[MUSIC] Rolling Stone's Best Guitarist of all Time

Um, no. Great songwriter, though.....

I think thadeus nailed the real reason behind such a list, but the upper ranges of such lists can also be good for calling attention to lesser known artists. I discovered a number of bands after seeing a similar list back in the 90s.

A more interesting list would be top 100 guitar recordings - it would highlight the great players and call attention to performances that were truly once in a lifetime.

 

Les Paul is my man, but he was innovative in his inventions and techniques more than his actual guitar playing IMO.

Didn't he win a Nobel Prize or something?

 

You're entitled to your opinion but if you listen to the Live at Leeds and Isle of Wight stuff Pete Townshend shows he's more than just a great songwriter. Its unfortunate that his songwriting overshadows his guitar playing.

 

no love for John Frusciante?

"Hey" on Stadium Arcadium has to have one of my favorite solos of all time. ALL TIME

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As a top 10, no f'n way. Besides, RHCP haven't been good since Blood Sugar Sex Magic (sorry, somebody had to say it ).

 

I have listened to both of these, and there's a reason why his songwriting overshadows his guitar playing - his guitar playing is functional and unremarkable. He's a powerful rhythm player but not in same league as Keith Richards, Jimmy Nolen, Tony Iommi, Johnny Marr or James Hetfield. He's a mediocre lead player at best - definitely not of the same caliber as anyone in the top 10 (excluding Keith, who's not much of a lead player).

That doesn't mean you can't like his guitar playing. I love David Gilmour's lead playing, but he's not in the same league as many of the players in the RS top 10. Pete serves his songs well and gets a great sound but he's just not top 10 caliber. That's my only disagreement with you.

 

This list lost it's credibility by not having SRV in there somewhere! Peter Green?! And am I the only one that thinks Beck is always overrated in these lists? Top 20 perhaps, but not top 10. I would easily replace him with Stevie RV.

 

If we're completely ignoring genre, and just judging pure guitar skill...

Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña

/thread

 

Rep for you, sir. Original Fleetwood Mac is one of my faves. Too bad everyone went crazy; what a band they could've been.

 

Pete also has an issue by being in a band that has the best rock bassist of all time and the best rock drummer of all time and one of the best frontmen in rock history and he rarely went off on major solos. In basketball terms, he's often the PG dishing oops to John and Keith for vicious slams... and there's artistry to be found in that as well (not to mention he designed the whole system).

No doubt he's in the Top Ten if you're looking at influence as well as technical ability and innovation.

They really start to rock out at about 5:15 with Pete wailing...

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Jimmy Page seems a bit underrated in this thread. His style is fairly unique. About as unique as Hendrix's style. As a guitarist, I'm familiar with both, and I'd say they were both quite innovative.

On the other hand, Eric Clapton is being overrated. If Hendrix hadn't died, Clapton wouldn't be the guitar god he's considered today. Out of the three guitarists I've mentioned, Clapton's music is the easiest and least innovative of the bunch. But don't get me wrong. He's still a guitar god. I really enjoy jammin over Cream's version of Steppin' Out. That's a great riff, and a great song for improvisation.

 

jimmy page is the anti-clapton - creative, innovative, risk-taker, satanist. clapton plays it safe - "this is the proper sequence that these notes should be played in so that people will enjoy it" - f*** that! guys like page and hendrix were bad-ass b/c they were not afraid to hit a bad note - they just threw down - it wasnt about technical "skill" - it was about being in the moment and playing from the heart. they were going for transcendence...something eric clapton could never get.

you listen to live bootlegs of led zep or hendrix and they were hitting bad notes left and right - and its great! its real! its got soul!

 

I don't know about the list all I know is that the top 4 should be Hendrix, Page, Clapton, and Beck. Everybody else after?? Depends on your personal preference.

 

• Michael Hedge
• Paul Gilbert
• Leo Kottke
• Jimi Hendrix
• Jorma Kourkonen
• Phil Keaggy
• George Lynch
• Preston Reed
• John Fahey
• Al Dimeola
• Junior Brown
• Doc Watson
• Chet Atkins

Game. Set. Match.

 

SMH... Pete Townshend is so freaking overrated. I've honestly never heard anything from him that made me say "Wow, that was amazing."

He's consistently out-shined by everyone else in the band.

 

From wikipedia ...

In the mid 1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand", and graffiti in London declared "Clapton is God."

Thus, Hendrix broke big after Clapton's divinity.

Hendrix was such an innovator. Had he lived, he certainly would blazed more trails.

 

For what it is worth, Hendrix was not an innovator. He was the pinnacle. They broke the mold with that guy. I would call early innovations like Les Paul, Maybelle Carter, Flat n Scruggs, innovators, more than Hendrix.

Clapton's genius is the licks that he came up with.

 

What a great list. Junior Brown is one of the most underrated guitarists on the list. He's an innovator as well as accomplished technically.

 

No love for Django Reinhardt? If we're going all time...

Prince needs to play more guitar, rather than 30 other instruments plus the guitar when he feels like a change; the man is a god.

I don't think he's Hendrix/top ten, and maybe it's just the era I grew up in, but I always liked Morello from Rage.

And yes, I'm pretty sure Rolling Stone reworks this list every six months.