Top 5-10 Guitarists?

and bills at it again with aint you going to be glad when i leave this place for a few months at the weekend

how the fuck can you class buckethead above Robert Fripp christ on bike lmao at that one

dave mustaine

john squire

slash

jeff hanneman

kerry king

dave brock

now what that french guy kermit thats the dude any one heard of him lot like buckethead

fucking beautiful [video=youtube_share;XrgLSvTQ0tU]http://youtu.be/XrgLSvTQ0tU[/video]
 
Steve Vai
Buckethead
Frank Zappa

I measured hands with Steve Vai last November whilst on Mdma, sat and listened to 2 hours of him playing first, one of the most surreal moments of my life.
 
Justin Broadrick- of Jesu, Godflesh, many others, my favorite being Jesu, dude's just got the best sense of melody ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JSVFGUIQQI )

Tony Iommi- of Black Sabbath of course! Single biggest influence on m own guitar playing easily. Godfather of Metal & master of the riff. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHISn_DCmc0 )

David Gilmour- (Pink Floyd) pretty self explanatory, I bet all you other druggies know exactly why! ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lgOo8yEIPs )

Jus Oborn- (Electric Wizard) his style just screams "marijuana" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TdjognCZfg )

Kevin Shields- (My Bloody Valentine) somehow just as evocative of opium as it is LSD ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chaYm2TqfHM&list=PL31CBEB4608C17125 )

Chelsea Wolfe- she's got another guitarist in her band too, but she's writing the songs and still playing at least one of the guitars, great stuff, very cathartic, reminds me of dissociatives ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xwLuMEXdLg )

Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo- (Sonic Youth) these dues are just doing their own thing and it's wonderful, love those crazy tunings, wish I could come up with shit like that! ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf2qYa8c-cA )
 
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i haven't mentioned jerry garcia in this thread, just because it's been covered and i obviously love the dude. but, man, shit.....i went on a dead bender last night and felt the need to post. maybe not the "best" ever, but possibly the most unique and innovative, constantly evolving into something different, even in the 90's. what a stud. definitely a top 3 personal fav for me.
 
ChickenScratch said:
maybe not the "best" ever, but possibly the most unique and innovative, constantly evolving into something different
Click to expand...

i've noticed that a lot of times when somebody talks about how great jerry's playing was, they preface it by saying "well maybe he wasn't the best, but..."

i'm not that way. i'm unapologetic about thinking he really was not only one of the best guitar players of all time, but one of the best musicians in general. he was a Bach level genius imho.

the patterns i find in garcia's playing are unmatched by any musician i've ever heard. i'm consistently frustrated by "best guitar player" lists that always put jerry at around #10 and jimi hendrix consistently lands at #1. now, don't get me wrong here, jimi hendrix was phenomenal, and did things with the blues scale that no other man ever could. but his level of musical sophistication was about 1/50th of jerry's.

jerry's playing was like the peak of an acid trip, where everything in existence comes at you unfiltered at once. nobody else could play competently in so many diverse styles, and through the stylistic changes his melodics would preserve an almost mathematical commentary on the overall harmonic structure of the piece. truly playing through the chord changes, emphasizing the notes that differentiate a given chord from the others comprising the piece. i even perceive tangential meta-level commentaries on obscure concepts like the parsimoniousness of the voice-leading of the chord structure (that is to say, all major consonant triads share 2 notes with iirc 3 other consonant triads, and are said to preserve parsimonious voice-leading. a major subconscious element of how music effects us emotionally is how the parsimoniousness of the voice-leading of a piece is distributed). i'm utterly convinced that jerry was thinking much more deeply about music than almost any musician has ever in recorded history. when you catch him at his best, his playing is unmatched.

his mind was the very definition of "musical" imho
 
God dammit, roger. That was probably the best fucking post I've ever read on any drug board, ever. I'm not a guitarist, so I can't go that deep. Jerry plays to me, it makes me emotional, almost bipolar in my thoughts. I personally think Hendrex and even SRV are terribly over rated, but because I don't actually play, I try and stay out of best ever conversations because I don't know the technical side of things. For me, Jerry is most certainly the best ever.

You need to sit down and give mike houser a solid chance, if you haven't already. He played with the same emotion, but wasn't quite the virtuoso that jerry was. He played to me. I do think the "he may not have been the best ever, but..." conversation holds up a lot more with him than Jerry, though.

Outstanding post, friend
 
"Bipolar in my thoughts" was probably a bad description, cuz he makes me think clear. I guess I was speaking more to the whole light into dark, peaks into valleys, desert into forest landscape painting he so seamlessly paints....or painted.
 
Roger&Me said:
jerry's playing was like the peak of an acid trip, where everything in existence comes at you unfiltered at once. nobody else could play competently in so many diverse styles, and through the stylistic changes his melodics would preserve an almost mathematical commentary on the overall harmonic structure of the piece. truly playing through the chord changes, emphasizing the notes that differentiate a given chord from the others comprising the piece. i even perceive tangential meta-level commentaries on obscure concepts like the parsimoniousness of the voice-leading of the chord structure (that is to say, all major consonant triads share 2 notes with iirc 3 other consonant triads, and are said to preserve parsimonious voice-leading. a major subconscious element of how music effects us emotionally is how the parsimoniousness of the voice-leading of a piece is distributed). i'm utterly convinced that jerry was thinking much more deeply about music than almost any musician has ever in recorded history. when you catch him at his best, his playing is unmatched.

his mind was the very definition of "musical" imho
Click to expand...

I like this. My appreciation for Jerry and the Dead has been on the rise lately.

This is a good watch

 
My personal top ten favorites and influences (in no particular order):

Frank Zappa - Uncle Frank is unlike most other 'mainstream' guitarists, especially with his phrasing. And the guy could burn when he needed to. The solos to Montana, Penguin In Bondage, Zomby Woof (my favorite Zappa solo, noisy, skronky, yet melodic) Watermelon In Easter Hay, the guy was a beast.

Jimi Hendrix - The guy makes it sound effort less. Those hammer-on chords (like in 'Wait Until Tomorrow') are sweet and show him to be a pretty bitchin' rhythm player as well.

Duane Allman - Brother Duane was a monster with the slide guitar. He tuned to open-E and then rips it up on Statesboro Blues, which is in D. Not easy to do unless you know your instrument.

Dickey Betts - Brother Duane gets all the accolades, but IMHO, Dickey Betts was no slouch. His playing is on as high of a level as Duane's is on the first three studio albums plus Fillmore East. On his own, Southbound is a really good lead.

Albert King - Played guitar left handed, strings reversed so instead of pushing strings to bend them, he pulled them. And he tuned guitar to an open E minor chord. Pretty individual.

Danny Gatton - Could play anything, and played it well. My jaw literally dropped the first time I ever heard him. He also does a great version of 'The Simpsons Theme.'

Albert Collins - Another blues guitarist who tuned their guitar to an open minor chord, except he then placed a capo at the 8th fret. And that tone. Oh, that tone. It's like being slapped in the face with a fish. In a good way.

Keith Richards - Sure he isn't flashy by most lead guitarist standards, but he may be the best rhythm player I've ever heard. Tuned to an open-G chord, with the 6th string removed. Love the rhythm part to Brown Sugar (which was written by Mick Jagger apparently) Can't You Hear Me Knocking, Monkey Man...too many great songs to list here.

Jerry Garcia - I love the Dead now. It wasn't always that way. But Jerry is a consistently inventive melodic player, and he proved it night after night for 30 years.

Pete Cosey - The lead guitarist in Miles Davis' early 70's electric band, he kicks the ever loving shit out of his axe on Dark Magus, Agharta, and Pangaea, live albums all. Not everybody's cup of tea, but I'll have seconds thank you very much.
 
Wow, no love for John Petrucci? Then again, i'm only a drummer so what do i know about guitar!
 
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