Let’s talk guitar players

[BamaSC]

I’ll fill this list more as we go, but as a guitar player, I’ve never been one to say X guitar player is better than Y guitar player. I tend to lump them in groups. There’s the pioneers, virtuosos, exceptional, excellent, and those that don’t fit but deserve mentioning.

For me, the pioneer group is reserved for those that moved the needle and changed the way people think about guitar. They may not be the best technically, but changed the way people approach guitar. For me, it starts with Robert Johnson, and includes Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen.

For the virtuoso group, I have Glen Campbell, Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkinson, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Alan Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Uli Jon Roth. These are guys that can play anything pretty much better than anyone else regardless of genre.

Exceptional would be Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy Rhodes, David Gilmour, Mark Knophler, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Alex Lifeson, Buddy Guy, Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, well, this list gets long.

Ones I think don’t quite fit but deserve mentioning is Pete Townshend, Rick Nielsen, Jamie West-Oram, and Angus Young.

This is a starting point and not a complete list. Let me know who I left out, who I have wrong, etc. Let’s have some fun with this.

I know I’m missing a lot here. My hope is y’all can turn me on to someone I haven’t given enough listening to.

 

[92tide]

i'd give you a full banjeaux for this, but ...

lots of really good bluegrass pickers, but i'm particular to doc watson and tony rice. the little i've seen of him, billy strings is absolutely out of this world

molly tuttle pops up in some of my apple music algorithms and she's pretty good

 

[oskie]

Tommy Emmanuel would be at the top of my list.

 

[BamaSC]

i'd give you a full banjeaux for this, but ...

lots of really good bluegrass pickers, but i'm particular to doc watson and tony rice. the little i've seen of him, billy strings is absolutely out of this world

molly tuttle pops up in some of my apple music algorithms and she's pretty good

I always wanted a full banjeaux. I’ll keep trying. And I am actually kinda starting to listen to more bluegrass. I’ve always liked it, but it’s been far in the background. I’ll check them out. Thanks!

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Man, great thread, there's just so many, hard to mention them all. You have Joe Bonamassa, Rory Gallagher, and I love Marty Robbins, and I enjoy the Americana songwriters who can a pick a bit, like Tyler Childers (I love his picking on Lady May).

 

[BennyHoover]

I've also gotten away from rock and into folk and bluegrass in my middle years here. On hollow body it's Jerry Miller right now for me, not the one that recently passed, but the one that plays lead for Eilen Jewell. Check out "Dusty Box Car Wall" on YouTube. If I can expand the field to mandolin players, I really enjoy Sierra Hull who's in the virtuoso group ("Black River") and Sarah Jarosz who's one level down probably as a player but she plays an octave mandolin which has a beautiful sound ("Blue Heron").