My reason for mentioning noel gallagher was not me tryin to say how good he was i think hes average .I was just pointing out how inaccurate these polls can be .The thing is it usally depends on taste for example i think Steve Vai is a technically better guitarist than Kurt Cobain was for example but id prefer to listen to Kurt playin.

cool richierich. Its amazing how mere text can get so messed up in its understanding. It's never the same as talking 2 some1's face.

i must be dumb.
bartender, one more shot,please.

is there anybody who knows who tony williams was?

TonyWilliams said:

Jazz drummer; played with Miles?

yes sir.
i love you just for fact that you`re aware of that.

I think it's mostly a matter of opinion,but if you are
talking about influence it's Jimi followed by Eddie VH

technically speaking how high at an approx guess should prince be placed in a poll any guitar boffins got anything

eddie?
why?
chops?
sound?
blues?
scales?
rhythm?

Do you know how many great guitarists there are out there? Prince really aint even in the top ten. I regularly see local musicians who blow my mind, so this thing about who is the best is moot. If you really wanted to be honest, country pickers are some of the best guitar players; at least technique wise.

There are a load of guitar players who could beat Prince on speed alone:

Vernon Reid, Alan Holdsworth, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Frank Zappa, Greg Ginn, J Mascus, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Roy Clark.

Jimmy Page is not faster than Prince. Sorry but he is not. I am a BIG led zeppelin fan and Prince fan, i saw them play many many times, and in no way Page is more skilled than Prince. I am not sure about vernon reid and frank zappa too. From what i heard from them they're not. But i never saw them live for example. so i cannot tell.

Post your categories as to how a guitarist should be rated and you can then start the debating. Otherwise, you're just talking objective bias.

Technique and the various intricies?
Tone?
Melody?
Accomplishments with peripherals?
Composition?
Various guitars? (Bass, Sitar, etc.)

I mean...come on. Half the shit that Hendrix put on wax doesn't compare to what he'd do in the studio for shits and giggles.

speed dont really count for everything i bought a guitar mag a couple of years back and they had the fastest 80s guitarists based on notes per second.steve vai came top with 20.8 followed by george lynch with 19.8 number ten in the list had 14nps i found all this quite impressive till i read on the net that there is a guy in the guiness book of records that managed 30nps some norwegien but they claimed it just sounded like a blur and he wished he could play guitar.

hectim said:

Have you seen him playing Live??? Nighttown, Bataclan for example...doesn't seem so...

Prince Rules!!! He's still alive 2!!

BlaqueKnight said:

I've said this a million times on this site, and I'll say it again.

Technically speaking, no, he is not the best guitarist, or even close to the best guitarist out there. It's impossible to even identify that because there are so many guitarists with so many styles. And... once you reach a certain level, it's all a matter of opinion...

HOWEVER...

Of all the guitarists I've heard... I have never heard another guitarist as succesfully versatile, or able to express himself/herself with his/her instrument. I know there are better/faster, whatever... but I say... note "I SAY" that Prince is the best because of his ability to make his guitar the perfect sound to match the emotion and mood of just about every song he plays.

And I would like to clear something up: I love Hendrix's style, particularly his Blues style. I own a few of his albums. I am not in any way slamming Hendrix here, but could people please SHUT THE HELL UP about Hendrix? He is the most overrated guitarist ever. His contributions to the guitar world were that he brought distortion effects and the blues sound to the mainstream music market. His contributions were remarkable no doubt, but he definitely, definitely, absolutely, gets way too much credit.

"steve vai came top with 20.8 followed by george lynch with 19.8 number ten in the list had 14nps"

This numbers are ridiculous. Its not that difficult play 14 notes per second while you're playing sweep arpeggios. No way that 14nps would put someone on this list.

I haven't been an orger that long, so I'm sure this thread has been on the board more than a couple of times. Personally, I'm glad to see it. My knowlege of guitarists is limited, but I always thought of Prince as one of the greatist because of his versatility. Evidently, among guitar purist, versatility doesn't carry much weight. Ever since Rolling Stone run a cover story on 'The 100 Greatest Guitarist', I've wondered where Prince stood with his guitar playing fans. I didn't see him on that list. I'm hoping that most of the people that posted on this thread are guitar players. That's not to slight non-players.Shit, I don't play either. I don't have a Top 10, 20, or 100, but for the record my three favorite are Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jimi Hendrix. The order depends on what I'm listening to. If I'm listening to The Time, I might have to throw Jesse in the mix.

Peace

7sallas the numbers i mentioned might be bullshit but i didnt write them there out of total guitar nov 2001 but you no what mags can be like.by the way it was steve morse that came 10th.

Supernova said:

LOL, you are so right!

Ain't no guitarist better and more influential than Jimi! Anyone who says something different clearly needs to re-examine his Work...

i wake up 4rom this slumber and i c things happenin' 'ere aplenty I think after a certain level which guitarist attain, it can b hard 2 seperate each of them, even on technical merit. Even some of the lists that i have have read by 'so called xperts' differ, and they do so because of something called 'opinion'. I fully agree with savoirfaire about P.
Oh and threads will repeat themselves or we would have nothin' 2 talk about...perhaps they will b diff in some way...just like the music we listen 2.

im not big up on guitarists...

i love Hendrix' stuff i have.

also some Mike Oldfield i have heard is fuckin awesome!


... but all i know is the wildest sounds 2 my ear are Prince playing stuff like Sensual Everafter,Just My Imagination,Purple Rain etc...

nothing beats it.
i am blown away hearing/seeing his playing.

& it is hard 2 imagine anyone else being able 2 give me that same feeling.

HardcoreJollies said:

Amen! I was wondering when someone was gonna put SRV in their list.

watching P play his guitar is simply mzing. He doesn't just play...he dances with it...there aren't 2 many who do that so finely...unbelievable...so versatile in playing it and being able 2 do more than just stand there with the instrument like so many others...he knows how 2 put on a show.

xpsiter said:[quote]

HardcoreJollies said:

U the man! I like that u included good 'ol Keith Richards...he is great.

agentmonday said:[quote]xpsiter said:[quote]

HardcoreJollies said:

Angus Young? Someone told me one time that if you learned 3 chords on the guitar, you could play any AC/DC song...doesn't sound like he's one of the greats.

And just because you're the lead guitarist for a popular band doesn't make you "great" either. Slash, Joe Perry, etc...

I remember from one of the other times this thread started that someone said you would have to include Roy Clark in a list like this. Just because he's country doesn't mean he can't play...his precision and speed are unbelievable. Vince Gill is also a great guitar player...definitely better than Slash.