Siddharth Mehta: Share your favorite Guitarist

[siddharthkmehta]

Hello, I am Siddharth Mehta from Hudson Bay Capital. Share your favorite Guitarist, mine is Michael Jackson.

[Sharkman]

Michael Jackson???  Are you talking about the dead pop star who made the Thriller album?  Because he wasn't a guitarist.  I can't think of any noteworthy guitarist named Michael Jackson.  A little clarification would be helpful.

[KuruPrionz]

Welcome to MPN Siddarth!

I don't have a single favorite, there are a few - Jimi Hendrix changed the way electric guitar was played, forever.

 

George Harrison played sparingly but melodically and he started at least 3 important trends in guitar world - first being the Rickenbacker 12 string, they gave him one and he asked to have the octave strings reversed, with the high string below the low string. Subtle difference but audible. Rickenbacker took care of that, George played 12 string electric starting with A Hard Days Night and that influenced Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty and others (you'll hear Rickenbacker 12 strings played "Harrison style" on records by REM and the Pretenders, just for two).

 

Then, George switched to sitar for Norwegian Wood on Rubber Soul. Stevie Wonder (I Was Made To Love Her), Joe South (The Games People Play) and others followed suit. Danelectro/Coral issued 2 electric sitar guitars, one with sympathetic strings and one without. 

 

Last but not least, before George released All Things Must Pass there were 2 styles of slide guitar in popular music - blues (usually bottleneck) and Hawaiian (usually lap steel). George played bottleneck but he didn't play blues, he played beautiful melodies that were influenced by his studies of the music of India. Many records have been released with emulations of George's style of slide guitar and a genre of Indian music played on slide guitar was born. 

 

That said, I saw Carlos Montoya playing flamenco guitar when I was a kid and am still amazed at the sounds he made from a simple acoustic nylon string guitar.

 

So there's 3, I could go on...

[Larryz]

6 hours ago, siddharthkmehta said:

Hello, I am Siddharth Mehta from Hudson Bay Capital. Share your favorite Guitarist, mine is Michael Jackson.

Welcome aboard Siddharth!  I didn't know Michael Jackson played guitar.  I really can't pick (pun intended) a favorite.  I credit Scotty Moore (early Elvis recorded hits) as my mentor as I loved his rock and roll rhythm and leads that he wrote to some of the greatest songs ever recorded by a 3-piece backing band.  I would have a hard time choosing from Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanual, Roy Clark, Mark Knopfler, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, John Fogerty, Paul Simon, George Harrison, Lindsey Buckingham, Carlos Santana, Nokie Edwards, Brian Setzer, Eric Clapton, etc., etc. The list is truly too long without leaving out someone LoL! 😎👍

[desertbluesman]

4 hours ago, Sharkman said:

Michael Jackson???  Are you talking about the dead pop star who made the Thriller album?  Because he wasn't a guitarist.  I can't think of any noteworthy guitarist named Michael Jackson.  A little clarification would be helpful.

Maybe he means Eddie Van Halen who played the solos on "Beat It".

 

Eddie Van Halen was an important part of Michael Jackson's classic record “Beat It.” Van Halen played a guitar solo on the all-time classic album Thriller single. As the story goes, in 1982, the rest of Van Halen's band-mates were out of town, when Eddie got a call out of the blue.

[surfergirl]

Gary Clark Jr, Bonnie Raitt, Marcus King, Oranthi, Chris Stapleton, June Millington, Henry kapono and many more.

[KuruPrionz]

4 hours ago, Larryz said:

Welcome aboard Siddharth!  I didn't know Michael Jackson played guitar.  I really can't pick (pun intended) a favorite.  I credit Scotty Moore (early Elvis recorded hits) as my mentor as I loved his rock and roll rhythm and leads that he wrote to some of the greatest songs ever recorded by a 3-piece backing band.  I would have a hard time choosing from Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanual, Roy Clark, Mark Knopfler, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, John Fogerty, Paul Simon, George Harrison, Lindsey Buckingham, Carlos Santana, Nokie Edwards, Brian Setzer, Eric Clapton, etc., etc. The list is truly too long without leaving out someone LoL! 😎👍

JEFF BECK!!!! 🤣

And despite my historical diatribe above, Jeff Beck IS my favorite guitarist. 

And I saw him live, opening for BB King. Beck's technique is unapproachable, truly. 

[Sharkman]

If I had to name one guitarist as my favorite, it would be Jimmy Page.  But since everyone else is naming a few, I shall do the same.  Jeff Beck, Edward Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and the truly incomparable Les Paul.

[CEB]

What day is it?

[Sharkman]

It's Friday, but only until tomorrow.

[Larryz]

Kuru, +1 on Jeff Beck!  BB King and Les Paul were also definitely some of the "etc., etc.," that I knew I should have included in my favorites.  But if I have to pick just one favorite which is very hard to do, I'm going to have to go with Tommy Emmanuel!!! I've seen him live twice and I will go again one of these days for another Tommy fix... 😎

[Scott Fraser]

Nels Cline, who has been my favorite guitarist almost as long as I've known him. We were shooting the breeze backstage a few years ago & he figured out we've known each other for almost 45 years. 

Julian Lage, who I sought out on Nels' recommendation. One of the few people who I've heard who I truly love everything he plays.

Everybody else on my list has already, or will soon be, mentioned here, but lest anybody forget, I'll just add Adrian Belew & Robert Fripp here.

[Ivan May]

My current favorite guitarists include George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Peter Green, Lindsey Buckingham, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Robert Fripp, Eric Clapton and Greg Lake.

[desertbluesman]

Clapton during the Cream days, Roy Buchanan, Steve Morse during the Dregs days, Tommy Emmanuel, Jimi,

[desertbluesman]

Also I forgot to mention Jeff Beck, he is outstanding as well.