:jealous!:
So, who are the best guitarists, not of any decade, but over all decades?
Clapton and Beck clearly count. Hendrix, I’m not sure about because he burned too bright and died too soon. Buddy Guy, of course. Gary Hoey. Malmsteen has great technical skill but no soul at all.
Frank Zappa
Django Rheinhardt
Bola Sete
Everyone else is just really good.
Angus Young - He is GOD
Leo Kottke - Best acoustic fingerpicker ever - period.
David Gilmore - Better than anyone at playing a solo that fits the song perfectly.
Joe Satriani - the one shredder with feel and songwriting chops.
Those are just 4 of my favs that still wow me when I listen to them - even after many many years of listening…
My heroes, in no particular order -
Manuel Barrueco
Joe Pass
Bucky Pizzarelli
Derek Bailey
Ralph Towner
John Abercrombie
Lenny Breau
Ed Bickert
Gene Bertoncini
George Van Eps
João Gilberto
Frank Zappa
Robert Fripp
Chet Atkins and
Kenny Burrell for an even fifteen.
Michael Hedges. Then everyone else.
Totally swamped at work right now, so I need to get back to this. Bottom line is that seeing Clapton and Beck was fun - Beck was amazing, playing the vocal lines of Operas on his guitar with a 12-piece backup string section. Bombastic and over the top? That’s Beck - but he sounded credible - same with doing the vocal line of Day in the Life by the Beatles - should be schmaltzy but he makes it work.
Clapton was Clapton - he stretched out on one acoustic number and on I Shot the Sherriff, but for the most part stuck to his strict blues formula. They played well together, but IMHO Beck kinda overshadowed Clapton, but that is my biased POV…
I looked back - and yeah, you did. Must not have been paying that much attention to the thread, sorry.
So I’ve been wondering: what would be considered the advent of the guitar solo as we now know it? I was talking with some people, and we came to the conclusion that it is definitely a term used for more modern genres (although if you want to get specific, than a lot of things could be called guitar solos). It came to our attention that the terms “lead” and “rhythm” in a modern context generally just meant that the lead guitarist would be soloing. (Note that I am not trying to detract from the merits of rhythm guitarists). Guitar solos aren’t all that common in this era’s music, perhaps due to an increasing emphasis on short, catchy beats, and of course when bringing up guitar solos, you have to consider the influence of the Ramones, who focused purely on making a good rhythm (Johnny Ramone hated solos). I do respect the Ramones in some ways, because by their time a lot of music was, as they stipulated, not fluid, but had a guitar solo slapped on regardless of whether it worked within the dynamic of the song. Anyways on Wikipedia (which I hesitate to trust on some levels) it basically says that the guitar solo in rock is descended from the popularity of improvisation in jazz and blues guitar playing. And of course you can see the influence of swing on rock in the '50s. What would be a candidate for the first rock guitar solo?
Rock Around the Clock.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it were one of the early '50s rock songs, and that’s certainly a prominent one. I myself was thinking initially of “Johnny B. Goode”, but then again “Maybellene” was earlier than that (although not earlier than “Rock Around the Clock”).
Just to be a PITA 
, doesn’t that depends quite a bit on your definition of “Rock” ?
Definitely, but for simplicity’s sake I’d say that rock is the folk/blues fusion genre that popped up in the early '50s, and all its direct descendants.
And for the record, today I was talking to another person who agreed that “Rock Around the Clock” might be the first rock guitar solo.
Rock Around the Clock is certainly one of the first in a explicitly titled “rock” song, but I haven’t really delved into that question, since it is a pretty fluid thing.
Listen to **T-Bone Walker **in Strollin with Boneand tell me if you don’t hear a lot of rock goin’ on…
By the way - FYI: there should be a new issue of ***teemings ***coming out soon; I have a new guitar geek column in it - I’ll be interesting to here any feedback you all have…
OK I haven’t read the thread…but here goes.
I used to play a mean electrctric back in the early 90s. I outit away for years and played acoustic. I came across a great deal on a Fender Showmaster and a Line 6 112 Spider amp.
I just can’t get a good tone. Nothing sounds good. Its a solig guitar and a good amp. How do I start learning about tone?
The guitar has Fender humbuckers. Think upgrading them would help?
Which reminds me…humbucker? single coil? WTF are you talking about? I know nothing about pickups.
HELP!!
I don’t own either piece of gear - but the first things I would do:
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Make sure the guitar is set up correctly - neck straight, action set up correctly, intonation set. If you can get a local guitar tech to look at it - you can get names at guitar stores or they do the service themselves - you should be on your way.
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Make sure you are setting up the Line 6 amp correctly - I have no idea what settings should sound like classic rock vs. metal, vs. just something weird. Trying going on line to their website - amp makers typically have different recipes of settings to “dial up” in order to get certain tones. Also - go to the local store that sells them and ask the guy there to walk you through the amp’s controls
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Read this thread - up thread I have a post with a few links in it, some of which may be helpful.
Bottom line is that you need to learn your way around your gear and not be afraid to ask questions, especially with people who can lay their hands on your gear or at least the same model…
best of luck.
How old are the strings, they don’t last forever. Do they go Twang or Plunk? They should go Twang! 
Haven’t had time to read the whole thread yet, and I have to run (I will be back…) - but just wanted to give a shout-out to Guitar War as something that will both motivate you to practice, and discourage the crap out of you when you realize how freakingly amazingly kick-ass awesomely good some people are…
IANAMusic historian but I’d wager that people have been playing and passing music down through the ages without written music longer than with written music. I’d also wager that the greater percentage of music the world over today is played without written music (ok, that might be a stretch). It’s either figured out by ear, conveyed orally, or it’s conveyed by some sort of demonstration. Repetition and memorization burn it in. So don’t practice your mistakes! The more you develop your ear and the better you get at guitar, the easier it will be to translate whatever’s going on inside your head to the instrument.
That said, I’m all for being able to read music simply because there’s so much great written music out there. I can get lost in some insignificant little piece in some insignificant little Bach book that’s one of hundreds, and Bach is one of dozens, if not hundreds, of composers and songsmiths whose music is worthy of spending time being lost in. It’s infinite, for all practical purposes.
I thought this:
was interesting. Yeah, I guess changing keys with guitar is simply a matter of location. Changing from G to A on guitar means you just start 2 frets higher up on the neck and the patterns are all the same. It doesn’t matter that G has one sharp and A has three sharps. Changing from G to A on piano or whatever other instrument introduces a different playing dynamic because you’re using a different array of piano keys for each key. Not so with guitar.
My usual fall-back if I can’t figure it out by ear is tablature, but I’ll go with whatever I can get. If the internet ever up and died, I think the thing I’d miss most would be my access to tabs. I’ve never seen one that was perfect, but the illumination they provide when I’m stuck is much appreciated. Chords over lyrics are the worst but at least you can get a clue that way. Notation, well, usually you actually have to pay for that. 
Two things:
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The new issue of ***teemings ***is up, which includes my column on the original rockabilly genius guitar player, Cliff Gallup
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E-Sabbath - any thoughts on starting up a new one of these - how long of a shelf life should a Great Guitar Thread have? No big deal - just curious.
Fun article, Word! I’ll definitely be giving a listen to these tracks. I confess to having never heard of Cliff Gallup before today.