Who do you think were/are the greatest guitarest?

Question

I mean from the obvious Hendrix, Malmesteen, Vai, Vaughn, and Zappa who are your favorites and why?

I have always been partial to Buckethead and Dave Mustaine

Love the answers, just remember its not necessarily who's the greatest period, its who are your favorites and why you think they are great.

ps. big ups for the guy who agreed with me about Buckethead.

Answer 1

I would say Hendrix was the biggest influence on all of them, I love Buckethead and Pat Metheney. They play so effortlessly

Answer 2

Jimi Hendrix - guitar playing was never the same after "Are You Experienced". Unique tones, feedback, sustain, and distortion, all recorded on primitive 4 track analog machines. And that was just the beginning....35 years later and he's still topping guitarist polls. Hendrix changed the rules forever.

Jimmy Page - one of the greatest studio musicians of the day, he showed all his chops during Led Zeppelin's rise to fame. The first player to effectively mix Eastern acoustic style and Rock, to form a hybrid sound. Also was a great arranger/producer during Zep's tenure as the world's # 1 band.

Tommy Bolin - Although he's not widely known, he was the guy who could do it all. He rocked as Joe Walsh's replacement in the James Gang, and also did the same thing as Richie Blackmore's heir apparent in Deep Purple. He starred on Billy Cobham's, "Spectrum", and "Mind Transplant" by Alphonse Mouzon, two of the seminal jazz/fusion albums of the early 70's. Amazing speed, without sacrificing feel. Bolin supposedly is the one that opened Jeff Beck's mind to the concept of fusing jazz/rock and hard rock. He could solo for days if needed, but always put the song first......although he always played his *** off.

Yngwie J Malmsteen - he was the first to successfully blend Rock and Classical influences into a distinct genre. His use of the scalloped fretboard and hot-rodded pickups helped create a fresh sound, something 80's style guitarists badly needed. A great, but tempermental guitar icon.

Jeff Beck - People have always placed unreal expectations on him. He's remained true to his feelings, sometimes waiting years between officially released albums. His tone is so pure and technique is so prevalant that as soon as you hear his fingers touch the strings, it can't be anyone other than Beck. He also never uses a pick, which gets in the way of the "organic sound" between fingers and strings....A Master!

Also considered: Roy Buchanan, T Bone Walker, Edward Van Halen, Gary Moore, Sonny Sharrock, James Burton, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, Slash, Stevie Ray Vaughn........and more.

Answer 3

Dave Mustane
Alexi Laiho
Zakk Wylde

Answer 4

In this order...1-Hendrix, 2-EVH, 3-Randy Rhoads, 3-Jimmy Page, 3-Yngwie Malmsteen, 4-Stevie Ray Vaughn

Answer 5

you cant really say who is the greatest or was because its like a spiderweb. see music is the spider that sits in the middle and every musican is the web that supports music.... if one strand is missing it could effect the rest both hendrix and page ( who everyone says is the best) got ALOT of riffs etc from other people. some of pages greatest stuff was writen by bert jansch and without bert there would be no page. so noones really the BEST everyone works together...its more like what kind of music do you like and why... but maybe we can use food or something for example..

Answer 6

Jimi Hendrix.
Listen to Are You Experienced or listen to tapes of the jimi Hendrix Experience in concert. Words can't describe how awesome he was.

The last 25 years I like the Edge from U2 and there is only one guitar player that sounds like Carlos Santana.

Answer 7

Angus Young from AC/DC
Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin
Pete Townsend from The Who
these are my three favourite guitarists of all time. Apart from Hendrix.

Answer 8

James Hetfield Most definitly
Any of Cannibal Corpse's Guitarist's
Morbid Angel's Trey Azagthoth

Answer 9

a few...

Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
B.B. King
Carlos Santana
Stevie Ray Vaughn

Answer 10

Some of my favorites along with those you mentioned are: Joe Satriani, Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Valen, BB King, & Angus Young