My 15 Favorite Guitarists
Originally posted as a Facebook note, but since my blog hasn’t been getting any love lately, I’m double posting it here too. Sue me.
My 15 favorite guitarists list is unique in that there are 17 of them!
There are arguments for many others to be on or off my list, but these are my picks and I’m stickin’ to ‘em.
I may have passed over some who possess a great voice/guitar or guitar/songwriting or guitar in a great band but who I felt didn’t merit being on the list solely for their guitar work. I may have passed over others who I haven’t been exposed to enough to have an opinion, and may have left some off just due to my poor memory.
The biggest factor in my picks is how that person’s playing evokes feeling in me, so this is totally subjective. Yes, I gave points for historical context, technical wizardry, and where I was in my own life when I heard them.
Roughly in this order:
1. Stevie Ray Vaughan – A transcendent guitarist. Major influence not just the players coming up after him but the older players who he derived his inspiration from. Speed, innovation, wizardry, but at the same time 100% pure emotion. From the first time a friend handed me a cassette tape of Stevie’s playing, up until the present, he continues to amaze and inspire me. The only time outside of John Lennon where the passing of a famous person I didn’t know personally brought me to tears.
2. BB King – Can say more with a single note than most can say with a thousand. Influenced his peers and his successors. Even in his sad notes there is somehow an undercurrent of joy and hope.
3. Jimi Hendrix – Threw the rule book out the window and reached into his soul to create something totally new. To borrow a phrase from Van M. – All the people passing by stared in wide-eyed wonder…
4. Freddie King – One of those rare people who did not play the music – he WAS the music. Many a time I have picked up my guitar, dialed in a tone to approximate what Freddie used, played the same notes that he did, and it sounded like ass – yet when he played those notes it sounded like the perfect thing, the only thing that made sense in that space and time.
5. Eddie Van Halen – Took rock guitar and shook it by the neck until it became something else. Spawned a whole generation of imitators, yet where many of them came off sounding cold and mechanical, Eddie’s playing was 100% balls.
6. Mark Knopfler – Clean, melodic, beautiful tone. Borrows from many different genres but always comes off sounding like himself. At a time when popular music was turning toward heavy rock histrionics, chaotic punk, electronic, edgy New Wave, Dire Straits was putting out some of the most down to earth, tasteful, guitar music of all time.
7. Tab Benoit – His Louisiana roots are evident in everything he does. I’ve seen Tab perform several times, and he never plays a song the same way twice. Sometimes seems like he’s headed off a cliff, but always manages to pull everything together. Lesson learned from Tab: If you break a string in the middle of a song, don’t just try to get through the rest of the song – make it the best song of the night.
8. Danny Gatton – An absolute master among masters. His jazz/country/blugrass/rockabilly fusion was unique and awe-inspiring. It was a major loss when Danny decided to take his own life.
9. Duane Allman/ Dickie Betts – While I could have made a fine case for inclusion of either of these two here on their own, the combination was greater than the sum of its parts. They were the peanut butter and chocolate of guitar duos. When they jammed it was not just two guys taking turns soloing, but two distinct styles forming a synergy of mind and purpose.
11. Buddy Guy – There is a take-no-prisoners, fuck you attitude to Buddy’s playing that even the hardest rockers usually fall short of. In an interview with Buddy, he tells of a time back in the ’60’s when his son thought dad’s kind of music was old-fashioned and that he preferred the “new” sound of guys like Hendrix. It wasn’t until some time later that his son found an interview with Hendrix where he was asked who his major influences were – and there was dad right at the top of the list.
12. George Harrison – It is my humble opinion that without George’s guitar the Beatles never happen. A talented guitarist who just got better and better, yet was always dedicated to making those around him sound better. The right notes at the right time, and the rests are as important as the notes. A study in taste and subtlety.
13. Eric Clapton – I’ve heard some digs against Eric Clapton, and the fact is you either get it or you don’t. At a time when every guitarist was borrowing bits and pieces from the blues and applying it to their pop music, Eric took it upon himself to become a blues master – and then bring that back to his rock music. From the outset, other guitarists studied him,emulated him, integrated his style into theirs, until a few generations of guitarists later the things he brought to rock guitar were ambient and became part of everyone else’s style. Ask Van Halen or a thousand other guitarists who their major influences were.
14. Carlos Santana – Soaring, climactic guitar solos on top of Latin rhythms – what’s not to like?
15. Django Reinhardt – Way back in the day Django was playing guitar riffs that would make your toes curl. Wonder if he ever smashed up any hotel rooms?
16. Jimmy Page – The riff-master. Loud, crunchy, heavy guitar riffs that whack you in the head over and over until you have to buy a new needle for your turntable. Zep’s music defined the line between what would become hard rock and progressive rock.
17. Tom Morello – How does he get those sounds? I’m a big RATM fan and I think his playing lifts that band and sends it flying through the air at 1000 miles per hour, breaking glass all the way. BUT he can also play it pretty and does stuff that is more musically intricate in his other projects. BTW – he builds his own electronic effects.