I'm not a guitarist (well, not
much of one, anyway), and I need to make that clear right from the get-go. I
am, however, a musician, and a great lover of music. So: read this list with a grain of salt.
10.) Robert Randolph: Robert Randolph is one of the most lyrical, groovy, and enticing guitarists making music today. His steel guitar is pure electricity - lively and fluid. He doesn't quite sound like anyone (or any
thing) else. If you appreciate funk, then I urge you to give this music a try. [Notable songs:
Nobody, Soul Refreshing, I Need More Love all by Robert Randolph & The Family Band]
9.) Ace Frehley: Too many people are blinded by the gimmicky kitsch of KISS, and they fail to hear the striking lead guitarist hiding in plain sight. As a musician, Ace is unpolished, unrefined, and absolutely remarkable. His solos are sooty gemstones, and buried somewhere beneath all the electric squeals and bends, an unconventional musicianship glimmers. That Gibson Les Paul simmers with a burning rawness that is distinctly Space Ace. [Notable songs:
Black Diamond (
Alive!),
Love Gun (
Alive II),
Hard Luck Woman all by KISS]
8.) John Frusciante: Disregarding the fact that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of my all-time favorite bands, there's something powerful about John Frusciante's guitar playing. He's a curious meld of funk, rock, and folk - a combination that seems laughable if he couldn't pull it off. But he
does pull it off.
Consistently, too. Each song he records, whether with the Chili Peppers or otherwise, is a testament to his quirky musicianship. [Notable songs:
Wet Sand, Hey both by Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Anne]
7.) Jose Feliciano: Jose's got soul. Lots of it. His songs are impassioned odysseys, each nimble flamenco scale drenched in pure, unadulterated spirit. The technical skill he displays is impressive enough on its own. The fact that he does it all
without the use of his eyes is downright astonishing. He is best known by many as merely "That guy who wrote 'Feliz Navidad,'" but in truth he is much more than that. Feliciano is an artist of the highest order, a man who has mastered his instrument and has recorded terrific music for decades. [Notable songs:
Affirmation, Light My Fire, California Dreamin']
6.) John Mayer: It takes guts to play the blues. It takes even more to play them well. With guitar in hand, John Mayer has proven time and again that he has guts to spare. Yes, he's best known for pop music. But even soporific chart-toppers like "Say" and "Your Body is a Wonderland" can't erase his heart blazing live albums
Where the Light Is and
Try! These are the records I'm enamored with. Mayer is a cocktail of influences, notably Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Depending on tune and circumstance, you hear each of these guitar legends make impressions on his music. This juxtaposition of old and new is what I really admire about Mayer as a guitarist - he honors the past while exploring the future. He is positively postmodern. [Notable songs:
Out of My Mind,
Vultures, I Don't Need No Doctor all from
Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles]
5.) Neil Schon: The rock & roll culture of the 1980s was defined by its flagrant egoism. Hair was bigger, amps were louder, and the music was (typically) stupider. Most guitar players followed suit. Taste was traded in for speed, delicacy for dexterity. Thankfully, Neil Schon was one of the few dissenters against this idiotic paradigm. Disregarding Schon's flair for musical melodrama (many solos still contain avalanches of scales and runs), he is nonetheless a tactful guitarist. His style is appropriate, given the trappings of the genre, and rings true within the context of his music. Journey was the first band that opened my eyes to pop rock, and Schon was the first guitarist to capture my heart. I'll always love that sound. [Notable songs:
Any Way You Want It, Stone In Love, Winds of March all by Journey]
4.) Jimmy Page: From composition to sound mixing to production techniques, Jimmy Page is a true musical mastermind. But we don't love him for all the technical innovations he pioneered. It's all about the
music. With every song (heck, with every
riff) Page sets the standard for rock guitarists for decades to come. His solos carry a certain weighted swiftness, as if his fingers were made of liquid metal. This births a totally unique listening experience - riffs and solos strike the middle ground between the dizzying finger-tapping melees of 80's guitar gods (like Eddie Van Halen), and the opaque acidic fuzz of 60's rockers (like Jimi Hendrix). The end result is nothing short of astounding. [Notable songs:
Whole Lotta Love,
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You,
Stairway to Heaven all by Led Zeppelin]
3.) Jerry Douglas: Although the Dobro is a style of resonator
guitar, designed for everlasting tones and fluid sounds, it has never
resonated more than at the impassioned fingertips of Jerry Douglas.
There's a honey sweetness to every plucked string, a golden hum that
shimmers like airy electricity before a thunderstorm. The best music in
the world doesn't just entertain but enraptures, and Douglas does this
and more. Resonator guitars lend themselves to the effervescent, to the
haunting. With Jerry Douglas, Bluegrass has never been more beautiful. [Notable songs:
A Tribute to Peador O'Donnel/Monkey Let the Hogs Out (live)
, The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn (live) both with Alison Krauss and Union Station]
2.) Tom Morello: Tom Morello is more of a mad scientist than a guitar player. Some of his solos giggle with jeering laughter, some buzz in wonky tonalities like a malfunctioning android, and a few even howl like banshees in bitter wind. Yet whether he's hammering out hard-edged metal/funk in Rage Against the Machine, riffing out contemporary pop-rock in Audioslave, or finding fragile lyricism as The Nightwatchman, Tom Morello is indeed a versatile musician. [Notable songs:
Doesn't Remind Me by Audioslave,
Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine,
The Ghost of Tom Joad (live) by/with Bruce Springsteen]
1.) Tommy Emmanuel: In terms of pure musicianship, there is no other guitar player on the planet that rivals Tommy Emmanuel. Upon first hearing him (or, even better,
seeing him), it's easy to be swept away with his overwhelming technical skill. But stay invested - try to hear past the flamenco flourishes and classical cascades, and you'll become enamored with his passion, his soul, and his undying affection for music. Each song is a study in composition: melodies and counter-melodies race alongside each other like salmon in crystal waters, with verbose rhythms that glitter like wet rocks on the shore. And here's the kicker:
he does it all at once! With Emmanuel, there is no "track recording" or layering that happens in a studio - through some kind of magic, he manages to produce all these varying sounds simultaneously, which is as esoteric as it is stunning. [Notable songs:
Endless Road, The Hunt, Initiation]
**...and a quick shout-out to my real-life guitar heroes:
A-Train, Nate R., Sam, Billy, Kenny R., Zucks, and (of course)
the Perry brothers.
**
