best. It depends on my mood.

[legion]

I always liked Jimi. It's not so much just the guitar playing with him, but how he fit lyrics with his guitar playing.

I think David Gilmour has the best melodies. They just flow. I don't know how else to describe it.

Eric Clapton had some really cool-sounding stuff, especially with Cream. Some really inventive songs. I always loved White Room. The kazoos sound like a steam whistle and the drumming sounds like a train hitting random gaps in the track. The guitar playing melds the illusion into a song.

Trey Anastasio is a chameleon. He can play anybody's song better then they can play it themselves. He can jam. He can play bluegrass. He can play Beastie Boys.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

Our Son asked me this question - told him it really depends on your definition of best. But he insisted that there must be one that stands out from the others.

I don't really know. Any ideas?

Tell him you that are, and that you'll play for him if he's a good boy.

Best,

Kurt

[legion]

"Real guitars are for old people..."

[Flatbutt1]

Classical: John Williams
Flamenco: Paco de Lucia
Jazz: Stanley Jordan
Rock: to many to choose from,Jimi, Iyngwe,Nafler,Thomson,

[Sonic dB]

guitar is such a versitile instrument and can be played in so many styles... it is hard to say who is "best" without breaking it down into genres, and even then there are millions of guys in each genre, lots of guys we never have heard of.... I mean there could be a jazz or blues guy in India who is the greatest ever but we dont hear his music.

Anyway, lately Ive been leaning towards Lenny Breau, as the greatest all-around guitarist that I have heard... his repitoire was mostly jazz but he could also play flamenco, classical, country rock etc. very well guy was a natural.

There is a difference between this type of virtuoso, and a rock guy (in most cases)... a lot of rock legends are virtuoso's with their 'sound' or their songwriting, or what they played within that genre, and their image / attitude etc....but the true virtuoso who studies his instrument for all techniques, chords, soloing, improvisation... you have to look to the jazz world for that in most cases.

[rammstein]

Tons of greats out there. But IMO, nobody will ever touch Hendrix. Ever.

[Sonic dB]

Im gonna get skewered here... Jimi was a sonic genius, I absolutely love a lot of his music and what he did....the guy could play rock and blues like a m'fer and had no peer at his peak, even Clapton couldnt touch Jimi...but I can not put him in the same class as a top notch jazzer such as my affore mentioned Lenny Breau, simply because Jimi could not handle the sophisticated chord changes of modern jazz, could not improvise over those changes or come up with complex chord substitutions on the spot during improvisation let alone use his right hand fingers fingerstyle picking that could basically accomplish anything he wanted... no Jimi had his limits but ONLY because he chose to focus on the blues/rock genre... had Jimi had the education and discipline to learn the styles of classical and jazz and flamenco, I certainly believe he had the mental capacity to master them...however he did not do so and in fact barely even touched other genres in any of his playing...., therefore I can not consider him to be the greatest single guitarist of all time.

[on-ramp]

Slash

[Zeke]

No mention of Stevie Ray? I guess there is technique and then there's connection. Maybe some of these cats couldn't play as well as others, but they got the point across.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I was actually going to suggest SRV. Satriani comes to mind too.

[carrera84]

John McLaughlin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yq-VuteALM



- Jeff Beck - Alvin Lee ----

[Christien]

I look at it in two ways, technical ability and expressive ability. I think Satriani would take it for technical ability - his chops always impress me, but like Chinese food I'm left wanting more, because there's little expressivity. Expressive ability would be tough to nail down. I don't think Clapton would get it, nor SRV. It would probably come from the blues world. The best musicians are well stocked in both, and use the technical to achieve greater heights of the expressive. Hendrix is definitely near the top here.

I think Slash might enter this territory in another 10 or 20 years. He hadamazing technical ability even as far back as Appetite, but not lacking in expressive ability as well. A few more years of life experience and performing, and I think so long as he doesn't drink himself to death he could find himself among the ranks of the true greats.

[ZOA NOM]

I've always like Malmsteen

[livi]

The above are all top ten in my book, where I would further put,

Robben Ford, BB King, Keith Richards and Mark Knopfler.

[targa911S]

HAd to start this again? No correct answer to it.

How about Mac or PC?

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by milt

No mention of Stevie Ray? I guess there is technique and then there's connection. Maybe some of these cats couldn't play as well as others, but they got the point across.

Always liked Al DiMeola, SRV could flat play, Jimi was it though if you ask me, could do the most with a guitar.

[the]

Originally Posted by targa911S

HAd to start this again? No correct answer to it.

How about Mac or PC?

I agree, it's already been done here.

But how about this one: Who is the WORST "rich and famous" (i.e., a guy who has become rich and famous playing guitar in a band) guitar player?