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Who is your overall favorite guitarist?

At 44 years of age, I personally feel fortunate to have lived in an era along with some of the finest guitarists who have ever lived. I have always had an overwhelming love of music. As I look back to my earlier years of music appreciation (I took formal piano training for 17 years) I remember how my instructor would suggest exposing myself to the many different styles and disciplines of music.

These were such valuable words of wisdom. Considering the fact that this suggestion, more or less, forced me to be more open to musicians other than those that played in strictly rock and roll bands.

Wow, was I surprised to find that I could be as entertained by Chet Atkins and Les Paul as I could be by Ritchie Blackmore or Carlos Santana. Just think about some of the finest from our time. Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Johnson, Steve Howe, Al DiMeola, the list could seem almost endless. All such incredible musicians.

Although it's very hard to pick one person or style in particular, let's remember the key words, "overall favorite".
I would probably have to say that my overall favorite would have to be Steve Morse (from Dixie Dregs fame).

Who is your favorite?
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bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,862 posts
 
Chuck's style is SO iconic---it IS Rock 'n' Roll guitar! And though his playing is pretty basic, not requiring a lot of chops, remember the scene in "Hail Hail Rock & Roll" where Keith is playing the guitar part in "Oh Carol" (I think it was), which starts with the strings "bent" up for the first note? Keith mistakenly plays the strings unbent, then bends them up to the note. Chuck repeatedly shows Keith how to play the part correctly, and Keith just can't do it! Rock 'n' Roll may not be "hard" to play, but it's hard to play "right"! Dave Edmunds has mastered Chuck's style, and there are many others who obviously use it as the base for their style, Keith being number one.
frogman
7,471 posts
 
Onhwy61, is there something wrong with my link? Works fine at this end. I used my old IPad; maybe that's a problem. "Foxes on a trampoline"? Pretty funny.
davehrab's avatar
davehrab
380 posts
 
A women murders her husband by bludgeoning him to death with his vintage guitar collection ... in court the judges asks her .. so first offender and she replies

No first the Gibson then the Fender
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Really, she killed him twice?
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,862 posts
 
Isochronism---Regarding tone, small amps cranked up is the key. In '69 I was a teenager in a band with a guitarist who, like many teenage guitarists at the time, had Eric Clapton as his role model. He therefore had a burgundy Gibson SG, plugged into a Fender black face Dual Showman (nobody in San Jose had a Marshall yet). When the rest of us complained about his excessive volume, he explained that to get good tone, he had to crank up the volume knob on his Showman. Kids didn't yet know that it was over-driven tubes that made good tone, and that if you used a lower-powered amp you could get it at a lower volume. It took seeing the pics on the inside gatefold of the 2nd Band album to realize a Fender combo amp was the way to go. He soon had a black face Deluxe Reverb, which is a favorite amp of a lot of good guitarists, Evan Johns and Bill Pitcock IV being just a couple.

It was when I started hearing the original Blues and Rockabilly guitarists from the 50's that I really saw where the early R & R guitar sound came from. Paul Burlinson of The Rock 'n' Roll Trio (Johnny Burnette) is a particular favorite of mine, though it's not he on their version of "The Train Kept a Rollin". Now THAT'S great tone!
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