Oh shit, I forgot Jeff Beck.
Probably the best I have seen.
Oh shit, I forgot Jeff Beck.
Probably the best I have seen.
Probably the best I've ever seen (and was lucky to have seen him twice) was Clarence White during his time with the Byrds. Yeah, the B-Bender device enabled him to do things as if he had three hands, but his straight playing was magnificent. Maybe coming from a bluegrass tradition gave him skills other rock and roll guitarists don't develop. And he just stood there. Never moved an inch nor did he ever change the expression on his face. He let his hands do the talking.Originally Posted by arj
Lou
Atta boy, Luther!
Regi Wooten.
Seen Roine Stolt as well.
And Ian Crichton.
Ollie Halsall, with Boxer
We walked arm in arm with madness, and every little breeze whispered of the secret love we had for our disease (P. Blegvad)
The most overtly impressive guitarists I ever saw myself were Bert Jansch, Paolo Angeli, Richard Thompson, Mary Halvorson, Mick Barr, Henry Kaiser and Kazuhisa Uchihashi. I never ever witnessed or heard anyone do what Barr or Kazuhisa are capable of on the instrument - it's simply completely beyond unfathomable. However, Paolo Angeli is probably the single most fascinating of the lot; his style, approach and technique on the Sardinian "large" guitar are all unprecedented. Kudos to Nels Cline, Janet Feder and Jim O'Rourke as well.
But my overall fave axemen in rock continue to be Glenn Phillips, John Cipollina, Pete Townshend, Jukka Tolonen and Manuel Göttsching. Never saw any of them live, though.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
If I were to pick just one mind blowingly great guitar player that I have seen live it would be Danny Gatton.
Jeff Beck would be a very close runner up.
(Buckethead gets an honorable mention)
Saw Bruce Cockburn two weeks ago, solo and at age 77, he was still very impressive.
Boring answers, I know, but:
Eddie Van Halen
John Petrucci
Jeff Loomis
Geoff Thorpe
Ty Tabor
Neal Schon
Tony Iommi
Kurt Bachman
Many of the above plus-
John Renbourn (w/Jacqui McShee, early 2000's)
Mick Taylor (solo 1994)
Michael Schenker (UFO 1975)
Mick Ronson (Hunter/Ronson 1989)
Dave Davies (Kinks 3 X 1976-1994, solo late 90's twice)
I caught Danny in the summer of '89 when he was still relatively unknown. I guess it's now a famous gig because Joe Bonamassa sat in with his band playing Danny's Telecaster and some of it ended up on YouTube. Joe was 12 years old at the time.If I were to pick just one mind blowingly great guitar player that I have seen live it would be Danny Gatton.
I hope I can catch Bruce one more time before he retires. I've seen him twice in the past both solo, and with a trio.
Dang- I forgot- I saw Danny at Jaxx in Springfield, VA. One of the very best.
In addition to the usual suspects like Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin and all the many great electric guitarists I’ve seen I’d throw Pierre Ben Susan (master of DADGAD) and Tommy Emmanuel (master of harp harmonics and finger style) into the mix as well as the great Indian slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya.
Of course many of the greatest guitarists are classical...
For me personally:
Robert Fripp
Alex Lifeson
Steve Hackett
Steve Howe
Steve Rothery
Steve Morse
Eric Johnson
Martin Barre
Gary Green (Three Friends)
John Petrucci (DT opening for Yes)
Andy Latimer (Nearfest)
Steve Hillage (Nearfest pre-show)
Allan Holdsworth (Ditto above)
Pete Townshend (if he can be considered a great guitarist)
Ed Wynne
I was looking through some other people's post on here and so I now have to add:
John Mclaughlin
Al Di Meola
Mike Keneally
Tony Iommi
Pat Metheny
Adrian Belew
Last edited by Digital_Man; 06-23-2023 at 05:43 PM.
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
Ed Wynne > Terry Kath ?
To itch his own.
Impera littera designata delenda est.
Gilmour
Howe
Fripp
Di Meola
Beck
"It was a cruel song, but fair."-Roger Waters
Why would Terry Kath be on my list when I've never seen him live?
Do not suffer through the game of chance that plays....always doors to lock away your dreams (To Be Over)
I've seen the overwhelming majority on your list. I would add PFM, Banco, and Le Orme's guitarists.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
I had the opportunity to see Spirit in the late '80s during finals week at the university. I chose to study instead. Now I regret that decision, knowing as I do now that I would never get another opportunity to see them, and knowing I would likely have passed any exam with little studying or sleep, and knowing you get nothing with your college degree. Seeing Randy and Ed would have been more fun.
5 pages and seems no Mark Knopfler yikes!
4 American prog bands (much active in the 90s for example) come to mind with guitarists worthwhile to include but seems haven't noticed them here on 5 pages either. I consider them because my view is that many guitarists are actually great, not just the extra special ones such as very famous ones.
Holdsworth.
McLaughlin.
Metheny.
Beck.
Fripp.
Belew.
Hedges.
Scofield.
Keneally.
Stern.
Eric Johnson.
DiMeola.
Gilmour.
SRV.
"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
Richard Thompson
John Renbourn
Bert Jansch
John McLaughlin
Pete Townshend
Steve Hackett
Steve Rothery
Steve Howe
Steve Lukather
Steve Morse
Pat Metheny
Dave Lambert
Patty Larkin
Billy Strings
Bruce Cockburn
Al DiMeola
Making this list, I realize how many great guitarists, whose playing I admire, I've never seen live.
"I have not yet begun to procrastinate."
Terry Kath - Chicago VII tour with the Beach Boys
Bill Nelson - Be Bop Deluxe, Drastic Plastic tour
Alex Lifeson - Rush, Hemispheres and Permanent Waves tour
You say Mega Ultra Deluxe Special Limited Edition Extended Autographed 5-LP, 3-CD, 4-DVD, 2-BlueRay, 4-Cassette, five 8-Track, MP4 Download plus Demos, Outtakes, Booklet, T-Shirt and Guitar Pick Gold-Leafed Box Set Version like it's a bad thing...
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