Topic: Personal Guitar Jesus (Read 10698 times)

Liam · « **on:** 04 Mar 2007, 22:08 »

(There's NO WAY this hasn't been done before, but search shows no obvious results, so...)

I got this idea by reading the turmoil that is the Rolling Stone 100 Best Guitarists thread and the rampant name-dropping taking place. Who are your personal guitar heroes? Whose rhythms make you shake and solos make you quiver? Who has the best windmills and highkicks?

My guitar heroes:

J Mascis for melodic solos unlike anyone else's, and churning rhythm that defined grunge for me.
Carrie Brownstein for jagged riffs that made Sleater-Kinney a raw and beautiful force to be reckoned with.

and finally

George Harrison for being an unbeatably inventive guitarist who broke new ground for distortion.

Those are mine, readygo.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #1 on:** 04 Mar 2007, 22:29 »

I totally can't narrow it down to one person. There are so many guitar players that I love. In fact, I started listing a few, but then it ended up being like 30 people, so it didn't really work out so well.

MadassAlex · « **Reply #2 on:** 04 Mar 2007, 22:53 »

It comes down to these two -

John Petrucci

Arguably the best lead guitarist playing right now. Sweet leads and effective rhythms.

Dimebag Darrel

Not only did he have the skill, he had the attitude. An awesome guitarist all-round and an inspiration to metalheads everywhere. The king is dead. \m/

doki · « **Reply #3 on:** 04 Mar 2007, 23:20 »

There are only three guitarists

Brian May
Jeff Buckley
Chris Shifflette

BrittanyMarie · « **Reply #4 on:** 04 Mar 2007, 23:30 »

Pete Townshend.

Jed · « **Reply #5 on:** 04 Mar 2007, 23:44 »

Jimi Hendrix and Alexi Laiho.

Scytale · « **Reply #6 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 00:09 »

Andy LaRocque for playing some riddiculously awesome solo's on "Individual Thought Patterns" and the solos he does on the Abagail:Live cd not to mention a ll the guest solo's he's done.

Randy Rhoads for being fucking awesome and pretty much pioneering that whole "neo-classical" style.

Chris Poland for playing on those early Megadeth albums and making them sound so fucking awesome

godinpants · « **Reply #7 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 03:04 »

Eenor, because really, he's just awesome. Listen to him play on the frog brigade albums and his solo stuff.

Trey Anastasio. God. Really.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #8 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 05:50 »

Quote from: BrittanyMarie on 04 Mar 2007, 23:30

Pete Townshend.

word.

Narr · « **Reply #9 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 06:00 »

Just because I figure no one else will mention him later, I have a lot of respect for Tom Morello. He does some pretty nifty stuff on the guitar, although granted, a lot of it just ends up as noise. I've seen the guy play live and he's a spectacle. I also respect him as a person. The guy graduated with a political science degree from Harvard for crying out loud. I don't agree with all his politics, but do think it's very cool he's so passionate about his beliefs.

valley_parade · « **Reply #10 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 06:13 »

Yay, list time!

-Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield. Metallica was the reason I started playing guitar.
-Johnny Ramone
-Brett Gurewitz
-Malcolm Young
-Chris McCaughan
-East Bay Ray
-Buddy Guy
-SRV
-Brian May
-Dave Davies

Caspian · « **Reply #11 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 08:13 »

Hetfield is the one reason why I'm playing his guitar. He is amazing.

After that, it gets a lot harder.

I'd have to add Kevin Shields, just because he's awesome, and the dude in Mono. I don't know his name, but I never thought about tremelo picking with heaps of delay before, and now I use it all the time. I guess I'd also add Jonsi from Sigur Ros in, the whole cello bow on guitar thing is great too.

Also Ben Chasny, because he's a freaking legend.

Johnny C · « **Reply #12 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 08:19 »

Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs.

Nels Cline.

Stephen Carroll.

Mark Knopfler.

John Fogerty.

ScrambledGregs · « **Reply #13 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 08:32 »

I limited myself to guitarists still living and making music today.

--Trey Anastasio. Probably the best improviser I've ever heard. Too bad all he does nowadays is write toothless songs and get arrested for things we all knew he was doing 8 years ago.

--basically all of Sonic Youth. Yes, Kim plays guitar, too. In fact I'd go so far as to say Sonic Youth are one of the best and most important 'guitar' bands of the last three decades.

--John Dietrich from Deerhoof. The two words that pop up when I think of this guy are a contradiction, just like his playing: controlled chaos.

Honorable mentions to Jeff Tweedy and John Scofield.

amok · « **Reply #14 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 12:55 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 05 Mar 2007, 08:19

Mark Knopfler.

Hell yes.

MadassAlex · « **Reply #15 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 14:12 »

Okay I've come to a conclusion - Chuck Schuldiner

If you don't know, he was the founding and the only constant member of Death, one of the original three Death Metal acts of the world. His riffing was amazing as was his voice - just listen to any Death track and see how he does both jobs at once. A great guitarist and allegedly an awesome person, too.

\m/

celticgeek · « **Reply #16 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 14:36 »

Andres Segovia, of course.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #17 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 15:48 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 05 Mar 2007, 08:19

John Fogerty.

My uncle was best friends with John Fogerty back in high school! Creedence Clearwater Revival played at many of their school dances, apparently. It is kind of funny that a heavily country-influenced rock band got their start in California, though.

Thrillho · « **Reply #18 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 15:50 »

Ah, my guitar heroes are many and for various reasons.

Graham Coxon/Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien/Tom Morello - Not necessarily for their music (although I like bits and bobs of each) but because they all made a living out of trying to make the guitar sound like ANYTHING except a guitar, and in the former two cases bceause they stapled together often very strange chord progressions and made some wonderful songs out of it.

Larry Hibbit/Paul Townsend - Guitarists from Hundred Reasons, they use alternate tunings and interweaving lines and sometimes slightly weird time signatures and I love them for that. Hibbit especially makes it up as he goes along as far as tunings really, and I love that about him.

Bob Dylan - Could barely play four chords but wrote some of the greatest songs of all time.

George Harrison - Knew what to do that was exactly right for the song. Two of my favourite guitar moments ever are the opening squall of noise from 'It's All Too Much' and that little, tiny lick at the end of 'Got To Get You Into My Life' that is more or less the only bit of guitar in the song, but is just all the song needs. He has such clarity in his tone as well.

David Gilmour - Proved that taste and feeling means more than speed.

Rivers Cuomo - Did quasi-metal solos in these wonderfully geeky, off-kilter pop songs. Perfect.

Mick Harvey - Does a great job of making stabs of guitar noise, acoustic playing, or the intuitive slide of 'Far From Me.' Great stuff.

Bernard Sumner - Didn't know what the hell he was doing, but made sheets of awesome noise.

Peter Hook - A bassist, but a bassist is a bass guitarist so he counts. Played bass like lead guitar, and I love that. A standard bearer for the 'no root notes!' society.

Plus a lot of these guys are multi-instrumentalists like myself, which is equally inspiring to me, because it means that I just make any instrument sound like I want it to sound rather than how it should sound.

Gridgm · « **Reply #19 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 16:29 »

joe satriani ... i thought i was good at guitar cause i could play along to metallica then i heard satch boogie

Narr · « **Reply #20 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 17:07 »

The John Foggerty comment made me feel like mentioning Eric Clapton. Guy can play his guitar.

Liam · « **Reply #21 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 17:33 »

A lot of the criteria it seems people use when defining guitar is really technical prowess and inventiveness, but some guitarists are great just for the tone they can get out of their guitars. Rivers Cuomo and the whole Sonic Youth guitarist trio (thank you ScrambledGregs and DynamiteKid for reminding me) really get amazing sounds with not many notes. Sometimes it's about quality of notes instead of (or in addition to) quantity or juxtaposition, you know?

SensoryOssuary · « **Reply #22 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 17:47 »

ARTO LINDSAY

Yakob · « **Reply #23 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 18:15 »

Slash.

No, really.

Lines · « **Reply #24 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 18:47 »

Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Pete Townshend off the top of my head.

casull · « **Reply #25 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 19:15 »

Kiko Loureiro of Angra... great technical skill but really emotional in his playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeNDD0syjT0

MadassAlex · « **Reply #26 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 19:27 »

Quote from: Liam on 05 Mar 2007, 17:33

A lot of the criteria it seems people use when defining guitar is really technical prowess and inventiveness, but some guitarists are great just for the tone they can get out of their guitars. Rivers Cuomo and the whole Sonic Youth guitarist trio (thank you ScrambledGregs and DynamiteKid for reminding me) really get amazing sounds with not many notes. Sometimes it's about quality of notes instead of (or in addition to) quantity or juxtaposition, you know?

No, not really. You can have the nicest sounding guitar ever and not be able to play it. I agree insofar as the correct notes are better than the quantity of notes, but why settle for one when you can have both?

What about guitarists like Vai and Satriani who have tone that is the soundwave equivalent of sex and chocolate and can play at speeds that make you cum rainbows and blood?

squawk · « **Reply #27 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 21:31 »

Elliott Smith! But then, that's my answer for everything. Maybe I'll think of a real one later.

Liam · « **Reply #28 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 21:55 »

Quote from: MadassAlex on 05 Mar 2007, 19:27

No, not really. You can have the nicest sounding guitar ever and not be able to play it.

I see your point, but that's not quite what I meant. There's a subtlety to the dynamics and swing of great guitar playing that, at least for me, can make all the difference in the world, regardless of the guitar you're playing. I may have confused myself and other when I abruptly digressed to note choice, sorry.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #29 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 22:01 »

Santiago Dobles - For his work in Aghora, whom I find amazing. And he can emulate Joe Satriani better than anyone I've ever heard.

Paul Gasvidal - For his work in Cynic, but more for his work in Gordian Knot. The whole tone-with-fewer-notes thing comes to mind there...sometimes that band makes me cry.

Andy McKee, Justin King, John Butler, Erik Mongrain - all for using crazy acoustic guitar techniques. Erik Mongrain especially. look for videos on teh intarwebz.

Mandatory Technical Death Metal guitarists: Jonas Bryssling and Jonas Karlsson of Spawn of Possession. Screw Neo-Classical stuff like Yngwie, those guys play Neo-Baroque. With an edge.

That sums it up for now.

David_Dovey · « **Reply #30 on:** 05 Mar 2007, 22:16 »

Aaron Turner, BC Meyer, Michael Gallagher of Isis

The Kangmiester · « **Reply #31 on:** 06 Mar 2007, 05:33 »

John Squire
Noel Gallagher
Hendrix

foolsgold · « **Reply #32 on:** 06 Mar 2007, 11:54 »

William Reid from the Jesus and Mary Chain, probably because I've had such hard time getting into his work. Early on, I dismissed "Psychocandy" as noise and filed the Chain away (I was young, foolish, all hopped up on Big League Chew). Fortunately, some years later, I heard "Blues From a Gun" and that alone prompted me to give them another chance. I love the fact that he could break your heart, peel the paint from your walls and lift you up all in the same song. He sounded like he didn't know what he was doing, but somehow just created a song by sheer happenstance or serendipity, even though he's probably one of the most focused players I can think of.

Sure, he isn't the most technically gifted player or maybe not all that innovative, but he inspired my playing and still continues to amaze me some 20 years later.

Johnny C · « **Reply #33 on:** 06 Mar 2007, 12:36 »

Quote from: MadassAlex on 05 Mar 2007, 19:27

No, not really. You can have the nicest sounding guitar ever and not be able to play it. I agree insofar as the correct notes are better than the quantity of notes, but why settle for one when you can have both?

Who said anything about settling? What you've got here is something I call the "Kitchen Sink" musical fallacy, in which the idea is put forward that more is always better. It doesn't necessarily say that less is bad, but it's still a fallacy. Songwriting is about serving the song in every aspect from guitar tone to overall mood to volume of reverb to notes played. I know a lot of songs that would suffer if their lead lines were any busier.

Also sorry to kind of crap on your post but I hate Vai's tone and Satriani's tone. Each sounds unintentionally sterile.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #34 on:** 06 Mar 2007, 13:19 »

Sergio Armando Coronado from The Junior Varisty for two reasons: 1) Because he makes their music sound unique and his riffs are catchy and entertaining and 2) Because he's got the most amazing name on the face of the planet.

and Sam Bean. Iron & Wine = Amazing. He's the reason why i love finger picking.

CodySummers · « **Reply #35 on:** 06 Mar 2007, 13:42 »

Agree with quite a few of ya but can't believe only one person has put Jonny Greenwood you know its the right guy to go for.

MadassAlex · « **Reply #36 on:** 06 Mar 2007, 22:54 »

Quote from: Johnny C on 06 Mar 2007, 12:36

Also sorry to kind of crap on your post but I hate Vai's tone and Satriani's tone. Each sounds unintentionally sterile.

DiMarzio pickups through basswood are kind of godly I reckon.

Mr u Suk · « **Reply #37 on:** 07 Mar 2007, 04:02 »

Robin Trower - the be all, know all, end all of rock guitarists. its a total shame that nobody here has mentioned him, only 40 year old males (or children of said 40 year old males) are the only ones who know who he is nowadays

Don Ross - The king of style guitar, an absolute beast with that acoustic of his, serriously check him on YouTube because watching is just as good as listening

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Author Topic: Personal Guitar Jesus (Read 10698 times)

doki

Scytale

Narr

ScrambledGregs

Narr

SensoryOssuary

The Kangmiester

foolsgold

CodySummers

Mr u Suk