Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Greg Koch, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green...

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

And he probably bought his gear from Bennie Cintioli at Cintioli's Music on Oxford Ave.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Could be you

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Unfortunately, the subject itself is too subjective. We can only give opinions (some based on facts, some based on emotion) and then wonder why our fav axeman/axewoman isn't on the list...

Also, define "best"; best technically, best emotive player, best slide guitarist, best innovator, best looking...

My OPINIONS (not binding and this may chnage in 20 minutes) about the best:

Best blues guitarist (living)--Buddy Whittington. He can play slide, "normal" fingerstyle stuff, he can sing, he can write songs. If he didn't look like a plumber, he'd be a household name.

Best blues guitarist (dead)--this opinion will change the instant I type it, so never mind.

Best bandleading guitarist--Muddy Waters. Just look at who he had in his band--almost to a man, every one of those guys went on to lead (or support, in the case of bassists & drummers) their own successful groups.

Best techinical guitarist--Joe Satriani. He makes music I don't normally like (shred-dy) listenable.

Most creative--I want to say Jimmy Page (he brought so many other styles and modes and was able to put them in a listenable Western rock & roll format), but he is also a sloppy guitarist (not necessarily a bad thing). Billy Gibbons also gets a nod because he takes a format that is very limiting (blues) and makes it sound very open and fresh, and is willing to go out on a limb, instrument- and effects-wise.

Best slide player--Sonny Landreth. Just listen to him.

Best "texture/atmospheric" guy--Charlie Sexton. He creates these sonic backgrounds that leave huge slabs of room for whatever style the other guitarist may be to play over.

Best jackass--YJM.

Best overall--Billy Gibbons. Once again, the guy can play any style (blues, rock, country, psychedelic, jazz, eclectic) with any band/artist (Moving Sidewalks, QOTSA, John Mayall, Les Paul, ZZ Top; he even made Nickelback listenable for two songs) and still sound like himself.

Best unknown--Derek O'Brien. That humble four-eyed Texian can hold his own beside anybody...and beat most people hands-down.


...and there's fifty more "best" catagories that aren't listed here...

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

None of the candidates can play, convincingly at least Paganini's 24 Caprices or Bach's Lute Suites, so the " Best Guitarist " is a flawed and myopic idea. I really wish it would occur to everyone that there is no such thing and there never will be.
The complexities of music as it applies to guitar are far too varied for any one person to be able to master them all. Flamenco, Classical, Blues, Gypsy Jazz, Celtic, Old Time, Rythm and Blues, etc...etc...

I enjoy each and every one of the mentioned musicians in your category for their respective style of music but I do not consider or have ever considered anyone the greatest guitarist ever.

Musicians are not fictional deities.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

It's pretty silly to have this "best guitarist"poll when it has been a long established fact that our esteemed Nevin shatters every category that defines best.BTW 53 Magnatone since I'm an absolute Paganini fanatic I was wondering if you've ever heard Eliot Fisk's transcriptions of Paganini's 24 Caprices or Bach's Ciaccona from his Partita No.2 in D Min., S1004?These are among Fisk's best recorded works and certainly the best guitar interpretations of these pieces I've heard.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Asking "who's the best guitarist?" is like asking, "what's the best color?" or, "what's the best flavor of ice cream?"...it is a question that has no answer. Music is not an olympic sport.

No offense to anybody, but its a supremely un-imaginitive and juvenile question.

And his stage name is the exotic and mysterious Martinique.

+1



Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

No... But I'm always open for another musician that makes me want to lock up my guitars

Speaking of Paganini, actually I was born in the city that Nicolo Paganini died in, Nice France.
Did you know that after his death, they let him sit for over three weeks after he died in fear that he was bedeviled If you know the climate of southern France on the " Cote D'azure " spoilage occurs rather rapidly
Just an extraordinary musician who was born a couple centuries too early.
Some years back I found a double CD on Teldec " works for Violin and Guitar ", Gyorgy Terebesi on Violin and Sonja Prunnbauer on Guitar.

I'm just about at that mode again where I may dive back into listening to nothing but classical music and guitar such as Julian Bream, John Williams, Hopkinson Smith, David Russell, Ana Vidovic, and Paul Galbraith amongst others.
Paul Galbraith is an interesting one, as he plays an 8 string guitar, played in a manner very similar as to how one would hold a Cello or a Viola De Gamba. The Guitar is supported by an endpin which rests on a wooden resonance box. It was designed by Galbraith in collaboration with the builder David Rubio.
If you are unfamiliar with Galbraith, he is most definitely worth a listen.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I'll have to look into Galbraith,I believe I've seen his recordings advertised on The Musical Heritage Society website-which I find is an excellent source for classical music. The is a CD of Itzhak Perlman and John Williams-Duos for Violin and Guitar -on the CBS Records Masterworks label with music by Paganini and Guiliani that's incredible. The MHS has a huge online catalogue that would appeal to any fan of classical music. http://www.musicalheritage.com

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

whats it like in your world?[/quote]Whats it like in yours?[/quote]
well, i said that because in just about every post of yours, you seem to present your OPINION as fact. it is not. it is an opinion.[/quote]its an excepted fact that jimi hendrix is the greatest guitarist ever, he died because GOD wanted guitar lessons,

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There is no best, only ones you like the most.

Best composer?
Best hands?
Fastest?
Most perfect pitch?
....................?

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I remember when we were free!

Whats it like in yours?[/quote]
well, i said that because in just about every post of yours, you seem to present your OPINION as fact. it is not. it is an opinion.[/quote]its an excepted fact that jimi hendrix is the greatest guitarist ever, he died because GOD wanted guitar lessons,[/quote]
no, its really not a FACT.... was he f**kin good? yes. the best? hell no.

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

Jimmy's not dead his immortal and living in 3/4 of the worlds guitarists riffs!!!! Didn't you know??

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