Best Living Guitarist?

Yo Mamma

It has to be the guy from Dire Straits, Mark Knoffler or however u spell it !!

He is one of the greats without a doubt !

BossArky

I think that you are forgetting Kirk Hammett, ... to a lesser extend James Hethfield.

BossArky

what do you people think of Mike McCready?

Karl Hungus

I'm suprised The Edge was even mentioned here...
He has to be one of the most minimalist guitarists there is.
Most of the stuff he does is with Delay pedals and effects, it's slightly pathetic actualy.

I'm just happy nobody mentioned Noel Gallagher(sp?)...

Joe Satriani is an obviose choice, as is Steve Via and Eric Clapton.

But Mention HAS to go to Samoth from Emperor (AKA - Zamoth, when playing with side-project Zyklon).
That man is something.

But Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho from Children Of Bodom is one ****ing MENTAL guitarist...
If you like guitar solos, you HAVE to hear this guy, he plays like a ****ing depraved lunatic!

Galder (Old Man's Child/Dimmu Borgir) is also a fantastic guitarist, not to mention a magnificent song-writer.
He also played all Guitars, bass and keyboards, as well as doing all the vocals on the Old Man's Child "Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion" album. Which in itself is very impressive.

But my personal Favorites would be Paul Allender and Gian Pyres from Cradle Of Filth.
They really work together, and both are astoundingly tallented guitarists.
I like them because of the style they have, and many would disagree, but it's definetly the style I like the best. And the songwriting in second to none.
Seeing Paul live is another thing altogether though!
He's ****ing astounding. Last time I saw the band, I was up the front and I watched his finger movements like a hawk. He's fantastic.
And the way Paul and Gian work together creating the melodies is just unlike anything else I've heard.

Shiminay

I understand what you're saying about the 2 Cradle of Filth guitarists, but you need to listen to Iron Maiden and then you'll realise where they've copied the style from. Best song I can suggest you listen to is Phantom Of The Opera and you'll notice the similarities straight away.

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All the best!
Dav
@B^)
So I turned around to Jack Charlton and said: "Well of course it's not a football Jack, it's an '86 Chardonay!!!"
[honey i] violated [the kids]
Tribes 2 Goodness
The Dawn of the Beefy King approaches...

El_Presidente

Right, well I think you have named most of the biggies...

Clapton and B.B. King if your into blues, Vai and Satriani if you feel like some crazy up and down the fret board madness.

For me and this is a very subjective point of view Tim Reynolds just blows me away every time I hear him play. Its not so much that he is doing anything insane like Vai (although he can) its just that what he plays just sounds... right.

For an example get yourself a track called "stream" off "Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds live at luther college", or indeed any track from that album.

Dustaz

Had a great chat with Angelwhore last night about what this topic actually means.
I cant for one second agree with 'best' guitarist being the same as 'Most skilled' guitarist.
You can train any monky to do hammer ons at the speed of light or play 1000 different scales in less than 10 seconds (Satch taught Vai didnt he? ).
A truly good guitarist makes truly good music. He is capable of innovation and originality.
90% of the people posting here would not be able to tell satch from vai if they heard 2 songs back to back.
Anyway, Ill keep sticking up for Edge and also remind ye all about Prince. not only can he play something like 10 instruments but he can play any style of guitar you want.

Prof.Frink

The best is probably Slash BTW in my opinion the only real talent in the band were Axel Rose & Slash

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Glaven

Karl Hungus

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kharn:
I understand what you're saying about the 2 Cradle of Filth guitarists, but you need to listen to Iron Maiden and then you'll realise where they've copied the style from. Best song I can suggest you listen to is Phantom Of The Opera and you'll notice the similarities straight away.
</font>

Oh yes...
I was listening to Maiden well before Cradle... They definetly have a similar technique, but the style is quite different.
But for a good Maiden song, have to go with Fear Of The Dark.

Out of personal preference, I go for Cradle over Maiden any day though...

But I do agree there is a big similarity...

BTW... Great chat with Dustaz last night...
He's still a big dickhead though...

Karl Hungus

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dustaz:

You can train any monky to do hammer ons at the speed of light or play 1000 different scales in less than 10 seconds (Satch taught Vai didnt he? ).
</font>

And on this point I'd also like to point out that Satch taught Kirk Hammett too... And who would you rather listen to? Honestly...
Technicaly, Satch and Via would smoke Hammett.

neuro-praxis

Dave Matthews and Tim reynolds have got to be in the running.

Listen to Live At Luther College - it will blow yer socks off.

black_wizardd

No one has mentioned Kerry King or Jeff Hanneman (Slayer's guitarists) so I think they get my vote. Those guys are animal guitarist's (I cant decide who's better, probably king). Their riffing is untouched by any guitarist i've ever heard.

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But oh, no tears please, fear and pain may acompany death, but it is desire that sheperds its certainty, as we shall see...

Gerry

I don't think satriani or vai are in the same league as Hendrix, I know we are talking about living guitarists here, but theres more to a guitarist than pure speed.

El_Presidente

Gotta agree there, theres a hell of a lot more to it then just speed (you hear that Ronan!)

Although I have loads of respect for the likes of Vai I would rather listen to Clapton, King or Reynolds because they just sound better to my ear.

Not sure if he has been mentioned here but I think Santana deserves a mention on this thread as well. He's just got that smooth sound that I could listen to all day.

syringe

Pure speed doesn't make the guitarist etc, I agree to a certain extent. I wouldn't put Santana in there tbh, he's just not good enough, in my opinion. My points have gone a bit wobbly order-wise, so try and make out what I'm trying to say. Here's one:

Eric Clapton: 'Yeah I've heard that said, it's not what you play, it's what you don't play. But that's all boll0cks, isn't it?'
The man knows where his towel is. And how the FU<K do you write something like 'Tears in Heaven'? That's amazing. If you're going for something thats talented but doesn't "show off" I'm surprised Kurt Cobain hasn't been mentioned (or has he?), since it's fairly commonly thought though he didn't show it often he was gifted at the guitar. I've lost track of myself now... You get the point anyway.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Slaanesh

I forgot to mention Gary Moore, just listen to the classics, Parisienne Walkways and Still got the blues for you. Nothing fast there, just guitar that is very pleasing to the ear. Always with me, Always with you is a song by Satch that aint very fast at all but is just sooooooo melodic. If you ever get a chance to hear the Irish Paul Gurney(If thats how its spelt) at play, your in for a treat. Possible the greatest Irish Rock guitarist. Ever hear a 5 minute whiskey in the jar intro ??? Rather amusing, the singer didnt know what paul was doing so he went to the toilet, came back, and he was still doing the intro.

Classic,

Slaanesh

Spidey

What about Johnny Marr or Roddy Frame? Both great songwriters and brilliant guitarists!

Slosh

Easy one this - but I have to pick three.

Slash, Joe Perry & Billy Gibbons.

None of them the best technical guitar players out there, but they have feel - which is something the Satriani's, Vai's or Malmsteens will never have.

Q_Ball

I feel that I'd have to put "The Edge" in there. I'm of the opinion that a solo has to suit the song, and doesnt need to be played with 5 notes a second. I'm not saying that those solo's dont suit the song but i'm a fan of slow solo's. Thats why i enjoy listening to the stereophonics That being said tho I think that Eric Clapton's "CrossRoads" is absolutly one of my favourite songs ever. I love it. BB King is the man. Muddy waters too. Kurt cobain, not so much for his solo's but because he could write song great chord progressions. Santana's "smooth" is also a great tune cos the guitar in that is "fun".

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It's a 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

HIT IT!

WhiteWashMan

rocky george or mike clark

Singer

Corgan and Mascis. Pity Corgan's gone to ****, but J. Mascis still kicks ass. Best gig of last year.

Paladin

I dont think Santana is the best, but to whoever said he isnt very good, well, he is. He is very good.

Eric Clapton is very good.
As is Jimmy Page, Brian May, (even Van Halen is handy ) and many more.

I dont really know what criteria you are using for this though.
If you say "Best guitarist" Id have to assume you mean the physically best/fastest/most accurate/longest stretching/incredible riff playing kind of player.

That isnt the same as say Eric Clapton who "writes" music though.
I do think that woule be better classified as "best guitar musician". You have to give credit to people who can play incredibly fast. I wouldnt call any of the names mentioned so far "****".
But then I'm just jealous

Klay

What?! I havn't posted here yet?

Steve Vai of course..forget Korn and Bizkit...this guy was the first to use 7 strings 'properly'

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"(Shaft error to Klay[b-airlock140.esatclear.ie]: Erection reset by queer)"

Karl Hungus

Mikeal Akerfeldt and Peter Lindgren from Opeth are really fantastic too...
They make it sound as if there are about a dozen guitars being played at once, when it's only the two...

Scon

Originally posted by neuro-praxis
Dave Matthews and Tim reynolds have got to be in the running.

Listen to Live At Luther College - it will blow yer socks off.

Daves an excellent guitarist definitely but cannot compete with the best of the best.... I love his style though. Tim on the other hand can.... When he plays with Dave he only does the accompanyment but when you play guitar you'll trully appreciate his playing. Definitely my favourite guitarist.

If you see them play on VH1 Storytellers it'll blow your socks off even more than L@LC..... ahhh godbless VCD

mike65

The best guitaists know its which notes you play, not how many which is why I nominate Jeff Beck.

If we're talking about dead ones I'd cite Tommy Bolin as
one of the best ever but he did'nt live long enough to get wide recognition.

Mike.

Giblet

Slash. He writes the most catchy riffs. John squire??? pff Copycat! He wants so bad to be Jimmy page

Karl Hungus

Who the hell is bringing up topics from A ****ing YEAR ago!!??

Giblet

Its that f*cking SCON fella. WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT!