Favourite Guitarists

[totoro]

I think I my tastes are most similar to razzbuddy's.

I like Bill Frisell a lot (I first saw him in '87 or so). But I like him less beginning with Good Dog, Happy Man, and found the Hal Wilner produced cd he made a couple years ago completely unlistenable.

He played some music that I really loved before his increasing interest in Americana became so dominant. Check out the Naked City Cds or some of the old Paul Motian cds with him and Joe Lovano.

Also:
Ben Monder
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Kevin Eubanks (yes, _that_ Kevin Eubanks). He played great jazz in the '80s -- I have a Dave Holland cd called Extensions with him on it.
John Scofield, although I've also liked his stuff less over the years. Shinola is great, as is Bass Desires (which Frisell also plays on)
Mimi Fox-- incredible chops, and a lot of fun
Adam Rogers
Peter Bernstein
For fusion-y kind of stuff, I think Mike Stern would be on most shortlists.

I recently got a cd by a drummer named Tom Cohen called "The Guitar Trio Project" that introduced me to a few new guitarists. It's currently one of my favorites. Also, Paul Motian always seems to have some really good young(ish) guitarists playing with him.

[Mark Lanctot]

Mark Knopfler

I see you have my personal fave, he's listed in wikipedia as "one of the best fingerstyle guitarists of the modern era."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_knopfler

Although a bit harder than most of the rest, you did omit Randy Rhoads:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Rhoads

But not all his songs are hard - he was a classical guitarist, after all, and there's a track or two on Blizzard of Ozz that attests to his skills on the classical guitar.

[Mark Lanctot]

Although a bit harder than most of the rest, you did omit Randy Rhoads:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Rhoads

But not all his songs are hard - he was a classical guitarist, after all, and there's a track or two on Blizzard of Ozz that attests to his skills on the classical guitar.

Thinking back on tracks he did, probably one of the most amazing is Mr. Crowley off Blizzard of Ozz. The last minute of the song demonstrates some pretty amazing skill. I don't even know how he got his fingers to move that fast...

The more traditional classical guitar track off that album is Dee.

[Ron F.]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Stanley Jordan yet! He is an absolute master of the electric guitar. It would be reasonable if he sounded like only two guitars going at once, but the disturbing thing is he can sound like three.

And then there is John Fahey! He is something of an acquired taste to be sure, but there are moments when you realize he stands completely alone ... "Legend of Blind Joe Death." He played with three picks at once.

Leo Kottke? Listen to him pick the 12-string, and go nuts doing it too. I don't believe anyone could play the 12-string like he could. http://www.leokottke.com/cgi-bin/rec...-String+Guitar

Wes Montgomery - ok, obviously nobody here listens to jazz.

All of the people I listed above have got to be aliens. They all played the instrument in a way that nobody had done before.

Laurence Juber - he does not impress me as much as the guitar gods I mentioned above (who could all sound like they were defying the laws of human performance,) but he is very very good. http://www.laurencejuber.com/

Jimmy Bruno - someone I like very much, but not a god.

Segovia - he is ok Yeah, right Maybe he should be at the top of the list. I guess I am displaying an attitude that everybody should think my favorites should be their favorites too Sorry.

[totoro]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Stanley Jordan yet! He is an absolute master of the electric guitar. It would be reasonable if he sounded like only two guitars going at once, but the disturbing thing is he can sound like three.

And then there is John Fahey! He is something of an acquired taste to be sure, but there are moments when you realize he stands completely alone ... "Legend of Blind Joe Death." He played with three picks at once.

Leo Kottke? Listen to him pick the 12-string, and go nuts doing it too. I don't believe anyone could play the 12-string like he could. http://www.leokottke.com/cgi-bin/rec...-String+Guitar

Wes Montgomery - ok, obviously nobody here listens to jazz.

All of the people I listed above have got to be aliens. They all played the instrument in a way that nobody had done before.

Laurence Juber - he does not impress me as much as the guitar gods I mentioned above (who could all sound like they were defying the laws of human performance,) but he is very very good. http://www.laurencejuber.com/

Jimmy Bruno - someone I like very much, but not a god.

Segovia - he is ok Yeah, right Maybe he should be at the top of the list. I guess I am displaying an attitude that everybody should think my favorites should be their favorites too Sorry.

I think Stanley Jordan was amazing from a technical standpoint, but I always had taste issues with him.

I agree about Leo Kottke.

I also listen to a lot of jazz (all the people I listed play some form of it), and realized after I posted that I had omitted a lot of the classics.

To Wes Montgomery, I think you'd also have to add
Django Reinhardt
Charlie Christian
George van Eps
Herb Ellis
Kenny Burrell
George Benson pre-Creed Taylor

I'd also want to add Ed Bickert.

[Ron F.]

I totally forgot about George Benson.

Some of the others you mentioned I am not familiar with, so now I have some researching and listening to do. Thank you.

[tomjtx]

Thank you for mentioning Segovia, I was thinking of living guitarists.

In the 80's I was able to play for Segovia several times in his Madrid apartment.
A friend of mine is his great nephew and also a guitarist and got us the invitation to play for him.
His music room was like a museum , with many famous composers autographed works laying about.

I also left out Oscar Ghighlia only because his CD's are hard to find.

[totoro]

I totally forgot about George Benson.

Some of the others you mentioned I am not familiar with, so now I have some researching and listening to do. Thank you.

One big one I shouldn't have missed:
Bireli Lagrene

Absolutely wonderful gypsy jazz guitarist.

[Sir G]

Larry Coryell
Pat Metheny
Pandora these two if you don't know them ...

[Mike Meyer]

Ok, I'm not ashamed to throw Eddie Van Halen out there.

And Steve Lukather.