Who do you think is the greatest guitar player of all time and why?

[DuciD03]

How to judge is the big question ...

its has to be in the music; the innovation; the overall acceptance and accomplishments by his / her piers ...

Carlos Santana

... stands out amongst the best of the best; everyone will have there own opinions; but trying to look beyond a a specific "genera" of music ...

[77south]

As always, I am late to the party, but my favorites are:
Reverend Horton Heat
Chuck Berry
Brian May
Dick Dale
Junior Brown
Richard Thompson

and the great Grandaddy of them all and the guitarist I would say is the best there ever has been:

Mississippi John Hurt.

[MendoDave]

Dave Murray is pretty good.
and another mention of Angus Young

[Holden]

How about the Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman (of Focus)? Check this out!

In '73 he was proclaimed "best guitarist of the world" by the readers of the UK magazine Melody Maker!

that vocalist was CRAZY!

[Ddan]

Alot of folks only know the "Pop" Santana, but this is the real deal.

It's pretty hard to over-rate that.     

[Kopfjager]

I'm gonna throw one out for my favorite female Blues guitarist.  Susan Tedeschi

Susan Tedeschi - Rock Me Right

[DoubleEagle]

I don't  remember this guitatist mentioned .

Michael Schenker Group-Doctor Doctor　WORLD WIDE LIVE 2004

One of the all time best . Rocking the World since 1974. Scorpions, UFO , then the Micheal Schenker Group 'til present.   
Dolph

[Speeddog]

On my list on the first page. 

Thanks for the video, I couldn't find a good one when I looked. 

[DoubleEagle]

On my list on the first page. 

Thanks for the video, I couldn't find a good one when I looked. 

Oops,  I couldn't remember back that far.....you're welcome on the vid.

I still pick Ritchie Blackmore !

Either when he was with Deep Purple or Rainbow  ( aka Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow ) .

Dolph



Blackmore's Rainbow - Temple of the King, live 1995

[FatguyRacer]

GOAT - Hendrix.

Best player I ever saw live is Micheal Hedges (RIP). Followed a close 2nd by Stanley Jordan. I've seen lots of blues guys and Collins was one of the best.

Wes Montgomery is was an outstanding player and never used a pic. If you dig deeper into George Benson's catalog, you find also an extremely gifted player too.

My current favorite is the guy from Tool, Adam Jones. He gets a whole lot out of a very economical style. Not a lot of flash or speed. Just really powerful playing thats complimented by the worlds best drummer and arguably bass player too. To me a great player is one who helps to make the music greater than the sum of its parts. In this regard, Jones succeeds. Sometimes its hard for me to remember that Tool is a musically speaking, a power trio.

Alot of players mentioned in the last 8 pages are great players, but you remember the player more than the music. I think for me that's why when I want to hear great guitar players, I head for the Jazz section.

Speaking of, Larry Carlton is in my top 5. Listen to Steely Dan's "Don't Take Me Alive" for a a reference. Not one note from start to end is out of place or unnecessary.

[lwszabo]

Mick Mars followed by Nikki Sixx

[DoubleEagle]

GOAT - Hendrix.

Best player I ever saw live is Micheal Hedges (RIP). Followed a close 2nd by Stanley Jordan. I've seen lots of blues guys and Collins was one of the best.

Wes Montgomery is was an outstanding player and never used a pic. If you dig deeper into George Benson's catalog, you find also an extremely gifted player too.

My current favorite is the guy from Tool, Adam Jones. He gets a whole lot out of a very economical style. Not a lot of flash or speed. Just really powerful playing thats complimented by the worlds best drummer and arguably bass player too. To me a great player is one who helps to make the music greater than the sum of its parts. In this regard, Jones succeeds. Sometimes its hard for me to remember that Tool is a musically speaking, a power trio.

Alot of players mentioned in the last 8 pages are great players, but you remember the player more than the music. I think for me that's why when I want to hear great guitar players, I head for the Jazz section.

Speaking of, Larry Carlton is in my top 5. Listen to Steely Dan's "Don't Take Me Alive" for a a reference. Not one note from start to end is out of place or unnecessary.

All the things you said are reasons too I vote for Blackmore.

It's the music , the songsd the licks that stay in my 5 decades old brain. The fact that when it counted Ritchie was the " cleanest " lead guitarist of rock music . No unnecessary notes and they all were critical to the " song ," it's melody.

Here is a perfect example.  It's a very melodic song....April.

April


Dolph

[Jarvicious]

Ahh, the big questions.  This one's right up there with "What's the meaning of life" - Jesus and "Who the make the beast with two backs drank my last beer??" - Steve.  As mentioned before, there are waaaaaaaaay too damn many unquantifiable factors that go into this.  Everyone listed is great, to be sure, but the reasoning behind their skills is vastly different. 

I'm a huge Led Zep fan as well as a huge Page fan, and while his music is truly spectacular, he was far from being the cleanest player.  He had the skill and the theory, but he was almost downright sloppy sometimes.  Same goes for Hendrix and a number of other players.  It doesn't make them any less great though. 

Some of the big Guys like Slash, Zakk Wylde, etc, are good guitarists in their own right, but I think gained more notoriety from the bands they were associated with (GnR, Pantera, Ozzy).  Wylde is fairly multitalented musically and definitely a great guitarist, but Black Label Society seems to be lacking overall cohesiveness.  Same with Slash and Velvet Revolver.  Guns and Roses was nasty, shitty, dirty rock that no doubt wouldn't have been what it was without Slash, but aside from Weiland's voice, Velvet Revolver is a pretty lame, mass produced sounding band.  A musician's output varies greatly depending on who he/she's playing with. 

All the big music theory guys like Steve Vai, Satriani, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, etc are also great guitarists, I just feel like their music lacks the same soul as a lot of other groups.  Oh, Malmsteen fits right in there too.  I do dig some of their stuff, but for the most part I can only listen to someone play sweep arpeggios for so long before I get bored.  We get it, you know your music theory, now take that knowledge and put it towards something original.  This is also my beef with the jazz greats.  While I admit I can't solo worth a shit (lack of theory knowlege) I don't want to listen to someone else make shit up for 23 minutes at a time.  I'm not saying they should put their songs in the same AABA format that everyone else usese, but taking a 70 year old standard and just wailing for hours on end just seems less than impressive to me.  Again with the oriignality.  Write something yourself, then we'll talk. 

Skill wise, I'm a huge fan of SRV even if I really don't listen to his music all too often.  The man was born with a guitar grafted into his hands.  Despite the simplicity of his songs, I've never heard him play the same solo or lick.  He does have a tendency to get a bit self indulgent at times, but his styling varies enough to make up for it.  It seesm like he didn't even have to think about playing, it just oozed out of him. 

Ehh, I guess long story short there's just no telling.  I guess we could check out the collective Guitar World archive and see who they've had their proverbial noses up the ass of more.  I listen to a lot of shitty music including hardcore, punk, pop punk, and some electronica, it just boils down toe whoever gives you the most goosebumps   This is a rock and roll takeover

/annnnnnnnnd dismount high horse

Every Time I Die - Ebolarama

[Kopfjager]

Another one of the Ladies. Tal Wilkenfeld

Tal  Wilkenfeld awesome solo..

[ducleaner]

Slash. Because he's the only guitarist that owns his own sound *and* plays music I like. I'm sure Hendrix and others play music that required greater dexterity and thus have more "wow" factor. But Slash is the one that I could listen to all by himself.