Greatest Guitar Player of All Time?

Cafe Society
21

As others have siad it is hard to break down because of various factors.

For me Steve Morse tops the list. Here is why.

He is technically amazing. He picks everything, no hammer ons, pull offs. His technique is up there with the best. He plays an extremely wide range of styles. He writes heavy rock, classical, bluesy*, jazz, acoustic and country and they are all good. He has played with an extremely wide range of artists. He has his bands, The Dregs(formerly The Dixie Dregs), The Steve Morse Band, and is now in Deep Purple. He has recorded with Kansas, Liza Minnelli, Steve Walsh, Triumph, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington Band, Marcel Dadi, Michael Manring, a comp cd called Fingerstyle Guitar Number 25, Manuel Barrueco (an amazing classical guitarist), Pavarotti, Jordan Rudess, Jeff Watson, and Liona Boyd as well as others. I don’t know of another guitarist who has pulled off so many styles so well.

Incidentally, Steve won Guitar Player Magazines “Best Guitarist” award so many years in a row that they retired him from competition. IIRC, the magazine created the “Gallery of Greats” and put Steve in it and retired him because it was getting old having him win every year.

On top of that his shows are amazing. The Steve Morse Band is a three piece. To fill things out Steve has his guitar split so that he ends up playing 3 or four parts at once. He’ll put down a rhythm track and loop it then put a synth melody on top of that and loop it, double it with a guitar melody and solo on top of it. I saw him do it in person at a clinic and it was absolutely amazing.

Of coarse there are other monster guitarists out there. I saw Roy Clark at a state fair and he blew my mind. Chet is a master. So is Eric Johnson. Les Paul was ripping before anyone thought of it. Satch, Vai, Stevie Ray. There are a ton of good guitarists out there. Another great guitarist who didn’t get enough credit before he died was Michael Hedges.

Slee

22

Amen to that!! and then some.

23

Amen to that!! and then some.

24

As noted, there are many different definitions of ‘great’.

In addition to those already named, I would add Blind Blake: brilliant unaccompanied blues/ragtime guitar, recorded back in the 1920s.

For electric lead, I think Danny Gatton deserves a mention. I think it was Satriani who stated that Gatton made you re-think the futility of the concept of a single ‘best’ guitarist – Gatton’s playing was so accomplished, so versatile, and still so emotional that it simply blew you away.

25

roy buchanan.he died too soon

26

I have a recording of Roy Clark playing the Double Eagle on the Lousiana Hayride radio program. He played it through once quite quick and pretty, then a second time with a bit of ornamentation, then a second with more ornamentation, and a third with even more. Each play through takes about the same time, which is not long, but the notes are shorter and faster. It is amazing to hear how fast the notes are being played and then, after you listen a while you realize that he is also plucking out a low beat that stays steady through the whole song. You think at first there must be a drum or something accompanying him, but it is just him.

Then he goes on to sing The Great Pretender, doing a comic version that sounds amazingly like the full production version just with his voice and guitar.

I still like Knopfler best as I know it is him from the first note. His guitar has its own voice, but Roy Clark is amazing.

27

My favorites have all been mentioned: Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler, Richard Thompson, Ry Cooder. I saw the first three in concert. Inspiring and unforgettable. I don’t think that it’s possible to single out a “greatest”.

28

Yeah, it’s one of those ‘unanswerable’ questions.

One thing I will say, based on my experience playing over the years, is that whomever it is will spend most of his or her time playing an acoustic.

For the non-players out there I can’t tell anyone how much easier it is to play an electric guitar. If you’re thinking of starting lessons go with acoustic…then switch to electric and see how much better you sound.

Segovia, Atkins, and so forth have (had) astonishing technique for acoustic.

29

First, I have to confess that I’m not a musician, and therefore am often very wrong about the difficulty of playing a particular piece on guitar.

I mean, I have occasionally been blown away by what I thought was a virtuoso piece of guitar work… and later heard my brother (a good but not great guitarist) imitate that lick without working up a sweat (example: my brother rarely uses much feedback in his playing, but just by screwing around a little with his tremolo bar, he re-created some King Crimson effects that I’d thought were rather diffficult). And at some gatherings, I’ve asked my brother to play what I THOUGHT Was a fairly simple song, and been told, “You know, that’s a hard song to play- you don’t THINK it is, but it really is.”

So, since I obviously don’t know squat about technique, I won’t try to analyze technique. I’ll stick to nominating the guitarists who’ve done the most work that’s touched me, that’s sent me soaring and/or brought me to tears:

I nominate David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler.

30

If you’re even considering influence as a factor, Django Reinhardt has to be near the top of the list. In case you’re not familiar, he more or less invented the position of lead guitarist. AMG cites him as a major influence on Les Paul, so that should tell you something.

Interestingly, he only had the use of eight fingers. Do I even need to say who I’m thinking of now?

31

I agree on the relative difficulty of playing acoustic, but “degree of difficulty” has never been a primary factor for me in which players I prefer. I generally prefer the sound of electric guitars. But I’d put Django Reinhardt right there with the guys you mentioned in terms of accomplishment on acoustic guitar. I also saw Carlos Montoya at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore many years ago. He was pretty amazing, flamenco with a touch of jazz.

32

Django’s injury was to his fretting hand. I think about that every time I listen to him.

33

I share the opinion that this question is impossible to answer because so many musicians are doing so many different things. One criteria I do use is that the player has to know when not to burn up the fretboard. Virtuosity should serve the song, not the other way 'round. This is why guitarists like Thompson and Zappa will be superior, IMO, to ones like Malmsteen and Vai.

I was going to put Danny Gatton down as someone who hasn’t been mentioned yet. Then I notice that F. U. Shakespeare did mention him. But I’ll mention him anyway.

34

I would say Hendrix for Skill and Innovation and Stevie Ray for shear Blues Skill.

We lost both way too soon.

35

One of my favorite (but too short) “less is more” parts is Steve Via on Ladies night In Buffalo to my ear it’s a really great balance of skill and restraint. Also some very interesting work on Flexible leftovers.

Malmsteen I’ll give ya in many cases is a fret burning 200MPH guy but Satriani strikes a balance don’t you think?

And to bring up Stanley Jordan again how in the world do we classify that?

It’s so impossible… :smack:

36

In addition to the greats that have already been mentioned, I want to name a few of my personal favorites who haven’t been mentioned yet: rockabilly/swing legend Brian Setzer, Brian May (from Queen), and Dick Dale, king of the surf guitar. For unique, instantly-recognizable sound, solid musicianship, and terrific songwriting, I’d also nominate Johnny Marr (from the Smiths) and the Edge (from U2).

37

Forget that! And then some! :slight_smile:

It’s not about playing every note in a particular key or keys in as many combinations as fast as you can.

38

There’s just no way to know.

What you are all doing is taking your pick from the lot of widely-known musicians, and that isn’t a complete picture of the total pool of guitar players. For every Steve Vai, there are a hundred guys you never even heard of who are faster and twice as gifted. As great as Jimi Hendrix was, he can’t even be counted among the top 100 guitar players once you start factoring in every man that ever played the guitar. Many, MANY supreme guitar players you’ll never even hear of.

Paul Gilbert was doing the drill bit picking long before Eddie Van Halen discovered it. Jimi Hendrix certainly mastered his Genre, as well as did SRV (God, I miss that man) but neither of them could do what Chet Atkins does, or Yngwie, or Nuno Bettencourt, and the same goes the other way.

It’s good to see Roy Clark get a mention as he is certainly an excellent guitar player, but could he stand in one night for Edward Van Halen, or the other way around? Hell no on both counts.

You’re never going to find one single world’s greatest guitar player, no matter who you pick, because there will always be some unknown guy playing in his bedroom that can wipe the walls with your contender in one way or another. The instrument is just too far reaching across the chasm of music.

Now, who’s the Shitiest Guitar Player of All Time? I think I can help you with that one. Just allow me to send you a couple of my demo tapes.

39

Dude, Trey Anastasio. :wink:

40
  1. Jimi
  2. Les
  3. Django