Who Is Your Favorite Guitar Player?
64David Gilmour
Billy Gibbons
Alex Lifeson
Robin Trower
Angus Young
Who Is Your Favorite Guitar Player Out Of These Choices?
See results without votingFavorite Guitar Players
Les Paul and Jackson. Little Deans and Fenders. Flying V's and SG's. Playing guitar is fun and fulfilling. I have played guitar for some time and had recently written an article about who I thought was the greatest guitar player of all time. I tried to be as objective as I could possibly be, but unfortunately I couldn't include some of my all time personal favorite guitarists.
On greatest guitarists of all time, it was extremely difficult trying compare all the great guitar players from rock to blues or metal to country. It just naturally happened that I came up with three electric guitar players and three acoustic guitar players.
But I had to leave out some of my own personal favorite guitar players, which are mostly rock and roll guitarists. In the very near future I am going to do an article or review on the top heavy metal guitarists, top country guitarists and possibly even create a new category, so that I can cover all the great guitarists, so stay tuned!
Some of the reasons why I like certain guitar players, from the perspective of being a guitar player, can be of course just personal taste. But there are other reasons too.
Reasons Why They Are My Favorite Guitar Players
Mastery of their guitar is very important. A real important key point for me is the guitar player's ability to create unique improvisation. Just about any good guitar player can improvise to jazz, blues and rock. I think some genres are a little easier to improvise solos or leads to, more than others. Some are harder to improvise to, based on the chords and rhythms. Others are harder to improvise to and yet still be unique or new. There is a lot of blues out there and there is also a lot of jazz and rock out there, so it is going to be difficult to create your own unique leads or solos, considering how many of these leads and solos have already been played.
Here are some guitar players that didn't make my list of six of the greatest guitar players that have ever lived. Keep in mind that some of my personal favorite guitar players did make the other list, so I chose not to feature them again here.
David Gilmour From Pink Floyd
David Gilmour was born in 1946, in England. He sometimes plays Fender Stratocasters and Gibson Les Paul guitars. David Gilmour's style is unbelievably smooth. David Gilmour's solos or leads are often mournful and slow, but they can come out more expressive, than just about any other guitar player that I am aware of. You will not hear a missed note or combination of notes that are sloppily played from David Gilmour.
Billy Gibbons From ZZTop
Billy Gibbons was born in 1949 in Houston, Texas. He often plays a 1959 Les Paul and his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar. I like Billy Gibbons because he is very expressive on guitar. I want to mention here that Billy Gibbons also sings along while playing guitar, which increases the difficulty factor. Billy Gibbons is one cool cat too, he is a lot of fun to watch onstage with some of his antics.
Alex Lifeson From Rush
I would consider Alex Lifeson a guitar player's guitar player. He constantly tries new guitars and amplifiers, trying to get that sound he is looking for. Alex Lifeson was born in 1953 in British Columbia, Canada. Lifeson has used a Gibson ES-335 semi-acoustic electric guitar, a Gibson Les Paul, a double neck Gibson EDS-1275, another hollow body Gibson 355 and a 12 string Gibson B-45. He has also used modified Strats with some Floyd Rose equipment, as well as other guitars. Recently I have been seeing him use Hughes & Kettner amplifers on some of the videos.
Angus Young From AC/DC
Angus Young can be a little rough around the edges but that is his style. I enjoy his guitar playing and his showmanship .Angus Young was born in Scotland in 1955. Angus Young plays 70' model Gibson SG's. He plays on a 1959 version of a Marshall amplifier with cabinets filled with celestian speakers.
Please leave me a comment below on who your favorite guitar player or players are and why you like them!
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Who Is Your Favorite Guitar Player?Loading...
Thanks KF Raizor, I am working on some country artists right now, starting with Willie Nelson, but yes I want to get Chet Atkins in there and Roy Clark and others. Thanks for your suggestions I will check out each one.
I grew up listening to country music, so most of my favorite guitarists are country pickers (e.g., Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed). In rock, I'd rather listen to Richard Thompson than just about anybody. I've always loved the melodic style of Mark Knopfler.
And, to me, any list about guitarists without Django on it is incomplete.
Thanks for the hub.
After I watched those I saw Ry Cooder with John Lee Hooker video that was extra cool. I am still looking for a Leo Kottke tune I used to like but cannot remember the name when I ran across him and Chet Atkins playing "Sleepwalk". The first :45 seconds can be skipped.
That's funny Phoenix, cos back in my day Santana was rated AS one of the greats, but he kind of disappeared for a few years. I checked out the Billy Gibbons video. The man has a sense of humor all right. Enjoyed the other videos too, especially the Gilmour one.
I know I keep throwing names at you, but what about John Martyn and Ry Cooder? Again, real originals in their time. There are a few John Martyn videos with Dave Gilmour on YouTube, and a few Ry Cooder with John Lee Hooker, but I've picked out two classics for you here.
John Martyn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9cU-jEmke8&feature
Ry Cooder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vstn5v-v5Is&feature
Thanks, Thamisgith. I am exactly like you in that whatever I am listening to today is going to be a favorite. Sometimes I am in the mood for different music. I am listening to a Willie Nelson tune on guitar right now so I can go from Willie to ACDC.
Let me congratulate you on your truly awesome taste. Tough to pick from that selection - but since I have been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd just lately, I went with Gilmour.
Hey CJ I found this of John McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia.
Hey CJ , check out the ZZTop video of Billy Gibbons exactly 1:38 to 1:45 minutes into the video I have posted here of Blue Jean Blues if you get a chance. It's hilarious to me for some reason.
Thanks CJStone. I really like Santana. He is probably the most underrated guitar player of all time. Santana and Gilmour are the smoothest guitar players in the world. I need to make more hubs so I can include more guitar players. OR, make a hub that has the best guitarists that doesnt have videos. That way I can make a list of 100 or so, but where the article can actually load lol.
Thanks for all your comments Mr. Stone, so I can keep a record of the greats for future reference. Fan loyalty means a lot to me because more than likely they have seen more live concerts and possibly have recordings that aren't as readily available. I can easily imagine that someone would have a bootleg of Santana that they could argue with, that he was the best guitar player in the world, based on that. This goes for other guitar players too. Thanks again!
Just thought I'd add a few more that didn't make it into your list: BB King, Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, Charlie Christian.
TheHeavyReview Level 3 Commenter 2 months ago
Great article! You've got some great choices there. My personal favorites are Chuck Schuldiner and John Petrucci, but they play a totally different style from these guys. As for rock guitarists I would pick Slash and Jimmy Page. You get a thumbs up from me for including Angus Young!