Posted on 06/15/2010 5:19:20 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
And, so it begins. You voted and so did we, and at the end of a month-long process, we’re ready to start revealing Gibson.com’s Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.
(Excerpt) Read more at gibson.com ...
The Cars rock!
No Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Jerry Garcia, Kottke, Fahey, Richard Thompson, Tony Rice.
Total Fail.
Any list without Lindsey Buckingham is complete bunk.
>These lists are just popularity contests
Exactly. They also forgot John Petrucci who can play circles around most of those listed.
No Johnny Winter ? Come on you’ve got to be kidding me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmULb8yyzcc
Three of the greatest country pickers: Jerry Reed, Roy Clark, and of course, Chet Atkins, king of them all.
Knopfler is the best.
Speaking only for myself, I think there are some odd choices and (equally) odd absences:
Overanked:
-Kurt Cobain at #49? I was as much a grunge fanatic as anyone, but no way, man. There was nothing particularly unique about his playing style. It was just an extension of what hardcore punk bands like Minor Threat had been doing 10 years earlier.
-Jack White at #13 (or thereabouts)? Don’t agree with this one, either. He’s a talented guy, but I think his ranking has a big dose of “he’s the (relatively) latest thing!” Can’t see putting him ahead of some of the greats lower ranked on the list.
-The Edge is distinctive, but is the #23 of all time? I would think him in the top 100 or top 75.
*
Overlooked:
-Warren DeMartini. Maybe playing in Ratt doesn’t carry the same weight with the voters as some of the other choices on the list, I dunno. DeMartini is still a top talent, though (as was his late bandmate, Robbin Crosby).
-Mick Taylor. His time with The Rolling Stones was brief, but he put out some amazing riffs and his solo work was also great (Leather Jackets is phenomenal). Ought to be at least worth a #50 spot.
-Tom Morello. Okay, I hate Rage Against the Machine and their idiotic liberalism as much as anyone. But Morello is enormously talented, and probably deserves a spot in the mid-40’s somewhere.
-Paige Hamilton (Helmet). If there’s gonna be a grunge-era guitarist on the list, I’d take Hamilton over Cobain any day.
-Carlos Santana. How did he NOT make the top 20?!?
Is the gitsteel a Gibson?
Few people are happy with these type of lists.
I’m a huge Who Fan boy, but Pete doesn’t rate that high. SRV not in the top 10...BS. Keith Richards above Clapton.. give me a break. I guess that is Gibson’s way of payback for EC stealing Harrison’s Wife away.
Oh yeah, forgot one - where’s Dick Dale?
I'm not a fan, but the newer heavy/death metal guitarists blow any of the 60s/70s rock guitarists away. The classical guitarists were also not well-represented.
Fender, and yeah not many can do what Junior Brown does.
As well he should be, he was an icredible guitar player. He wrote in his autobiography that he actually considered the guitar too be an extremely limited instrument becaue you couldn't do too much without getting bogged down somewhere in the polyrhythms.
Not to mention some of the great bluegrass guitar pickers. Where are they on the list? Doc Watson, Tony Rice, etc.. Being bluegrass pickers, I guess they are not uppity enough to make the list.
Here's Elliot in his Prime:
Ricky Skaggs is a VERY close 4th on that list, in fact I'd put him ahead of Jerry Reed.
Keith Richards better than Chet Atkins ? LMFAO . I stopped reading there .
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