The usual suspects: Hendrix, Clapton, Jimmy Page.
Anyone said Zappa yet? I haven't heard a whole lot of Zappa's stuff, but what I have heard ranges from abrasive to really impressive.

I'm pretty sure we mentioned Zappa a bit further back. His solos were very influential. I particularly like his use of synthetic scales. One minute he's playing really stinking blues riffs and the next he's playing whole tone - it sounded very surreal.

You can still hear his influence in Steve Vai. There's one particular scale that Vai favours and it's directly lifted from Zappa - the key is similar to A flat minor, but the root note is E. It sounds beautiful. I never heard anyone do it before Zappa.

I could talk about Zappa's solos all day.

Jimi died young, but he played as though he had been at it for decades. He wrote his own rules and let it rip. There is no touching the man. Jimi dude, why'd ya die?

Three that I didn't see mentioned above (I could be wrong):

1. Chuck Berry
2. Jeff Beck
3. Steve Howe

Andy Gill and Roger Miller are my two favorites, but since this is the Classic Rock thread . . .

i dont know why artists from the 50s like Chuck Berry are ranked so high as far as guitar skills go. they were good at the time but they don't compare to later bands.

Probably has a lot to do with influence and inventivness.

quote:

Originally posted by rockDude16:
i dont know why artists from the 50s like Chuck Berry are ranked so high as far as guitar skills go. they were good at the time but they don't compare to later bands.

I have to disagree on this one. If we throw older music out of the window, we are in danger of only liking music that is deemed 'fashionable'.

Chuck Berry was INNOVATIVE. Without him, there are so many guitarists and bands that would sound very different. I can hear Berry's guitar style in Hendrix, Kirk Hammett, Motorhead, Frank Zappa, Eddie Van Halen, Judas Priest and AC/DC (I could list many more).

The guitarists who copied his style (consciously or otherwise) took his techniques to new levels. Hendrix, Van Halen and Metallica merely added their own styles to a traditional formula.

The new guitarists may be technical and even convey more emotion, but the majority are still copying existing ideas. Berry is hugely important for inventing a recognised style of guitar. He's the real deal - not a plagerist, or a fashion victim.

I don't consider Chuck Berry to be my favourite guitarist - but without his music, my favourite guitarists wouldn't sound the same.

I don't know if he's the greatest, but my favorite has got to be Angus Young.

While I Angus is my favorite, I might have to go with Eddie Van Halen as the "greatest."

Andy Summers.

I usually don't like the conventional top choices, it seems like I always favor the one(s) that skirt the top tier, but are almost never numero uno. But, Hendrix always comes in first for a reason. I think it's because like...even when he was wanking around he made it mean something, almost every other guitarist I know of, no matter how much I love them, will get on my nerves after too many minutes of unmitigated noodling. But Hendrix always played straight from the heart.

Also, I'd say Eddie Hazel is pretty fuckin' high on my list. Maggot Brain is as good as anything Hendrix ever did.

Hendrix, Clapton, Page; the usual but I would also like to throw Buckethead into the mix, at least for guitar ability, but by no means popularity/sales. For that i'd say Eddie Van Halen. Personal fav is Adam Jones from TOOL, I just really like his style, though it's not technically brilliant.

Mark Tremoni. no question.at least around today.. i've always been a huge fan. his new website is sick too, http://fret12.com. he previews his new instructional dvd there, which will be.epic.