The greatest guitar player of al time?

[dendawg]

What no love for David Gilmour?

Or Eddie Van Halen?

Or Nancy Wilson?

[telecom_goddess]

Nancy Wilson for sure
David Lindley (session musician but he can play ANYTHING)
Don Felder
Bonnie Raitt
Richie Sambora
Jim Messina (Poco, Loggins and Messina)

[dalesys]

...Jim Messina (Poco, Loggins and Messina)

Also Buffalo Springfield (dinosaur smiley)

[derangedperson]

John Petrucci
Alex Lifeson
David Gilmour
Nuno Bettencourt
Joe Satriani
Stevie Ray Vaughan

[XCashier]

Quoted for truth. "Satchmo" is a phenomenal player, as well as a damn good songwriter. (just ask Coldplay )

"Satchmo"? I thought "Satchmo" was Louis Armstrong's nickname?

[sportsmom]

I've got to go with Stevie here too.

When Eric Clapton asks you if your fingers are on backwards to let you play like you do, then you're doing something right.

[Jack T. Chance]

Yeah, I was gonna say Satriani. This list is not complete without him.

Or Steve Vai.

Heh. Satch taught Vai everything he knows. He was Satch's first student!

"Satchmo"? I thought "Satchmo" was Louis Armstrong's nickname?

You are correct. Satriani's nickname is "Satch".

And I was just struck by a sudden realization that I neglected someone, an Honorable Mention that I'm obligated to make.

Exactly 40 years ago, on Friday, February 13th, 1970, 4 blokes from the industrial slums of Birmingham, England released their first record album to the world. And on that day, drummer Bill Ward, bass player Terry "Geezer" Butler, singer John "Ozzy" Osbourne, and guitarist Tony Iommi, collectively known as BLACK SABBATH, introduced the world to a brand new (and at the time rather controversial) musical genre: The sound known as HEAVY METAL!

40 years later, the ORIGINAL heavy metal band can still (on those rare occasions when they reunite on stage, usually during the annual Ozzfest Tour) outperform bands comprised of guys half their age!

So for helping to invent the heavy metal sound, and for writing some of the best guitar riffs of all time, Tony Iommi has definitely earned his Honorable Mention! It's just a shame that it took the Grammy Awards 30 YEARS to give Black Sabbath, the ORIGINAL heavy metal band, an award for Best Heavy Metal Performance. Umm, hello, they INVENTED the genre, they should have received the very FIRST such award, as they're the Gold Standard by which ALL other metal bands must be judged!

[irateguy]

pete townsend

[Mr. Rager!]

Slash

I've been a fan of his since I was kid... GN'R was my favorite band. I'm biased. But, Slash.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

"Satchmo"? I thought "Satchmo" was Louis Armstrong's nickname?

Heh. Satch taught Vai everything he knows. He was Satch's first student! You are correct. Satriani's nickname is "Satch".

Damn, my mistake. I knew it was something along those lines and it wasn't "Professor Satchafunkilus" (that was his latest album).

I apologize to both Satch and Satchmo for my mix-up.

[Severen13]

Or Eddie Van Halen?

Or Nancy Wilson?

Or The Edge?

[Jester]

To me, this conversation starts, stops, and takes all requisite detours with that man from Seattle, Jimi Hendrix. Nearly 40 years after his death, his playing is still ahead of the times. Not his times....OUR times. His version of the Star Spangled Banner is just stunning. The man could play.

When people call most guitar players "gods," they are exaggerating. When they call Hendrix a god, they are understating it.

Many guitarists are very underrated. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. (One of the greatest guitar riffs of all time is in the Floyd song "Mother.") Nancy Wilson and Howard Leese of Heart. Alex Lifeson of Rush. Joe Walsh of the Eagles and the James Gang, among other bands. Neil Geraldo, Pat Benatar's lead guitarist and husband, is HUGELY underrated. Pete Townshend of The Who. (It's spelled with an h, but the h is silent. My sister is a Who freak.) Robby Krieger of The Doors. Definitely Slash of Guns n' Roses. He should get so much more love as a guitarist than he does. Dude is awesome on the axe.

Speaking of underrated, where is the love for Billy Duffy, lead guitarist of The Cult? Sonic Temple is simply astounding as a guitar album. And The Cult was awesome.

I don't mention Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, or Stevie Ray Vaughn because I hardly think any of them are underrated. They are all spectacular.

I don't mention The Edge because I think he is actually overrated. He's good, certainly. But great? No. Not in this music lover's not so humble opinion.

David Gilmour is at least as good as Jimmy Page if not better.

I am a huge Pink Floyd fan, and think that David Gilmour is highly underrated as a guitar player.

And I think your statement above is simply nuts. Gilmour rocks. Page is simply one of the best guitarists of all time. I love Floyd, I love Gilmour....but hell no.

Or Nancy Wilson?

I am a huge fan of Heart, and consider Nancy Wilson my personal goddess. Meeting her was one of the greatest moments in this rock fan's life. Hell, being able to speak coherently to her when I met her was the day that I realized that there is no woman on the planet that could ever intimidate me.

She is a great guitarist, often vastly underrated. However, most of Heart's lead guitar work was done by Howard Leese, not Nancy. Howard is also hugely underrated.

That being said--and it pains me to say this--neither one of them belongs in the conversation of "greatest ever." Among the greats? Arguably. Greatest ever? No.

Exactly 40 years ago, on Friday, February 13th, 1970...BLACK SABBATH, introduced the world to a brand new (and at the time rather controversial) musical genre: The sound known as HEAVY METAL!

Cool. I'm exactly 5 days older than Black Sabbath.

(Disclaimer: I am not a guitarist, nor do I have any talent whatsoever as a musician. All of my above comments come from a music fan's viewpoint. When it comes to technical guitar playing, I know less than Stevie Wonder knows about driving in rush hour traffic.)

[Last Jewish Cowboy]

Robert Johnson. Scary how good and haunting he was. Brian Setzer has always been one of my favorites.

[Jack T. Chance]

Cool. I'm exactly 5 days older than Black Sabbath.

Or 4-5 months younger, apparently!

But technically speaking, those 4 blokes from Birmingham came together as a band nearly 2 years earlier, in 1968, when they formed a "heavy blues" band called Earth. But upon finding out that they were being confused for ANOTHER area band by the same name, they sought out a different name. At the time, they were rehearsing across the street from an old theater that would run revivals of old horror movies. Ozzy thought it strange that people would pay good money to sit in a darkened theater and watch a scary movie. Realizing at that point that they could make good money by scaring people, the band shifted their musical focus in a different direction, writing "scary" songs, with lyrics that focused heavily on such dark themes as the occult, horror, and man's inhumanity towards his fellow man. In August of 1969, the band officially changed their name to Black Sabbath, a name that was inspired by seeing the revival theater across the street running the horror film of the same name! And the rest, as they say, is history.

[Jester]

LOL! A belated happy birthday to you, then!

Actually, no. Because apparently I am ever more of an idiot than I usually give myself credit for. Somehow, I read "February" as "June."

No, I don't get it either. But please, feel free to begin the Alzheimer's jokes at any time.