who is your Favorite Guitarist?.....

[peggygee]

My favorite guitarists fall more on the jazz side.

George Benson (by far)
Stanley Clarke (he doesn't only play bass)
Wes Montgomery
Earl Klugh

But when it comes to rockers...

Eddie Van Halen
Eric Clapton

I'm with you.

I first got turned out by Wes Montgomery, then segued to
Benson, Clarke, and Klugh.

[peggygee]

I just saw E's list, and I do like many of the guitarists in other genres
that he has listed.

But for my all-time faves I'll stick with Wes, Benson, Clarke, Klugh.
and throw in Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone, and Graham
Central Station, as well as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and a shout out to
Bootsy and George Clinton.

[xrey]

My Top 10 in no particular order or genre:

Eddie Van Halen
Buddy Guy
Jimmy Page
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Jeff Beck
Joe Satriani
Carlos Santana
Jimi Hendrix
Robert Johnson
TBD

[Ecstatic]

Ecstatic, Manitas de Plata is a flamenco guitarist, not a classsical guitarist. While I don't want to belittle flamenco, there's quite a difference between one style and the other, even though one can find some flamenco echoes in some works of Spanish composers such as Joaquin Rodrigo and Isaac Albéniz.

Speaking of flamenco, here's a guitarist that cannot be overlooked: Paco de Lucía.

Paco de Lucia is incredible indeed. Another is Melchor de Marchena. I should have headed that section as "Classical/Flamenco" rather than simply "Classical"; in point of fact there is no such simple thing as "Classical" since the broad term embraces music from the late Renaissance or Baroque to the modern era with several distinct types along the way.

Flamenco falls into two camps: classical and traditional or "deep song" (cante jondo). The former is the highly stylized, concertized form most often associated with flamenco dance and highly influenced by 19th century Ramon Montoya who employed tremolos and arpeggios learned from his classical training to develop a new school of flemenco guitar. The latter is the more emotional duende or evocative spirit or deep feeling style. It is the pena negra or "black sorrow" of anquish, despair, and tortured emotion, and in this sense likened to the blues (though musically very different). The great masters of course excel at both styles.

Historically, the Moorish guitar in Andalusia, Spain combined with the European lute to create the baroque guitar, which was the ancestor of the modern classical guitar and which in turn formed the basis of the flamenco guitar and all other guitars in popular usage today. So there is a very strong relationship historically and musically between the two.

The evolution of the guitar in Europe includes the Renaissance guitar (a small lute, 15th century), the vihuela (a large 16th century Spanish instrument with six double strings), the Baroque guitar (17th c), the Romantic guitar (18th c), and the contemporary classical guitar. The flamenco guitar is a type of classical guitar, but somewhat smaller in size and lighter than a classical guitar with cypress or sycamore back and sides, giving it a brighter and more percussive sound. Classical guitars are traditionally made of rosewood or mahogany back and sides, though many other woods are also used. Both commonly use spruce for tops. A flamenco guitar has less sustain and is more responsive than a classical guitar.

[Ecstatic]

I just saw E's list, and I do like many of the guitarists in other genres
that he has listed.

But for my all-time faves I'll stick with Wes, Benson, Clarke, Klugh.
and throw in Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone, and Graham
Central Station, as well as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and a shout out to
Bootsy and George Clinton.

Hmm, I haven't listened to Sly or Larry Graham in years. Johnny "Guitar" Watson is great, but I don't know Bootsy. I like Clinton and Benson, but they wouldn't make my top guitarists list.

Some great players are known more as sidemen, like Eric Gale. And I forgot possibly my top blues player, Michael Bloomfield.

[peggygee]

I just saw E's list, and I do like many of the guitarists in other genres
that he has listed.

But for my all-time faves I'll stick with Wes, Benson, Clarke, Klugh.
and throw in Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone, and Graham
Central Station, as well as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and a shout out to
Bootsy and George Clinton.

Hmm, I haven't listened to Sly or Larry Graham in years. Johnny "Guitar" Watson is great, but I don't know Bootsy. I like Clinton and Benson, but they wouldn't make my top guitarists list.

Some great players are known more as sidemen, like Eric Gale. And I forgot possibly my top blues player, Michael Bloomfield.

Bootsy Collins of Parliment - Funkadelic fame, also played with James Brown.

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

And while pianos are my favorite instrument all this talk about guitars has
me hankering for the "twang".

[outfreakage]

Danny Gatton
Shawn Lane
Johnny A.
Tuck Andress
Tommy Emmanuel

[Deege]

Dimebag Darrell (Pantera, Damageplan)
Zakk Wylde (Ozzy, Black Label Society), though I havent liked much he's done in the last 6 or 7 years.
Malcolm Young (AC/DC's rythym guitarist. Everyone always says Angus Young, but Malcom's the one who actually wrote all of their best guitar riffs).
Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top)
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth, early Metallica)
Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
Kirk Windstein (Crowbar, Down)
Junior Brown
Josh Homme (Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures)
James Hetfield (Metallica - always liked his work much better than the sloppy Kirk Hammett)
Jake E. Lee (Ozzy, Badlands)

[Trans Mission]

I just saw E's list, and I do like many of the guitarists in other genres
that he has listed.

But for my all-time faves I'll stick with Wes, Benson, Clarke, Klugh.
and throw in Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone, and Graham
Central Station, as well as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and a shout out to
Bootsy and George Clinton.

Hmm, I haven't listened to Sly or Larry Graham in years. Johnny "Guitar" Watson is great, but I don't know Bootsy. I like Clinton and Benson, but they wouldn't make my top guitarists list.

Some great players are known more as sidemen, like Eric Gale. And I forgot possibly my top blues player, Michael Bloomfield.

Bootsy Collins of Parliment - Funkadelic fame, also played with James Brown.

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

And while pianos are my favorite instrument all this talk about guitars has
me hankering for the "twang".

I love the P-funk, also. Bootsy Collins absolutely rules, in my estimation. I put a link to Buckethead right away in this thread as he's just a cool fucker that can play anything.

To a P-funk fan, I'll submit searching for this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBz4eK22-Zk" Both Bootsy and Buckethead applying their Evangelical touch to a classic. Buckethead, in my estimation does absolute justice to Jimi on this song.

Nevermind, Buckethead playing with both Bootsy and Bernie. That's the musical overload called Praxis or C2B3, Claypool's Jam band.

[Ecstatic]

Bootsy Collins of Parliment - Funkadelic fame, also played with James Brown.

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

And while pianos are my favorite instrument all this talk about guitars has
me hankering for the "twang".

Ah! Now I know you you're talking about! Thanks.