Some of my favorites

BB King--Technically a blues artist, he his single note style with bending and vibrato is something that pretty much every guitar player has been influenced by.

Buddy Guy--No Buddy, no Jimi

Jeff Beck--One of the most stylish and creative guitar players. Not a complete performer/singer/songwriter in the same way Jimi was, but his guitar playing is as inovative IMO

Brian May--one of the most beautiful guitar players ever, and I am not talking about the 'fro. The perfect match for Queen's pseudo classical style.

Eddie Van Halen--completely changed how people were playing and sounding...not always for the better!

Steve Vai--took Eddie's style and elevated the musical composition of his playing to match the technical brilliance

Honorable mention--John Fruciante, Slash, Jimmy Page, Santana, and a hundred others

Jeff Beck. He being the one that Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Santana, Blakemore, Guy, Derringer, Vai, Van Halen, Perry, Bonamassa, Frampton, Seltzer, May, McLaughlin and the rest have all bestowed praise upon.

My vote would go for Jimmy Page, but nothing of his post Zeppelin career is memorable to me.

RnBAmbassador said:

Jeff Beck. He being the one that Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Santana, Blakemore, Guy, Derringer, Vai, Van Halen, Perry, Bonamassa, Frampton, Seltzer, May, McLaughlin and the rest have all bestowed praise upon.

I agree with everything, but mostly the seltzer part

RnBAmbassador said:

Jeff Beck. He being the one that Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Santana, Blakemore, Guy, Derringer, Vai, Van Halen, Perry, Bonamassa, Frampton, Seltzer, May, McLaughlin and the rest have all bestowed praise upon.

You're absolutely right!!!!!

Good question. Prince is one of them though, pretty near the top.

I have no idea since I am not a guitar player or musician myself....so, I can´t really say who´s technically the best, but what I do know is that Prince is my favorite guitar player just judging by the sounds he creates, the melodies, and how he plays them.

As a layman I don´t really care about the technical details, and I´m pretty sure that there are probably hundreds of guitarists out there who would smoke Prince technically, but as far as my personal taste and ear are concerned, Prince is by far my favorite guitar player.

I also listen to a lot of old Santana vinyl records, love love love Santana´s old records. So soothing and healing.

1. Santana 2. Eddie Van Halen 3.Steve Vai 4.Prince

3.

Prince is great on the electric guitar. He plays with a lot of feeling. But to call him the best living rock guitarist is kind of far out. The technical aspect aside it is still a stretch because there's nothing groundbreaking to his playing. Don't get me wrong though, the things he plays he does very well.

manthevan said:

Prince is great on the electric guitar. He plays with a lot of feeling. But to call him the best living rock guitarist is kind of far out. The technical aspect aside it is still a stretch because there's nothing groundbreaking to his playing. Don't get me wrong though, the things he plays he does very well.

yes and he is versatile, but I agree he has not really added anything new to the art

NDRU said:

manthevan said:

Prince is great on the electric guitar. He plays with a lot of feeling. But to call him the best living rock guitarist is kind of far out. The technical aspect aside it is still a stretch because there's nothing groundbreaking to his playing. Don't get me wrong though, the things he plays he does very well.

yes and he is versatile, but I agree he has not really added anything new to the art

Yes he is versatile, he has his Hendrix thing going, he can funk it up and he even adds some jazz fusion elements in his playing. But I think what I appreciate most is when he plays Purple Rain live and really gets in to it. No one can improvise on that song like Prince.

Not sure why folks continue to do these "Best" posts with no critera since in reality, there will not be a definitive answer.
At "best", what you end up with are repetitive popularity contests.

With that being said, here are just a few of my living favorites that have at least elements of ROCK in their style.

Jeff Beck (imo, the King of the Rock Ballad)...



...Cause We've Ended As Lovers & Where Were You


Steve Vai...



...excerpts from Where The Wild Things Are


Greg Howe...



...Wonderland In The Sky


Ty Tabor...



...Ride (solo) & Flies and Blue Skies (King's X)


Wayne Krantz...



...War Torn Johnny & One Of Two



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

Jeff Beck (imo, the King of the Rock Ballad)...



Cause We've Ended As Lovers

I always loved this song by Beck. Thanx for posting this version. I hadn't heard it and wow, the young lady on the bass Tal Wilkenfield does an amazing bass solo. Really awesome fusion patterns...

manthevan said:

I always loved this song by Beck. Thanx for posting this version. I hadn't heard it and wow, the young lady on the bass Tal Wilkenfield does an amazing bass solo. Really awesome fusion patterns...

You're most welcome.


His...

[img:$uid]http://www.soundstagedirect.com/media/jeff_beck_jeff_beck_performing_this_week.jpg[/img:$uid]

...Live At Ronnie Scott's DVD is well worth the investment.


I saw the tour with Tal Wilkenfeld/Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and then the subsequent tour with Rhonda Smith/Narada Michael Walden (drums).
Both were great shows but I had a preference for the former specifically because of Tal's playing.



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Jeff Beck, he is the guitar...

http://www.youtube.com/wa...IUuPorrQmM

This recent live version of "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers" is very nice.

When Tal was in his band, she was okay, but a bit busy, the rhythm section of Rhonda Smith/Narada Michael Walden is what Jeff Beck needed. They provide the rock solid foundation with lots of fuck and energy that sets his guitar off right.

Allan Holdsworth...



...Metal Fatigue & Tokyo Dream


Michael Landau...



...Five Storks & Dog Cheese


Steve Lukather...



...Jake To The Bone (w/Toto) & The Truth (solo)


Scott Henderson...



...Bofat & Space Camel



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

Allan Holdsworth...



...Metal Fatigue & Tokyo Dream


Michael Landau...



...Five Storks & Dog Cheese


Steve Lukather...



...Jake To The Bone (w/Toto) & The Truth (solo)


Scott Henderson...



...Bofat & Space Camel



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Guitarists like Holdsworth and Henderson are great. In fact Holdsworth is one of my favorite guitarists and he is a genius from another planet. No other guitarists living or dead could hold a candle to him in his genre. However even though he has some rock in the way he plays I categorize him more as a fusion guitarist. He plays with jazz and fusion musicians and even though he's got a rock edge and has done some crossover his tone language is more jazz/fusion IMO.

Allan is the guitarists guitarist. Funny, Allan himself doesn't even want's his guitar to sound like a guitar. He is more going for a horn approach

If the thread title would say best guitar player ever (not best rock guitar player) Allan would have been on my list without doubt.

[Edited 8/23/11 2:26am]

manthevan said:

Guitarists like Holdsworth and Henderson are great. In fact Holdsworth is one of my favorite guitarists and he is a genius from another planet. No other guitarists living or dead could hold a candle to him in his genre. However even though he has some rock in the way he plays I categorize him more as a fusion guitarist. He plays with jazz and fusion musicians and even though he's got a rock edge and has done some crossover his tone language is more jazz/fusion IMO.

Allan is the guitarists guitarist. Funny, Allan himself doesn't even want's his guitar to sound like a guitar. He is more going for a horn approach

If the thread title would say best guitar player ever (not best rock guitar player) Allan would have been on my list without doubt.

Yes, well this is why I qualified my picks as players that "have at least elements of ROCK in their style".
What I meant by that is a singing-sustained sound.
The basic rudiments of this sound could probably trace back to players like "The Kings" (B.B., Albert, Freddie) as one example and expanded upon.

I'm thinking that this expansion was initially done by Blues/Rock players...



...Steppin' Out (Clapton w/The Blues Breakers) as an example.


It then became a de facto component of many guitarists whether they played Blues/Rock/Fusion/etc.

Big Holdsworth fan myself.

I'd still be careful with the "best" tag.

There's probably some unknown super-chops kid out there that could send even "Big Al" back to the woodshed.

(Even though Mr. Holdsworth appears to reside there permanently anyway when he's not out gigging. )

Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

Prince

Buckethead

Vernon Reid

Homer ODell

B.B. King

Santana

Mike Scott

Levi