Gibson.com Top 50 Guitarists of All Time

Gibson.com ^

[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.

[Hoodat]

Santana - Open Invitation

[who knows what evil?]

Blackmore at #49??? No Trower???

Off to 'File 13' with this trash...

[Mr. Silverback]

Stevie Ray Vaughn should have been higher. He should have been in the top five, maybe the top 3.

Hendrix at #1 makes sense.

[Mr. Silverback]

I respect Prince, but the idea that he’s two under Stevei Ray Vaughn and only four under Pete Townsend...uh, no. I’m not sure he even belongs on the list...being an excellent songwriter doesn’t make you one of the top 15 guitarists who ever lived.

[OldDeckHand]

"Gilmour was doing more with one note than anyone else"

I could not agree more. Listen to Gilmour on Shine on You Crazy Diamond. He's on the Strat and the lap steel and he's genius on both. Just amazing. Jack White and his (i think) strident vocals and sloppy guitar work don't come close to Gilmour - not even in the same city, let alone ballpark.

[Mr. Silverback]

Good grief, you’re right, they left Carlos off!

That’s like leaving Cary Grant off a list of leading men, or Brett Favre off a list of quarterbacks. EPIC FAIL!

[death2tyrants]

Enrique Granados

Augustín Barrios Mangoré

Mauro Giuliani

Fernando Sor

Isaac Albeníz <-—This guy should get in the top five even if he doesn’t play the guitar

[Mr. Silverback]

I don’t know about #1, but David deserved the top ten at least, and they stuck him near the bottom.

[jocon307]

“As for Bromberg, he is a master...”

Truly he is. I think he basically invented the “Americana” category of music.

Not really “invented” it, that is not right. But I always remember the time I was trying to explain what kind of music Bromberg played and I couldn’t get more precise, or expansive, than “American...he plays American music...all kinds!”

Not that long after I started to hear “Americana” as a genre.

[Pelham]

Have you ever heard Adrian Legg? I had an LP of his years ago that included the song ‘Nanci’. Someone at Youtube has posted a really nice cover of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t6iGC14eEE

[Yardstick]

Clapton has had many fine moments here is his finest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_M9zWORBuA

Goosebump city.

[Mr. Blonde]

A significant portion of any of these lists is popularity. I think I'm pretty well aware of a lot of music and am only vaguely aware of a lot on your list. On that front, I will say Jack White gets a lot of credit for being a true rock star who insists on mythology instead of being just a guy in a band that you know a lot about.

In any list like this technical proficiency is important, and I don't think he can be faulted too much on that front. However, the biggest factor (to me) as a listener is emotion. He has that. He is always pouring his soul into what he is playing. Any lack of innovation is made up for by that. There are several I would put ahead of him that aren't, but that doesn't mean he isn't deserving of being on the list somewhere. Being a guitarist with some personality counts more than skill on these lists. I would submit that is as it should be. I think this really is what is being measured on most instruments. You know when John Bonham or Keith Moon are playing drums. It is obvious when Flea is playing bass. That isn't because they are so good, but because there is personality to their playing that isn't present in other people's playing.

For instance, here is Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson doing Going Down (Freddie King is an egregious omission from this list) and here is SRV and Jeff Beck doing it. Although the latter cannot be docked for technical skill, the former are probably considered better in that respect. I find the Vai, Satriani & Johnson version severely lacking.

[Mr. Silverback]

Crossroads!

“You’re goin’ down, all the way down, and there ain’t no stops!”

[grand wazoo]

YouTube - Suicidal Tendencies

[Pelham]

And then here’s Adrian Legg himself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd4uVwxsSHk&feature=related

[GOP Poet]

excellent. Thank you for the tip!

[Mr. Blonde]

Only 1 of the 3 Kings.

Personal taste, I think Freddie is the worse miss.

Other misses to my mind are, Mark Knopfler that is an amazing version of Sultans of Swing, in particular the last 3 minutes.

Politics aside, Tom Morello belongs I don't think I fully believed it was him doing this solo without studio tricks until I saw him do it live.

[Mr. Mojo]

Next to impossible to list when all genres are included.

Segovia at #47? Ignorant beyond belief. The idiots who compiled the list may as well have drawn the players out of a hat.

[wku man]

My personal favorite Floyd album is "Animals", where Gilmour's solo on "Pigs" starts with one note held, bent, vibratoed, and bent some more for about 8-10 bars while the chord progression changes around it. He then launches into melodic, not complicated, but beautiful steps upward (I don't know the terminology, maybe arpeggios?). It's so simple, yet moving...I fell in love with that solo when I was a kid of 13 and still love it today at 45.

Jack White, what I've heard of him, sounds like a cheap imitation of Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth, which I never thought much of either. I hate that "art" rock sound...the whole "if I sound bad and dissonant enough, maybe everyone will think I'm doing it on purpose and think I'm brilliant". You find that a lot in post-MTV guitarists, those who saw videos first, then decided they wanted to play guitar.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[wku man]

Morello is a badass, to be sure. But given his affirmed Communist beliefs, shouldn't he be playing for free?

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!