Best Guitarist of all time

[Mr. Bob Dobolina]

Randy, Jimi and Stevie Ray all left us way too soon. Tough list, but Jimmy Page got my vote.

 

[Sunfist]

Did it ever occur to you that the greatest guitar player of all time might not have been a rock and roll guitarist. Just sayin.

 

[ntw16]

I've voted for Jimmy Page.

I think this list of guitarists is very strong with some brilliant talents (Page, Hendrix etc.) but I must admit I was a bit disappointed to see The Edge make the list while David Gilmour misses out. The Edge is adequate for U2 but I'm really not convinced he can be considered a great guitar player especially as his effects-laden guitar sound can be directly traced to Gilmour, who also made use of quite a lot of effects but only as part of his sound, rather than defining it in the way The Edge's playing. Quite simply I feel The Edge cannot match the seminal Gilmour solos like those on Time, Comfortably Numb and Echoes, to name but three. Also, have a listen to Run Like Hell, and Short And Sweet from Gilmour's self-titled 1978 album and you can hear 'The Edge' in the use of delay and other effects.

Had Gilmour been included in the list I'd have considered voting from him instead of Page, those would be my top two so with only one of them in contention my choice became more straightforward.

I made the list...I knew I was forgetting someone! David Gilmour is one of my favorites and I should've put him on there! My bad.

 

[ntw16]

Did it ever occur to you that the greatest guitar player of all time might not have been a rock and roll guitarist. Just sayin.

In my opinion, Rock and Roll is the greatest music of all time and you can't find a guitarist outside of Rock and Roll that is as talented.

 

[Lynch]

"best" would have to be defined (somehow) and even that will be so completely subjective. I think "favorite" would be a far better poll question

 

[Lynch]

Of the guitarists listed (and going with the "FAVORITE" theme), these are the top 10 for me:

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Eddie Van Halen
Kirk Hammett
Tony Iommi
Joe Satriani
Randy Rhodes
Eric Clapton
Slash
Vivian Campbell
Steve Clark / Phil Collen

Of the rest, I will comment on a couple.

Jimi Hendrix - one of the single-most important and innovative guitarists of all time. For me, his stock drops dramatically because of the live performances I've heard. Sometimes he was magical but more often than not, he was a sloppy mess on stage (just speaking of the bootlegs I've heard).

Jimmy Page - another amazing riff-master and I have no problem with him being at the top of other people's lists, but for me, he's like Hendrix, a complete mess in concert and that's where he loses a LOT of points.

The rest have their place in rock history, other than The Edge. Can't say I've ever heard a single thing from him that impressed me and I wouldn't put him in my top 100 guitarists of any particular decade much less all time.

 

[WetWilly]

My favorite, Mr. Robin Trower is not listed...So I voted for the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. And yes I know they were both heavily influenced by The Late Great Jimi Hendrix.

 

[Sunfist]

Joe Satriani

 

[Sharp Dressed Man]

"best" would have to be defined (somehow) and even that will be so completely subjective. I think "favorite" would be a far better poll question

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Jet]

My favourites are Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.