Best guitarrist?

[bernie]

Never realized just how much he looked like howdy doody.

b

[Utah]

Under your criteria it would have to be Steve Vai and no one else is close. His musical knowledge is unreal, thanks in big part to Frank Zappa, and his technical abilities are unsurpassed.

He is not even close to my favorite guitarists (Satriani, Tuck Andreas, Bettencourt) but he is the best under your criteria.

[razor]

Jimi Hendrix

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

Has anyone said Tom Morello yet?

[turnipmonster]

based on all your criteria, I'm going to have to go with john mclaughlin. most of the guitarists mentioned thus far are very one sided (not that that's a bad thing).

--turnipmonster

[ArchAngel71857]

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Steve Vai
SLASH!

-AA

[usmfan]

I may get some flack for these but here goes (I'm just listing them as a couple of greats not THE greatest.
Johnny Marr
Jim Mankey (Concrete Blonde)

[rusellmj]

[ QUOTE ]
Best being defined as a combination of ability, musical knowledge, experience, and diversity in the music that they play

[/ QUOTE ]


Eric. Clapton.

Russ

[asofel]

I can't believe no one's mentioned Duane Allman yet.

He was revolutionary with a slide. He could play rock (layla), blues (played with clapton, aretha franklin, lots of blues with the allman bros), and do it all extremely well. Interesting trivia: freebird was written about him. As good as some of these guitarists are, given the criteria, Duane's got to be one of the top 3 choices. Satriani, Vai, and guys like that are incredible...but in a very specific way.

For those who like that music, check out Buckthead. He actually plays a lot of softer/bluesy/jazzy type of music on lesser known albums...

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]
diversity in the music that they play

[/ QUOTE ]

???? clapton is great, but I don't get the diversity part. he plays in bands that always have at least guitar, bass, and drums. he plays primarily pop or blues, and unless I am missing something he always has.

he's a great musician, but I just don't see the diversity.

just in the last 10 years, mclaughlin has arranged and recorded with a classical guitar quintet, recorded a concerto he composed for orchestra and guitar, released a million fusion records with tony williams and mahavishnu, had a very famous indian project with l shankar (violin) and zakir hussein (tabla), recorded straight ahead jazz with elvin jones, and played flamenco with paco delucia. also his guitar synth work with his trio is groundbreaking.

no one else mentioned even comes close to the kind of diversity this guy has consistently displayed over the past 30 years, and he still practices 6 hours a day!

--turnipmonster