DAVID GILMOUR.

Just listen to Astronomy Domine (Ummagumma, Live), Wish you were here, Comfortably numb, We Got Married (Paul McCartney) and High hopes (Pulse).

...awww these kids...

...a thousand notes a second don't mean anything...

do you want feeling? do you want chicken skin?

Then I dare you to listen to Albert King's "I'll play the blues for you Parts 1 & 2", the song, not the album.

As soon as right in the middle of the song, he is about to begin his solo and he says "excuse me....", fasten your seatbelts...

And if you want to hear what's probably one of the best live blues shows ever recorded, then check the legendary Albert King's Wednesday Night in San Francisco & Thursday Night in San Francisco, Recorded Live at the Fillmore Auditorium, back in 1968. You won't regret it.

Love it or your money back! All I ask is that if you like it, you send me a private message to say thanks and recommend me another MUST listen album.

Limited playing, limited technique, limited speed, limited licks....ALL FEELING!

Jimi Hendrix was Albert King's biggest fan, he spent a lot of time learning his licks.

And the summit of feeling is B.B. King playing HIS note. He says more with that SINGLE note than any others with a zillion.

Eddie Van Halen

Let's see... I saw Leo Kottke listed a little earlier; anyone wanting a good starting point for his work should check out his very first album (it's the ideal starting point; no vocals, so all you hear is the guitar, and his "Vaseline Machine Gun" is a classic!): 6- and 12-String Guitar.

Another name no one seems to have noticed is "Spider" John Koerner... best known for his work with Koerner, Ray & Glover. My favorite of his works (Running Jumping Standing Still with Willie Murphy) doesn't show off his guitar as well as some, but it's a heckuva recording.

What about Randy California? I've seen I don't know how many posts exalting Jimi Hendrix, but Randy was in Jimi's pre-Experience band: Jimmy James & the Blue Flames. Later he went on to front his step-father's band, Spirit. For Randy solo, try Kapt. Kopter & the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds.

Are you into classical/jazz guitarists? Try Django Reinhardt. And fortunately, his work is being thoroughly restored on compact disc. There are two major volumes worth investigating (so far; as other recordings are located, JSP is remastering them for further discs in the series): The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order is a 5 CD set, followed by Paris and London: 1937-1948, a 4 CD addendum.

David Crosby might be described as one of the great understated masters of alternate tunings; check out his first (following the first break-up of CSN) solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name...., which also features contributions by several other well-known guitar greats, including Neil Young, Paul Kantner (of the Jefferson Airplane/Starship) and half the Grateful Dead.

Speaking of the Grateful Dead, one of Jerry Garcia's most interesting solo projects isn't on any Dead/JGB album... it's on the remastered, deluxe edition of the soundtrack to Zabriskie Point. The producers took Jerry into a dark room, set up a projector and played the love scene over and over for him, and he played what he felt. The second disc of this set has four complete takes of his aural interpretation (over a half hour of pure music), while the soundtrack version on the first disc is a composite from a number of different takes. Essential. [For the David Gilmour fans, this soundtrack also contains seven otherwise-unavailable (officially) Pink Floyd recordings, including two attempts at the love scene.]

- M.

Dave Mustaine & Dimebag.... that's enough for me B)

PETER FRAMPTON

wow, I guess, they are listed now: Hendrix, Van Halen, Beck, Satriani, Ackermann etc.... What great moments of Music !!

This thread has been dead for almost 4 years.

Could this be a new "resurrection" record for HA?

ooopppsss, wasn't even looking at the dates....but you are correct, jct did pull it out of the timezone

Zak Wylde

Okay, I'll try and single out one guitarist for each genre...

Classical: Andrés Segovia (worlds better than all the others in my opinion)

Flamenco: Vicente Amigo (most people would probably pick Paco de Lucía but I think Vicente has a more emotional touch and more interesting ideas)

Jazz: Jim Hall (not an easy choice but he's the one who impressed me the most with his innovative ideas and his technique)

Rock, Pop: Mark Knopfler (that's another easy one, no one comes near him in terms of expressiveness and composing skills)

Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan (just plain crazy and amazing but more melodic than Jimi Hendrix)

Country: Chet Atkins (as a Mark Knopfler fan, you just have to pick Chet Atkins - the only one who could make Mark look like a beginner)

As far as Heavy goes, I can't really say; I don't listen to much.

That's my picks, what do you think?

Cheers,
Piffles.

Okay, now that the thread is "alive" again:

Mikael Åkerfeldt

Django Reinhardt (surprised he's only mentioned once)
Jimi Hendrix (obvious)
Robert Quine (my favorite)
J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)
Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers)
Rick Bishop (Sun City Girls)

Robert Fripp

Herman Li

that guy is a god

Allan Holdsworth - Suggested listing "Road Games" CD. Your life will never be the same ;-)

Craig Chaquico
Peter White

Did anyone here listen to some Russian guitarists? E.g. Victor Zinchuk or Sergei Mavrin?
Taking into consideration all countries, i like Yngwie Malmsteen, Sergei Mavrin, Timo Tolkki and ex-Sentenced guitarists: Miika Tenkula & Sami Lopakka. And Victor Smolski!

Akira Takasaki

Robert Johnson. Everyone is just an attempted imitation.

It's criminal how little mention Les Paul gets in this thread, considering that he's maybe the only person who you could say is clearly _far_ more influential than Hendrix or Robert Johnson on modern guitar music.

OTOH, all my top 10 picks have at least been mentioned in the thread.

My top 10 in no particular order (though on another day Clapton might be off in favor of one of 3-4 others).
Les Paul
Django Reinhardt
Chet Atkins
Andres Segovia
Paco de Lucia
Richard Thompson
Jimmy Hendrix
Eric Clapton
Robert Johnson
B. B. King

For me?

Andres Segovia, of course

There's another one, but he's not a world-known guitar player. He's famous though in my country. His name is Jubing Kristianto. Sample his guitar mastery by downloading some MP3s from his personal website here ( http://geocities.com/jubing/index2.html ) and tell me what you think

Steve Harris, Iron Maiden. Not many can play bass the way he does!

John Petrucci, Adrian Belew, Roine Stolt

If we're admitting bass, Victor Wooten and Danny Thompson get votes too.

Slash
Jimi Hendrix
Van Halen
Jimmy Page
Peter Frampton
Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top)
Buckethead

(just a few)

It's hard to believe no one here listed Stanley Jordan (unless I missed it). I saw him live many years ago, and I can say it's even more thrilling than hearing a top-notch recording of his work. I was simply entranced with the way he could seemingly make the strings do exactly what he wanted. And his rendition of Dixie and Yankee Doodle played at the same time on one guitar is astonishing. Even several of the other songs he played sounded like there were two, and sometimes even three, guitars going, when it was only him. THAT takes a special kind of mastery.

But he's not my favorite guitarist - that title belongs to David Gilmour. And of all his work, what stands out the most to me are several of Pink Floyd's unpublished live recordings, where the band tended to explore "uncharted realms" more than they did in the studio:

> "Embryo" on Bytes of the Talisman
> "Any Colour You Like" on Dark Side of the Moon - Live (Soundboard)
> "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" on The Great Gig on the Moon (although the general recording quality is poor on this one, you can still tell the guitar work is top shelf)
> Of the many wonderful, live "Blues" renditions, my favorite is the one on Stranger Than Fiction
> The whole of Echoes in the Gardens, the content of which was a recap of DSotM, bits of WYWH and a very exciting precursor to Animals, represents an outstanding synopsis of Dave's abilities with a Stratocaster.

And Pink Floyd's more accessible 1975 release, Wish You Were Here, presents some of Gilmour's finest guitar work throughout.

Trying not to duplicate too many of the choices (why echo what others have already said well?), but I have to agree with the following... limited to guitarists I'm extremely familiar with, so not to disrespect many others' choices:

Fripp
Zappa
Holdsworth
Legg
Kottke

And a man who sadly died at the peak of his ability, yet still not as widely known as he should have been:

Michael Hedges

If you're not familiar with his work, check it out. His style combined hammering, tapping, sliding, percussive transients, alternate tunings and un-fretted "harp" string playing (using specially constructed instruments) to create a unique approach to the acoustic guitar. I think sometimes he even used a pick.

Favourites:

Frank Caruso (Arachnes)
Katsu Ohta (Ark Storm)
Yngwie Malmsteen
Greg Howe

Also:

Borislav Mitic
David Valdes
Joe Kopecky (Kopecky)
Joy Basu
Kelly Simonz
Kuroki Masahiko
Michael Harris
Prashant Aswani
Richie Kotzen
Satoshi Miyashita (90s game soundtracks)

What about Jerry Garcia !!!!! (rip)

Tonni IOMI (this guy invented metal)
Zak Wylde
Crosby
Dimebag Darrel
Jimmy Page
Robbie Krieger!!!
Scott Wino
Josh Homme!!!
David Gilmour

Iomi is certainly a legend, and as already mentioned, pretty much invented metal on his own!

I've scoured all 4 pages so far, and have not heard Tom Morello mentioned.

I will stick with Joe Satriani, I like the type of his records, totally instrumental and he writes very good songs and arrangements. Also, he is way better than Noel Gallagher (hey Noel I guess you're no genius after all), and a very humble and simple guy that will talk to anyone in the street. That's Joe.

Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Terry Kath
BB King
Carlos Santana
Eddie Van Halen

Right now (it changes...), these guitarists hold up after repeated listening (in no particular order!):

Jerry Garcia (timbre, pace, tone, variety, experimentation; he was a musical scholar of impeccable taste!)
Joni Mitchell (not many females in this thread - and her style is also instantly recognizable)
Mark Knopfler (moreso early in his career...)
Neil Young (just because he does it his own way - beautiful acoustic melodies and harsh, yet melodic, over-driven tube distortion).
Taj Mahal (pure soul - you've got to feel it!

There's also;

Dickie Betts - Allman Brothers
Duane Allman - Allman Brothers and Derek & Dominos with Clapton

The Beatles Boys - John, Paul and George

Hank Marvin of the Shadows

Al De Meola of Return To Forever

Gary Moore of Thin Lizzy

Jaco Pastorious of Weather Report

Peter Green - Fleetwood Mac
Lyndsey Buckingham - Fleetwood Mac

Paul Kossoff - Free

Rory Gallagher
Roy Buchanan
Buddy Guy

Bonnie Raitt - Another Great Lady

Robin Trower

Frank Zappa

Prince

These are some of my favourite guitarists. I think it's ludicrous to label any one person as "the Greatest of All Time."

Chuck Berry
Eric Clapton
Nick Drake
The Edge
George Harrison
Jimi Hendrix
Tom Morello
Jimmy Page
John Petrucci
Pete Townshend

...and, of course: Skwisgaar Skwigelf

I didn't read anything past the first 2 or 3 posts on the thread until after I posted. So there you go.

1.) Neil Young
2.) Joe Satriani
3.) Steve Vai
4.) Van Halen
5.) Alex Lifeson - Rush

Although this list seems very rock-orientated it's a shame and it once more shows what a wrongful world we live in (), that one name hasn't been mentioned yet at all:

Bert Jansch

Founding member of Pentangle, having the greatest influcence on both 60 and 70 folk music as much as on rock music (Jimmy Page imitated his style as well as Nick Drake did...). He very much elaborated the style

Davey Graham

had invented - merging the former different styles of english folk and blues guitar.

Dimebag Darrell
Neil Young
John Lennon
George Harrison
Andreas Kisser
Max Cavalera
Kurt Cobain
Johnny Greenwood
Gary Moore
Mark Knoffler
I could go on and on really...