I don't know much about guitarists, and who is better than whom, but I find it amazing that according to wiki, Jack White is rated by Rolling Stone's "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" at number 70. Who are the greatest of the greats?
Jimi Hendrix definitely #1. There's no substitute for that kind of innovation.
By that token, most aficionados of modern guitarists would rank Eddie Van Halen at #2.
From that point on, it becomes more of a crapshoot and taste-dependent. But for the same reasons, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai would also probably be in the top ten. As I'd say Slash probably deserves to be, too.
Out of all Jimi's competitors, Slash also brings soulful artistry to the same level as he does the technical talent and skill that the others do.
But guitarists' guitarists are usually the ones doing the rankings...
I notice that they tend to try to mix things up a bit with guitarists pre-Hendrix whom they consider very innovative from a blues perspective. And then those who were very soulful. The former you can look up. But guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan would be a good example of the latter.
If they wanted to get scientific about it, there should be probably an even split of technical skill and musical "appropriateness" that would figure into a ranking. The latter is more subjective, but it would be analogous to the way a great writer "moves" you. Many would probably put Clapton in that category. But I still think Slash is about the best when it comes to combining technical skill with knowing how to use guitar parts in powerful ways that further the song. Having those two capabilities is a very potent force. You can use either and grow to the point of knowing when to use which. And both are impressive in different and very important ways.
Hendrix is the greatest, but for the most part he's unlistenable. Musicians love him, but generic listeners quickly tune him out because he was so fond of noise. When I try to listen to him, my wife, who is a great music fan, tells me to turn it off.
So, I think that that demotes him way down the list. Don't get me wrong, I love him and I've studied his work intensely. The Cry of Love is my favorite. The fade outs, with improvised chord changes are better than most people's songs.
I'd say Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters. Clapton is a lyric guitar player. Muddy is seldom given credit for it, but he's a master of the blues, and of slider guitar. Extraordinarily simply approach, which is what the blues is all about.
You might want to include Stevie Ray Vaughan in there in the top five.
His songs are among the most in demand in the venues where I play.
He had the extraordinary ability to play three parts simultaneously. Besides Hendrix and McLaughlin, and a few others, there are few guitar players who can do this. Vaughan played lead while he played rhythm, and he usually deadened the strings in the rhythm range with his palm.
His version of "Little Wing" challenges Hendrix's version.
Between "unlistenable" innovative "noise" and mainstream schlock there's a great middle ground comprised of the riff-makers. It's hard to say that Jimmy Page, Keith Richard or Joe Perry didn't come up with music that was as widely appreciated and memorable as it was interesting.
And then there were the guitarists of The Eagles. I don't listen to much of them, but whoever did the end solos of Hotel California are like the best musicians of all time, just on account of that alone.
Lyricism is a good way of putting it. When you listen to a solo that makes you want to sing it, as if it were an amazing vocal song-harmony that's simply too good for words, then you know it's an awesome solo.
Hotel California fits that standard. As do a bunch of others. And I guess on that account, the guitarists of Lynyrd Skynyrd would fit, too.
That's another great point. For as much as I've been banging on about Slash in this thread, it was really pairing him up with Izzy Stradlin that made for their best music together. Apart, they're not at all the same.
Chick's right to point out that technical skill can be taken too far (cf. "guitarists' guitarists"), but what I find fascinating is top rock guitarists who find that their taste for technical skill can't be satisfied within the genre. Zack Wylde's embrace of country music, for instance, is a great example of this. Some country music picking techniques can be very demanding and interesting as hell.
"Unlistenable in the sense that Joyce is unreadable."
That's a great point.
Agreed. Even though Hendrix was in my genre and very popular, I could never get into hearing him. To much technical acrobatics and not musical or anything that I enjoyed listening to.
His act, which was to blow out a blues chord change at maximum volume and speed, was something several hundred guitar players of his generation could do. I met them by the dozens.
I've always thought that it must have just been an act of God that he was chosen out of the bucket to be representative of that act.
Luck of the draw in getting onstage at Woodstock. Same is true for Richie Havens, who had just about nothing going, but lived all his life off of those few moments onstage at Woodstock.
You Hendrix fans know about his short-live "Band Of Gypsys" phase. It is still one of my favorite live recordings. There was something special about the Fillmore East. I wish I could go back in time and see this: link
In terms of technical skill I'm sure there are plenty of people better than Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page or any of the other guitarists I've loved listening to since I was a kid.
But when I listen to a guitarist I listen for pleasure. Nobody else has ever matched the sheer joy of Hendrix's music, so he'll always be #1 with me.
No, she wasn't hot. Pickups at gigs are almost always completely fucking crazy. I'm too old, and too sober to do it any more.
By the way, the sobriety is completely involuntary. I developed an allergy to alcohol. I'm involuntarily virtuous for the first time in my life. Alcohol, more than any other drug, is the first step toward absolute decadence.
Now you want to hear a fantastic blues tenor sax player, that would be AC Reed, my old pal from Chicago.
My late wife, Myrna, and I played with his band at Kingston Mines in Chicago whenever we were both in town.
This guy is the epitome of Chicago blues, with that explosive bass and drum combination hitting the floor hard.
AC was funny as hell, and a pussy hound of the highest order. Once he met Myrna, who was a stunning beauty, I was always welcome to play in his band. Bonnie Raitt on lead guitar.
AC and Myrna have both departed this Vale of Tears. More's the pity!
Lots of amazing guitarists who do what seems impossible to me, but the one I enjoy listening too the most is Stevie Ray Vaughn. Love me some Van Halen too. Hendrix was special, but like most people, I can't simply enjoy listening to it for long. I can however listen to the blues 24/7 and SRV does it awesome.
For unusual technical ability with maximum note generation and harmonic production, check out Monte Montgomery.
I like Jack White's music, but top 100? No way. He's probably the only guitarist I think I could copy with some practice, but simplicity is his very point, and I like that.
AC's homemade CD, Junk Food is, in my opinion, the best blues CD of the past 20 or 30 years.
Albert Collins on lead guitar.
AC's lyrics are hilarious. He didn't even know that you were supposed to be cautious, PC and careful about what you said. "I Got Mad" is the best example of this.
He was so much fun to play with. His whole shtick was how pissed off he was at the music biz.
I get very frustrated playing with blues bands on the East Coast because the blues is not thought of as dance music here. So, it's hard to find a rhythm section that can really slug it out. In Chicago, blues is dance music.
The bass and drums on this drum are like a sledge hammer hitting the floor.
That's cool Deb. I was just contemplating your question. I haven't got an answer yet. I think I'm high, but if I am, maybe it's just a hallucination. So I'm only imagining I'm high, because of the drugs and all.
Anyway, don't rush me. It's true or false, so I got a 50% chance of getting it right, which is good. If it was multiple choice I would pick true and blow it.
I cheated and googled the question and it looks like pretty much everyone is high, so I pick "yes". What do I win? I hope it's drugs.
I have a couple guitars. When I touch them, noise comes out, so technically, I think I play, but that's just my opinion. I can't read music, and I mostly don't know what notes I'm playing, but like a lot of modern artists, I might just be a misunderstood genius on a musical plane far above mortals.
Doubtless that is the case. I have taught myself a little chording, but have forgotten, it's been so long. Want to get back to it. Very simple stuff like 'Down in the valley.'
This is so subjective and dependent upon generation. And no insult to the great rhythm guitarists but if we're narrowing it down to those who can make the thing howl and cry my fave is the late great Jimi Hendrix and the later great Stevie Ray Vaughn. Jimi was more original but Stevie brought old stuff back to life. Texas Flood.
73 comments:
Jimi Hendrix definitely #1. There's no substitute for that kind of innovation.
By that token, most aficionados of modern guitarists would rank Eddie Van Halen at #2.
From that point on, it becomes more of a crapshoot and taste-dependent. But for the same reasons, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai would also probably be in the top ten. As I'd say Slash probably deserves to be, too.
Out of all Jimi's competitors, Slash also brings soulful artistry to the same level as he does the technical talent and skill that the others do.
In rock, there are guitarists and "guitarist's guitarists." Jimi Hendrix was both. Duane Allman was another, but he didn't really write songs.
Hendrix, Clapton, and some others.
But guitarists' guitarists are usually the ones doing the rankings...
I notice that they tend to try to mix things up a bit with guitarists pre-Hendrix whom they consider very innovative from a blues perspective. And then those who were very soulful. The former you can look up. But guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan would be a good example of the latter.
If they wanted to get scientific about it, there should be probably an even split of technical skill and musical "appropriateness" that would figure into a ranking. The latter is more subjective, but it would be analogous to the way a great writer "moves" you. Many would probably put Clapton in that category. But I still think Slash is about the best when it comes to combining technical skill with knowing how to use guitar parts in powerful ways that further the song. Having those two capabilities is a very potent force. You can use either and grow to the point of knowing when to use which. And both are impressive in different and very important ways.
Hendrix is the greatest, but for the most part he's unlistenable. Musicians love him, but generic listeners quickly tune him out because he was so fond of noise. When I try to listen to him, my wife, who is a great music fan, tells me to turn it off.
So, I think that that demotes him way down the list. Don't get me wrong, I love him and I've studied his work intensely. The Cry of Love is my favorite. The fade outs, with improvised chord changes are better than most people's songs.
I'd say Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters. Clapton is a lyric guitar player. Muddy is seldom given credit for it, but he's a master of the blues, and of slider guitar. Extraordinarily simply approach, which is what the blues is all about.
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt plays the hell out of his veena.
He's no Roy Buchanan, but no one is.
You might want to include Stevie Ray Vaughan in there in the top five.
His songs are among the most in demand in the venues where I play.
He had the extraordinary ability to play three parts simultaneously. Besides Hendrix and McLaughlin, and a few others, there are few guitar players who can do this. Vaughan played lead while he played rhythm, and he usually deadened the strings in the rhythm range with his palm.
His version of "Little Wing" challenges Hendrix's version.
Here's an odd one.
Since audiences love John Fogerty music so much, the Old Dawgz are constantly asked to play his tunes.
He is one hell of a rhythm guitar player. And one of the five best songwriters of his generation.
The more I play his tunes, the more I respect him.
For me, it's not about blowing people away with virtuosity. It's about lyricism, creating simply melody lines that stick in people's minds.
Between "unlistenable" innovative "noise" and mainstream schlock there's a great middle ground comprised of the riff-makers. It's hard to say that Jimmy Page, Keith Richard or Joe Perry didn't come up with music that was as widely appreciated and memorable as it was interesting.
And then there were the guitarists of The Eagles. I don't listen to much of them, but whoever did the end solos of Hotel California are like the best musicians of all time, just on account of that alone.
Gary Moore. One of my very favorites
Wait for the guitar solo.
Clapton's second solo in Crossroads, starting about 2:33 or so in this version, is what rock guitar was all about in the sixties.
The song came from the Mississippi Delta, went up to Chicago, then over to England, then popularized by a bunch of junkies from England.
Ginger Baker is a great jazz drummer.
Hendrix is the greatest, but for the most part he's unlistenable.
Unlistenable in the sense that Joyce is unreadable.
Lyricism is a good way of putting it. When you listen to a solo that makes you want to sing it, as if it were an amazing vocal song-harmony that's simply too good for words, then you know it's an awesome solo.
Hotel California fits that standard. As do a bunch of others. And I guess on that account, the guitarists of Lynyrd Skynyrd would fit, too.
Unlistenable in the sense that Joyce is unreadable.
That's a great point.
Rhythm guitar players are seriously underrated.
I'm mostly a rhythm guitarist (and slide).
There are very few people who really want to be great rhythm guitarists, but those are the guys who really make a band rock.
Keith Richards is a fantastic rhythm player, who also switches to lead. The various rhythm guitarists of Lynyrd Skynyrd have all be exceptional.
Rhythm guitar players are seriously underrated.
That's another great point. For as much as I've been banging on about Slash in this thread, it was really pairing him up with Izzy Stradlin that made for their best music together. Apart, they're not at all the same.
Chick's right to point out that technical skill can be taken too far (cf. "guitarists' guitarists"), but what I find fascinating is top rock guitarists who find that their taste for technical skill can't be satisfied within the genre. Zack Wylde's embrace of country music, for instance, is a great example of this. Some country music picking techniques can be very demanding and interesting as hell.
Alvin Lee
Going Home
"Unlistenable in the sense that Joyce is unreadable."
That's a great point.
Agreed. Even though Hendrix was in my genre and very popular, I could never get into hearing him. To much technical acrobatics and not musical or anything that I enjoyed listening to.
Sorry DBQ,
I'm gonna have to disagree with Alvin Lee.
His act, which was to blow out a blues chord change at maximum volume and speed, was something several hundred guitar players of his generation could do. I met them by the dozens.
I've always thought that it must have just been an act of God that he was chosen out of the bucket to be representative of that act.
Luck of the draw in getting onstage at Woodstock. Same is true for Richie Havens, who had just about nothing going, but lived all his life off of those few moments onstage at Woodstock.
More innovative than technical but point taken.
Nuno Bettencourt.
Did Richie Havens ever get enough money to buy dentures?
You Hendrix fans know about his short-live "Band Of Gypsys" phase. It is still one of my favorite live recordings. There was something special about the Fillmore East. I wish I could go back in time and see this: link
And, my current favorite is Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.
Sharp Dressed Man and Waiting for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago are stunning achievements.
He toured for quite a while with his first band as opening act for Hendrix.
I liked Hendrix the most when he settled down and blues the blues, as in Hear My Train Coming.
This is more a comment on technical innovations than talent, but Nigel Tufnel.
His amps go to 11.
Jack Black. He wrote the greatest song in the world.
Or at least, he wrote a tribute to it.
Shouting Thomas said...
I liked Hendrix the most when he settled down and blues the blues, as in Hear My Train Coming.
His acoustic version and that live version recorded in Berkeley, definitely.
One of the really great things about Gibbons is his habit of breaking down a song into an atonal transition.
Really. Listen to this damned thing.
I'm trying to get the Dawgz to do it. We'll split his guitar part between two guitarists.
In terms of technical skill I'm sure there are plenty of people better than Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page or any of the other guitarists I've loved listening to since I was a kid.
But when I listen to a guitarist I listen for pleasure. Nobody else has ever matched the sheer joy of Hendrix's music, so he'll always be #1 with me.
Some guitarists are really great but what I really appreciate is someone who can play the skin-flute well.
@ST: On "Hear My Train Coming" I like the way he nicks his guitar when he says "Take me from this __ lonesome town. " It saved the censors a bleep.
@Ritmo
Playing the guitar in clubs and at events is the best way to find skilled skin-flute players.
I had an import version of a Hendrix album - it was from England and had different tracks than we got here.
His version of Red House was enjoyable.
Well, I liked it in '68. Kind of reminds me now of why I don't listen to Hendrix these days.
Wow, you guys are good!
The Gary Moore link made my face hurt.
The good thing is, earlier my eyes were filled with black dots I could see floating around in there and now they're gone.
And, for God's sake, if you're going to listen to ZZ Top, put on your headphones and turn it up!
Vito Bratta.
He left rock to go back home to Staten Island, take care of his old man and make a living fixing computers.
At a gig I played over the weekend with the Dawgz, I was approached by a woman who gave me the weirdest pick-up line ever.
"I've got a double uterus!" she told me.
I still have no fucking idea what that is. I guess it means she has two of everything. What's the plural of "uterus?" "Uteri?"
Was she hot?
I've got clips of a decent-looking blonde who went on Oprah etc. to tell about the fact that she has two vaginas.
No, she wasn't hot. Pickups at gigs are almost always completely fucking crazy. I'm too old, and too sober to do it any more.
By the way, the sobriety is completely involuntary. I developed an allergy to alcohol. I'm involuntarily virtuous for the first time in my life. Alcohol, more than any other drug, is the first step toward absolute decadence.
Here's a great Hendrix number. People don't give him credit for his great vocals.
As I said, Hendrix's fadeouts are better than most guitarist's entire songs.
Jimi and the dancing Tituses.
As a palette cleanser - the correct version of shotgun.
My take on that video - Junior Walker was a great tenor sax player and people were slim in those days before artificial sweeteners and HFCS.
"put on your headphones and turn it up!"
What do you think I'm doing??
Hendrix for me. I like Jack White, Knopfler, Santana, Lenny Kravitz, and more I can't think of here.
@ST - time to call for Jose and Hose B.
I saw ZZ Top back in the early '70s at Cole Field House - they were opening for Leon Russell.
I don't remember them having beards at that time, well, except for their drummer.
Now you want to hear a fantastic blues tenor sax player, that would be AC Reed, my old pal from Chicago.
My late wife, Myrna, and I played with his band at Kingston Mines in Chicago whenever we were both in town.
This guy is the epitome of Chicago blues, with that explosive bass and drum combination hitting the floor hard.
AC was funny as hell, and a pussy hound of the highest order. Once he met Myrna, who was a stunning beauty, I was always welcome to play in his band. Bonnie Raitt on lead guitar.
AC and Myrna have both departed this Vale of Tears. More's the pity!
Lots of amazing guitarists who do what seems impossible to me, but the one I enjoy listening too the most is Stevie Ray Vaughn. Love me some Van Halen too. Hendrix was special, but like most people, I can't simply enjoy listening to it for long. I can however listen to the blues 24/7 and SRV does it awesome.
For unusual technical ability with maximum note generation and harmonic production, check out Monte Montgomery.
I like Jack White's music, but top 100? No way. He's probably the only guitarist I think I could copy with some practice, but simplicity is his very point, and I like that.
AC's homemade CD, Junk Food is, in my opinion, the best blues CD of the past 20 or 30 years.
Albert Collins on lead guitar.
AC's lyrics are hilarious. He didn't even know that you were supposed to be cautious, PC and careful about what you said. "I Got Mad" is the best example of this.
Am I missing something... seems as if I have to reload the page 100 times to see the 100 greatest, if true, to hell with that.
That said, was Ry Cooder on that list? His politics chill me, but his slide guitar is mesmerizing in setting tone, mood, and authenticity.
And OT but the finest performance I witnessed was Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, and the rest, pure perfect music.
I never cared much for guitar music.
But I nominate Robert Fripp.
Clapton, Chuck Berry.
Bags, are you high?
Here's an even better AC Reed tune.
He was so much fun to play with. His whole shtick was how pissed off he was at the music biz.
I get very frustrated playing with blues bands on the East Coast because the blues is not thought of as dance music here. So, it's hard to find a rhythm section that can really slug it out. In Chicago, blues is dance music.
The bass and drums on this drum are like a sledge hammer hitting the floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeUzcoAnXEA
Here, Xray, I love this:
Telegraph Road
Robert Fripp reminds me of Edge.
Here's a young blues guitarist you guys probably haven't heard of.
Joe Louis Walker.
I played keys on his northeastern gigs a few years ago.
He was on what I call the "Blonde Bed and Breakfast Tour," if you know what I mean.
Hendrix channeling Chuck Berry about 4 months before he died: link.
I have to nominate Dick Dale for his staying power.
One of my all time favorites is #100. I don't need fast fingers -that doesn't always sound good to me.
Timeless bestess rocksong of which guitar that groves my werld - All good park you...?
That comes as a relief, April :)
Bags, uh, just kiddin' man :)
Excellent example, Deborah, thanks.
Robert Fripp reminds me of Edge.
Eeeeee!
That's cool Deb. I was just contemplating your question. I haven't got an answer yet. I think I'm high, but if I am, maybe it's just a hallucination. So I'm only imagining I'm high, because of the drugs and all.
Anyway, don't rush me. It's true or false, so I got a 50% chance of getting it right, which is good. If it was multiple choice I would pick true and blow it.
I cheated and googled the question and it looks like pretty much everyone is high, so I pick "yes". What do I win? I hope it's drugs.
So you play the guitar, bago?
(glad you liked it XRay)
@April
I used to see this woman, I forget her name, at 55 bar, Christopher St, she used sign the heck out of that song.
She would go outside singing it with a wireless mic in the winter.
I have a couple guitars. When I touch them, noise comes out, so technically, I think I play, but that's just my opinion. I can't read music, and I mostly don't know what notes I'm playing, but like a lot of modern artists, I might just be a misunderstood genius on a musical plane far above mortals.
Doubtless that is the case. I have taught myself a little chording, but have forgotten, it's been so long. Want to get back to it. Very simple stuff like 'Down in the valley.'
'Night, all.
I used to see this woman, I forget her name, at 55 bar, Christopher St, she used sign the heck out of that song.
Christopher Street? Are you sure it was a woman-woman?
Andre Segovia. Period. End of story. Satriani, Hendrix, Vai, Van Halen, and Page are all a close second.
This is so subjective and dependent upon generation. And no insult to the great rhythm guitarists but if we're narrowing it down to those who can make the thing howl and cry my fave is the late great Jimi Hendrix and the later great Stevie Ray Vaughn. Jimi was more original but Stevie brought old stuff back to life.
Texas Flood.
@ Lem - Did she get those high notes?
I just love the guitar at the beginning.
I attemtped to learn guitar (acoustic) when I was in my teens. I did learn one song - a song by Heart.
(Dream boat Annie)
Cannot remember it now. Held my nephew's electric guitar the other day (by chance) and it felt so good. I want one now.
What about Django Rheinhart? He is supposed to have invented jazz guitar and only had the full use of two fingers on his fret hand.
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