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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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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!
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Bdp,

I think we agree on a lot:

I'm with you on the beauty of overdriven, low output amps. I don't play a ton of electric guitar these days, but when I do it's either thru a 12 watt (dual 6v6) Nolatone Rotten Johnny or a 20 watt Swart AST (same output tube config). Give me that creamy, overdriven 6v6 sound and I'm happy.

My issue with Fender amps is the one you ID'd: They're usually too loud to get the tone I want at the volume I want. The low powered Fenders that I've played have usually been equipped with EL-84s, which work great for rhythm parts IMO, less satisfying for lead. The classic 6L6 equipped Fender amps usually have too much power/headroom to get the break-up I want at reasonable SPLs.

These days I just usually stick to my acoustics.
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