best guitar player poll

rtabish · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 2:04 am Post subject: best guitar player poll

here is a subject that always gets some interesting responses. the new "classic rock" magazine poll came out with its 'best of' list. IN MY HUMBLE OPINION....it isnt quite what i would put out as a list.
The top 10 guitar heroes of all time [according to CRM]:
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Keith Richards
3. Stevie Ray Vaughan
4. Jimmy Page
5. Dimebag Darrell
6. Tony Iommi
7. Rory Gallagher
8. Eddie Van Halen
9. Chuck Berry
10. Kurt Cobain

i like hendrix, even still after all these years, there hasnt been a player who can touch his raw power and technique. i would have made page second on the list. his personality issues aside, he was [and probably still is] a master of style. stevie ray would be a good choice as #3, and just for contrast i would have eddie V as #4. i have always been a fan of tony iommi. missing a finger and playing 'backwards' just made him that much better. who needs ozzy! keith richards is a waste. he could have been great, but who will ever know? rory gallagher was a good blues man, but i think alvin lee was the best pure blues rock guitarist of all time. move rory a bit farther down the list, please. chuck berry was just an average player [by his own admission] who happened to have a good pop sensabiity at a time when bo diddly and muddy waters were playing the same music but with a more "dirty" style. and there are literally dozens of guitar players that sound like dimebag darrell, though i am sure he could have gotten much better, given the chance. did cobain play an guitar? so did kim thayil and stone gossard and steve turner and jerry cantrell and dale crover. and they are still alive. no symapthy here for kurt.

so what is you HUMBLE OPINION? john mayer? ross childress? maybe even steve vie?

82mech · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:32 am Post subject:

I think they made a few mistakes with Cobain, Richards and dimebag how about Richie Blackmore? :rocker:

fasterspider · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:46 am Post subject:

Where is the choices for Eric Clapton and David Gilmore?

genesound · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 10:35 am Post subject:

Billy Zoom was incredible too, but again, how would we know?

I did a show one time when he sat in with the The Blasters, he and Dave Alvin had a grand old time throwing licks at each other. I was pretty plugged in to the L.A. music scene back then when I ran the Palace sound, hooked up a few tours too. Skunk Baxter used to come by and sit in occasionally too.

I have no clue what's going on nowadays... that was over 20 years ago.

As for greatest stand up guitarist of all time, yeah, I'd have to give that to Jimi even though there are probably better technicians, he had a lot of that something extra. Probably what killed him. Cool

RebelRouser · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 1:02 pm Post subject:

Wheres Randy Rohdes??? Best Of All Time And They Leav Out Some Greats

Brian42 · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:07 pm Post subject:

sr71cbx · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:40 am Post subject:

Slash. Don't even see him in that list........he jams bigtime and anyone who could put up with Axl Rose as long as he did deserves to be commended anyway.

genesound · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:41 am Post subject:

D-Day · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:01 am Post subject:

John McLaughlin
Reeves Gabrels

fasterspider · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:03 am Post subject:

redstedman · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:38 am Post subject:

Pretty one dementional list. Where is Al Demiola, Les Paul,Chet Adkins,Phil Kagey(sp)Walter Becker, haven't touched classial, bluegrass, or flemenco. I like Clapton too.

fasterspider · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:44 pm Post subject:

genesound · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:53 pm Post subject:

Chet Atkins is totally awesome. Wink

A close friend of mine, Jim May, used to play in a stadium touring band called Legs Diamond. Jim gets all up about Chet. He likes his good friend Ted Nugent too. Jim actually stopped a whole TV show setup, he's a video engineer nowadays and a good one, when he picked up an acoustic guitar and played Stairway To Heaven on the set. Everybody stopped dead in their tracks with their jaws on the floor while he performed the sweetest rendition of it I think I've ever heard. Cool

Another outstanding guitarist is Kevin Eubanks. I wish he'd play some classical guitar on the Tonite Show, he really knows his way around a set of cat guts. Wink

rtabish · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject:

i think there are plenty of great guitar players who would not have made the list because they are not what is considered 'mainstream rock'. a few of you mentioned players who are great but were overshadowed by other players of their time who were better. they still deserve mentioning though, and i like that part of this kind of listing. it always makes you think of what YOU like, not really what is popular.

i have issues with some players...... like clapton. to me eric clapton is one of the most boring guitar players of all time. he is one of the best technical players there ever was, but he has no soul and he bores the hell out of me to listen to him play. i love david gilmore. i have a lot of his solo stuff in my collection as well as all of PF. unfortunatly he isnt mainstream and just doesnt give off that "guitar hero" image. same with zappa. people think of frank zappa as a song writer and major league smart ass, but not as a guitarist. if the list included jazz and country i would think the names on it would be a lot different. chet atkins was a major influence on everyone, and his stuff rocked, but he wasnt a rock guy. same with mclaughlin, demeola, and a few of the others you mentioned. i would have included carlos santana and jeff beck as well on a list the the top players.

hey gene, i remember legs diamond, but havent heard any of their stuff in a long time. glad you bought them up. i could make a list of bands that i think influenced every other band and would include them, T rex, the velvet undergound, the trogs, the yardbirds, man, dont get me started! Rolling Eyes

fasterspider · Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:49 pm Post subject: