top guitarists

[freq019 0]

It hard to imagine a list of great guitarist and not have Phil Keaggy on the list, I'm not a fan of his music but you can't deny his talent. Or pat metheny?

[warrior37 0]

forgot duane allman, dickie betts, and who ever the guitar player from tesla is

[Sniper#39 0]

David Gilmour - the man can make one note sound better than most of the more technically skilled players out there.

Rik Emmett - Anyone who can pull off playing heavier stuff with a hollow-body electric is just too cool..*lol* (check out Triumph's "Thunder Seven" Album - killer)

Brian May - Love the old Mahogany sound through the Vox's (Anyone who's been fortunate enough to hear the Starfleet Project recordings should agree)

Eddie Van Halen - for pure creativity and (thankfully) yanking music out of the unholy world of Disco in the late Seventies..*lol*

Carlos Santana - Love the sound and still going strong

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Don't know how I found this thread, while searching for "Slash guards", but found it interesting how narrow the listening tastes seem to be around here...

In no particular order:

Jimi Hendrix - overrated ?? there is a reason why he is widely considered among guitarists to be the greatest rock guitarist ever

Eddie Van Halen - he singlehandedly redefined rock guitar, his playing up to and including 1984 was just so original and technically brilliant (I stopped paying attention after Roth left the band).

Jeff Beck - listen to "'Cause We Ended As Lovers", or "People Get Ready". Technically possibly the best guitarist of his era, and every lick he plays is always so tasty.

George Benson - named for so many years as the top jazz guitarist in the world, for good reason. A great singer/performer, but an absolutely amazing guitar player. Listen to smooth jazz stations nowadays, the guitarists are ALL copping Benson.

Stanley Jordan - if you've never seen at least a video of him playing, you do not know what you are missing. He makes people's jaws drop, even if they don't know anything about guitar. All of his records are absolutely amazing, but listen to his version of "Willow Weep For Me", and then realize that he's playing all of it by himself, at one time, no overdubs, which he does onmost of his tracks (sometimes he is accompanied by a drummer or bassist, but often not). That track practically makes me cry.

Albert King - one of the all time great blues men. Listen to "Blues Power". He played the HELL out of his guitar.

[Tricky4L 0]

I got 4...

Angus Young... Absolutly increadable how Bon Scott could not even sing and many wouldn't notice. Angus can carry a song like no other.

Eddie Van Halen... Many have said virtuoso and I'd say pretty damn close.

Slash... His intensity on the guitar while being completely drunk/stoned outta his mind is itself a feat.

Tom Morello... And for those who say he can't play a guitar w/o effects then check out his solo stuff as the nightwatchman. His experimentation, sound, knowledge and skill is just mindblowing, although I haven't yet warmed up to audioslave...damn Cornell...damn De La Rocha.

[Kirsch 1]

I haven't read through this, but have to give some love to the slide guitarists out there

Sonny Landreth, Luther Allison, Bernard Allison, and Hound Dog Taylor come to mind.

Kaki King and Tim Reynolds are pretty awesome on acoustic.

[Bruin88 0]

eddie still had some good stuff with hagar

[Jason Harris 31]

David Gilmour - the man can make one note sound better than most of the more technically skilled players out there.

That reminds me of something my friend said 25 years ago: "Maybe there are other guitarists who are faster or technically sounder, but nobody plays a more emotional style of guitar."

Somebody said it earlier. There's no way you can limit this to three guitarists. So, I'm going to give it the "My Wife Test." If she cringes to the song while I could lock myself in the room and put in on repeat, I KNOW it's great music. I tend to like live music where the guitarists soar. (Nothing like seeing a sixty-year-old Pete Townshend hunched over his guitar turning a three-minute ditty from the 60's into a ten-minute excursion.) So the following aren't individual guitarists; rather they are live songs from bands whose guitar work just rocks.

Allman Brothers: In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed

Neil Young: Like A Hurricane or Southern Man

E Street Band: Murder Incorporated

Santana: the feedback on Europa

Fleetwood Mac: Go Your Own Way

Frampton: the outro on Do You Feel Like We Do or Can't Take That Away (otherwise known as Do You Feel Like We Do 2)

Deep Purple: My Woman From Tokyo

Zepplin: Since I've Been Loving You

Melissa Etheridge: Like The Way I Do (10-minute version)

Ten Years After: Woodchoppers Ball

Who: Young Man Blues

Nirvana: The Man Who Sold The World

Skynyrd: Free Bird

And my two favorite bands that everybody thinks of as one-hit wonders, but they actually put out ten albums each and were huge draws at their concerts, particularly in Europe:

Thin Lizzy: They have three live albums which are all great if you like harder rock with a melody.

Big Country: They were NOT a one-hit wonder! Their first three albums went 3-1-2 in the U.K., and they're constantly issuing live albums. Let's face it, anybody who can play a guitar and make you think it's bagpipes has got skills.

So, lock yourself in the room and play it loud enough to drown out your wife pounding on the door.....

[kovalchuk71 212]

Slash from G&R and now Velvet Revolver.......How could we forget him???

[Bruin88 0]

Slash from G&R and now Velvet Revolver.......How could we forget him???

i mentioned slash B)

[Squirrel 0]

I said Slash too. Speaking of VR I just bought contraband the other day...not bad.

[stevoc 0]

Not necessarily my favorite, but ones I think are definately the best around, from a guitar players point of view: (no specific order)

Eddie Van Halen

Steve Vai

Zakk Wylde

I saw Zakk when he played on Ozzy's No More Tears tour and the guy was just incredible. Not only talented, but full of energy and excitement. Awesome performer and player!

[NuggyBuggy 0]

Slash is a hack. If it weren't for Axl, noone would even know his name. I can't think of a decent piece of guitar playing of his. Some of their riffs were OK, but catchy riffs do not a guitar player make.

[Chadd 916]

Slash is a hack.  If it weren't for Axl, noone would even know his name.  I can't think of a decent piece of guitar playing of his.  Some of their riffs were OK, but catchy riffs do not a guitar player make.

I like a lot of the grooves and his solos are pretty simple but seem to work pretty well within the songs. I like his VR stuff as much as the GNR stuff.

[Bruin88 0]

dont call slash a hack when theres over rated guitar players like kurt cobain out there

[Chadd 916]

dont call slash a hack when theres over rated guitar players like kurt cobain out there

Not anymore he isn't. ;)

[Bruin88 0]

dont call slash a hack when theres over rated guitar players like kurt cobain out there

Not anymore he isn't. ;)

right you are ken

even if ,kirk hammets pretty over rated for skill ,when i first started guitar all i could play was metallica and everyones first solo is the fade to black opening solo. but he has made up some pretty sick riffs ,seek and destroy ,the fast riff in the master of puppets intro ,blitzkrieg and many others. and any pop punk guitar player with a sig guitar has to be over rated ,tom delonge ,joel madden ,billy martin cough cough cough