# Your Top 10 Guitarists / Composers



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Dual list/poll thread.

My List (REVISED)


Atahualpa Yupanqui
Paco de Lucía
Pat Metheny 
Derek Bailey
Hans Reichel
Bill Frisell
Allan Holdsworth
John McLaughlin
David Fiuczynski
James Blood Ulmer
Sonny Sharrock
Eugene Chadbourne
Terje Rypdal
Guthrie Govan
David Torn
Steve Tibbetts
John Scofield
Henry Kaiser
Fred Frith
Stian Westerhus
Kurt Rosenwinkel


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

What a random list


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Not sure that I can buy into the given list, mine would be .....

1) Jeff Beck
2) Allan Holdsworth
3) Steve Hillage
4) Jimi Hendrix
5) Daryl Buckley
6) Jon Scofield
7) John McLaughlin
8) Grant Green
9) Jaco (he pretty much plays it like a lead!)
10) Thurston Moore

Based entirely on what I like to listen to, and no other criteria!


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## Common Listener (Apr 6, 2019)

I dunno about 10. Here's a top-25 (and I'm sure I'm forgetting people).

Duane Allman
Chuck Berry
Allen Collins
Dick Dale
Michael Denner
Al di Meola
K. K. Downing
Steve Gaines
David Gilmour
Jimi Hendrix
Gary Holt
Tony Iommi
Poison Ivy
Alvin Lee
James Mankey
Jimmy Page
Keith Richards
Gary Rossington
Carlos Santana
Hank Shermann
Alex Skolnick
Glenn Tipton
Eddie Van Halen
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Link Wray


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

HenryPenfold said:


> Not sure that I can buy into the given list, mine would be .....
> 
> 1) Jeff Beck
> 2) Allan Holdsworth
> ...


Nice list and yes, it should be based on what you like.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I had to go with eleven.

Pat Metheny
Allan Holdsworth
Frank Zappa
Wes Montgomery
Jim Hall
Scott Henderson
Bill Frisell
Pat Martino
Ben Monder
John Scofield
Leo Kottke

Honorable mention of two great players I've listened to a ton but they are songwriters.

Richard Thompson
Bruce Cockburn


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

If I had to judge musicians who are guitarist for the quality of their compositions I'm not sure I could make a top ten, but here are some names I would think of with one piece of them

Valzinho (very small body of work, but basically every song he made is a gem of refinement and he was so ahead of his time)





Garoto





Jobim





Holdsworth





Guinga





Django Reinhardt





Baro Ferret





Jimmy Wyble





Frank Zappa





Nick Drake





Pat Metheny





Helio Delmiro





Toninho Horta





Lo Borges





Carlos Lyra





also Paul McCartney, George Barnes, Dorival Cayimmi, Milton Nascimento, Edu Lobo, Robert Fripp, Egberto Gismonti, Ed Motta, Romane, Atahualpa (amazing musician, altough I like him for the whole thing more than just the quality of his songwriting), Jimmy Page...
Yes, I think that brazilian musicians (I'm italian, so it's not like national pride or something like that) are the best at it, and there are many names I haven't even mentioned. There's a sophistication and complexity in their popular music that is without equals at least to my knowledge. And the weird thing is that I'm talking of musicians who are often very famous and who wrote tuneful songs, not just progressive rock or weird experimental underground stuff. Their POP music is like that, especially before the eighties.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Brian May
Carlos Santana
David Gilmour
Eric Clapton
Guthrie Govan
Jan Akkerman
Mark Knopfler
Mick Ronson
Peter Green
Steve Hackett


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Gismonti and Fripp are two I didn't think of off the top of my head but they are both great writers with an original sound. And I would add Ralph Towner as well. He's written a ton of great pieces over the past 50 years.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Expanded and Amended List #2 (in no particular order)


Atahualpa Yupanqui
Paco de Lucía
Wes Montgomery
Django Reinhardt
Egberto Gismonti
Derek Bailey
Allan Holdsworth
Pat Metheny 
Hans Reichel
Steve Tibbetts
Bill Frisell
Keith Rowe
John McLaughlin
David Fiuczynski
James Blood Ulmer
Sonny Shamrock
Guthrie Govan
David Torn
John Abercrombie
Henry Kaiser
Fred Frith
Ralph Towner
Marc Ribot
Kazuhisa Uchihashi
Eugene Chadbourne
Terje Rypdal
Marc Ducret
Nels Cline
Joe Morris
Eivind Aarset
Mike Stern
John Scofield
Stian Westerhus
Jim Hall
Scott Henderson
Pat Martino
Ben Monder
Leo Kottke


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Of the poll list I only ever heard of John McLaughlin. But my favorite guitarist has always been Johnny Winter. He never gets that high in the rankings and, in the Rolling Stone top 100, was even behind Stevie Ray Vaughan whom I think was a lesser guitarist than Johnny Winter was.


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## Common Listener (Apr 6, 2019)

Art Rock said:


> Mark Knopfler


I knew I was forgetting somebody.

(I mean, many greats have been mentioned and there are more I could mention myself, but I'd have definitely meant to include him.)


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Can I add Dominic Miller?


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

a few more guitarist composers worth mentioning 

Baden Powell
Ali Farka Toure
Fernando Sor
Leo Brouwer


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Art Rock said:


> Mark Knopfler


IIRC he played on a Dylan album.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Bwv 1080 said:


> a few more guitarist composers worth mentioning
> 
> Fernando Sor
> Leo Brouwer


I suspect the thread is not about classical composers


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Is there a guitarist who is similar to Leo Kottke? That kind of intricate acoustic work.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Open Book said:


> Is there a guitarist who is similar to Leo Kottke? That kind of intricate acoustic work.


you could try with Adrian Legg, who is a great virtuoso


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Open Book said:


> Is there a guitarist who is similar to Leo Kottke? That kind of intricate acoustic work.


Michael Hedges comes to mind


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Hedges didn't sound much like Leo although he was a huge fan. No one really can. He's in a class by himself. There's one short passage on a tune from 6 & 12 String Guitars that Hedges latched onto and developed his style. I would say Leo was heavily influenced by another American icon, John Fahey. But Leo has superior technique and is more modern sounding. And by contrast Fahey is more rustic.

Adrian Legg is a fabulous player but doesn't have a pure acoustic sound. It's electro/acoustic. There are a pair of 30 year old albums with some great material. Guitars And Other Cathedrals, and Guitar For Mortals. Those are the two I recommend.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

I had no idea people here even knew of Yupanqui. No one ever seems to listen to him.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

For non classical guitar maybe something like

Wes Montgomery 
Django Reinhardt
Paco De Lucia 
Allan Holdsworth 
Guthrie Govan
Glenn Campbell
Randy Rhoads
Jimmy Page
Scotty Anderson
Robby Krieger

And many more...


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Red Terror said:


> I had no idea people here even knew of Yupanqui. No one ever seems to listen to him.


I found out about this guy ages ago from you on this forum, I agree he is an outstanding musician. I've learned about a lot of great music from yourself, norman bates, starthrower, Simon Moon, and others on this fine forum. Thanks folks.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

tdc said:


> I found out about this guy ages ago from you on this forum, I agree he is an outstanding musician. I've learned about a lot of great music from yourself, norman bates, starthrower, Simon Moon, and others on this fine forum. Thanks folks.


Great to hear! As far as singer/songwriters, no one bests Yupanqui-in my humble opinion.


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

Common Listener said:


> I dunno about 10. Here's a top-25 (and I'm sure I'm forgetting people).
> 
> *Duane Allman*
> Chuck Berry
> ...


Great list.

Some of these guitarists don't always get their due credit, but terrific musicians. 
Let me use some of your choices and add a few so that I will barely go over 10. :lol:

Jeff Beck
Roy Buchanan
Paco de Lucia
Elliot Easton
Anson Funderburgh
Steve Howe
Steve Hunter & Dick Wagner (w/Lou Reed)
Mark Knopfler
Brian Setzer
Kim Simmonds
Hubert Sumlin


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I was listening to Dick Rosmini and I remembered this request



Open Book said:


> Is there a guitarist who is similar to Leo Kottke? That kind of intricate acoustic work.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Open Book said:


> Is there a guitarist who is similar to Leo Kottke? That kind of intricate acoustic work.


*Doc Watson*, might catch your fancy. *Dan Crary* is another one, but more flat-picking. *John Fahey*. *Bill Frisell*, also not in the poll. *Bert Jansch*.

These are guitarists I enjoy a lot more than any of the ones on the above list.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I listened to this one the other night. Beautiful original acoustic compositions recorded really well.










Pierre's first album recorded as a teenager in the mid 70s is a folk classic. Includes instrumentals, and vocals in French and English. A very gifted musician.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Open Book said:


> Is there a guitarist who is similar to Leo Kottke? That kind of intricate acoustic work.


For some reason I've remembered again this question listening to Gwnifer Raymond. Who would have thought that a young woman from Wales with a PhD in astrophysics and who makes videogame could be so good at american primitive guitar.
She's like a modern Fahey/Kottke, altough there's a more pronounced gothic element in her music.


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

Hendrix
Fripp
Manuel Barrueco
Peter Leitch
Liberty Ellman
Wes
James Emery
Pat Martino (1960s)
Peter Green
Jeff Beck (up through _Rough & Ready_)
Mick Abrahams
Kim Simmonds
Ralph Towner
Steve Hillage
Fred Frith


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I just ordered two Myra Melford CDs with Liberty Ellman. She calls the group, Snowy Egret. It features the great young drummer, Tyshawn Sorey.


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