I love great guitar playing and when you talk about the greats, the usual suspects generally crop up
Hendrix, Page, Beck, Santana, Garcรญa etc.
all phenomenal in their own right but what Iโm looking for are your greats who may have gone under the radar. I have a few candidates in the pipeline and Iโll be adding them to the thread but I was wondering whether you might have any thoughts as well.
If you can, it would be great to see recommended albums and a YouTube clip or several would be great to see. Also, any anecdotes or stories about them would be lovely to see
Hope to get a bit of traction going. If nothing else, Iโll get to share a few of my favs if only for my own amusement
There's just too many to choose from, really. ๐ง
Last time I made a list of my personal favorites, it looked a little different from this, mostly because I was unwilling at the time to admit that heavy metal players were any good. (Since then I've become more reasonable on the subject.) Still, several of these folks just never played music I really liked, and I haven't (and probably wouldn't) include any of their albums on a BEA chart. I still wish I could play like them, though...
I'm also not including XTC's Andy Partridge or Dave Gregory, because that would just be too obvious.
Kimberley Rew (Soft Boys, Katrina & the Waves, solo)
Charo
Brian May (Queen)
Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson's touring guitarist)
Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar, solo)
And the great Richard Thompson. This is from a live songwriters circle. Suzanne Vega and Loudon Wainwright III look a bit uncomfortable knowing they have to follow this performance.
Link _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
There's just too many to choose from, really. ๐ง
Last time I made a list of my personal favorites, it looked a little different from this, mostly because I was unwilling at the time to admit that heavy metal players were any good. (Since then I've become more reasonable on the subject.) Still, several of these folks just never played music I really liked, and I haven't (and probably wouldn't) include any of their albums on a BEA chart. I still wish I could play like them, though...
I'm also not including XTC's Andy Partridge or Dave Gregory, because that would just be too obvious.
Kimberley Rew (Soft Boys, Katrina & the Waves, solo)
Charo
Brian May (Queen)
Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson's touring guitarist)
Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar, solo)
Some great picks there romanelli. I could pick quite a few hear to discuss but going to stick to a couple.
Bob Mould is a great shout. Iโve seen him live a couple of times and his playing is incendiary. Never saw him with Husker du though, which is a shame.
I love great guitar playing and when you talk about the greats, the usual suspects generally crop up
Hendrix, Page, Beck, Santana, Garcรญa etc.
all phenomenal in their own right but what Iโm looking for are your greats who may have gone under the radar. I have a few candidates in the pipeline and Iโll be adding them to the thread but I was wondering whether you might have any thoughts as well.
If you can, it would be great to see recommended albums and a YouTube clip or several would be great to see. Also, any anecdotes or stories about them would be lovely to see
Hope to get a bit of traction going. If nothing else, Iโll get to share a few of my favs if only for my own amusement
Thank you for submitting this topic, as someone whose a big chunk of favorite music consists of instrumental guitar.
And thank you for all the commenters who have provided names of guitarists that II would consider as recommendations.
If we talk about great guitar players of 20th-21st century modern popular music, II think II've seen Allan Holdsworth most of the time being mentioned as the greatest by other top-tier guitarists. He is not as known as the guitarists mentioned by you, but his skills are widely known in the instrumental rock scene. Ironically, in this guitar lesson, he said he doesn't really like the guitar. He also tried to make his guitar sound like a brass instrument.
Also Guthrie Govan is considered to be an all-time great.
As for classical guitarists, they probably use more complex techniques and their compositions could be more technical as Classical music is known to have that trait. Isaac Albeniz and Francisco Tarrega are two household names of its golden era, and II've seen Ana Vidoviฤ's performances of guitar pieces being the most popular and widely-acclaimed.
All of the musicians II've mentioned so far are less known by wider crowd, but are well-respected in their scenes.
And to be honest, II tried to get into Holdsworth and Govan and II think II didn't like the scales they often use, and II haven't really gotten myself into Classical guitar music (when II tried to way back, the compositions didn't seem that compelling to me, since they kind of repeat the same arpeggiated melodies performed by finger-picking), so II might encourage myself re-discovering more compositions of the scene.
Straight from the Get to know a Top 10: Doubles & Conch topic:
Haitian Dances (1954) by Frantz Casseus
Is a very nice record of a sole Classical guitar with present Romantic-era influences, which II'm fond of (after listening to Paganini and Chopin), but II still need to re-listen to that record, as II don't really have a concrete opinion about most of the pieces.
Niccolรฒ Paganini, who has been regarded as the greatest violin virtuoso of all time, even to this day, has also composed many guitar pieces, but II remember II haven't really enjoyed them as much as II've enjoyed listening to his 24 caprices.
For me, what makes a guitarist being the great, is that on top of a very impressive technicality (which could be varied, e.g. key changes, shredding, time signatures etc.), there should be consonance of great melodies and chord progressions (some others might prefer or be okay with dissonances, but II prefer them to a smaller extent).
And one instrumental rock guitarist, who is still respected in the scene, but is lesser known than other greats, is Tony MacAlpine,
who not only made this: Edge Of Insanity (1985)
But also made this: Maximum Security (1987)
Which is to me the absolute masterpiece of instrumental rock (/slash) Neoclassical Metal music ever!
He had been likely been inspired by Frรฉdรฉric Chopin (whom II generally like his two opuses of 12 etudes).
He later changed his style to be more of a progressive metal, but his first two albums are legendary to me.
II would have mentioned Buckethead and Yngwie Malmsteen, but they are more known, and while Buckethead's catalogue is outstandingly expansive with many things to offer for me, whose all-time favorite music consists of instrumental electric guitar compositions, II haven't really listened to anything else by Yngwie other than Rising Force (1984).
II'm gonna type about my personal favorites later on, since my post is already way too long ๐ฒ so please don't quote the whole of it ๐
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
(probably my favourite contemporary guitarist)
(from another world)
, but they are more known, and while Buckethead's catalogue is outstandingly expansive with many things to offer for me, whose all-time favorite music consists of instrumental electric guitar compositions, II haven't really listened to anything else by Yngwie other than 
