Greatest Guitarist: Virtuosity & Creativity

buckethead is also my first choice. i dont think any(famous) guitarist has ever been, nor will ever be as good as buckethead. though ive gotten in quite a few arguments about the issue. In second place i think id put Jon Petrucci from dream theater.

Have you seen buckethead live?

Joe Bonamassa.

Joe's technical ability and virtuosity are amazing but the passion and soul that pour out when he plays is his real gift. This is Joe at Royal Albert Hall showing off some of his technical skills and virtuosity with an acoustic

I like good old Joe Satriani.  He isn't a stupendously fast picker (not that I have seen or heard anyway), but he does use legato very well.  He isn't someone who just shreds, which to me is half the battle.  He writes very melodic and not too far out-there tunes.

Another great guitarist is Eric Johnson.  I don't know his work as well as I do Satriani's but Cliff's of Dover says it all.

Sabicas.

Charo, followed by Prince.

I'm an unabashed Marc Ribot fangirl. I've seen him 30+ times playing genres including rock, funk, classical, jazz, avant-garde, Cuban, exotica and some just plain uncategorizable... and that's just what I've seen, he's also done country, punk, film scores, and pretty much anything else you'd care to name.

I'm sure he'd be the first to admit that he's not the most technically proficient or fast guitarist in the world (he's left-handed but learned to play the wrong way around) but with him it's really about the brain and not the fingers. He has an incredible sense of timing, and fantastic tone. He's a very popular studio guitarist, but the best way to hear him is in a live setting with an electric guitar. I've seen a thousand people give him a standing ovation in the middle of a song for a particularly good guitar solo... the singer had to wait for everyone to calm down before he could move on to the next verse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah 

I'm an unabashed Marc Ribot fangirl. I've seen him 30+ times playing genres including rock, funk, classical, jazz, avant-garde, Cuban, exotica and some just plain uncategorizable... and that's just what I've seen, he's also done country, punk, film scores, and pretty much anything else you'd care to name.

 

I'm sure he'd be the first to admit that he's not the most technically proficient or fast guitarist in the world (he's left-handed but learned to play the wrong way around) but with him it's really about the brain and not the fingers. He has an incredible sense of timing, and fantastic tone. He's a very popular studio guitarist, but the best way to hear him is in a live setting with an electric guitar. I've seen a thousand people give him a standing ovation in the middle of a song for a particularly good guitar solo... the singer had to wait for everyone to calm down before he could move on to the next verse.

Another HUGE fan here…caught him three times in February. Sun Ship, this twin-guitar John Coltrane tribute band he put together, blew everyone away. i hear he's currently collaborating with Buddy Miller and Bill Frisell on a project. Like you said, he doesn't stay in one place too long.
 

I bet we've been to a lot of the same shows. I mostly see him in NYC since my parents live there, always a good excuse to visit. I caught two of the recent residency shows at LPR (Sunship and Ceramic Dog) plus Spiritual Unity on New Years Eve... all three were just monstrously great concerts.

Are you going to be at the NYC Opera on the 30th?

The Miller/Frisell/Ribot thing just came out last week, it's called the Majestic Silver Strings. And you've just reminded me that I forgot to listen to it after I bought it (d'oh!).

I'm gonna pick an obscure one.. maybe not the best, or my favorite.. but an incredible guitarist with a unique style..  

i guess thats what you expect when you have to write around Les Claypool's bass lines

Larry Lalonde - Guitarist for Primus

I think that Jerry Garcia get the creativity prize.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhouston85 

I think that Jerry Garcia get the creativity prize.

"A broken angel sings, from a guitar..."