A very fine list, Steve, (Great to see Bloomfield on that list)
Let me throw in a couple more:
Charlie Christian
Doc Watson
Sam Bush (ok, mandolin, but he's lights-out awesome)
Pat Metheney
Larry Coryell, and
Frank Zappa (oh yeah!)

Another that should make the conversation:

Nuno Bettencourt

read somewhere that when asked " .... whats it like to be the greatest guitar player in the world ? ...." Hendrix reply was "..... I dont know. You'll have to ask Rory Gallagher.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1ebyiFpg2

I suppose the great thing about Hendrix, he could write a song.

But Eric Johnson could write a melody, eat ya heart out Eric

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1-gQsHrMo

:salute:

I would like to add:

Kenny Wayne Sheppard

Daron Malakian

I did not look at the list and they may be on it but I really enjoy what they can do with guitar.

My favorite solo :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj9I-...eature=related

If someone can come up with a better version, other than Prince's solo, please post. This song just touches so many nerves. Kind of like Chris Matthews' leg when Obama got elected.

McBee already posted that "Just for you Frau".

While not my personal favorite to listen to, Stanley Jordan never ceases to amaze me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ruEkWMtdM8

There is one name you have ALL missed........Steve Bradfield :sunny:

:nope:

I'm an average guitarist at best. But I work with a couple of very very good ones.

Modest, I hear, :yep:

A list of "All Time Greatest" in sport is always subjective, and they have measurable stats. Trying to compile a list of greatest guitarists is futile. How we measure it will be different from person to person.

I enjoy the music of alot of the people on Steve's list, but my favorite named here was David Gilmour. He is not the best technically among those listed, not by a long shot. He does however have a sound that goes right into me and makes me feel the way that I think music should.

Noone mentioned this fellow yet? Dear me...
http://www.michaelarnoldart.com/george_harrison.jpg

Nils Lofgren is also a man to be reckoned with:
http://blog.nj.com/entertainment_imp...large_nils.jpg

Interesting that there are no classical or flamenco guitarists in the list. But I guess that's RS's demographic.

There are several I can think of that would beat most of the RS top 100 hands down and possibly get into the top 10 if this was a broarder church.

Christopher Parkening
John Williams
Narcisco Yepes
Paco de Lucia
Estrelle Morente
Slava Grigorian

I was going to post a link to Badfinger's 'Day After Day', which GH produced and played what to my mind is one of the cleanest, most tasteful solos ever, but I changed my mind. Still don't know why.

Well, there's at least one on my list. :D

True that.

:yep:

And that's why "Comfortably Numb" is still my fave solo ever - it carries the entire emotional content of the song... which is about not being able to, or more accurately, not wanting to feel anything at all because what is being felt just seems unbearable. And yet at the end there's this incredible expression of all that anguish which cannot be expressed in any other way. To me, that's what being a great musician is about, and what a great solo is about. He once said in an interview I read years ago that he knew he couldn't whip out as many notes as quickly as some other guys, but that was okay because he wanted every note to contribute something to the entirety of the song, not just be a showcase for his own abilities.

Another guy whose playing I really love that I think falls into the same category is Robbie Robertson. A lot of his stuff with The Band may not be "show off" calibre playing by most standards but it still sounds amazing in the context of those songs.

Reminds me of something I once heard said about Count Basie when he played piano solos in some of his band's songs - they might not be complicated, and there might not be that many notes, but even if it was only eight notes it would be the perfect eight notes played in just the right way at just the right moments. It was what the song needed in order to be even better than it already was, instead of what he needed to play to prove how awesome he was.

I thought he posted Comfortably Numb, and I posted While My Guitar Gently Weeps, may have been a posting error on my part.

No, my bad. :oops:

I'm guessing I went to his link and then got distracted by the list of "similar" videos they put up. I probably clicked on that to see what that poster thought was the "best ever" and then remembered it when I followed your link.

Sorry 'bout dat. You were right, I was wrong.

It's one of my top favorites. What I hear when I listen to it is Syd Barret's life story, as told by David Jon Gilmour through his guitar. The best version of it being this one.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJZYG5qwHHI

VH1 did a video special on them, and they all told the story about Syd and how much he influenced all of the music, and how his best friend Gilmour ended up replacing him. It's a must see for Floyd fans. Search Bing or Google videos for "Pink Floyd - VH1 Legends" I'd post links but they get taken down quickly, VH! has rights and all....

Syd also sparked this classic... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eraVXLPgD4

But on the top of my list, Clapton. The difference between hearing music, and feeling music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X55nF0OqTmA&ob=av2n

<edit> The list didn't say anything about Rock, just the top 100 guitarists. Any list that puts Buddy Guy at #30, sucks. It's not a valid list because they didn't ask me first.

We should put together our own list, the SS Top 10 guitarists.

I love Gilmour and Clapton - been addicted to Pink Floyd since 12 years old.
Wanking on the same notes for lifetime doesn't say anything about feelings toward the music-just different state of mind and sometimes lack of abilities.

Andy Timons- Electric Gypsy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M6m-...eature=related
Groove Or Die
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUFOY...feature=artist

Again...there are natural guitar players and mechanical ones-no doubt about it.
The mechanics usually don't make it far.

Another great one:

Gary Hoey "Truth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7mq0g6Tp9Y

Hocus Pocus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0rAlUqVUAE

Black Magic Woman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5n_1...eature=related