I revised my honorable mention to add Pete Townsend and Eddie Van Halen. Of course they belong in the top 10.

Neil Young is versatile, playing both acoustic and electric equally good. He sang with terrific vocals. Maybe the best song-writer of them all. Check out this performance of "Rockin in a Free World" from SNL. It's like a hurricane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLgZ6MpbEM

Knopfler is amazing in "Sultans of Swing" played live. And he also sang.

Frusciante is good, but not top ten good. Mike McCready is as good as Frusciante if you want to compare same generation guitar players.

Frusciante to me is Just far more creative. His solo stuff is really awesome to me and he just builds a song right imho. Mike is a rock solid player but he never did anything that stood out to me but I get the comparison.

Just going off your list what do you think of Lindsey Buckingham? He would seem to be in your wheel house.


Honestly back to Hendrix. I get your complaints about him. He was damn good though. The best is so subjective but he is always listed at the top. He was damn soulful and re shaped how the guitar was looked at.

I am surprised Chus hasn't come in and mentioned Trey (and he wouldn't be wrong to mention him)

When you get to guitarists the metal aspect always gets in because of how technical they play. It is an amazing skill set for sure. It is hard to differentiate really between all the genres.

Steve Vai really is something though. He just is insane. I don't often find myself gravitating to listen to him but he is really good. If you can stand the cheesy 80's background track, listen to For the Love of God. That is a moment where speed and technical playing actual had a point and was emotion drive. Not just a look at what I can do.

On the look what I can do subject, Rivers from Weezer was in a Yngwie cover band playing all of Yngwie parts. Dude can technically outplay most players. He plays syrupy pop though because he knows it is more musically appealing.

What's the point? You know how those discussions go.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Yeah that hack has one more finger than Jerry! He is an imposter!

More like half a finger.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

A few others that should at least be in the conversation:

Jeff Beck (the ONLY one of the "Big 3" British/Yardbirds guitarists that actually still has a relevant career)
Steve Howe
Steve Morse
Tommy Emmanuel (perhaps THE best acoustic player I've ever seen)

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Not a mult.

His brother sucks at being mayor ill say that much.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

What about Frank Zappa and Prince?

We need to have another thread for those so inclined to geek out over Zappa.

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It would probably be just you and I talking.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Mahogany Rush.

I believe Marino claimed Hendrix visited him in his dreams.

I honestly have never heard of Lindsey Buckingham, sorry.

Steve Vai was relevant only during his time with Roth. That said, I like "Goin Crazy" and "Living in Paradise." But I don't think he could solo worth a shit, in that there is no lyrical quality to his playing. You can say the same of Eddie Van Halen. I can't think of one memorable Van Halen solo that I would consider beautiful. Certainly not in "Jump", Jackson's "Beat It" or "Right Now."

Don't get me wrong about Frusciante, I think the Chilli Peppers were great in the day. "Under the Bridge" is a brilliant track. I think McCready has a better ear for melody than Frusciante. Take a simple Pearl Jam song like "Wish List", in which McCready made it superb with his cascading solo. My personal favorite McCready song is "Given To Fly". It has a nice dramatic quality to it. "Release" off the "Ten" album is great as well. "Yellow Ledbetter" is probably their best.

Everyone always says how great Jeff Beck was. Who can name one Jeff Beck song other than "Beck's Bolero" which has his name in it? If you're highlighting English guitarists, I would certainly take Clapton over Beck.

I would put Alex Lifeson ahead of both of those. He gets my vote for "Limelight" and "Trees".

Who can name the lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac circa their landmark album? Not you, apparently.

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So what? They're overrated. There's only two Fleetwood Mac songs you ever hear on the radio. Landslide, which lyrically is very beautiful, is one of them. But you cannot be included among the all-time guitar greats for one or two good songs. I have never owned a Fleetwood Mac album or CD in my life. Just not interesting to me other than Landslide.

The Morning Papers. Damn I love the guitar on that.

After that dreadful rewrite of "Layla" I don't even want to hear the name Clapton. He sucks.

If you're a guy who jizzes over "technical ability" on a fretboard, Beck is obviously in the conversation. Songs have nothing to do with it. I couldn't tell you the name of a single Steve Vai "song".

Rod Stewart might be the greatest rock vocalist of all time. But when he sang in the Jeff Beck Group he sounds insignificant. largely because he was simply overpowered by Beck's guitar playing.

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Don't take it personally.

Every time I hear "Fire" and "Foxy Lady" on the radio by Hendrix I cringe and change the station. There's other black artists I prefer over Hendrix. Otis Rush was great and a better singer than Hendrix. Clapton played with him and Page ripped off his "I Can't Quit You Babe." Probably the greatest blues artist was John Lee Hooker, whom the Stones revered.

Layla unplugged is not bad. "Can't Find My Way Home" is great. "Crossroads" is pretty damn good too. Clapton is E.V.H.'s biggest influence.

That trudge of an unplugged version? Oh, that's the drizzling shits.

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He's good, but greatest? His voice is too raspy for my taste. I would put Hagar with V.H., McCartney, Vedder, Plant, Ozzy, Gilmour, Bono, Jim Kerr (Simple Minds), Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Sting all ahead of him. Don't think anyone can top Hagar in "When it's Love". He had the greatest range of them all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQVNKuLAwuw

If you're not familiar with him, Jim Kerr with his vocals in "Belfast Child" is pretty extraordinary.

How did we not include Gilmore among the all-time guitar greats? He would fit in my top ten somewhere. Who doesn't like his work in "Comfortably Numb"?

Good God, I thought you hated gay people.

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Some of the best rock history out there is other great musicians describing what it was like to see him live. This is Pete Townsend.


With Jimi, I didn't have any envy. I never had any sense that I could ever come close. I remember feeling quite sorry for Eric, who thought that he might actually be able to emulate Jimi. I also felt sorry that he should think that he needed to. Because I thought Eric was wonderful anyway. Perhaps I make assumptions here that I shouldn't, but it's true. Once — I think it was at a gig Jimi played at the Scotch of St. James [in London] — Eric and I found ourselves holding each other's hands. You know, what we were watching was so profoundly powerful.

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Soccer 1,2,3
Spanish Honor Society 1,2,3,4
Forensics 1,2,3,4

"Smiles with Nostrils"

"...no Hmong, go find some blacks"

The last time Clapton was worth a fuck he was being driven by heroin and Duane Allman. Sadly, Clapton is sober and Allman is dead.

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Don't take it personally.

the only guy i think that has been anywhere close to jimi since is brad nowell. not for his guitar talent of course, but for his song writing. death didnt make jimi's songs more famous... he already was world renowned. but brads death went largely unkown, because his songs werent even that popular until years later when suddenly accepted as mainstream by a generation who never even saw him play. but just as with jimi, its been a terrible tragedy to the music world because there would have been so much more original content out there had he stayed alive a little longer... they both died at 28 iirc...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Ike, death doesn't make someone's songs better but it definitely keeps them in a public eye that otherwise would have let them settle and thought of others afterward. Jimi, Hendrix all the same. Teens forever discover the legend and propagate it further. No one can tell me Janis Joplin is a legendarily great vocalist. Soulful yes, inspired and was a moment in time. Because she died old pig face gets too much love.

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Janis Joplin is a pig, and Hillary is a lesbian? I feel so sorry for your daughter.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

*woosh*

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

How would you know Hagar is gay? Gay bar or bath-house talk?