Oh, but I just love this song. Every aspect of it makes me feel good.(drifting away on my memory of this tune)
Thanks for the comments regarding the Hendrix - both for and against. The point was to forward the discussion, and I appreciate how you folks have pushed it past that.
Yep, rating guitarists and sols - or ANY form of art or artist - is worthy only if it gets the participants thinking and enables greater understanding of the art and artists question.
From there, the real question becomes what criteria should be used. Sleestak - I hear you regarding using influence; influence should be a key criteria, and in that regard Morse and others like him rate very high. But, IMHO, I tend to put crossover popularity and innovation as more important criteria, which is why I would rate both Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix much higher than Morse. This is where good people choose to disagree. That’s cool.
Hey Diogenes, nice addition regarding Hendrix’ sonic landscapes. Very true. Again, personally, I like Hendrix, but don’t love him the way I embrace, say, Jeff Beck and a few others. But boy, do I respect what he did, and listening to him is always amazing. In that regard, ianzin I very much agree with you.
Everybody’s got their preferences, as long as there is respect given to the innovators…
I can’t argue with any of the aforementioned artists; all are great musicians. I would like to mention my favorite guitarist among those whose names are never brought up when these debates happen: Ernie Isley. His best solo was probably the outro to the Isley Brothers’ cover of Seals and Crofts’ Summer Breeze.
Chuck Berry’s live performances have suffered, in recent decades, primarily from the fact that he doesn’t rehearse or travel with his own band, but just shows up at a gig and expects the warm-up act to back him. Being that he’s Chuck Berry, the guitarists in the warm-up band are likely to be passingly familiar with his material, but that’s no substitute for actually rehearsing before a show.
But if you don’t think he’s capable of being good, or in tune, you should check out the classic recordings from the 1950’s. Very good, tight stuff. Kids like John Lennon watched Berry perform songs like “You Can’t Catch Me” on TV, and they saw God…Not just because he “opened the door”, but because the sound coming out of the little TV speaker was tight, fast, and furious. I’ve seen that TV clip of “You Can’t Catch Me” on rock documentary programs, and the sound combined with Berry’s appearance and stage presence when he was in his prime sends shivers down my spine every time.
He is very good and has been a huge influence, especially on George Harrison and Brian Jones. He brought a new style to sitar, as his teacher (Allaudin Khan, father of Ali Akhbar Khan) was primarily a sarod player. His sitar style is very sarod in many respects, which was not done before. He has also invented his own system of notation and made a few technical improvements to the instrument as well as being key in raising the tabla player to star status. For a more pure sitar style, try Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, or any of Vilayat Khan’s nephews. I personally like Shahid Parvez and Rais Khan. Those guys move much faster than Ravi ever could. And they learnt the “singing” gayaki style from Vilayat Khan.
I’m surprised that three guitarists haven’t been mentioned here for technical proficiency alone: Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia, John McLaughlin. Although all three kind of play different styles, their album “Wednesday Night in San Francisco” has some of the most unbelievable acoustic guitar imagineable. It doesn’t really float my boat, but there is the skill there. I believe Segovia once remarked that McLaughlin was the fastest guitarist in the world. I saw him in a Shakti concert a few months ago and so many notes were played I felt like I didn’t have to listen to music for a week after it.
Another group of guitarists who are constantly overlooked are the professional rhythm players. People like the Edge from U2 and Andy Summers from the Police do more in their role than a lot of lead guitarists.
What you need to know about Hendrix. When he first got on the scene in England in the late 1960s, Pete Townsend called up Eric Clapton, who was only a casual acquitance. They went out to a movie and discussed Hendrix, because he blew both of them away. If Clapton and Townsend are stunned by what you are doing, you are pretty damn good.
My favorite solos are both melodious and demonstrate virtuosity as well: Clapton in Cream’s “Crossroads,” Hendrix in “Bold as Love” and “All Along the Watchtower”, Jimmy Page’s first-take solo to end “Stairway to Heaven.” Also Zappa’s “Peaches in Regalia” and “Uncle Remus.”
I’ll also be happy to nominate Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead. I adore what he does on “My Iron Lung” and “There There.”
Someone that I’m surprised no one has mentioned is Billy Gibbons of ZZ-Top (apparently he was a favorite of Hendrix). I’ve always thought he really defined the southern rock guitar stlye.
edwino, I agree “Wednesday Night in San Francisco” is an amazing album. Al DiMeola is one of my faves.
I certainly respect Hendrix’s innovations and the fact that he was quite an impressive performer…he just wasn’t the best ever.* 
One reason that I don’t go for the crossover popularity thing is that you have fewer to choose from if you do that. Steve Morse is a good example. Vince Gil would be another…he is a fantastic guitar player but he pretty much sticks with country music and doesn’t have a lot of crossover appeal (he also doesn’t bust out with the guitar pickin often enough). Zappa is another example similar to Morse…not many people other than musicians really appreciate his work (or even know any other than Valley Girl).
Also, there are many, many incredibly talented guitarists out there who most of us will never have the chance to appreciate. Hardly anyone outside of northern California has ever heard some of my favorite bands/musicians because they could never get a deal with a major label and thus have very limited exposure.
Who knows if the next Hendrix or Jeff Beck playing in some crappy bar someplace right now and that’s as far as they’ll ever get…playing gigs for drink tickets and maybe a piece of the door.
*just teasin ya WordMan. 
It’s really too bad that he wasn’t around longer. 
I would really liked to see how his style would have evolved and what his playing would be like today.
threeorange - I love Ernie Isley - the solo at the end of Livin’ in the Life/Go for Your Guns is amazing stuff. If you haven’t heard it, buy it immediately.
edwino - lots of good comments. I have never been a big fan of the Big 3 from A night in SF - I find them more tech speed demons - nice, but exhausting and not a lot of stuff to hold my interest. It is like Yngwie - I get speed fatigue. YMMV, and obviously they are brilliant technicians. And yeah, the Townshend/Clapton Hendrix story is a good. I have heard Jeff Beck comment on seeing Hendrix for the first time, too, and he nearly gave up the guitar. The whole story about the Who vs. the JH Experience and who would go on first at the Monterey Pop Festival is pretty interesting, too. Townshend would not follow Hendrix - which is one of the few times that the more well-known band demanding to go on first. I have also heard Townshend describe what the The Who did when destroying their instruments as an act of rape and violence and what Hendrix did at Monterey Pop was a spiritual, sexual thing of beauty. Townshend clearly held Hendrix in awe.
Spectre of P (is that a Mingus reference, btw?), yes, Berry was tighter back in the day. But as you say, his playing has slipped in the past few decades - like the past 30 plus years. That does count. But yes, back in the day he was much tighter and his technique was cleaner. Either way, his is still the Man.
And Nurobath? - Vince Gill is a Monster - a truly great player. He did session work long before he made it as a solo artist. I have heard him bust open with some playing in the past and been blown away. There are a lot of country players like that - just complete technique and feel monsters who keep a tight lid on it most of the time. Brian Setzer is like that, too - in my opinion, he is easily one of the top 3 - 5 players out there - I would stack him up against anybody - seriously, he can hold his own with the Morse’s and Howe’s of the world - but most of his playing is super restrained…
I am surprised no one mentioned freebird as it is a quality guitar performance especially the live version. I agree also with those who cited cliffs of dover as something to be appreciated as it is truely magical. However, homage does have to be paid to jimi Hendrix as he was the instigator of the new guitar playin method. he did for guitar what pelé did for soccer and what jordan did for basketball. He revolutionized the instrument and with such classics as red house, machine gun and hey joe u can see why. He created sounds that wasn’t possible until he did them. it was sorry to see him go at the tender age of 27 when he was just entering his peak. You have to understand this as many of the top guitarists have lived and all of the ones you have all mentioned are still alive, who knows what jimi could have achieved had he not died in 1970. I guess its a hypothetical question bt you look at the greats still with us they are either in their 50’s or 60’s- Clapton,Page, Vaughn, Vai, May, Morse or Santana etc… They have got to perfect their sound, jimi did not have such luxery. Thus in terms of guitar playing i rate jimi as he was still very young when he mastered the instrument and had he lived he would have achieved even more. the other guitarists people failled to mention where Hammett, Slash. Van Halen. These guys also had their unique contribution to guitar playing- most notably One, November Rain and eruption respectively.
Lindsy Buckingham
Maybe not the best. But a damn good player nontheless
I’ve an interesting Lindsay Buckingham story. He was hired to perform in the 2001/2002 New Year’s Eve show aired by ABC. The show originated from the new Hayden Planetarium in NYC.
Good ole Lindsay. Arrogant snotty uber-artiste. He shows up, and nobody knows what he’s going to play. This is the rehearsal day. He rips into this completely twisted painful rendition of " Here Comes The Sun", by the then- recently departed George Harrison.
We show up the next afternoon, show day. Mr. Buckingham, we are told, will now NOT be performing at all. Apparently, his rehearsal piece was enough to completely upset the higher-ups.
A few hours later, by some magical mysterious tour, he is back on the bill. He shows up, he plays the same contorted cover, he leaves. We find out later that it was a battle between our director, the head of ABC and the owner of Disney. Eisner won, of course.
Mr. Buckingham struck me as a major asshole, and his voice was shot to boot.
Cartooniverse
2 “old-timers” deserve a mention.
Nick Lucas (1897- 1982) - VERY big in the 1920’s and 30’s - even appeared on the Ed Sullivan television show.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/lucas.html
Les Paul (Born 1915) - Great jazz guitarist; 1950’s recording wizard (pioneered multi-tracking); designed the Gibson “Les Paul” guitar - one of the great rock gutars of all time. (Ironically, it is rumored that Les hates rock and roll).
http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/Stories/LesPaul.html
Disclaimer: there is no right answer, and there’re as many different answers as there are respondents.
That said…
Define solo.
I seem to remember it meant, alone – unaccompanied – i.e., no five-piece band or horn section providing backup. To coin a phrase, solo.
Alternatively, the greatest guitar solo might be one that no one else has ever managed to dupicate.
(Digression: a good friend of mine (who’s a retired Marine) claimed that singing songs in a group doesn’t sound nearly as dumb as you think. To which I replied, *“When you boys grow up, try doing it *alone!”)
By these criteria, my heavily qualified nominations:
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Pony Blues (1929, Charlie Patton, guitar and vocals)
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Matchbox Blues (1927, Blind Lemon Jefferson, guitar and vocals)
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I’m So Glad (1931, Skip James, guitar and vocals)
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Come on Boys Let’s Do That Messing Around (ca. 1927, Blind Blake, guitar and vocals)
These are heavily biased by my focus on pre-War blues, and there are many others.
musicguy, glad you mentioned Jimmy Herring, that really brought a smile to my face. He’s flat-out awesome. Touring with the Dead and Phil and Friends (where he gets to shine more brightly) has brought him more attention, but I sort of hope he leaves that behind and goes it his own soon. He’s been playing mostly Grateful Dead stuff the last few years, and he’s too good to spend that much time playing material created by other people.
And of course, Jimmy has a long history with my favorite living guitar player, Derek Trucks. (Jimmy and Warren Haynes and a close second.) I don’t know what Derek’s best solo is because he seems to play about 3 best solos every time I see him.