5 Greatest Guitarist?

[h^2 O]

George Harrison

you know that was Clapton on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" right? Lot of people don't. I'm bored. Beatles rule.

 

[CascadeFarmer]

but can't believe no one's mentioned neil young yet.

...as a 'great' guitarist? Hard to believe that peeps are putting Jerry Garcia anywhere on this list. Ted Nugent? Saw him a few times and not impressed.

I also like Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler.

 

[vta]

My favorites...

Iommi

Jeff Hanneman

Dave Murray

Dimebag

K. K. Downing

 

[bigAl25]

I want to thank the individual who mentioned Tommy Bolin. It has been years since I've listened to his vinyl, and many are not old enough to remember him. Really pisses me off he O/D on heroin, left too soon, like many listed here(SRV,Hendrix,etc.). Sometimes gifted people flame out too early, they should take a more Rasta/Ganja approach to life, and live longer for us to enjoy their talents. Peace and respect MON

 

[rasputin]

Couldn't do 5 Greatest, no justice in a list like that, but here's 5 of my favorites...

Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, John Frusciante and Django Reinhardt.

Woody & Hank get honorable mentions for making simple picking sound so good.

And I'd feel terrible if I didn't show some love to my boy Hubert Sumlin. To my ear, that man has played some of the finest licks ever.

Son House and Blind Willie Johnson deserve to be mentioned as well. Man... I could go on all day, especially with blues guitarists. That's my shit right there. So many great pickers. Charlie Patton is another that comes to mind. Blind Lemon. These dudes laid the groundwork for practically all the guitarists mentioned in this thread.

See what I mean about lists? I couldn't even keep my post just to 5.

 

[ARTofMAKINGfire]

I haven't read other responses so I'm sure these will mostly be repeats many times over...

Hendrix
Les Claypool (you did not specify type)
Paige
Johnny Cash
Clapton
BB. King

many others deserve mention when discussing the greatest...

 

[Guest50138]

Dweezil Zappa hasn't got a mention yet !

 

[sunnydog]

Chet Atkins + Les Paul........

 

[SoulMachete]

cool thread!

top 5 most influential...

Jimi Hendrix
Ed Van Halen
Jimmy Page
George Harrison
Eric Clapton

my top 5 favorite individual guitarists....

Denis D'Amore aka "piggy" of VOIVOD
Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth
Dr Know of Bad Brains
Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
Randy Rhodes of Ozzy Osbourne

Top 5 tandems cause sometimes you can't have one without the other!

Kerry King & Jeff Hannemen of Fuckin Slayer!
Dave Murray & Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden
Gary Holt & Rick Hunolt of Exodus
James Hetfield & Kirk Hammet of Metallica
Alex Skolnik and Eric Peterson of Testament

Top 5 honorable mentions!

Robert Fripp of King Crimson
Alex Lifeson of Rush
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth
DR Know of Bad Brains
Buzz Osborne of The Melvins

and i play bass so my bonus top 5 bass players!

Cliff Burton of Metallica
Lemmy from Motorhead
Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath
James Jamerson of every great funk track ever....
Bootsy Collins...

peace out!

 

[Midnight Rudy]

Jerry Garcia
Jimi Hendrix
Frank Zappa
Eric Clapton
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Mark Knopfler
Warren Haynes
Derek Trucks

yeah, it's too many but i make my own rules.

Pistol Pete I like your style. You got 4 of my 5 and the rest are certainly faves

Jerry
Clapton
Knopfler
Hendrix
and Gilmour

Neither Gilmour or Knopfler would be on my list if I had never seen them. Both will just give you goose bumps until the show is done. None finer than Jerry though. Our kid's grandkids will still listen to Jerry Garcia and understand why he was so well thought of.

 

[BigDawg]

Jose Feliciano

 

[RudolfTheRed]

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth

I will give you a lot of credit for this pick. Its about time someone mentioned a guitarists outside of the usual picks we always here. I am a huge Sonic Youth fan and think they are amazing. However, I got one bone to pick. As a tandem Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore are a top 3 in my opinion. They blow some of those picks out of the fucking water.

 

[The Hummus Monk]

Neil Young.

Just gets me the way he plays. Simple. Emotional. Truthful?

Tommy Guerero.

The guy from original Fleetwood lineup...took too much acid...

Gilmour - YouTube Granchester Meadows

Me - after a bottle of red and a puff of F13

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

I agree on Thurston Moore.
Another overlooked is J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr
The beginning of "Out There" is one of my all time favorites. Maximum volume!

How about Dick Dale, the king of surf guitar?

 

[shasta]

Just have to add:

Joe Bonamasa
Eric Johnson
Peter Frampton
Neal Schon

 

[badbeans]

the dude from zz top - badass blues guitarist, back in the day hendrix called him the best blues player on the planet. this man got so much style its unbelievable.

"the dude from zz top" is Billy Gibbons, who can pluck with the best of them.

Billy has a couple other things going for him, a smokin' hot wife named Gilligan (yeah Gilligan!) and THE best fuckin' beard ever!

a few samples of Billy shredding with ZZ Top

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X15-kYgpLwo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X15-kYgpLwo&feature=related

bb

 

[Hold Your Fire]

Not sure if they are the best, but my faves are
Alex Lifeson
Dime
Zakk
Satch
Vai
Morello
and the asian guy from Dragonforce, he is so FAST, he deserves mention!!!

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

I could never get that Dragonforce song on Guitar Hero.

 

[stumpy mcgee]

I just thought of a few more outside the box greats

bob mould
ottmar lienbert
gary ricrath
gary moore
kirk hammett
alex skolnik
the guy from tesla
richard thompson
jorma koukonen
michale hedges.ok not all outside the box but a few little known gems

 

[SoulMachete]

yeah rudolf sonic youth is awesome...way back when they redefined for me an ignorant metalhead at the time what "heavy" music really was/is....they were a gateway to a lot of cool music for me...another guitarist i always thought was awesome is John McLaughlin...the stuff he did with miles davis during the bitches brew era is great. do you know Caspar Brötzmann? fucked up jazz influenced by heavy metal and industrial sounds. his playing is unorthodox and pretty amazing...also....

this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NV3CdniXC8

and this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JxKbdu7L_8