Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

There is so many great guitarists, masters of the axe, that you could not say that any one of them is the best. In my opinion the best lead player of all time is AC/DC's Angus...he plays with alot of feeling but yet it very technical at the same time...The best rythm guitaris is Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day..he is so creavitive and has so many good songs......seriously

Synister f**k GATES!!

The best I've seen was Jeff Beck. Amazing. The guy doesn't use a pick and gets the most amazing sounds out of a Strat.

This is simple. Andre Segovia.

It's interesting too see the resposes here.I agree with the the idea there isn't just one.
There have been many in rock and blues that I see no one is mentioning.Some have been in the limelight maybe too much and people are tired of them and others haven't gotten enough attention in my mind.

So think about these:

Frank Zappa(Most don't know of his avant-garde jazz compositions because they don't get airplay-way ahead of his time),Eric Johnson,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Joe Satriani,Neal Shon (Journey),John Cippolina (Quicksilver Messenger Service--only the Old Timers will remember this San Francisco Band),Lowell George of Little Feat-Master of Slide(Played with Zappa in his early days),Eric Clapton--Especially with Cream, Larry Carlton(listen to Steely Dan),Listen to the 2 Guitar counter point of Joe Walsh and J.D.Souther on the Eagles like "Dirty Laundry,"Al DeMeola(jazz),Leo Kotke (GREAT acoustic 12 string instrumentals-sounds like 2 people playing!),Tom Sholtx(Boston),Pat Metheny(jazz--Was a PROFESSOR of music at 17),Lee Ritnouer(jazz),John McLaughlin (jazz)---The Man Himself--Les Paul----Mr 2 fingers Django Reindhart(not sure I spelled that right)---The VERY influential(more than most realize and I think he is still alive-not technical mind you--but very influential-check the Beatles and Stones early stuff)--Chuck Berry.
Somebody New if you haven't heard him is Johnny A. That's what he calls himself Johnny A.--Look Him Up at JohnnyA.com

OK I'm done.Have to take my nap now.

JackalJohn,

That is why I said tongue in cheek Andre Segovia. I am yet to hear anyone mention any of the classical masters which is entire genre usually overlooked.

Good call on John Cippolina JackalJohn. I love the tune "Silver and Gold", some cool playing there. I just saw QMS last week, they sounded good.

Wegman, I think it was assumed we were discussing electric guitarists here. Segovia was great, I would have loved to see him strap on a Strat. Other excellent classical players are John Williams and Pepe Romero.

Another guitarist that needs mentioning is Chet Atkins.

bryteh20 wrote:What about Yngwie??? Dont forget Malmsteen..... he's probably the fastest... most original.... but best?? In my opinion, yes. Although Slash's bluesyness and style is my favorite!!!

Ummmmmmm hahahahahaha. What a laugh. He's not the fastest. Maybe the fattest. Try listening to Michael Angelo Batio or Herman Li then talk to me

Zakk Wylde, hands down. He can play anything. He can sweep, if anyone here has seen his video for guitar.com he does all the sh*t but he says its someone else's style.

Welllll .. i'm gonna have to say ... in my opinion ... Eddie Van Halen is the best guitarist of all time. Put his fingers back in their prime years and he is one competitive riffter.

Alan Thebeau,
www.bidzcenter.com

SRV

You know, I'm really surprised no one's mentioned Tom Morello in all of this. He's the lead guitarist of one of the most popular bands in this country.
Here's a quote I found in wikipedia that I really liked from Tom "A good song should make you wanna tap your feet and get with your girl. A great song should destroy copcars and set fire to the suburbs. I’m only interested in writing great songs." and as you listen to all the rage songs, it never gets dull.
They did break up, but Rage Against the Machine was so good that they came back this year. They wouldn't have been able to do this if they didn't have a huge fan base. While the Zach didn't really do much, Tim and Tom joined Audioslave. They never stopped rockin'. Tom never stopped rocking even after they broke up. He went above and beyond as a guitarist. If you listen to any of RATM or Audioslave songs you'll hear a lot of sound effects. Well guess what? Those sound effects don't come from keyboard, synthesizers and computers, they come from guitar and bass! On all their albums I think it says "All sound effects are done with guitar, bass, or drums". I don't know a whole lot of other guitarists who can do what he can do.

If you ask me, Tom Morello should be ranked right up next to Jimmy Hendrix.

Tom does write catchy songs but in 20 years, Hendrix will be the one remembered for writing what Tom would call "good songs." Not Tom for his "great songs." How ironic is that? We all have our favorites and people who we can justify as being as good as or better than but there's something else that gives a musician timeless longevity and I'm sorry to say that Tom Morello isn't one of those guitarists. Neither are many of the guitarists I think are so great but I accept that fact and move on. I've heard Tom write solos that fit the songs but I've never heard him tear wide open like I've heard he can do. Not once. Yeah, he used some effects innovatively but he can't hold a candle to Mattias Eklundh's ass when it comes to innovation on a guitar. Even guys like Hendrix and Vai had that stuff covered long before Tom did. He just made it a little more mainstream to a heavier music crowd. I'll give him credit where it's due but as memorable as Hendrix? Never.

-Stephen

I would have to say the greatest all around musician is, I cant believe anyone has not mentioned the best of the best, Of all time...! [Minnie Pearl] / Seriously: Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Jeff Healy, Robert Cray - 'That still hot smokin gun'!!!!!!

Rhoads_and_Wylde wrote:

bryteh20 wrote:What about Yngwie??? Dont forget Malmsteen..... he's probably the fastest... most original.... but best?? In my opinion, yes. Although Slash's bluesyness and style is my favorite!!!

Ummmmmmm hahahahahaha. What a laugh. He's not the fastest. Maybe the fattest. Try listening to Michael Angelo Batio or Herman Li then talk to me

angelo is cool.. seen him many times at various local gtr clinics... and the dbl neck thing is unbelievable... and he is fast... but not that clean... often 'cheats' by doing a lot of hammeron-pulloffs
I've vote steve morse, he can pick each note just as fast as angelo hammers it... but morse sounds so much more clean.
my 2c