Top 5-10 Guitarists?

Tryptamino

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UTSE and didnt find anything like it, surprisingly, and I'm sure you guys all have your own favourite guitar heroes that you'd like to geek out on for a bit with me ;)

1. Guthrie Govan
Just the fact that he improvises that shit alone is enough to make me fangirl out on him, but on top of that his melodicism and mastery over almost every style and technique i can think of makes him an obvious choice for axeman numero uno. If you haven't heard him, check out the album Erotic Cakes and be amazed.

2. David Gilmour
He just knows where to put those fuckin' notes man. He makes a three chord riff sound incredibly complex and emptional with his lead playing stacked on top

3. Isaac Brock
Not an obvious choice, but he's actually one of the most inventive rhythm guitar players I've ever heard. The whammy riffs he plays on the first few albums are kind of genius. And his approach to chords influenced my own playing a TON.

4. Thurston Moore
Taught me the beauty of noise, and opened my eyes up to alternate tunings.

5. Tosin Abasi
Although he gets a lot of hype for his lead playing, I actually think his rhythm playing is where he really shines. His rhythmic-yet-incredibly-melodic, comp-y playing style has influenced me a lot.

I'm not gonna geek out on any more, but the following five would be Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Ryan Ayers, Trey Anastasio, and Joey Santiago.

Now, cue like 5 more replies until this thread dies, miserably :)
 
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django reinhardt

john mclaughlin

pat metheny

imho are all at least 10x more musical than anybody listed in this thread thus far, except jerry garcia
 
django reinhardt

john mclaughlin

pat metheny

imho are all at least 10x more musical than anybody listed in this thread thus far, except jerry garcia

while I respect all three guitarists a lot and would have probably listed them, albeit lower in the list, it's a little closed-minded to say that none of the guitarists listed before are musical at all...
 
"More musical" is a fairly empty term imo. I'm not even quite sure what it means. This depends how you score them. Innovation trumps technicality if I'm scoring most things (combine the two and I'm sold), I like those that move the evolutionary ball forward with music.

For that reason, in no order:
Peter Walker
John Martyn
Guthrie Govan
Simon Fox
Albert Lee
Fredrik Thordendal
Allan Holdsworth
Isaiah Mitchell
Joseph Andreoli
 
"More musical" is a fairly empty term imo. I'm not even quite sure what it means. This depends how you score them. Innovation trumps technicality if I'm scoring most things (combine the two and I'm sold), I like those that move the evolutionary ball forward with music.

For that reason, in no order:
Peter Walker
John Martyn
Guthrie Govan
Simon Fox
Albert Lee
Fredrik Thordendal
Allan Holdsworth

Isaiah Mitchell
Joseph Andreoli

Feel on Frederik Thordendal, i feel like he's a little underrated.
 
Tim O'Brien
Tony Rice
Darrell Scott

recently saw tim o'brien and darrell scott at a tiny little venue. it was mind blowing.

this is a tough topic, because best ever kind of shit is extremely subjective.

a couple that haven't been mentioned are jerry reed and derek trucks. john scofield should probably be on the list as well.
 
I think Dean DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots) is underrated.
 
I'm just going to focus on guitarists from bands I really like

1. Misha Mansoor (of Periphery)
2. Fredrik Thordendal (of Meshuggah)
3. Tosin Abasi (of Animals as Leaders)

Of these, Thordendal's style is likely the most distinctive.

ebola
 
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Santana
Buddy Guy
slash

loved tim O still do but when three quarters of his crowd ships out after throwing down for a ticket after three songs because he is to nodded out to play for shit he doesn't make my list.. half the battle is showing up.. we all pulled it together so should he have.. that being said I have seen jerry stink it up good way more than once.. but it my list rite.



 
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Santana

+1 on Santana.

For me, not necessarily in any order:

Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Van Halen
Jeff Beck
David Gilmour
Santana
Mark Knopfler
Keith Richards
Brian May
Tom Morello
Pete Townsend (Whoops, that's 11 ;))

Not worthy of a top 10 but Dave Navarro is a highly underrated guitarist.
 
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