First of all welcome to my revised blog. Some time ago I decided to make a blog about sports. Well, one post later I abandoned for a life of obscurity. So in the spirit of posting crap about things I have an opinion on I decided to revisit it, and dedicate it to everything not associated with film. I’m still theoretically updating my old regular myworldoffilm site, so check it out if you want to know what I think about movies. This is the catch all music, comics, sports, books, and anything else I think about writing about. So to kick things off is my list of my 100 favorite guitarists.
I’ve opted to include almost exclusively lead guitarists, so don’t expect me to write an entry about how competent Malcolm Young is at strumming power chords, or how good Pete Townsend is at swinging his arm around. These are my personal choices so 100% of you are going to disagree with nearly everything I write. I accept that. Considering I’ve been playing guitar for nearly 20 years now, I feel I’m somewhat qualified to talk about my favorite players. Whether it’s guys who had a great style, were influential personally, or had chops up the ass, these are just the guys I dig. It’s not all about technical ability but I am prone to liking shredders so be warned. For at least this first entry I haven’t included clips, so that’s up to you, google, and youtube.
I’ve written a little about each entry, mainly my personal take or a “why they’re on here” explanation. I’m certainly open to hearing people bitch about whose too low or too high, so bring it on. The entire list is finished as of this writing, so I’ll be updating it pretty soon.
100. Al Anderson
The main axe-man from Bob Marley’s Wailers deserves a spot here not just as a sole representative of reggae music but for the incomparable solo to “No Woman, No Cry” from the album Live! A reggae man who had all the blues and pentatonic chops his state side classic rockers possessed, but naturally he was a little overshadowed by his legendary band’s leader.
99. Wes Montgomery
The master of octaves and one of Jimi Hendrix’s earliest influences. In a time of brass and woodwind band leaders Wes Montgomery brought the electric guitar to the jazz loving masses, along with contemporaries Kenny Burrell and Grant Green. He was also one of those rare jazz artists to show restraint on the instrument and use the “less is more” approach to soloing.
98. Les Paul
I nearly forgot Les Paul, and he deserves a shout out perhaps more for his inventiveness than actual playing (literally). Part engineer, part ridiculously sick jazz shredder, he was a player far before his time. The man could rip with the best of ‘em up until his final days, and every electric guitarist to pick up his namesake Gibson owes a debt of gratitude to this man.
97. Andy Summers
Andy Summers is one of those guitarists who you don’t even pay attention to until you attempt to learn what the hell he was doing. His constant add-9 chords give even the most wide spanning paws a stretch and I’ve seen far too many people covering Police songs finding ways to cheat his parts. A unique soloist who eschewed the traditional styles of his time, he was the perfect compliment to the best New Wave rock band ever.
96. Mick Taylor
In a perfect world Keith Richards would have snuck in my list for his contributions to dirty, sloppy blues playing, but few people would ever question who the Stones best guitarist was. His work in “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” is enough to include him among the all-time greats. Didn’t hurt that he was also associated with the best era of the Rolling Stones. Far more competent than Brian Jones, and he could technically play rings around Ron Wood, it’s a damn shame his stint in the Stones was so short.
95. Django Reinhardt
Another in the long list of “no list is complete without (insert name here)”. Django was the original guitar god. A French gypsy with three fingers who managed to set the bar for all jazz guitarists to follow. Perhaps the first (aside from Robert Johnson) in the gone-too-soon sub-header of guitar legends, he deserves a special place for his influence if nothing else.
94. Alex Lifeson
Like Andy Summers, Alex Lifeson seems doomed to be listed as the third most important member of a legendary power trio. With Rush from the beginning, Lifeson adopted a style all his own and despite toying with being another Jimmy Page clone on the first Rush album, he quickly abandoned that style and played like no one else before or since. He was on of the first to bring jazz chops and endless vibrato to the world of classic rock and progressive music, and he truly is inimitable.
93. Ottmar Liebert
A German-born Spanish-influenced flamenco player, Mr. Liebert earns my esteem for making arguably the greatest guitar playing faces I’ve seen. A guitar equivalent of Yanni, I’m not even sure he has ever played with his eyes open. Nowhere near the speedster Paco de Lucia was, he doesn’t need to be as long as he keeps cranking out that sweet beautiful music.
I labored long and hard whether or not to include Segovia on my list. No one who has ever heard him play can question his ability, virtually unmatched in the world of classical music. The reason I was hesitant is because the fact that he is known as a solely classical guitarist, and I’d be doing that whole style of music a disservice by relegating it’s best known player to the bottom of my list. A player who has influenced generations and whose teachings and transcriptions were widely embraced by the shredding generation of neo-classical enthusiasts.
91. Kirk Hammett
Many people might know I’m a bit of a Hammett hater, and this goes beyond the typical Metallica sucks now argument. Hammett has the WORST wah-wah sound in the history of music and his lead tone has always been mediocre at best. Many of his runs sound like ass, but when the man really wants to try, he can concoct some incredibly memorable solos. I only need to listen to “Blackened”, “Ride the Lighting”, or “Unforgiven” to know how good Hammett can be when he stops fucking off long enough to actually think through a solo.
90. Kenny Burrell
Another jazz legend in the post-bop era, I’d probably have Burrell higher if I only had more of his music. He does have the distinction of being one of the few guitarists to record with John Coltrane, and his Midnight Blue album is a landmark in the jazz-blues hybrid of clean lead playing.
89. John Fogerty
John Fogerty is one of those classic rock guitarists who seems to be criminally ignored. His main gifts were probably as a songwriter which is evident by the almost limitless gems he cranked out during the brief run of Creedence. However his eccentric blues inspired country tinged leads in songs like “Susie Q” and “Effigy” make him as great as any player in his day.
88. Robert Fripp
One of the first rock guitarists to venture into the “what-the-fuck-is-he-doing?” territory. King Crimson’s main musical force has collaborated with everyone from Brian Eno, David Bowie, and Peter Gabriel among many others, and he is the unquestioned master at making other-wordly sounds emanate from his guitar (sorry Tom Morrello). An early proponent of odd-timings, odd-tunings, and experimenting with every sonic device he could lay his hands on. There really isn’t another guitarist quite like him.
87. Grant Green
More jazz for that ass. Grant Green was arguably the best of the early sixties post-bop players who didn’t rely on swing and predated the fusion movement. His Idle Moments album is a guitar playing essential and the title track is a textbook of sweet sexy jazz sounds. He can also take some credit for tackling Latin sounds before they were “cool”, composing a hefty amount of his own tunes that are now jazz standards, he remains an icon from the Blue Note era.
86. Dave Murray/Adrian Smith
Often overlooked because some people seem to just outright forget how awesome Jethro Tull was as a band. Barre was the main axeman responsible for one of the greatest solos in rock history with “Aqualung”. Capable of playing any of Ian Anderson’s increasingly pretentious odd-timing riffs, his soloing blended fundamental classic rock with some unique outside-the-box phrasing and some pretty killer legato runs. He’ll never get the love Page, Clapton, or Hendrix got but the man was no slouch.
When Elton John and Bernie Taupin were taxed with coming up with enough material for two albums a year (crazy coked out 70s contracts), they naturally put a lot of faith in their band to contribute. Along with delivering some great vocal harmonies, Johnstone, who made his Elton debut on an acoustic 12-string rendition of “Madman Across the Water”, was a perfect fit for Sir Elton’s band. The lead work on “Funeral for a Friend” is some of the best guitar playing of the decade, and if the stories I heard were true the “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” riff was all his as well.
83. KK Downing/Glenn Tipton
I’ll say I was never as big of a fan of Judas Priest as I was of their fellow country-men Iron Maiden, but the Downing/Tipton duo were always the better guitarists. Like Murray/Smith I can’t really separate these two. They were also big fans of the dual guitar solos and trading complimentary shredding lines like nobody else. From Sad Wings of Destiny to Painkiller these two have been top notch. Downing is no longer with Priest, so perhaps Glenn gets the slight nod for longevity, but these two were sick metal shredders even before such a thing really existed.
82. Albert King
The man responsible for “Born Under a Bad Sign” has always gone down as one of the classic blues best guitarists. If I had more of his music he’d probably appear a little higher on my list, but that seminal album is all I got to know him by. A big influence on Hendrix and Clapton (who of course covered the aforementioned song with Cream), King has been reduced to something of a footnote by modern music historians despite the tremendous impact and influence he had in his hey day.
81. Dave Suzuki
I can still remember the first time I heard Vital Remains “Dechristianize”. For starters it was the fastest god damn thing I’ve ever listened to. Then a few minutes in things slow down a bit and some of the sickest arpeggios start being ripped. It was around then that I found out that the man responsible for those insane blast beats, was also playing those leads, and the bass for good measure. Meet Dave Suzuki, a musician good enough to make you want to quit at three different instruments. A death metal shredder who can tackle Yngwie and Lombardo. I would say the best endorsement for Suzuki is that when the band was touring, he opted to play guitar over drums because they figured it was harder to find another guitarist to cover his parts.
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