Piggy from Voivod.
Although I finally saw Candlemass last night after all these years and would definitely rate their Swedish lefty lead player Lars Johanssonn very high on my list.
― Nate Carson, Friday, 30 May 2008 21:33 (fifteen years ago) link
I can't fault a lot of the standard greats just to answer back on a few faves (before my ride comes):
Peter Green - unless you'll never forgive him for birthing Carlos Santana
Pete Cosey - there's some ridiculous stuff on those Miles boot videos Hubert Sumlin - completely unmistakable
John Fahey - an encyclopedia of vintage moves who played with exquisite soul
Tommy Bolin - a mutant
Karl Precoda - ha! I loved him at the time (1982?). he had matching Silvertones w/one pickup removed running through some shitty graphic EQ w/all the sliders all the way up as a distortion box.
Judah Bauer - was remarkably talented w/JS and that Honeymoon Killers tour. glad to know he's still at it.
A few others:
Paul from Toiling Midgets, Gary Lee Conner from Screaming Trees, McLaughlin (more so on the Miles than Mahavishnu tho' I was a BIG Mahavishnu fan and saw them a few times and though he was the BEST at the time), Adrian Bellew (another mutant). OK gotta run
― factcheckr, Saturday, 31 May 2008 00:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Geir's "he's not that good lol racist" mention
didn't come across that way to me...
― stephen, Saturday, 31 May 2008 04:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Mine are incredibly predicatable and all old and from spent (like me, I guess) labels like SST. I need some new guitar heroes
Greg Sage Bob Mould (of old) Greg Ginn (so brutally messy) Robin Guthrie Westerberg That guy from MBV Dr Know - but he was jazz trained right? Ted Falconi - absolutely unique Nick Drake Townsend Curt Kirkwood D Boon Jay Adams (from El Paso's Rhythm Pigs - loved his distortion/chorus approach. It was kind of unique to 'Hardcore' in those days) Brian Egeness from Die Kreuzen Ira Kaplan, when he lets rip
I'm sure I've missed some of my favourite more modern pop pickers. Although more likely, I'm old and have been treading water for the last 15 years
― Fer Ark, Saturday, 31 May 2008 15:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Not the 'best' but my recent favourite has really been Mark Kozelek.
― derrrick, Saturday, 31 May 2008 20:14 (fifteen years ago) link
lindsey buckingham and david sylvian (check some of the solos on tin drum)
― r1o natsume, Saturday, 31 May 2008 20:23 (fifteen years ago) link
oh someone who i doubt has been mentioned but is also amazing and under-rated: alan rankine from the associates
― r1o natsume, Saturday, 31 May 2008 20:24 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah what Geir actually said was "I prefer the way Steve Hackett plays"
― J0hn D., Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:01 (fifteen years ago) link
David Sylvian playing a lead guitar, really?
― iago g., Sunday, 1 June 2008 01:40 (fifteen years ago) link
pretty crazy that eddie van halen hasn't received one mention on this thread. he's pretty awesome, dudes!
He is. Maybe he'd be "the best" guitarist. I'm only really familiar with Van Halen's singles and well-known tracks, but my favorite of his guitar work -- again, maybe not "the best" of his work, but my favorite -- is his almost funky-ish playing on Finish What You Started. Maybe some his other work has that kind of "swing" to it (Jump kind of does, too, I guess, but in a very different way), but that's the Van Halen song I immediately think of as having groove/swing.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 1 June 2008 01:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Bob Mould (of old) Robin Guthrie Westerberg That guy from MBV Ira Kaplan, when he lets rip
seconded all ^^
― stephen, Sunday, 1 June 2008 17:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Also, Ronnie Montrose
― Bill Magill, Monday, 2 June 2008 20:33 (fifteen years ago) link
I was thinking of posting Bo Diddley here just yesterday...(I know he's been mentioned before)...
also: David Gedge, James Honeyman-Scott and Richard Hawley (who I just heard explaining the great man on BBC).
― 2for25, Monday, 2 June 2008 21:35 (fifteen years ago) link
here's an article on my friend and bandmate Ava Mendoza: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/ava-mendoza
she's awesome
― Dominique, Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski!!
― Evan, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 05:04 (twelve years ago) link
lately: Nels Cline, Jenn Wasner (of Wye Oak), Lewis Pesacov (of Fool's Gold and Foreign Born)
― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link
worrrrrrrrrrrd
― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:23 (twelve years ago) link
kozelek can do cool classical guitar/complex acoustic fingerpicking stuff really well but also has, imo, a really unique way of playing electric guitar. maybe it's as much about the guitar tone as any actual technique, but the guitars on the more sprawling RHP/SKM songs (Make Like Paper, Between Days, Salvador Sanchez, Lily & Parrots, The Light, Tonight the Sky) is pure fucking heaven. sounds like little else out there aside from Neil Young/Crazy Horse
― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
Steven R. Smith, Roy Montgomery, Carl Hultgren, Dylan Carlson, Dave Pierce (or is it Pearce?), Fripp as played for Eno, etc.
― Matt M., Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
though if there's some band that has the same satisfying guitar crunch as "Make Like Paper" and i don't know about them please let me know
― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
my all-time fave guitar playing might be Bill Frisell on the first disc of "East/West". his backing is also phenomenal, but I could listen to him set the heavens ablaze on "Shenandoah" with no backing for all eternity
― caulk the wagon and float it, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
lately Peter Lang
― l0u1s j0rdan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:13 (twelve years ago) link
Folks should go check out some Ava Mendoza, she really is a phenomenal player (I hadn't heard much to be honest, but checked out a bunch of stuff recently and was really into it).
Second Ash and Dave of Polvo, love them to death.
Another recent discovery for me is Chris Forsyth, whose album "Paranoid Cat" kinda blew me away.
Not mentioned yet: Tom Carter. His playing on the recent Charalambides record "Exile" is stunning.
(love lots of the other stuff everyone else in this thread has mentioned of course)
― grandavis, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:22 (twelve 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, May 30, 2008 10:21 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
OTM
― One Way Ticket on the 1277 Express (Bill Magill), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
Roy Montgomery seconded. I've gotten into that dude lately in a major way.
― the endless white snow has never felt more textile (loves laboured breathing), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
Adrian Belew's broken-fax solos on that live Talking Heads in Rome film.
Eric Clapton Unplugged taught me about phrasing and touch when I was 15 and learning to play on a borrowed classical guitar.
Alex Lifeson's evil fuzz tone on early Rush, though I find most of his solos plotless.
― SongOfSam, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 18:14 (twelve years ago) link
David Sylvian playing a lead guitar, really?― iago g., Sunday, 1 June 2008 02:40 (3 years ago)
i think david sylvian played some nice stuff on Propaganda's A secret wish
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 18:34 (twelve years ago) link
Earnest Beauvine from Jon Waynebernerm-bernerm-bernerm-bernerm
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Thursday, 3 May 2012 02:49 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWsIXsMjfu0&feature=related
― Dale, dale, dale (Abbbottt), Thursday, 3 May 2012 02:51 (twelve years ago) link
Victor Jara.
Colin Newman + Bruce Gilbert.
― collardio gelatinous, Thursday, 3 May 2012 05:20 (twelve years ago) link
Johnny Marr. No one else comes close.
― Bryan, Thursday, 3 May 2012 05:50 (twelve years ago) link
right now Buck Dharma (and he may BE the best too)
― l0u1s j0rdan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 3 May 2012 17:49 (twelve years ago) link
Marr had aspirations to be a professional football player, and was approached by Nottingham Forest and had trials with Manchester City (which he supports). In an interview with FourFourTwo magazine, Marr said "I was good enough for City, but they didn't follow up because I was probably the only player out there wearing eyeliner."[citation needed]
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Thursday, 3 May 2012 18:00 (twelve years ago) link
was listening to this show yesterday and um YES www.wolfgangsvault.com/link-wray/concerts/record-plant-september-25-1974.html
― tylerw, Thursday, 3 May 2012 18:33 (twelve years ago) link