Neil Young - Guitarist

+1 onhwy61 +1 jrpnde
If you play the guitar fairly well and understand the instrument, the RS top 100 greatest guitarist of all time list seems a jumbled mess. Some folks have no business being on the list. Other truly great guitarists are buried under flotsom. Neil Young at number 17 is an example of a great songwriter that plays a decent guitar getting uber grade inflation. Mark Knopfler is number 44? You ever tried to play like MK? You can't. He plays both rhythm and lead basically simultaneously. Clapton has MK play at his concerts. You ever tried to play like Neil Young? Well, lots of people can...he is easily covered. That doesn't mean he isn't really good. But lots of people are really good. Johnny Ramone at number 28? Thousands of people can cover Johnny Ramone. You don't even need to know any scales. John McLaughlin at number 68? I'm fairly confident McLaughlin can play all of Neil Young's stuff and NY can't cover much of JM's catalog, if any. I really like Neil Young, but I never put him on to listen to serious guitar prowess. 

IMO: He’s an excellent acoustic player. Electric is more idiosyncratic but I still like it. Been listening for many years. Neil be the man! (and Daryl be the squeeze)

Like Charlie Watts, Neil is one of those players whose decades of playing constantly did absolutely nothing to improve his skills.  He is as bad now as when he was when he was screeching out single note guitar solos with Buffalo Springfield.  If every other guitar player in the world died tomorrow he still wouldn't make the top 100 list.

Personally, I think Rolling Stone died by the endless, pompous, derivative, purposely-argumentative, dated lists.

Neil has a unique style which is not for everybody.  It's easy to parody but impossible to really duplicate.   If you didn't like it 50 years ago you're not going to like it any better now.  Personally I liked it then and now.  He's no great technician but he plays with a lot of feeling and intensity.