Okay, harken back to the days of yesteyear, when men were men and actually PLAYED the guitar in bands.  List your top 5 or so guitarists and why...and just for controversy's sake, 2 of the most over rated/has been.  

Mine are:

Jimi Hendrix:  what can you say...in 1967, I was 15 when I saw him in London at the Savoy Hotel...he was like a man from Mars...he was the blueprint for what a rock guitarist was all about

Yngwie Malmsteen: for sheer technical virtuosity, he' hard to beat.  I love the baroque/neo classical, harmonic minor thing, and I've seen this guy play for 2 straight hours and never hit a wrong note.  Even Itzak Perlman can't do that.  

Steve Vai: scary, great command of all the tricks, and with a very unique outlook to guitar playing.  He used to write a column in Guitar Player Magazine.  While the other columnists were writing out tab of their solos, Steve actually wrote a column that said to play one note for 3 hours hehehe.

Jeff Beck: tempermental, reclusive, but when he's on, he's another one who can do ungodly stuff. Also, innovative and not afraid to take musical chances.  

Gary Moore: shreds with the best of 'em, but also has soul...listen to either the Wild Frontier album, or any of the blues albums...don't think anyone can go from one genre to the other so well.  

Stevie Ray: Ah, sweet Stevie...that boy's soul came out through his guitar.  The best rendition of Voodoo Child/Slight Return since Jimi...and Lenny always gives me goosebumps.  

Randy Rhodes: Why the HELL did he got on that damn airplane?  He resurrected Ozzy, and was instrumental to 2 of the best rock albums ever recorded: Blizzard of Ozz, and Diary of a Madman.  He was with us far too short.  

Has Beens/Overated
Eric Clapton...boy, did he go downhill...never should have switched to Fenders, he's got the thinnest guitar tone I've ever heard...and he really makes elevator music now.  He was great with Mayall, and I saw Cream, he kicked ass in those days.

Jimmy Page: sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, and downhill from there after the first 2 Zeppelin albums.  

Well, there you have 'em...there's a lot of other guitar players I like/don't like, but I'm tired of typing...let's hear yours...who made YOU want to pick up a guitar (whether you ever did or not).  

[img]http://www.cultv.com/images/NicksFavorites.jpg[/img]

Tony Iommi

In fact all of Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler, Bill Ward) are at the top of their instrument feeding chain.

Red Beard, excellent list...I can't quibble with any of them.  Danny Gatton was a phenomenal talent...he was local to DC...I saw him dozens of times...best band he was in was Danny and the Fat Boys.  The put out a couple of albums, but the albums didn't do justice to how good he really was.  

Playing Fenders doesn't mean you have a thin tone, Stevie played Fenders almost exclusively and he had one of the fattest sounds ever.

Oh hell, he's a rocker, which means he can barely play the instrument.  And how do you know Perlman can't do that?

Here's a guy that can play, Eliot Fisk:

[img]http://eliotfisk.com/images/pictureGallery/eliot/eliotPlayingAndListening.jpg[/img]

Jimmy Hendrix
Slash
Randy Rhodes


Not has beens, but never were's:
Clapton
Clapton
and uuuummmm CLAPTON

[lol]

he could probably out-speed "ING VAY" too

ha ha

I've seen Perlman a few times...He didn't play like Yngwie did in terms of the length of the show, and he actually did produce a flat or sharp note occasionally...but he's still a badass, no question.  

yes, you're right...this was a Clapton specific comment.  I just don't think he has a very good tone these days...certainly not like the Mayall days...Les Paul through a 50 watt Marshall combo...

- duane allman, tha' man!

- stevie ray vaughn, anotha man!

- joe satriani, technically perfect and smooth, lots of feel to it

- skunk baxter, unpredictable

all mine seem to be blues oriented.  love the blues.  stevie ray used to tune his strat down - same tuning, just an octave lower.  also used active EQ pickups (most all do now).  some effects and he had a fat, funky sound.  overall, brother duane started it all for me.  another is mr. chet atkins.

Raptor22, I'd forgotten DiMeola...I always like him...also, there was a guy who played on one of the first Return to Forever albums named Bill something...can't remember his last name.  And a guy named Ray Gomez, who played on the first Micael Walden album...yes, ol' Narada used to be a MONSTER drummer, and did a couple of solo albums.  The first one rocked, the second one was kinda lame.  

There's TONS Of talented guys out there, I tried to pare my list down to the essentials for me.  

[headbang][headbang][headbang][headbang][headbang]

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Eddie Van Halen

Jimi Hendrix

Carlos Santana and Joe Satriani tie for 4th and 5th

Overrated

Clapton

Randy Rhoads(Ozzy)-THE man...fused classical with hard rock and metal to create two of the BEST rock discs recorded PERIOD. To this day,his influence is still felt in rock and metal.

Eddie  Van Halen-Great player..and songwriter! No need to say anything really.

Billy Gibbons(ZZ Top)-Taste, Tone, and Tenacity. Straight up..The Rev. G puts dowm some mean grooves and solos! Tone fatter than your aunt bertha, and hey....the man is just the walking defintion of cool.

Jon Schaffer(Iced Earth)-On the more Obscure side, this man is one of the BEST rhythm players in metal. His riffs are tight, melodic and balls out metal.

Dave Mustaine(Megadeth)-Another man who can just write songs and put down some complex melodic riffs that just hit with the force of a jackhammer. Intellligent riffs that require a good level of ability to play.

Alex Lifeson(Rush)-Master player...all around. Songwriter, accomplished player..and on stage goofball!(anyone who has seen them live knows what I mean!) HIGHLY underrated...one of the best guitar players to come out of the 1970s.


Dave Gilmore(Pink Floyd)-soul...soul..and more soul!Another bluesman playing in a spaced out rock format.
(Interesting fact-In many a interview, he has said that he has not touched drugs since his pre floyd days. He said he simply writes and plays the way he does natrually..he does not try to be  the "drug rock" king.)

Joe Satriani-He has chops, and he knows how to use them in great tunes. Never a wanker, he knows how to grab your ear and take you. Smooth and tastefull..many a shredder could learn a lesson from him.

Steve Vai-Not so much his playing as what he does sonically. He makes sounds that just should not come out of a guitar...his solo pieces are more like paintings than just guitar orientated instrumentals.

Agreed that SRV is awesome and that clapton is way over rated.

I saw Danny Gatton on austin city limits a few times and he was really good ashamed he had to kill himself.  

Phil Keaggy, Chet Atkins, and Eric Johnson are a few names I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Not in order:

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Chet Atkins
B. B. King
Chuck Berry (that opening solo to Johnny B. Good)
Roy Clark
Eric Clapton
Les Paul
Wes Montgomery

Randy Rhoads, all the way.   Both solos on Mr. Crowley are things to behold.  Speaking of which, if any of you have the space (65megs) plus the bandwidth, I've got a pretty good capture of the 1981 New York "After Hours" performance of Crowley.   Randy is damn good in this.   I've got a 2 meg sample I can e-mail to anyone who is interested.  Thanks.  

Django Rheinhardt
Wes Montgomery
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page.  Sloppy?  Maybe.  But when you listen to his riffs you can hear what is so important in a guitarists: the originality and catchiness of what he's playing. So maybe he isn't great at executing what he creates, but I prefer what he produces to the technically perfect stuff but sterile stuff guitarists like Satriani, Eric Johnson, or other guitar magazine favorites produce. I love Jimmy Page.

Larry Coryell
John McLaughlin
Carlos Santana
Leo Kottke
SRV

Don Ross, Stevie Ray, Albert King, Preston Reed

You and I could hang out.
Saw Kottke play in a 200 person dive in St. Augustine, FL with a bad headcold.

Saw Coryell too-

And I agree 100% that inovation is more important than technique.

Slash, EVH, Iommi, etc...

There's some good guitar in a few Metallica songs, but I don't know who did what there...

Hendrix was before my time (Although didn't he have something to do with the original 'Live & Let Die' (007) & 'Knockin on Heaven's Door'???), and I don't have a taste for acoustic guitar or blues (something about my taste in music being related to a desire for 'something that sounds good going 115 with your hair on fire' (I only listen while driving, so I need 'good driving-fast music'))...

He can play, but he's boring to watch.
Saw him at some church in Jacksonville, Fla.

Yawnsville show.

In no particular order...

[b]What the hell...nobody's mentioned Ry Cooder, so I need to.[/b]

Jimi Hendrix; saw him in the Fender booth demonstrating guitars at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Al DiMeola...not only great r&r but very sweet accoustic Flamenco.

John McLaughlin.

Can't remember his name, but he's partnered with DiMeola & had a band called El Ray-O-X that did a few casettes (maybe CD's).

Carlos Santana...great player & great human being.

Accoustic Jerry Garcia, based on what little I can remember of his shows.

-hanko

Angus Young
Joe Perry
Gary Moore
Joe Satriani
Slash
Eddie VanHalen
Buddy Guy
George Thorogood
Rick Neilsen

Shit...Eric Johnson...there's another one I forgot.  I saw him at the Bayou in DC...great little club to see folks at...you could stroll in about 11:00, and walk right up to the stage for the headliners.  Saw Satch and Gary Moore there like that.  I think Moore had the best live sound I've ever heard...perfect mix, and just a really great sound.  EJ had tone to burn as well...he was one of those guys who played so differently, it was hard to figure out exactly what he was doing.  He had quite the collection of amps there...if you've seen his video, you know what I'm talking about...must take his crew 2 hours to get all that shit workin'.  

Speaking of Flamenco, how 'bout Carlos Montoya...that guy was scary.  I've got a record of his recorded in about '62...great player.  There was a guy named Paco de Lucia who played with DiMeola who was a Flemenco guitarist I think.  

They may not be as technical as the dinosaurs but then again, Im not sick of hearing them every 6 minutes on the radio.

Bob Mould, founder of Husker Du and Sugar...
[img]www.thebluedot.com/greenberg/2/images/bob_mould.jpg[/img]

Pete Shelley & Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks...
[img]www.rockometer.com/buzzcocks/buzzib1.gif[/img]

Peter Buck of REM...
[img]www.atheistalliance.org/aaw/peter_buck2.jpg[/img]

LOL! [rofl]

This thread got me D'L'ing some music.
As of this instant, I am getting the song Midsummer Night by DiMeola, de Lucia and McLaughlin.

[violet]HENDRIX[/violet] [purple]HENDRIX[/purple] [violet]HENDRIX[/violet] [purple]HENDRIX[/purple]

[b]SRV[/b]

Vai
Satriani
Eric Johnson
BB King
Robert Cray
Van Halen
Alex Lifeson
David Gilmour
Kenny Wayne Shepherd

and I'm probably going to get flamed for this but
the Edge from U2, I think he has a really unique sound

David Gilmour
Eddie Van Halen
B.B. King
Snowy White
Andy Fairweather Low

Fenian, thanks for reminding me of Paco.

Meril, if you haven't listened to DiMeola, he'll become very addictive.  He's above and beyond players you hear on the radio (at least I've never heard him there).  He's got a bunch of varied styles, and he's master of them all. Excellent music for road trips.  Enjoy.

-hanko

Fenian... after reading your original post of this thread, I realized we must have very similar tastes.  Your descriptions mirror mine and I have always felt that Clapton was overrated.  I would add a few to your list that might push it to a top ten.  They are...
John Petrucci (Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment)
George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob, & Lynch-Pilson)
And for something totally different...
Adrian Legg (he opened for the first G3 tour here in Seattle and was truly amazing)

Very surprised, in a disappointed way, at all the Al DiMeola fans here.  He's one of those "Look at me, I can tear through riffs really fast and not much else" guitarists.

I may have missed it but I didn't see Ted Nugent listed. I think he's one of the best IMHO.

Jimi Hendrix.

To throw in a few more:

Junior Brown

Peter Green has some nice sounds

Harvey Mandel seemed good at the time

Can we count Les Claypool here?  Lets not be picky about the number of strings.

Saw Tony Rice once and was very impressed.

What about Doc Watson?

Bruce Forman, though some might say a bit sterile.

Albert Collins

I love listening to old Robert Johnson songs.
Alright, I admit it, I have more Blues than any other kind of music.

Jonny Lang, too.

Johnny & Edgar Winters

Jimmie Vaughan

Best of all:   Blind Melon Chitlin'  Who can forget him?


Over rated:

Two of the Beatles

Johm Lee Hooker

[flame] B.B. King [flame] to a degree sounds like 'Blues Soup'  Many other artists did their niche better, though I will say he has been excellent at fusing a lot of  influences.

Keith Richards

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Jimmie Vaughn?

Jimmie "Fab Thunderbirds" Vaughn?

Jimmie "If you forget about my actual playing and just pay attention to my last name maybe you might confuse me for my brother" Vaughn?

Jimmie "I play like a 12 year old with his first Yamaha guitar" Vaughn?

Jimmie "I have the cool sideburned rebel southerner Chris Issac'y look going on, but no actual talent to speak of" Vaughn?

No way sir-ee bob.
Please delete that name from your post. It shouldn't contaminate any threads with guitar players who have been already mentioned.

hendrix and SRV -- im a BIG SRV fan, i remember the day i heard he died.
danny gatton - i became a fan right after i heard he died, and bought one of his albums.
albert king -- got his CD right here and was thinking tonight that i need more.
Zakk Wylde -- Ozzys current guitarist, leader of Black Label Society, get the Pride n Glory album for southern rock, then the Book of Shadows. his ballads are just awesome, hes got a classical guitar background.

kenny wayne sheperd -- seen him live, hes awesome
coco montoya -- seen him 3x
BB King -- seen him 2x
ronnie earl and the broadcasters -- seen him live 2x, hes really one of the best unknown guitarists around.
bo diddly -- seen him 1x
jimmie vaughn -- YES him, seen him 1x, to quote SRV "JV is one of the best rythm guitarists alive" biased? maybe
yngwie malmsteen -- seen him 2x, exact same show even years later, but with different singers.
buddy guy
jimmey thackery -- seen him 2x, great live show
charlie musselwhite -- seen him 1x
duke robillard --seen him 1x, he can play anyone
ted Nugent -- seen him 1x
slash -- seen him many times

ill stop here

Wat, youse trying ta getz sum kulture? [rolleyes]

just to blurt some off the top of my head this early in the AM......

SRV
BB King
Buddy Guy
David Gilmour
Junior Brown
Mato Nanji
Jimi Hendrix

I can't believe I actually forgot to add:
Jimmy Page

Steve Howe

Damn, seems to be a lot of guitar players listed in the "favorite" catagory that are missing soul and touch. Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Johnson...these guys couldn't carry Clapton's suitcase.

Where is Grant Green? What about Buddy Guy? Can't forget Joe Walsh. Oh, and there is always Billy Gibbons.

My favorite of all time was Nuno Bettencourt, back in the days with Extreme.  I loved that the music he wrote was not all THE SAME.  He'd go from a hard rock balls to the wall loud rage, to a 100 peice orchestral movement, all on the same CD.  

Others, of the top of my head, would be SRV, Eddie VanHalen, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton, Randy Rhodes



True dat.  He played his Fender through an Ibanez Tube Screamer through Fender amps, if I recall.  Heck, I've been to the store that he bought his beat up '59 Strat at, down here in Austin.  He also used HEAVY strings.  He must have had some amazingly strong hands and fingers.  Noone has ever sounded like SRV, and noone ever will.  Whoever said it was his soul coming through his guitar was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.  I only regret that I didn't know about him before he died....

Nuno was hot...he fell off the face of the earth, though, after extreme broke up.  I saw them at Constitution Hall...killer show.  

Here's another one I forgot...Rory Gallagher...there was a guy who would play 'til YOU got tired lol.  I've seen him in a couple of smaller venues, and he just kicked major ass...Plus he's Oirish, doncha know.  He died in '95...I've got a LOT of his stuff on vinyl.  After reading some of the posts on this thread, I too started to d/l some stuff.  

I just ordered the DVD of Rory's Irish Tour '74, which was a phenomenal double live album.  They actually made a movie of it, so I snagged it.  

George Lynch/Dokken...ah, yes, George is pretty good.  I saw Lynch Mob and Dokken's solo band...he had John Norum and some other guy playing...they were phenomenal.  Norum was in Europe, which was kinda gay, but that boy could play...very much in the Yngwie tradition.  

Oh, and I think you CAN play fast and have soul...but that's just me lol.  

I was suprised that not one vote from Texas for Junior Brown. I know most of his tunes are country  but he can tear it up with the best of the long hair boys. And that "Guit-Steel" have you every seen anybody attempt to play something like that?
I know this thread is about guitar players but have any of you ever heard of "Bella Fleck"? I know he plays a banjo but if you were not watching live you would have a hard time figuring out he was playing a banjo. But I guess being a local DC product I grew up listening to Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan at all the local clubs and I would have to say that they were my all time favorites with SRV right behind them.

Fenian, everyone you mentioned plus the following:

Robin Trower
Frank Zappa
Johnny Winter (not anymore, he's lost it but his old stuff is amazing)
Pat Travers
Carlos Santana

btw, you're dead right on clapton and page, both are extremely overrated.

Here's one that can't play that well, but she is sure prettier than Clapton:

[img]http://www.lionaboyd.com/images/cd_camino_latino_600.jpg[/img]