Greatest Guitar Player?
 

Who do you feel is the greatest guitar Player?

WOW!! There's a question. I can't name one.. so here's a little list in no order:

Pete Townshend (The Who)
Jimmi
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
The Edge (U2)
David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
Dimebag (Pantera)
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)
Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones)

I could go on... but those are my votes.

You'll never get a consistent answer on this. There's too many great players out there and of too many styles to narrow it down to just one, or even just one in any category. Some people will prefer to list the better technical players and others will list the ones they feel play with the most emotion. Someone will say Yngwie but then someone else will say all Yngwie's stuff sounds the same and has no feeling. And someone else would probably say Kurt Cobain and many would comment on his missing technical skills. And others would just stick with the classic players such as Hendrix and Clapton. No one will ever agree on just one person or even several people so it is basically a pointless question. Why not just ask who is everyone's favorite player? In which case mine would be Steve Vai.

Fingerstyle Favorite: Michael Hedges
Rock Favorite: I don't think I could narrow this category down to one.
Singer/songwriter favorite: Dave Matthews
Blues Favorite: Jimi Hendrix
Country Favorite: Chet Atkins
R&B/Urban Favorite: Jimmy Reed or George Benson
Favorite Jazz: Django Reinhardt

I'll stop before I get into a billion categories.

Jdoe

I've heard Johnson, Malmsteen, Hendrix, Vai, Page, Satriani, Clapton, Friedman, May, Hammet, Gibbons, Vaughan even Zappa... tons of artists, really, mentioned as 'the best'. It all depends on who you're talking to (and in what context).

Steve Vai

He can shred
But he can also play with emotion (FTLOG, anyone?)

I am surprised Jeff Beck wasn't mentioned yet. Maybe not the best but definetly worth being named with all these people.

Another couple I would throw in (I am not sure if you could ever say there was one ultimate guitar player...too many styles/genres/etc. of guitar playing.)

Slowhand
Trey Anastasio

best? dunno. favorite?

- David Gilmour
- Jim "Reverend Horton" Heat
- Johnny Greenwood
- BB King
- Kirk Hammet
- Kurt Cobain
- John Frusciante
- The chick from Nashville Pussy

Most have been named already, but my personal favourite is still Joe Satriani

obviously, jimi hendrix... his recordings from the 60s sound as good as anything today, and his live playing was unbelievable.
stevie ray vaughan gets a nod as well, he could play anything he wanted to, in any style he wanted to... but of course, its all subjective.
tom morello (rage, audioslave) has to be the most innovative... noone can do what he does with a guitar, at least from what ive seen... or heard

Best? - Hendrix

Favorite? - Frusciante

I don't like Jimi Hendrix at all, but I hugely respect what he did for guitar.

My favourite is Eric Clapton

Like shred_head said, one man's "best" is completely different from anothers. As a seasoned guitar player myself, here are my favourites, and ultimately who I feel are amongst the best and greatly influenced the guitar player I became.... plus they make kick ass music :):
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
Steve Morse
John Petrucci
Don Ross (great finger-style)
Jeff Beck
Jimmy Page
Jimi Hendrix
David Gilmour
Zakk Wylde (chicken pickin' metal.... nuff said)
Michel Cusson (guitar for a canadian jazz band named Uzeb... some really crazy stuff)
Victor Wooten (bass player, kicks major ass)
Stu Hamm (another kick ass bassist)
Larry Carlton
Lee Ritenour
Yngwie Malmsteen (has the personality of a sack of potatoes, but man he can shred)
..... The list goes and goes.....

"best" as in technicality would be either Malmsteen or Satriani.

But in favourite (which is what I think you meant) I'm definately going with Adam Jones (TOOL). He has such a great way of making the guitar do what he wants with it.

After him is Tom Morello. He's the Hendrix of the modern world. Very innovative, different, and it also sounds good (in my opinion).

Damn, forgot Morello. Totally agree with u divine... Even Satch himself said he was one of todays up and coming guitarists, did some stuff that made him double take.... Forget where I saw it, think it was an old issue of Guitar World... gonna have to look that up.

Jimmy Page

John Mayer- underated but EXCELLENT player

my favorite: john petrucci

For a twist, here are guitar players I respect but dont really dig on:

- Satriani
- Vai
- Beck
- Clapton
- Malmsteen

Certainly would never say they were bad, but just don't like them too much.

Joe Satriani, then Steve Vai

I hear Jeff Loomis from Nevermore is the greatest guitar player on the western hemisphere, but I've only heard a few of their songs.
You see a lot of mainstream guitar players mentioned here.. and its kind of sad.
Lots of european metal bands have GREAT guitarists, and they go unknown to most people.

Favourite: Joe Satriani

I havent heard anyone who make a guitar sounds like Tom Morello. Hes a bad ass and my personal favorite.

Stevie Ray Vaughn does it for me every time. Just a few licks and I need a beer and a cigarette to give it a proper listen.

too tough to name one, or even narrow it down to a few...lots of the obvious greats have already been mentioned...maybe if you couched the question in terms of top three in various categories, we could handle it

Wow this is the 4th time this thread has been reicarnated; its all good.

I like Yngwie's stuff up to a certain period Steeler-Odessy (Maybe Fire and Ice) I think he has the best vibrato of anyone, but I havent seen him grow any which has become stale over time. I'll always love his sound though.

Marty Friedman- I love his melodic selection and his new age albums a completely different direction from his earlier Cacophony, Megadeath playing.

Al Dimeola- For obvious reasons

Eddie Van Halen always had cool note selection and soulful playing, he's one of the guitarists that can make a mistake sound like it was supposed to happen.

Even though he cant play anymore because of his condition (he now compses with eye movements as that is the only aspect of his body he has any control of) Jason Becker is my favorite. Its a wonder where he would have taken his playing has things turned out differently for him.

www.jasonbecker.com

Oh, and I would like to throw Jerry Garcia in as well.

tom morello??? if you think he is innovative you better buy all the roth era van halen albums and listen to innovative playing. he does way more with his hands then tom can do with some pedals.

It would have to be Jimmy Page. He was the most versatile guitarist. He could play rock, heavy metal (for the time), country, folk, blues, and not to mention that he wrote some of the most popular guitar riffs ever. Just listen to the live Zep albums when Page goes off its amazing. Other great guitarists are Gilmour, Hendrix, SRV, and Clapton. There are many others to list.

It's a tie between Chet Atkins (put anything infront of him and he could play it, no matter what type of music it was), Eric Johnson, and SRV. Heh heh, a little Texas bias goin on here.

Randy Rhodes, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eddie Van Halen

I always thougth Eddie Van Halen was the best........

OK, it is settled...apparently Rolling Stone says it is Hendrix...so the question is settled ;) ;)

lol

wow, what a question... there are soo many brilliant players...

i think...
clapton
hendrix
knopfler
page
and BB King

For rhythm guitar, I don't think anyone ever topped John Lennon. If you don't believe me, just TRY to play those never-ending triplet strums on "All My Loving."

Pete Townshend was one of the best rhythm guitarists.

For my money...Randy Rhodes in a fucking heart beat. He could do it all. Classical, technical leads, tight rhythm. Early Van Halen was Randy Rhodes.

Yeah, JR. I'm with you on this one!

Gotta throw in some Duane Allman too, with a touch of Dickie Betts.

Jazz: Pat Metheny / John Scofiled (If you haven't checked out Scofiled do it right now, hes awesome)
Blues: Jimi Hendrix
Rock: Frank Zappa/Jimmy Page
Fingerstyle: Leo Kotkke

Jimi, Jimmy Paige, Kirk Hammet, Carlos Santana, Slash, Stevie Ray Vaughn I think thats it.

ok could someone please explain what made hendrix so good. im not trying to make anyone validate their opinions but i heard hendrix's stuff from are you experienced and i didnt find it to match the hype although i love the song manic depression and the solo is awesome.

I think Hendrix gets the cred because he broke new ground. No one approached the electric guitar the way he did before him. Looking at it from our vantage point, we can say that maybe people are better or have pushed it farther, but he was revolutionary for the time.

I have this argument with my wife all the time in regards to modern art. She's always saying "Why is Jackson Pollock so great?" And I have to explain that he is revered because no one did what he did before him.

jimmy page may be an awesome guitarist but i don't think it's what stands out the most for me when it comes to zeppelin.

Dunno who is best, but my favourite is Dave Gilmour for sure.

clapton

John Petrucci, hands down

I am appalled that no one has mentioned the grand daddy of all guitar, Andres Segovia. If it wasn't for him, none of your favorite guitarists would ever have picked up a guitar. All of the guitarists mentioned are great, by the way.

Also, whoever says Malmsteen doesn't play with feeling is just following a certain crowd of silly people. I can feel a lot of emotion from songs such as "Sorrow" "Dreaming" and a bunch of his Concerto Suite songs. Just not the typical emotions that you'd expect, but feelings and emotions are still there.