Guitarists you respect the most.....

[Knoxville]

Right, they may not be the flashiest, the best or talk up their ability till the cows come home to roost but which people that pick up a guitar do you respect the most?

Thought about it last night at work and for me its gotta be -

Joe satriani - self taught, master of all styles and his blues style in particular is outstanding, taught the likes of steve vai and kirk hammett their skills and is still brilliant today.

James Hetfield - Learned guitar pretty much on the road in the early days of metallica and the way he goes at and just gets the job done impresses me no end, no shredding, no tremlo, no effects he just thrashes the guitar to within an inch of its life.

Kerry King - The only 80's style widdly shredder im gonna put in this list and for some damn good reason, can play lead, rythm and bass brilliantly and you'll notice if you see them live that he doesn't showboat and do every solo to hog the limelight he shares the duties with hanneman.

and no list would be complete without........

Jimi Hendrix - Doesn't really need explaining tbh, he changed the way we look at guitars and he did it with a strat a marshall stack and a wah pedal the tones in his fingers not in a huge rack of effects.

[Skii]

1) Eddie Van Halen - the pioneer, the guy who single handedly turned the guitar world upside down and left them wondering how the hell he did that. 'Eruption' - hard to find a better 2 minutes of guitar, and even harder to believe he did it in 1978 at the age of 20.

2)Angus Young. The riff-meister. no one has written so many simple but insanely catchy riffs as the schoolboy-devil, he can tap, fast solo and widdle like the rest of them, but an Angus riff is the stuff of gods. Back in Black - I say no more.

3) Nuno Bettencourt. In my opinion the greatest guitar player out there, he doesn't top the chart simply because he didn't pioneer techniques like EVH, but a wizard nonetheless. Check out 'Play with me' from Extreme's first album.

4) Hendrix - for kicking it all off, whilst technically not a good player in my book, a true pioneer without whom we would not have any of the above.

5) 'Snails-pace' Slim. You haven't heard of this guy, but he's THAT good, trust me
He fronts the 3 piece underground band 'The Hamsters' and is one of the best guitarists I've ever heard live. He can do it all, and is a superb singer to boot. A phenominal player.

[Knoxville]

EVH nearly made it into my list by the narrowest of narrow margins, over recent years though he's started putting his name to absoloutly everything, I can understand players having a siganture guitar but this guys has strings, straps, pedals, amps and everything else and it just doesn't do it for me

Angus Young though, quality

[Rob]

Oooooh nice thread Knoxxy...

With you on Satriani. Though I'd rate Frank Zappa up there with him too. And some of Stevie Vie's work with Zappa is truly astounding.

But leaving rock, can I also throw John Williams into the frey? So it's classical... but my god can that man make a guitar sing. Another nylon god is Israel Kamakawiwo`ole - Not exactly a blistering soloist but so laid back. He's the one that does the smoothest version of 'Somewhere over the rainbow' on the recent Lynx (IIRC) advert.

Then into Irish folk you have Anthony Drennan. I doubt if any have heard of him. But to give you an idea he has played with/for Davy Spillane, The Corrs, Gabrielle, Riverdance, and ahem... Will Young

These are my main 'Gods'. I could list loads more I like, but these are the one's that I would miss the most if I couldn't have music.



*edit* Damn, almost forgot Dave Gilmour. Again, perhaps not the best, but what that man does with my goosebumps is nobodies business

[Knoxville]

I'd like to throw in jeff beck while im in here aswell astounding man, was listening to some of his stuff on the bus home.

[Swafe]

the first 2 that come to mind


joe satriani and steve vai

saw them both live at the NIA a couple of months back, and there legends - as you already said, satriani taught himself, and hes the master, hes taught a few greats in their own right - some of the stuff he can do on a guitar is incrediable, before i listened to some of his stuff, i didnt even think it could be done on the guitar

almost as much as steve vai - when i saw them live, this guy impressed me the most, even more than satch at the gig, even tho satch did infact teach him, he did some REALLY INSANE guitar solos, incrediable, really, he blew me away, ive never witnessed ANYTHING like it, he truely is the master

hendrix has the be there too, hes a classic - im not much into his music, but sure he can play- honestly, as i aint really listened to his music as much as i would have liked, i cant really comment too much, vai - probably being the best for me, but closely followed by satch, hes incrediable in his own right....and probably being more popular than vai ? i duno....just when i saw them both....vai really did it for me, he was incrediable....

[Knoxville]

Was that the G3 tour? you lucky git

[Swafe]

G3 it was indeed it was superb

should really have been called G2 tho there was a third guitarist - robert fripp, who didnt do a set, it was just joe and satch then he took part in the jam at the end where they all played together for a few songs

well....sort of, joe goes, now its time for robert fripps amazing solo! then u see fripp strumming.....a look of 'wtf' on his face when theres no sound then you see him run off stage to grab his guitar lead

feel sorry for the guy, but it was amusing at the time, but in the end he still was jammin with satch and vai on god knows how many other dates they had....so he cant really be too gutted


wish id have gone the year before, my mate went and it was vai, satch and also - another guitarist i forgot, but who is also pretty damn amazing on guitar - ywigwe malmsteen (i know i spelt his name wrong i always do )

[Theo]

Anyone involved in the Misissippi Delta movement back in the 1930s gets my vote.

[Zak33]

Ingwie J Malmsteen: Astonishing. Recently heard an old 81 CD from a band he was in called Steeler....they were blumin dire but he shone. Rising Force CD's need to be heard to be believed.

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Joe Perry....Aerosmith. Driven by both StevenTyler(Tallarico) ad himself.....Joe is my hero.

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Eric Clapton: When he strikes a single chord, you know its him. How does he do that? Pure class....ina leather jacket

[Skii]

I'd also like to add Zakk Wylde to that little list. No guitarist on this planet is better at playing the pinched harmonic.

[subucni]

*cough* Jimmy Page *cough* enough said

3) Nuno Bettencourt. In my opinion the greatest guitar player out there, he doesn't top the chart simply because he didn't pioneer techniques like EVH, but a wizard nonetheless. Check out 'Play with me' from Extreme's first album.

Fully with you on that, first guitarist that made my jaw drop when i was a kid

[Zak33]

me?

no....?

I'll get my guitar

[Rave]

Pretty much covered all of mine except Brian May. The way he soloes at high speed playing harmonic chords instead of single notes is incredible, and sounds utterly fantastic. I don't even need to listen the end of the solo on Breakthru for it to give me goosebumps, it's indelibly etched into my head.

Rich :¬)

[CrapshoT]

I'll add Randy Rhodes to this list please.His guitaring coupled with Ozzys vocals helped me through my teenage years.Unbelievable another great dies young.
Gary Moore you just know when its a Moore riff.He can be fast,slow,heavy,rock,blues anything.Massivley talented.
Maybe not one of the most talented but for a guy who plays with a hand with no tips on a couple of fingers Tony Iommi gets a nod from me.Just proves where there's a will there's a way.
Suprised no-one has mentioned Johhny Marr yet!

[Skii]

Gahhh

Gary Moore

I forgot him - Sorry Gary m8, you are a legend.