GovernorSilver Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Just discovered the late Spanky Alford, seen here playing with D'Angelo. No band? No problem 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill5 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 At a glance many of my candidates (and the usual suspects) have been mentioned....obviously trying to pick one "best ever" is absurd, as it's apples and oranges comparing (for ex) best rock guitarist to best jazz guiatarist...but even within genres the best you might hope for is a rather long short list. That said, please tell me I missed it and these guys were mentioned? - Jerry Garcia - "the Erics" (Clapton and Johnson) - David Gilmour - Pete Townshend - Wes Montgomery I also add a few guys who if not "greatest ever" are IMO at the very least among the "greatest who don't get mentioned in greatest threads (you can debate how much it's merited or not):" - Peter Frampton - Jimmy Nalls - Walter Becker - Denny Dias - Linday Buckingham - Lee Ritenour - Grant Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Louis Shelton, Brent Mason, Carlton, Holdsworth, and Christopher Cross … really. ps- also Papa Smurf. Quote "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 <<'best' guitar player (from a keyboardist perspective)>> From a selfish keyboard perspective, where some egotistical geetar guy is stealing all the spotlight, the obvious choice would be Freddie Green from Count Basie's band. He had the gig for 50 years and never took a solo, yet the band didn't swing nearly is hard without him playing four to the bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean M. H. Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, GovernorSilver said: Just discovered the late Spanky Alford... If you like Spanky, make sure you check out guys like Jubu Smith, Isaiah Sharkey and Jairus Mozee...these are all guys who play in a similar style to what Spanky helped pioneer/evolve. Church-derived gospel-quartet/soul guitar that within the last decade or two has become more "mainstream" as genres become more and more conflated. Here's a video of Sharkey, Mozee, and Agape Jerry (another name I should have included...there's just too many talented cats to name them all!) jamming at Namm several years ago: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricBarker Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 I feel like one of the few who still unironiclly loves John Petrucci. Yes, he noodles quite a bit, but man when he gets serious he has a lot of passion and wonderful melodic material. He’s not my favorite guitarist, probably not even my favorite modern prog guitarist (I’d have to say Roine Stolt for that), but I think it’s uncool to point him out since he spent so many ridiculous years on the cover of GuitarWorld. But I think he may be my favorite of the “super shredder” guitarists. Quote Puck Funk! Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorSilver Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 16 hours ago, Sean M. H. said: If you like Spanky, make sure you check out guys like Jubu Smith, Isaiah Sharkey and Jairus Mozee...these are all guys who play in a similar style to what Spanky helped pioneer/evolve. Church-derived gospel-quartet/soul guitar that within the last decade or two has become more "mainstream" as genres become more and more conflated. Here's a video of Sharkey, Mozee, and Agape Jerry (another name I should have included...there's just too many talented cats to name them all!) jamming at Namm several years ago: Thanks! I got to Spanky by working my way backwards. Young guns like Rob Gueringer and Justus West both openly share what they took from Isaiah Sharkey, who is still relatively young himself. I then found out that Sharkey had studied with Spanky, which made him a no-brainer hire for D'Angelo when the two of them randomly met. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16251 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 I was blown away last night watching this performance. Not up on my guitar heros but Dave Stryker is on fire, as is Jared Gold and Jimmy Macbride. Quote AvantGrand N2 | ES520 | Gallien-Krueger MK & MP | https://soundcloud.com/pete36251 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docbop Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 16 hours ago, Sean M. H. said: If you like Spanky, make sure you check out guys like Jubu Smith, Isaiah Sharkey and Jairus Mozee...these are all guys who play in a similar style to what Spanky helped pioneer/evolve. Church-derived gospel-quartet/soul guitar that within the last decade or two has become more "mainstream" as genres become more and more conflated. I would add to that one of the old Memphis guitarists Teenie Hodges who played on tons of records but most well know for working with Al Green and co-writing twelve of Al Greens hits. Also the late great Cornell Dupree and tons of hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 29 minutes ago, 16251 said: I was blown away last night watching this performance. Not up on my guitar heros but Dave Stryker is on fire, as is Jared Gold and Jimmy Macbride. I know Dave. Great guy. Great player. I've recorded him as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niacin Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 the topic makes me think of guitarists who have played well with keyboard players (so reflects my taste in keyboard players): Jim Hall (with Bill Evans) Wes Montgomery (with Jimmy Smith & Wynton Kelly) Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel (Oscar Peterson) George Benson (Jack McDuff) David Gilmour (with Rick Wright) Ritchie Blackmore (with Jon Lord) Santana (Gregg Rolie, Tom Coster, Chester Thompson) John Scofield (John Medeski, Larry Goldings) Steve Cropper (Booker T) 2 Quote Gig keys: Hammond SKpro, Korg Vox Continental, Crumar Mojo 61, Crumar Mojo Pedals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyRude Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 I don't see Dickie Betts mentioned, great guitarist, he played with a great keyboardist and he created great music that had keyboards, that seems to fit the OPs criteria? Pretty sure that Gregg considered Dickie to be if not the best, one of the best for sure. Shout out to Shamanzerek's post, lays it out very nicely! I might not agree 100% with each example, but wow you give a well thought out analysis and connect many dots. Nice job! Quote Some music I've recorded and played over the years with a few different bands Tommy Rude Soundcloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 I'll always pick Larry Carlton. He's been my favorite musician since 1978. Which is strange for a keyboardist, I know. 1 Quote The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill5 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 23 hours ago, CEB said: Christopher Cross If not greatest at least underrated IMO, probably because he has that soft/pop rock label. I remember hearing that his first album had a solo by Eric Johnson and when I heard the solo at the end of "Ride Like the Wind" I assumed that's who it was...nope, that was Cross on a kickass solo. Betts also should have been on my "not mentioned enough" list. Also shame on me for forgetting Toy Caldwell (Marshall Tucker Band). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorSilver Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Christopher Cross clearly has no trouble reproducing the solos of Steve Lukather, Jay Graydon, etc. himself when playing live. And he works well with keyboard players, one of them being a longtime songwriting partner Jamming with his buddy Eric Johnson and other buddies 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mills Dude Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 The Chris Cross record is one of my all-time favs. I still listen to it from time to time. Yeah its the very definition of Yacht Rock but its got some tasty playing, great production and good song writing. Kind of intersecting with the recent thread on Michael Omartian. I've always thought this record was Dan-Lite since many of the session players intersect. Rick Beato did a vid last year about the ending guitar solo in Ride Like the Wind, how its so killer but yet buried in the mix. He talks about some of the other great solos on the record, Larry Carlton & Eric Johnson also. The other Carlton solo is on a tune called The Light is On. I could listen to him play the two solo section in that song all day. Quote Mills Dude -- Lefty Hack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovernorSilver Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Paul Jackson Jr. - consummate professional. He's made his living and earned a reputation as a elite rhythm guitarist for hire, as humorously portrayed in the first 1:30 of this vid In this most recently posted vid, he revisits some iconic rhythm parts and shows he's not a slouch as a a lead player 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonizer Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 For a guitarist who sounds like two are playing I think of Lindsey Buckingham. I used to think there were two guitarists (or multitracking) in all their famous recordings. Then I saw Fleetwood Mac playing a live concert on a TV playback (from several years ago), with Lindsey the only guitarist on the stage, and heard all the same guitar sounds being played. And it was all him. Re the mention of Terry Kath, I think he was notable in how quickly and seamlessly he switched between playing rhythm and lead lines within a single song. In almost all cases he was the only person playing guitar on stage for their live concerts, so he did it a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyS Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 yeah.... Terry Kath... and Buck Dharma.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.