Favourite Guitar Players: NOT a "who's the best" thread.

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Ditto. And I'll add Steve Jones.
(xpost)

Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:23 (eighteen years ago) link

In no particular order

Charlie Hunter
Ani DiFranco (monstrously underrated and fascinating rhythym player)
Wes Montgomery
Doc Watson
Dimebag
Junior Brown
SRV
Brad Paisely
Joe Pass
Brian May
Mark Knopfler
Tony Rice
Johnny Greenwood
Walter Becker
Richard Thompson (any one see that Grizzly Man Sessions thing on IFC?)
and an honorable mention for Chris Thile who is an absolute space alien on the mandolin.

Ash (ashbyman), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:54 (eighteen years ago) link

A lot fo these have been mention already, but lessee:

Richard Thompson -- the best, period.
Frank Zappa -- a close second
Neil Young
Doug Martsch -- that guy is just nasty when he gets going
Tom Verlaine
Jeff Tweedy -- the playing on the last couple Wilco records has been stunning.
James Hetfield -- I mean, c'mon, whether you love or hate Metallica, you gotta admit he's an awesome rhythm player.
Brian May for sure
BB King
Tom Morello
Jimmy Page
David Gilmour
Jim James of My Morning Jacket
Vernon ReidLindsey Buckingham
Slash -- very underrated
Randy Rhoads
Angus Young

O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Friday, 2 June 2006 19:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Paul Leary seconded!!

chad (chad), Saturday, 3 June 2006 14:42 (eighteen years ago) link

any one see that Grizzly Man Sessions thing on IFC?

Yes! Werner Herzog directing Richard Thompson's guitar playing

Chris Bee (Cee Bee), Saturday, 3 June 2006 16:02 (eighteen years ago) link

Otis Rush, Hubert Sumlin, Bo Diddley, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Richard Thompson, Erkin Koray, Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, Kevin Shields, Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Lindsay Buckingham, Bert Jansch, Robert Pete Williams, Junior Kimbrough, John Dieterich (Deerhoof), Roland Jones (Flaming Lips), Ben Chasny, Sonny Sharrock, John Ries, Duane Dennison, Alex Chilton, Steve Cropper, Derek Bailey, Dave Schramm, Ira Kaplan, Lou Reed, Dean Wareham, Sean Eden, Keith Richards, Neil Young, Nick Drake.

Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Saturday, 3 June 2006 17:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Leigh Stephens, Zappa, Keiji Haino, Tony Iommi, Lemmy, Shields, Keith Rowe, Hendrix...

Chris Bee (Cee Bee), Saturday, 3 June 2006 17:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Dean Wareham

Christopher Costello (CGC), Saturday, 3 June 2006 19:17 (eighteen years ago) link

Carrie Brownstein, why not?

OTFM! Man, how could anyone forget her?

O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Saturday, 3 June 2006 19:23 (eighteen years ago) link

Angus/Malcolm Young- the gods of the riff; Angus' solos are a little inconsistently enjoyable for me.

Buckethead- amazing variety, technique and willingness to take chances

B.B. King- I have never not enjoyed a BB song. Still kicks ass live.

Lightnin' Hopkins

Jimi

Keith Richards

Slash- Nothing of note since '93, but before then, my favorite soloist.

Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo

Django

Prince

Hubert Sumlin


Matthew E. Armstrong (gensu3k1), Sunday, 4 June 2006 02:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Prince has some bitchin' solos

Chris Bee (Cee Bee), Sunday, 4 June 2006 16:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Jeff Baxter and Denny Daiz's solos on Bodisattva sound like they're channeling the ghosts of Lester Young and Charlie Parker through their guitars. Some of my favorite guitar playing ever is on Countdown to Ecstacy. I also love Blake Fleming's skronk in Ladio Bolocko and Arto Lindsey's scraping in DNA.

Ice Cream Electric (Ice Cream Electric), Sunday, 4 June 2006 18:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Richard Thompson is probably my #1.

Andy Partridge is a phenomenal guitar player - good enough to genuinely merit kicking Dave Gregory out of the band, I think.

I love Tom verlaine and Richard Lloyd together - slightly less so apart.

Tom Herman was great in Ubu, but I also like Jim Jones a whole lot.

Prince.

I've heard some amazing guitar on modern Ethiopian music, but I couldn't name any names.

Great sidemen/soloists whose own work I'm less fond of: Robert Fripp, Johnny Marr, Manzanera, Belew.

Some odd choices:

David Hidalgo, especially on the Latin Playboys records.

The guy from Stump - Kevin Hopper - was amazing on A Fierce Pancake, but I haven't followed his solo work at all.

Ron Sexsmith plays a mean acoustic guitar.

John Flansburgh was appealingly scrappy in the earliest days of They Might Be Giants. I loved his stage presence back in the day. He is clearly, however, runnin' on Dunkin' now.

Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Sunday, 4 June 2006 23:34 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Juliana Hatfield
Roger McGuinn
Patrick Pentland
John McGeoch

2for25, Friday, 21 March 2008 02:53 (sixteen years ago) link

Robert Fripp - My personal favorite musician of all time

David Tronzo - Really, really interesting slide guitar player

Toby Driver - Currently the most interesting musician leading two of the greatest music acts in the world (Kayo Dot, Tartar Lamb)

Jerry Douglas - #1 Dobro player in the world

Pierre Bensusan - Jazzy celtic folk in all its glory

Don Ross - Only two-time winner of the US National Fingerstyle Championship

Peter Finger - Master acoustic guitarist from Germany

Ralph Towner - 12-string acoustic jazz guitarist extraordinaire

Cliftonb, Friday, 21 March 2008 09:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is one of my favorites. The fills and solos on My Old School ignite something in my head, and that's just one of many, many awesome tunes.

Richard Thompson, particularly for his solo on the live version* of "Can't Win" from the Watching the Dark set. It just seems like such a pure example of someone having extemporaenous fun with an axe.

There are many more, but these'll do for now.

kingkongvsgodzilla, Friday, 21 March 2008 09:55 (sixteen years ago) link

McGuinn

Marr

Quine

Gavurin

The Edge!

the pinefox, Friday, 21 March 2008 10:22 (sixteen years ago) link

Keiji Haino
Ron Ashton
Chet Atkins
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Blind Mamie Forehand (or is that A.C.?)
Blixa Bargeld
Rowland Howard
Wata
Verlaine and Lloyd
Munehiro Nirito
Gregg Ginn
Sioux City Pete

A million others, of course.

RabiesAngentleman, Friday, 21 March 2008 10:47 (sixteen years ago) link

Blind Willie Johnson!

RabiesAngentleman, Friday, 21 March 2008 10:48 (sixteen years ago) link

^^^^ This. Also Nels Cline, Leo Kottke and Lindsey Buckingham.

Daniel, Esq., Friday, 21 March 2008 11:04 (sixteen years ago) link

pretty crazy that eddie van halen hasn't received one mention on this thread. he's pretty awesome, dudes!

mizzell, Friday, 21 March 2008 13:23 (sixteen years ago) link

Yes, but
Steve Carlton

calstars, Friday, 21 March 2008 13:26 (sixteen years ago) link

two months pass...

right now:

Matt Pike, because he gets a BIG fucking sound out of that thing.

D. BOON. He plays with such energy and inventiveness and uses that insanely treble-y, wiry tone. It's impossible for me not to love him.

Jandek, love him or hate him (I actually lean more towards the latter, really) is always unmistakable.

Jack Rose, because he does Fahey better than Fahey could sometimes.

Takashi Yamaguchi of Sambomaster, for reasons similar to the ones that I love D. Boon for, but mainly I am just itching for an excuse to rep how awesome Sambomaster are on this board.

telepathy_rock!, Friday, 30 May 2008 01:52 (sixteen years ago) link

Ricky Wilson, still.

nerve_pylon, Friday, 30 May 2008 01:54 (sixteen years ago) link

Judah Bauer doing "Make It Rain" w/ Tom Waits on Letterman is pretty awesome

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rF3YQ5WajJk

milo z, Friday, 30 May 2008 01:55 (sixteen years ago) link

That Tom Waits video is BADASS.

Sambomaster tearing shit up in '04:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lJAjrSmLkb4

This band needs to come to the US already.

telepathy_rock!, Friday, 30 May 2008 02:18 (sixteen years ago) link

All those rhythm players in reggae.

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Friday, 30 May 2008 06:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Nile Rodgers isn't getting enough love, certainly the most fun if not the best.

Popture, Friday, 30 May 2008 06:14 (sixteen years ago) link

Karl Precoda had a great sound. And David Kilgour!

gnarly sceptre, Friday, 30 May 2008 09:49 (sixteen years ago) link

No James Burton yet? J. Honeyman-Scott?

Second Derek Trucks from way upthread--that young man is a whale of a player with really wide-ranging interests. Songlines is a tremendous record. Someone asked him why with his southern rock bloodlines he played Roland Kirk and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan songs and he said "Well, it's all the blues."

ellaguru, Friday, 30 May 2008 12:52 (sixteen years ago) link

Redd Volkaert is amazing.

Oilyrags, Friday, 30 May 2008 13:03 (sixteen years ago) link

You made him up

Tom D., Friday, 30 May 2008 13:04 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.reddvolkaert.net/

No, not so much.

Oilyrags, Friday, 30 May 2008 13:05 (sixteen years ago) link

elisa ambrogio and robert fripp.

m the g, Friday, 30 May 2008 13:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Great name! (xp)

Tom D., Friday, 30 May 2008 13:07 (sixteen years ago) link

Indeed. Plus he looks like some redneck greasemonkey who just wandered onstage at the honkytonk, only he's one of the baddest pickers I've ever heard.

http://www.reddvolkaert.net/photos/midsize/bill_kirchen.jpg

L-R, Redd, Bill Kirchen.

Oilyrags, Friday, 30 May 2008 13:12 (sixteen years ago) link

Nile Rodgers - my favourite by a long way.

Jamie T Smith, Friday, 30 May 2008 13:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Dr. No from the bad brains

X-101, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:13 (sixteen years ago) link

Guys I like listening to who never pop up on those stupid lists: Mick Ralphs, Mark Farner, Uli Roth, Jerry Garcia, Deniz Tek, Catfish Collins, Robertson/Gorham, Tommy Bolin, Buck Dharma

Bill Magill, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:21 (sixteen years ago) link

(x-post) Bill Kirchen is no slouch, either.

My personal fave is Carl Finch, from Brave Combo. He's got an awesome way of hitting those polka/ska backbeats. He doesn't play solos, as such; he's really all about rhythm guitar, in the same sense that Ricky Wilson from the B-52's was.

Dan Peterson, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:22 (sixteen years ago) link

Guys I like listening to who never pop up on those stupid lists: Mick Ralphs, Mark Farner, Uli Roth, Jerry Garcia, Deniz Tek, Catfish Collins, Robertson/Gorham, Tommy Bolin, Buck Dharma

Wow, I forgot to mention Mick Ralphs!

Tom D., Friday, 30 May 2008 14:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Kind of astonished that Hendrix only has three mentions (not counting Geir's "he's not that good lol racist" mention) in this thread. Ditto Steve Cropper. I'm not massively into Hendrix, and Em used to hate the idea of him (+ Page and Gilmour and Clapton and all the typical boy-idol rock royalty guitarists), but when I actually played his stuff to her properly she had to admit that he's actually awesome and his music is cool. Hendrix is about the only "look at me, ma!" guitarist I've ever bothered to listen to.

I'm not really into guitarists, I guess. I don't play and can't remember the names of guitarists in most of the bands I like. I guess I adored John Squire and Nick McCabe when I was a teenager. Only impressed by McCabe now, really. Kevin Shields I like as a sound-maker but I've never really thought of him as a guitarist. Mark Hollis did some guitar parts I love. Totally untrendy and not a virtuoso by any means, but what Richard McNamara does has always been a big part of what I like about Embrace. He's kind of like a cross between Steve Cropper and Kevin Shields. That sounds so fanciful.

Dude from Lift To Experience. Dude from Kitchens of Distinction. Dude from Long Fin Killie. George Harrison in The Beatles - everything he played was a hook. That Clapton solo in While My Guitar Gently Wanks is fucking awful though. Josh Homme. Geoff Barrow. PJ FUCKING HARVEY. The Os Mutantes dude. Did Ian Crauss play guitar in Disco Inferno? Califone dudes. Michael Karoli. Graham Coxon before he went off and did crappy solo albums.

Scik Mouthy, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:38 (sixteen years ago) link

Not mentioned but all much more than mere self-accompanists :-

Elliott Smith. Kristin Hersh. Dylan. Joni.

Thomas, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link

That's the truth about Joni Mitchell.

ellaguru, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:53 (sixteen years ago) link

Dylan f'real.

Oilyrags, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:54 (sixteen years ago) link

Been mentioned a few times already but Phil Manzanera - he just plays such memorable lines

Tom D., Friday, 30 May 2008 15:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Not too familiar with his work with Mellencamp but I saw David Grissom as part of Joe Ely's band and man, was he brill.

ellaguru, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Tony Rice
Bryan Sutton
David Grier
Duane Allman
Jimi Hendrix
Mississippi John Hurt
Keef
Mabon “Teeny” Hodges
Curtis Mayfield
Eric Clapton (Bluesbreakers/Cream/Layla era)

B.L.A.M., Friday, 30 May 2008 16:57 (sixteen years ago) link

Some folks whom I've recently been digging (even) more than usual:

Tony (T.S.) Mcphee
Bill Nelson
Leo Kottke
Joseph Spence
Steve Tibbetts
Ernie Isley
and Davie motherfucking Allen!

Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 30 May 2008 17:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Billy Dolan

Lolpez, Friday, 30 May 2008 17:12 (sixteen years ago) link


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