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Top 50 Guitarists

Top 50 Guitarists

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What makes someone the best guitar player?
Is it just technique or is it originality as well?

For example, say Chuck Berry invented Rock & Roll (not sure he did, but say he did), wouldn't that make him a brilliant guitar player, no matter what his technique?

Or what about someone who can really entertain with a guitar, although he only uses a couple of chords? Isn't that great?

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Originally posted by PBE6
Short answer to all the shred-heads: I think the list is supposed to include guitarists about whom the general listening public actually give a crap.
Quite. There's a difference between technical ability, and the ability to create music that anyone actually wants to listen to. A lot of these obscure suggestions are obscure for a reason.

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Originally posted by gregsflat
FIRST 50 OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD:

50 GUITAR PLAYERS

SEGOVIA
HEITOR VILLA LOBOS
MAURO GULIIANNI
HECTOR BERLIOZ
ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM
FRANK ZAPPA
CHARLIE BYRD
LES PAUL
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN
DJANGO REINHARDT
GEORGE VAN EPPS
CHUCK RAINEY
DENNIS SANDOLI
JIMI
ERIC
SLASH
DOC WATSON
LEADBELLY
ROBERT JOHNSON
LEO KOTKE
ALAN HOLDWORTH
JIMMY PAGE ...[text shortened]... ARLTON
KIRK HAMMITT
DUANE ALLMAN
ZOOT HORN ROLLO
CHET ATKINS

I could do another 50 easy.
I've wondered what guitarists think of Derek Bailey, Keith Rowe and Seth Josel.

Do you have an opinion on any of the above?

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Bizarre...

My post disappeared, I re-wrote it... and then it's back again.

Move along people, nothing to read here....

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Originally posted by shavixmir
Bizarre...

My post disappeared, I re-wrote it... and then it's back again.

Move along people, nothing to read here....
Also, I can sometimes see dead people.

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What a crap list. Hendrix at number #1. Horsecrap. I'm probably one of the few people on this site to have seen him live and he sure wasn't the greatest ever. Good. Yes but not the greatest. I see the list fail to mention many of the great Blues players also. You can delete
Jerry Garcia
Randy Bachman
Nancy Wilson
George Harrison
Steven Stills
Tom Scholz
off the list as far as I'm concerned and replace them with other notable pickers.

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Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
I've wondered what guitarists think of Derek Bailey, Keith Rowe and Seth Josel.

Do you have an opinion on any of the above?
Derek Bailey, obvious technical facility, but he's out there. Makes Robert Fripp seem tame.
Modern, abstract, reminds me of composers like Morton Sobotnik, Edgar Varese. Sounds like he purposely plays with his guitar out of tune, so there's no western (or worldly) tonality. Maybe my drugs aren't good enough.

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Originally posted by Crowley
Does it mean that for every one you 'enter' that I don't know, you are one point cooler than I am?
Why don't you ask me which ones you want to know about and I'll tell you something cool about them. Once I realized I could make a living playing the guitar, and raise a family in the meantime, I didn't have to count coolness anymore.

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You ignorant lot!

Nobody has mentioned John Williams, who is techically and emotionally the greatest guitarist alive. Rockers can only dream of playing classical and triplets and reading music! A classical player can do the lot, with grace and more freedom!... Where is Paco de Lucia in this list?

Why write to a thread with ignorance?? 😛😛

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Originally posted by mikelom
You ignorant lot!

Nobody has mentioned John Williams, who is techically and emotionally the greatest guitarist alive. Rockers can only dream of playing classical and triplets and reading music! A classical player can do the lot, with grace and more freedom!... Where is Paco de Lucia in this list?

Why write to a thread with ignorance?? 😛😛
He's on my 50 list, perhaps you should stick that finger some where the sun don't shine and swallow another anti-depressant.

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Luddite that I am (and proud of it), I don't know how to access these sites without tons of typing, so I only hope that David Gilmour made the list?

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ERRR, Pat Metheny , Paco de Lucia . . .

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Originally posted by gregsflat
Derek Bailey, obvious technical facility, but he's out there. Makes Robert Fripp seem tame.
Modern, abstract, reminds me of composers like Morton Sobotnik, Edgar Varese. Sounds like he purposely plays with his guitar out of tune, so there's no western (or worldly) tonality. Maybe my drugs aren't good enough.
Kind of like T Monk on guitar. Never met an abstract chord he didn't like. He also reminds me of Steve Lacy or Cecil Taylor.

The Robert Fripp comparison is very valid as well. Especially from the Starless and Bible Black era.

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Originally posted by gregsflat
Derek Bailey, obvious technical facility, but he's out there. Makes Robert Fripp seem tame.
Modern, abstract, reminds me of composers like Morton Sobotnik, Edgar Varese. Sounds like he purposely plays with his guitar out of tune, so there's no western (or worldly) tonality. Maybe my drugs aren't good enough.
lol. Thanks for the response. Didn't see this until just now.

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Jerry Garcia, not just for the 2,500 three hour shows he played, but also for intertwining his inimitable guitar style with his endearing personality, and becoming one of America's greatest ever cultural icons.