A few months ago I started playing the guitar. Since then my friend (who also plays the guitar) and I have gotten into a few arguments about who are some of the best guitarists of the 20th and 21st century. For instance, my friend thinks that John Mayer is a better guitarist than both Jimmy Page(!) Jimi Hendrix(!!). I think hes wrong but I don’t know how I could prove that to him. So anyway, I figured that this would be an interesting topic for the Straight Dope. Sorry if this has been done before, the search function kept failing when I tried to check.
(Note that I’m excluding classical guitar since I really don’t know that much about that, and its not what I’m interested in. Let’s stick with rock, blues and jazz.)
Here are some names to start (along with band, and some songs that showcase their skills at playing and/or writing):
Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin (my favorite) - Rock and Roll, Heartbreaker, Stairway to Heaven
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile, Red House
Tom Morello - Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade (all his effects are done with just an amp and guitar.)
John Mayer - Neon (I’m not really a fan of his so I don’t know many of his songs.)
Nuno Bettencourt - Extreme - Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee
I’ve also heard about BB King, Eric Clapton and Eddie van Halen but I haven’t really listened to much by these guys.
Are those choices good? Who else belongs up there?
Brinsley Schwarz - he led his own band in the 70’s, but really shined while playing as part of The Rumour, Graham Parker’s backing band in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s. He always seemed to know the exact cool riff or solo to play. Check him out in “Pourin’ It All Out” from GP’s great album, “Heat Treatment”.
Robbie Robertson - great guitarist from The Band. I suggest his great solos on “It Makes No Difference” and “Ophelia” from “The Last Waltz” album.
Waddy Watchel - Played for Warren Zevon. Great solo on “When Johnny Strikes Up the Band”. Also, many great moments with Jackson Browne.
Oscar Aleman
Danny Gatton
John McLaughlin
Charlie Christian
Richard Thompson
Andy Breckman - (who probably never has been mentioned in a best guitarist poll before, but is the master of the one-chord song)
Well, Steve Morse pops to mind. To give you an idea of Steve’s greatness he won the Best Guitarist of the year award from Guitar magazine 5 years in a row. In fact, at one point, Steve retired from music and was flying airliners for a living, hadn’t released any material or toured, and he still won. Guitar magazine then retired Steve from the compitition and put him in the hall of fame. Steve has played with everyone, The Dixie Dregs (who are now the Dregs), the Steve Morse Band, Kansas, Deep Purple, Steve Walsh, Liza Minelli (WTF??), Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marcel Dadi, Manuel Barrueco, Liona Boyd and others. He has also been nominated for 3 or 4 Grammys. Anyway, check him out. His technique is near perfect and he writes everything from classical to chicken pickin to songs based on Irish folk tunes. The link to his site is www.stevemorse.com.
Other meantions:
Randy Rhoads, amazing guitarist who died too soon.
Les Paul, played amazing stuff and also invented one of the coolest guitars ever made.
Chet Atkins, enough said.
John Petrucci, Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment.
Mark Knofler (SP?), ya know, the guy from Dire Straights. He rocks.
A note about your OP and these kind of polls. They are very subjective. For example I think Jimmy Page was a great song writer but only a little above average when it came to his technical skills.
The absolute best guitarist ever is Jimi Hendrix and anyone who says different is an ignorant nimrod.
Other good ones:
Eddie Van Halen, probably the most influential rock guitarist since Hendrix. Extremely kick ass in his prime.
Jimmy Page, natch
Clapton, not fast or flashy, but extremely tasteful and controlled. great phrasing, master of the vibrato.
Angus Young, (AC/DC) underrated. fabulous “feel.” One of the all time classic riffmeisters. Under appreciated as a soloist.
Randy Roads (Ozzy) Beautifully melodic, one of the first to incorporate classical theory into the rock genre.
Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) I include him here because he basically invented the heavy metal riff, including arguably the greatest of them all, IRON MAN. Iommi has had a major influence on hard rock which he does not get enough credit for. If you want to learn about riff writing, listen to those old Black Sabbath records. They are the template.
James Hetfield (Metallica), not a soloist, but maybe the most kickass riffster of all time.
Django Rheinhardt, best jazz guitarist ever. Even more amazing when you know that he was missing three fingers on his fret hand.
In terms of playing for the song (all the powerhouse guitarists were mentioned already), I nominate any of the first call guitarists in Nashville, NY, or LA.
I also like Skunk Baxter’s intricate, yet tasteful soloing.
A minor nitpick perhaps, but didn’t Django have full use of his hands for much of his career, until he got burned? I say minor because he still managed to play the same with his injuries.
Well, an ignorant nimrod checking in. While Hendrix was ahead of his time and one hell of a guitarist, his time has passed. His playing was groungbreaking at that time but now days most competent guitarists can easily play Hendrix. I can. I have nothing but respect for Hendrix but there are other players who are better, came up with new styles and basically brought guitar to a new level just as Jimi did in his time.
Also, don’t you think it is a bit rude to insult anyone who disagrees with you in an opinion thread? Whether you believe it or not your opinion is not a fact.
Slee, Jimi Hendrix is widely regarded by most rock musicians as the best guitarist ever. He virtually invented the entire vocabulary of all rock guitar. Pretty much everone who plays an electric guitar is influenced by Jimi whether they know it or not. The guitarists you mentioned in your post, Steve Morse, (whose playing I like quite a bit) would probably tell you that Hendrix was the best.
The fact that plenty of guitarists can play his stuff (including me) does not in any way detract from his genius with the instrument. Hendrix is consistently voted number one in every reader’s poll, in every magazine, every time. If you play the instrument, then I know that you know all this. can you honestly name one player that has had anything like the impact that Hendrix has on virtually all other guitarists? Steve Morse is a great musician (I can play his stuff too, btw), but he is largely a guitar player’s guitar player, meaning that he is appreciated by other musicians, but not widely recognized (in comparison to someone like Hendrix, or Page, or Van Halen) by the public at large. The ability to communicate to non-musicians as well as musicians is important. Hendrix did this. I can’t believe I’m even getting an argument about this, especially from another guitarist.
If it makes you feel better, I will withdraw the “ignorant nimrod” remark and just say that Hendrix is the guitarist most commonly cited as the best of all time.
Well, BB King started the whole thing. Jimi and everyone else praised BB for his impact. At the same time BB wasn’t, and still isn’t a very good player. He had a huge impact but I am a much better player than BB is technically. BB wrote great songs and inspired people. His playing wasn’t technically great but his feel and emotional content was awesome.
These questions are very hard to figure out. Hendrix rocked and was ahead of his time but there are other players who now have taken Jimi’s inspiration and came up with new styles. Is Hendrix a great guitarist? Yes. Is he better than say, Al Di Meola, Steve Morse and Andre Segovia? No. How about Manuel Barrueco vs. Jimi? How about Jimi vs. Zappa? Sorry, Zappa wins.
Oh, and Diogenes the Cynic, if you can really play all of Steve Morse’s stuff I’d love to hear you play Tumeni Notes with just a click track at 220 beats per minute. Please send me a tape.