This guy. The Legendary Rich Gilbert. He was the guitar player for Human Sexual Response and the Zulus. He is now located in Nashville. Starts this tune on a tele and switches over to pedal steel.
Great Guitarists
- Thread starter Scotto
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shoelessjoe
"I took out a Chihuahua!"
Prince ... laugh if you must, but wait for it (3:30 into the video):
Such a brilliant, once-in-a-lifetime musician. The biggest musical loss of the decade, in my opinion.
Nita Strauss
I do not think anyone's laughing. I think most folks recognize how good a player Prince was, and much of that recognition is based on this video clip. The backstory of Prince playing on this is pretty interesting, if I recall. Again, if I recall, the others playing were not expecting Prince to put on the tour de force that he did--not because they did not think he could do it, but that he did not give anyone any warning that he was going to pull out all the stops for his share of this song. I also have a recollection that Prince said he did not know the song before he was picked/assigned to be a part of playing it. Which is not to say he did not have plenty of time to prepare. This was hardly improvisation. Prince was a competitive guy. I have always wondered what Eric Clapton thought of this performance. (I thought Clapton was brilliant on the album cut. Made a person wish the Beatles had worked with other artists more often.)
And Prince's guitar never came back down!
Space_Cadet
I don't have a funny description.
I heard a story (don't know if it's true) that someone once asked Eric Clapton what it's like to be the world's best guitar player. He said he didn't know, "go ask Prince".
false.
Some guitarist I enjoy:
David Gilmour. Love his work in Floyd, but I can't stand that pontificating anti-Semitic moron Waters. Yes, he became the driving force in Floyd, but they would have fallen flat if Gilmour hadn't come on board. But Gilmour's solo album work is breathtaking. I honestly think Rattle That Lock is one of the best albums ever recorded. His touching tribute to Rick Wright, The Girl in the Yellow Dress... he hits about every emotion you can feel on this record.
Dave Matthews. Just mind blowing how he can work some of the chords. SOmeone mentioned that Tim Reynolds was his teacher. I personally think the student surpassed the teacher.
The Indigo Girls. Not sure many here have listened to them, but Amy Ray and Emily Sailers are just phenomenal, especially the earlier all acoustic albums.
The Ventures (the drummer is the only member who did't play guitar at some point) influenced so many, and they did so many different types of music.
Adrian Smith and Dave Murray of Maiden
Izzy Stradlin. Better than Slash could dream about being. I don't have any of Slash's solo stuff. I love Izzy's solo stuff.
And not one mention of the greatest musician of all time: Bob Dylan.
Robert Johnson
Charlie Patton
Joe Pass
Wes Montgomery
Charlie Patton
Joe Pass
Wes Montgomery
Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
Perhaps many of these aren't the "best," but they are the ones who have caught my ear and they are those I might imitate and from whom I have learned something about playing guitar. Mind you, I mostly play acoustic.
Chet Atkins for sheer technical mastery
Roy Clark, too.
Richard Thompson for expressive creative play
Archie Fisher may be the smoothest player I have ever heard. Learned a lot about finger picking and different tunings from him
Joni Mitchell- probably the most innovative use of tuning I've ever heard
Paul Brady- traditional Irish music meets 1970s sensibilities
I could listen to Paul Simon play guitar all day long.
Martin Barre- people associate the 'Jethro Tull sound' with Ian Anderson's flute, and rightly so. But Martin's electric guitar style was certainly as important to that sound as was the flute.
Several people have mentioned the late Alvin Lee, and they cite his famous 'I'm Going Home' from Woodstock. Few know that Ten Years After were a jazz/blues band before Woodstock. Check out the Ten Years After album 'Undead' on youtube sometime. A live 1969 album of Alvin Lee tearing it up playing jazz. A remarkable album.
There are certainly others, but these immediately come to mind.
Chet Atkins for sheer technical mastery
Roy Clark, too.
Richard Thompson for expressive creative play
Archie Fisher may be the smoothest player I have ever heard. Learned a lot about finger picking and different tunings from him
Joni Mitchell- probably the most innovative use of tuning I've ever heard
Paul Brady- traditional Irish music meets 1970s sensibilities
I could listen to Paul Simon play guitar all day long.
Martin Barre- people associate the 'Jethro Tull sound' with Ian Anderson's flute, and rightly so. But Martin's electric guitar style was certainly as important to that sound as was the flute.
Several people have mentioned the late Alvin Lee, and they cite his famous 'I'm Going Home' from Woodstock. Few know that Ten Years After were a jazz/blues band before Woodstock. Check out the Ten Years After album 'Undead' on youtube sometime. A live 1969 album of Alvin Lee tearing it up playing jazz. A remarkable album.
There are certainly others, but these immediately come to mind.
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I have been a Clapton fan since his Cream days and the way Prince stepped into the Clapton role there... stunning.
One of the comments on youtube was Prince telling his driver, "Leave the engine running, I'll be right back." HA!
It is telling that when Clapton was asked what it was like to be the best guitarist in the world he responded, "I don't know, go ask Prince." Absolutely.
Chet Atkins and Roy Clark are severely underrated.
IMO I don't think anyone can play like John Mclaughlin in his prime with Mahavishnu Orchestra. Saw them several times. But there's many greats
Not among those who know.
Izzy and Martin Barre, I would say definitely underrated. Izzy reminds me a little of James Iha of the Pumpkins, who I would also say is underrated, although he may have switched to bass for the Pumpkins at this point. I hope Richard Thompson is not underrated. A great player. Great performer live.
I love James Iha, but there was a pretty long period where I thought he shouldered more of the guitar work in the Pumpkins than he really does. Billy seems to be the underrated guitarist of the band, but it's fashionable to hate him for some of his personal beliefs. Whatever the case, I love the Smashing Pumpkins and I love both of those guys.
Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
I referenced this album yesterday. If all you know of Alvin Lee and Ten Years After is "I'm Goin' Home" from Woodstock you're in for a treat. Especially if you like accessible jazz tunes.
Wow, that is a really good response, Memento Mori! You maybe exactly right. I probably really do not know how good Iha is. I love the Smashing Pumpkins and both of those guys, too. I really do not know Billy's personal beliefs. He does seem perpetually kind of grumpy and I suppose you could blame him for the group not being able to get along and stay together, other than the others seem to have their failings.
Jimmy Chamberlin seems underrated to me as a drummer and a very important part of the group's success. I would like to say D'Arcy is a great bassist, but I do not think I can.
For some reason, I have trouble distinguishing Robert Cray, Gary Clark, Jr., and Eric Gale. They are all great players. I do not think any are in quite the top tier of all time.
I'd have to say Mark Knopfler is the one who blows my mind. Chet Atkins as well. Just depends on if I'm in an acoustic or electric mood. They have such a unique style. Listen to them play is like watching Bob Ross paint.
Also John Lee Hooker and George Harrison. If you're going to play that show and simple, you have to be good. You can't bury your mistakes in 57 notes per beat. And they're brilliant at the basics.
Also John Lee Hooker and George Harrison. If you're going to play that show and simple, you have to be good. You can't bury your mistakes in 57 notes per beat. And they're brilliant at the basics.
If you mean Izzy Stradlin, there is no comparison to James Iha.
I enjoyed the Pumpkins, but Billy was the driving force in the Pumpkins, and there are a lot of people who could have been in James Iha's shoes.
No one could replace Izzy, and that's why GnR went to crap. While I was annoyed that Steven Adler got booted, Sorum was a great drummer. No one was able to replace Izzy and his style and flair.
