Whose The Best Guitar Player Ever?
 

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?

Andrés Segovia?

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

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.

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

Best,

Kurt :cool:

"Real guitars are for old people..."

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

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.


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

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.

Slash

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.

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

John McLaughlin

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



- Jeff Beck - Alvin Lee ----

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.

I've always like Malmsteen

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

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

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

How about Mac or PC?

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

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?

James Marshall Hendrix.

Joe Satriani

check out this live version of Summer Song

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The Edge.

If you've seen U2 live, you'll know.

At one time, I would have. SRV introduced me to a lot of music that I will listen to for the rest of my life, but I don't remember the last time I've listened to one of his CDs. This is backwards logic, but every time I hear and SRV song on the radio these days, the first thing that pops into my mind is John Mayer's guitar face :)

I know there are jazzers bussing tables in a dozen different cities around the world that would cut Jimi Hendrix off at the knees, but nobody has ever plugged an electric guitar into an amplifier and changed things the way he did.

best I ever saw was Joe Pass.

Jimi wasn't a guitar player. He was a sonic genius from another planet.

The best depends on individual tastes. Hell, somebody wrote something about Jimi Hendrix learning Flamenco? I'm picturing a duet with Charo right now! I don't know about the best but honorable mention, Robert Cray, Kenny Wayne Shephard, Sonny Landreth? George whoever, that used to be on Saturday Nite Live did a lot of studio work with heavyweights.

One more for the Hendrix camp.

Edge (David Evans) is a decent choice too. He's up there. Maybe not the best of all time, but certainly a true innovator. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else with so much of an ability to track timing. He revolutionized the use of delay and turned it into a beautiful augmentation for the sound of the instrument. Very difficult to play well/effectively with lots of delay effects (try it sometime!) His technical ability isn't too bad either.

Esteban?

Its interesting, because best player ever leaves a lot open to interpretation.

Here's how I look at it-

If I could only hear ONE guitar player for the rest of my life, who would it be? I can hear any of their work, as often as I want, but nobody else.

It has to be Hendrix for me. It just feels incredibly good to hear the man play.

Al DiMeola, Allan Holdsworth, John Mclaughlin.

Ginger or Mary Ann? :D

Although I enjoy these threads much more than the repetitive political circle jerk threads.

You guys have named some awesome players already, but I think Carlos Santana has to get some mention also.......................

Thad; you should hear some of his acoustic work.

Roy Clark.

I used to play.. I met Al DiMeola once in Dallas back in the mid 80's went to his show that
night.... never picked up a guitar again !

The edge is creative but technically he is nothing special. Many guitar players could and do play circles around the guy just look at the Joe Satriani video I posted.

Jerry Garcia....forever
 

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Nicely said. :)

Someone you probably never heard of. Even Satriani brings the guy into the studio to lay licks.

Alex Skolnick