Your Top 20 Greatest Guitarist ever

[Mod Style]

eddie van halen
steve vai
paul gibert
srv
joe satriani
eric johnson
eric clapton
jerry reed
yngwie malmsteen
b.b king
albert king
freddie king

[Blue Meanie]

Wow...I can't believe I forgot Carlos Santana. A little spacey in concert, he says he sees angels when he plays , but man can he play. One of the Best concerts I've ever seen was Carlos Santana with Buddy Guy opening up for him...Buddy Guy was incredible...as was Santana.

[Joe90]

John McLaughlin belongs there too.

Maybe the list should be expanded to "Top 50"...

[Blue Meanie]

One of my Favortie Zappa tunes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQPkLuwy80

There is a longer version of this song somewhere...cause I remember hearing it on the Radio around the same time of the video. First time I started taking Zappa seriously. His son Dweezil is also a good guitarist.

[Hector]

Another forgotten great guitarist...Jerry Garcia...

[Hector]

Scotty Moore
Link Ray
James Williamson(Iggy Pop's Guitarist)
Brian Setzer
Jimmy Hendrix
Buddy Holly
Mike Ness(Social Distortion)
B.B.King
Les Paul
Steve Jones

My God...can't believe I forgot to mention Buddy Holly!!!

[Blue Meanie]

A little Stanley Jordan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmlbFLt_kko

His version of Stairway is also amazing. Had the pleasure of seeing him up close at The Blue Note in Manhattan...still couldn't believe my eyes and I was about 15 feet away from him.

[megomania]

Right . I got Him right In My Bubble Gum Pop Rock Book ...

Deride..deride...

"This album cements why so many guitarists over the past 30 years proudly cite Ace Frehley as their main influence."
Sleaze Roxx: Ace Frehley - Anomaly

"Abbott once said in a Guitar World interview that if there was no Ace Frehley, there would have been no "Dimebag" Darrell"
Dimebag Darrell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Along with Eddie Van Halen, Kiss' Ace Frehley inspired numerous up-and-coming rockers to pick up the guitar in the 1970s -- and come the '90s, was listed by just about every contemporary rock guitarist (Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell, etc.) as an important influence."
Ace Frehley - artist details, ringtones, covertones, downloads, MP3, CDs

[TEXASFETT]

You can't forget about Joe Satriani as well.

[BlackKnight]

Yeah, Ace Frehley. He's probably influenced more of the recent generation than any other guitarist. No list is complete without him.

Right . I got Him right In My Bubble Gum Pop Rock Book ...

[david_b]

Lawrence Juber, from McCartney's last line up ('78-'80). I don't have any access to Youtube here, but just look him up, doing standards like 'All of Me' and others. Plays lots of different styles, and married to Sherwood Schwartz's daughter (a babe..!!).

Listen to his wonderful solos to 'Wonderful Christmastime' and 'Goodnight Tonight' (the live versions are even better..), did very well on "Let It Be" on tour as well.

Did years of session work for all the greats.

david_b

[megomania]

Brian May, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Ace Frehley

Yeah, Ace Frehley. He's probably influenced more of the recent generation than any other guitarist. No list is complete without him.

[BlackKnight]

Tool and guitarist Adam Jones have already won 3 Grammy Awards but barely make a blip on the Radar.

Tool is just Bad Arse ...
I scene them at a show in like 94 or something ... when no one knew who they were ...., that sure as hell didn't last long ... They mighta been on the same bill as Soundgarden at the time ...

[kingdom warrior]

Unfortunately this is really not a definitive "Best ever" type of thing. It's the same when someone says who's the best ever baseball player etc. Too many musical genres to say who the greatest guitarists are. I can tell who my favorites are:

1) Eric Clapton...IS GOD as the album cover says. Man can play almost any kind of guitar...Acoustic, Jazz, Power Pop, Blues, Rock...you name it he can play it. I can say that if you've never seen him live...do it before he stops touring. I regret not having seen him on last years tour with Winwood. I've seen him on every tour since '85/'86. In my opinion the Greatest guitarist EVER.

2) Jimi Hendrix...The most amazing thing is what he got out in such a short career. And to boot...he did it with basically 4 an 8 track recording studios...mostly 4. Definitely changed music...just didn't live long enough to show other side of what he could do. He's one of those artists that you wonder what they would be doing right now if they were still alive and still playing.

3) Wes Montgomery...Amazing Jazz guitarist that made pop standards of the day his own during a time when Jazz was in flux.

4) George Benson...another amazing Jazz guitarist with an amazing voice to go along with his guitar talent. Another guitarist that crossed over into pop with ease and success.

5) Eddie Van Halen...just for the fact that he changed Rock guitar playing for ever he deserves to be on this list.

6) B.B. King...at 70 + he's still doing it. Man is an amazing Blues guitarist. Another person that if you haven't seen live...you don't know what you're missing. Also had one of the funniest lines I've heard in any Music Documentary...from Rattle and Hum when he's playing with U2 on "When Love Comes to Town"..."Edge will have to play the chords...I can't play chords" I'm paraphrasing...but it was just so funny to hear that from a man that's played guitar for more than 50 years.

7) Stanley Jordan...more of a visual type of guitar player...because you can't believe what he gets out of the guitar with the style that he plays. It's similar to VH's style except he doesn't strum and then tap...he just taps and gets some incredible sounds.

8) John Williams the classical guitarist and NOT the composer for the Star Wars movies.

9) Jeff Beck...what else can be said...just a great rock guitarist.

10) Jimmy Page...looks like he was always either stoned or very drunk on stage...but man can he play. It still amazes me that the Yardbirds had three of the greatest guitarists of all and basically only had one hit "For Your Love"

11) Andy Fairweather Low...this guy is an amazing guitarist that will never get his due because he has been basically a backup to the likes of Clapton and others. Fantastic guitarist.

12) George Harrison...Even though I am not a fan of George's early Beatle guitar work...he really does come into his own around '65/'66 with "If I Needed Someone"...and I still would like to know if he beat the Byrds with what really become their sound. Did McQuinn copy George's style from the Rubber Sould LP?? Some of his most amazing stuff is around '68 with "While My Guitar..." and of course "Here Comes The Sun" and "Something"...and he explodes with the All Things Must Pass" LP.

That's all I got for now...I know someone else will come to mind.

Rock On!!!! great list!!!! Forgot Jordan Yeah his tap playing is amazing!!!

Yup Harrison got better as he went on with the Beatles and then on his own!!

[highquality]

Tool and guitarist Adam Jones have already won 3 Grammy Awards but barely make a blip on the Radar.