another excellent list has arrived
this time... top 10 guitarists. I know right? but this one was a toughy.... i didnt want it to become toooooo subjective, but maybe in some cases i couldnt help myself... theres just not enough room for all this greatness!!
10. Carlos Santana
Nobody plays as smooooth as carlos....
9. Trey Anastasio
Where do you even start with Mr. Ernest Joseph Anastasio III? I think should be most recognized for his improv. He makes abundant use of arpeggios; slippery slidin all up and down the neck. He is pretty conventional with his technique, but the guitars Anastasio typically plays are prone to excessive feedback, requiring a great deal of manual dexterity and control on the guitarist's part in order to manage the signal. Anastasio has learned to tame this wild mess he is able to produce and often uses it to his advantage in the creation of psychedelic sounds, onstage and in the studio, that shows up in stuff like the Squirming Coil and You Enjoy Myself and even The Divided Sky. Blam.
8. Alvin Lee
Forming the core of Ten Years After, Alvin Lee is where its at.
7. Jeff Beck
Jeffs Boogie? You cant get much better than that. Plus when you've got Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton to hang around with, you just can't go wrong.
6. Eric Clapton
WElllll.... yeah. Its Clapton. The only person to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame 3 times (with the Yardbirds, Cream, and as a solo artist). I just wish he hadnt strayed away.... idk man! He is a blues man through and through but sometimes you are just saddened by what he lets slip by. But when i hear some hard gritty stuff being layed down in the basement, you know its Clapton. Ian Anderson, when frustrated with his guitar skills, said something to the effect of 'if you cant play like clapton, dont play the guitar'.
5. Robert Johnson
basically invented the blues in a little room with a mic and a guitar. He influenced countless musicians-
Muddy Waters, Bobby Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, Jeff Beck, Jack White, and Eric Clapton who called Johnson "the most important blues singer that ever lived"
Watch out for this little black dude. He can way-yul.
4. Jorma Kaukonen
I have recently been into Hot Tuna ANND Jefferson Airplane. Although he never was much of a singer or song writer, this acid rocker brought interesting things to Jefferson Airplane. Backed up by his estranged lover, Grace Slick, Embroyonic Journey showcases his fingerstyle acoustic guitar virtuosity and prowess. You just cant get Truckin and Hesitation Blues outta your mind. He just cripples you with complcated and fleshy chords. Plus on Kaukonen's most successful solo album, Quah, Jormas jacked up, extremely deft, and completly mad finger skills are captured perfectly. I also like how he developed the harder edge inspired by, i am assuming, groups like Cream and by Mike Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Hot Tuna
lived on as a Hot Tuna
lived on as a vehicle for Kaukonen to show off his Piedmont style acoustic blues pickin skills.
3. Leo Kottke
Buckaroo. One of my favorite songs of all time. I love love loove the album One Guitar, No Vocals. Even though this dude is partialy deaf in both ears. He developed his own unconventional style of picking that left his hands so completely trashed with tendonitis and related nerve damage caused by his aggressive and vigourous picking style, particularly on the 12-string. He jams so hard he wrecked up his hands. He gets AFTER it.
2. Jimi Hendrix.
What even needs to be said? Influenced by some of the best in blues- Muddy Waters, and B. B King- Jimi RIPS it, favoring raw, overdriven, amps with high gain and treble to help produce and magnify the (previously undesirable) technique of feedbackkk. Influenced basically everybody worthy and pure in the musical world. Turn it UUP.
1. Jimmy Page
Unquestionabally one of the most influential, versitile, and important guitarists EVver. Influenced countless artists. Just about every guitarists from the late 60's early 70's to now has been influenced by Page in some way. Page also became one of the first British producers to record a band's "ambient sound" - the distance of a note's time-lag from one end of the room to the other. Page additionally utilised 'reverse echo'- this wacky thing you do to get the echo of a sound before you hear the orignal one. Led Zepplin revolutionized Rock and Roll. It was a "marriage of blues, hard rock and acoustic music topped with heavy choruses". Saturated, layered, shaded. Time to get the Led out.
