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OT: Guitar / Guitarist Appreciation Thread

So much to comment on in this thread already. I meant to start one on guitars and guitarists after football season ended then it got extended with the bowl game and I forgot. Glad you did it BP.

I started learning 5 yrs ago after I retired when I learned you could play an electric pretty much silently with headphone and aux input jacks (I live in a NYC co-op apartment so noise is an issue). Should have started many years ago. So I'm a bedroom player with a small amp and am not very good but learning and playing along with songs I like has been a hoot.

I bought a PRS SE 245 and liked it a lot til I started messing with Stratocasters at the GC a while ago and just traded in the PRS on a Player Plus a couple of weeks ago. And yea, I know I could have sold it myself for more than the trade in but I just didn't want the hassle. And actually, Sam Ash gave me a decent deal and they were good to work with.

Started with JustinGuitar online lessons and I think he/they are pretty good. Now I'm to the point where I have a bunch of songs I can play along with and when I figure out a new one to learn, it usually has a chord or chords or changes or strumming patterns that are new to me so each one presents a new challenge.

There are just so many guitarists with off the chart talent and I don't know the names of tons of them. A few that I do know and really like are Mark Knopfler, Derek Trucks, Jimmy Page, Ry Cooder, Buddy Miller, Stuart Mathis, Wachtel, ("Poor Poor Pitiful Me", both the Zevon and Linda versions are two of my favorites to play), Johnny Marr - will think of others but that's a start.
 
Have a Fender Nashville Deluxe with 3 pickups, the middle pickup can get a little of the strat quack going so it's very versatile and the 12" radius fingerboard makes it so easy to play.. love it.

Other go to is my Epiphone ES-339 great sounding guitar for people on a budget, sounds great for jazz and you don't have to pay a truckload of money for a jazz guitar.

Recommend Jens Larsen YouTube channel for jazz guitarists, phenomenal player and teacher
 
My rig used to be a Washburn N4 as my electric, an ADA preamp and SGX effects processor running through a Carvin 450 power amp and a Peavy 4x12 cabinet. Was pretty good back in the day but am old now and don't play much as I'd like. Did a brief stint at Berklee College of Music. Used to play around the Village and North Jersey clubs quite a bit. My "could have been a contender" moment was opening for the Spin Doctors at their peak in '92. We blew them away. :)
 
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That's always the balance that dudes have a hard time finding. There are a boatload of technical wizards but it sounds soul-less. That said I do love me some tech wizards. Some of the guys that strike a nice balance for me are Vai, Gilbert, Kotzen, Howe. DiMeola was great. Obviously EVH, Hendrix. Frank Zappa is extremely under rated as a guitar player. I also love the less techy guys too. I think Derek Trucks is one of my favorites right now. Duane Allman. I'm a big Trey Anastasio fan. Who am I kidding, I love 'em all.
Derek Trucks was a pretty good slide player at age 13 (click on link). Notice Sky Dog shirt; Duane Allman. Derek is nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks I think.
Derek Trucks - July 4, 1993
 
Have a good friend who is a plays guitar professionally, I can always get me mad by telling him that Clapton is a great player and he will rattle off a dozen names of people I never heard of that he says are way better. (Still have my Yardbirds “RVe Up” album).
No expert on talent but one name nobody has mentioned who I always thought was pretty good is Chet Atkinson.
Also much different genre but i love listening to Mississippi John Hurt
 
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That last statement is one of the reasons I really like the session guys. Most people who bought a Linda Ronstadt album during the height of her career would go the rest of their lives without knowing the name "Waddy Wachtel". But his work on her version of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" is nothing short of masterful. How many people know who Denny Dias is? Everybody knows his work, though.
Think Waddy Wachtel played on Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen.
Wachtel on Edge of Seventeen
 
If we're talking beyond Rock or Blues, I'd also add Glen Campbell to the mix. He's another who never learned to read music.

Glen Campbell was an excellent guitarist, but there's a really important point / distinction that I think needs to be made about "never learned to read music".

A LOT of guitarists have been described as "never learned to read music". Many, if not most, people interpret that to mean that those people also didn't know much about music theory, either - that there's some level of simpatico with the concept of "I'll just look at the chord chards and put this finger there and that one there and..."

No.

I thought that too, when I was 17 and couldn't ever figure out how to play even though I spent most of my free time hanging out with people who are now icons. I thought it when I was 40 and bought an Ibanez GAX-70 and downloaded tab files off that new Internet thing and still couldn't get past "I can follow along with the rhythm chords on 'Doll Parts'."

As I said on the other thread, I started taking lessons 3 years ago. I traded the Ibanez for my Strat. I bought 2 acoustics (a Fender and a Yamaha) and an Epiphone LP-ES. I had finally arrived at an understanding with myself, and with the universe. I had told my instructor (who is in his mid-60s and is a pretty well-known working guitarist in CNJ) what kind of music I liked. He slow-walked me through the first couple of lessons and encouraged me to be (or try to be) improvisational. And then he explained to me that I was not, by nature, a rhythm guitarist. Apparently I have a natural ability for phrasing and melody. What I didn't know, and what I'm learning now, is "what to play, when".

The point is this - you can get away without knowing how to read sheet music. Lots of guys either don't know how to read sheet music, or aren't very good at it. But you CAN NOT be a good guitarist if you don't understand the basic theory.

You have to know what a major triad is, and how that differs from a minor triad. You have to know intervals, you have to know how they relate to the fret board. You have to know chords in key so that if somebody says "I-IV-V in G" you know what the hell that means. You have to actually understand diminished vs. augmented and how moving a 7th in a chord from one to the other changes the tone and when to do it. And if you really want to play lead you have to understand the concept of playing over chords and how the notes you play should, ultimately, resolve to the chords that the other guys are playing.

What I've come to understand is that you can get good, not when you hear a song and can sit down and fumble your way into the chord progression, but when you can actually understand the basic musical math behind why they're playing what they're playing. When you can do that, it's epiphany.
 
Glen Campbell was an excellent guitarist, but there's a really important point / distinction that I think needs to be made about "never learned to read music".

A LOT of guitarists have been described as "never learned to read music". Many, if not most, people interpret that to mean that those people also didn't know much about music theory, either - that there's some level of simpatico with the concept of "I'll just look at the chord chards and put this finger there and that one there and..."

No.

I thought that too, when I was 17 and couldn't ever figure out how to play even though I spent most of my free time hanging out with people who are now icons. I thought it when I was 40 and bought an Ibanez GAX-70 and downloaded tab files off that new Internet thing and still couldn't get past "I can follow along with the rhythm chords on 'Doll Parts'."

As I said on the other thread, I started taking lessons 3 years ago. I traded the Ibanez for my Strat. I bought 2 acoustics (a Fender and a Yamaha) and an Epiphone LP-ES. I had finally arrived at an understanding with myself, and with the universe. I had told my instructor (who is in his mid-60s and is a pretty well-known working guitarist in CNJ) what kind of music I liked. He slow-walked me through the first couple of lessons and encouraged me to be (or try to be) improvisational. And then he explained to me that I was not, by nature, a rhythm guitarist. Apparently I have a natural ability for phrasing and melody. What I didn't know, and what I'm learning now, is "what to play, when".

The point is this - you can get away without knowing how to read sheet music. Lots of guys either don't know how to read sheet music, or aren't very good at it. But you CAN NOT be a good guitarist if you don't understand the basic theory.

You have to know what a major triad is, and how that differs from a minor triad. You have to know intervals, you have to know how they relate to the fret board. You have to know chords in key so that if somebody says "I-IV-V in G" you know what the hell that means. You have to actually understand diminished vs. augmented and how moving a 7th in a chord from one to the other changes the tone and when to do it. And if you really want to play lead you have to understand the concept of playing over chords and how the notes you play should, ultimately, resolve to the chords that the other guys are playing.

What I've come to understand is that you can get good, not when you hear a song and can sit down and fumble your way into the chord progression, but when you can actually understand the basic musical math behind why they're playing what they're playing. When you can do that, it's epiphany.
That’s really good and indicates how serious you are about playing. I went about learning a completely different way, I’m self taught and took a few lessons as a teenager back in the 70s. I did not have the patience or persistence to stay with it and put it down for about 25 years. In the midst of a “mid life crises” of significance, I went back into it with some passion about 15 years ago. I bought an acoustic guitar and some books and started to grind. I forced myself to learn on an acoustic for several years, it helped strengthen my hands and fingers. I’ve picked up pieces of theory over the years. I think the most important thing for me has been understanding how the notes fall on the guitar and understanding intervals by listening. As my musical ear has improved so has my playing. However, I think having “fun” with it and playing music you enjoy is vital. At my age, putting myself in a better mood and frame of mind is important.
 
That’s really good and indicates how serious you are about playing. I went about learning a completely different way, I’m self taught and took a few lessons as a teenager back in the 70s. I did not have the patience or persistence to stay with it and put it down for about 25 years. In the midst of a “mid life crises” of significance, I went back into it with some passion about 15 years ago. I bought an acoustic guitar and some books and started to grind. I forced myself to learn on an acoustic for several years, it helped strengthen my hands and fingers. I’ve picked up pieces of theory over the years. I think the most important thing for me has been understanding how the notes fall on the guitar and understanding intervals by listening. As my musical ear has improved so has my playing. However, I think having “fun” with it and playing music you enjoy is vital. At my age, putting myself in a better mood and frame of mind is important.

I definitely gravitate to stuff I enjoy. That's super-important, as you say, because it connects 'work' with 'joy'. For me, there's an element of competition to it, as well.

My brother-in-law, who is retired and rich, has a band. He started playing five years ago and now is recording with his band, all of whom (besides him) are working, professional musicians. He talks a lot about how good he is.

My short-term reach is to be better than him. Not to talk about being better - that's not in my nature - but just to BE better. They opened for BOC down in Jax Beach (at the Pavilion, for those who attended the bowl game) back in October and I have an open invitation to be 3rd stage guitar, whenever I'm ready. As an old guitarist friend of mine used to say, "I just wanna gig, man..."
 
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Honestly there are like a gazillion guitarists, I've played with some "amateurs" who are phenomenal.

To me though, it's not who you opened for, how fast you can play, or how well you can imitate Stevie Ray Vaughan. Neil Young's solo on Cortez the Killer moves me more than any Steve Vai solo, just my personal taste. To me if you can be somewhat original and move a person to an emotion or a place then that's good enough.
 
A couple of guitarists who fly under the radar are Jerry Reed and Vince Gill. Two of my all-time favorites are Dickey Betts (“Blue Sky” and “Back Where It All Begins” take me to a different place) and David Gilmour, and for good measure Stevie Ray Vaughan and BB King.
 
Honestly there are like a gazillion guitarists, I've played with some "amateurs" who are phenomenal.

To me though, it's not who you opened for, how fast you can play, or how well you can imitate Stevie Ray Vaughan. Neil Young's solo on Cortez the Killer moves me more than any Steve Vai solo, just my personal taste. To me if you can be somewhat original and move a person to an emotion or a place then that's good enough.

For some reason whenever I sit down and just start randomly noodling in open position it always comes out sounding very Neil Young-ish. "Cortez..." is great, but I think my very favorite NY riff is the one in "Powderfinger".

I think - to me, anyway - the technical aspect of Young's appeal is that he lives and thrives on inversions. His strumming patterns, to use a Gmajor chord as an example, are a lot of inverted triads over the same shape. So for the G chord, he'll strum G-B-D, then B-D-G, then D-G-B, etc. All technically G chords but with different voicings. It's not uncommon, but he does it a lot more than most.
 
There's been enough conversation about this topic lately, across multiple threads, that it warrants its own.

For guitarists: What do you play, what do you listen to, who do you like, what gear suits you best, stuff like that. For the rest, it's art - your opinion matters, even if you're not familiar with how it's made.

Hopefully we'll get some good chatter, here. And hopefully it can stay on the board. I mean, hey - it's gotta be as good as "What beers have you tried and how were they", amirite?

Cc: @RUGuitarMan, @mildone, @RUScrew85, @Knight Shift
Thanks for tagging me, but I think I may be the odd man out here. I am a fan of many types of guitar-based music, but it's no secret that hard rock/metal is my favorite type. As far as guitarists, many were named here already, and among them, Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my favorites.

Was wonder what the thought were of some of the players of the following guitarists:

1. Tony Iommi- keep in mind he had the tips of his fingers chopped off when he was young. He has said:
I would have liked to have not chopped the ends of my fingers off! It became a burden. Some people say it helped me invent the kind of music I play, but I don’t know whether it did. It’s just something I’ve had to deal with. I had to learn to live with it. “It affects your playing style – you can’t feel the strings, you have to do it by ear. And there are certain chords I can’t play. Right at the beginning I was told by doctors to stop playing. But I believed I could do it, and I did."
On guitar greatness and technical wizards: "We [Sabbath] weren’t technically great, but we had something that we built up together, we made a sound that was great. Metallica have that. They sound like a band. They’ve got a great attitude, and they love what they do. “But with other bands, when you hear all this widdly guitar stuff, it doesn’t really mean anything. It doesn’t have that feel. I’m old fashioned. For me, it has to have feel.”
^^^what he said is kind of what resonates with me.


2. James Hetfield- “When I pick up the guitar, I want to be the drummer. I’ve always loved playing drums, so it’s kind of what I’m doing on the guitar. I love syncopation – just unique drumbeats – so I’ve always incorporated that in [my playing]. The percussiveness and the downpicking, that’s something that just came through competition, really. ‘Hey, these guys are fast; I’m going to be faster!’

3. Jerry Cantrell- A big feature of Jerry’s playing is dissonant harmony and a fondness for that staple metal scale, the Phrygian mode – take a listen to the main verse riff in Would for an example. Try out our riff to get a little of Jerry’s magic in your playing.

4. Nita Strauss- (I don't see any women listed above?- Nita is listed at top of "Best in World Right Now")- “Use every weapon possible to make your playing as fluid as you can. Improvise slowly in that key and break each scale into bite-size chunks you can digest. Once you can do it slowly, then speed it up. If you try to hit lightning speed straightaway, it won’t work – no great guitar player will tell you it did for them!”

5. Mark Knopfler-If you take only one thing from Mark Knopfler’s playing style, it must surely be his fingerstyle technique. Though his pick-hand position might appear unusual, Mark is able to control every nuance of his sumptuous tones and Strat cleans with a beautifully sensitive touch.

The link below from Guitar World has some interesting categories (Best Rock, Best Blues, Best Metal, Best Shred, Best Alternative/Indie, Best in the World Right Now, etc)

Rankings, favorites, best lists are always subjective.

 
Thanks for tagging me, but I think I may be the odd man out here. I am a fan of many types of guitar-based music, but it's no secret that hard rock/metal is my favorite type. As far as guitarists, many were named here already, and among them, Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my favorites.

Hell, nothing odd about any of that. 😉
 
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There’s already a legendary stock thread, beer thread and a crypto thread (some of the crypto folks may need consoling) and now this thread. I own three guitars but only noodle occasionally these days (more of a rhythm player). My prize possession is my grandfather’s mint ‘79 Gibson ES 335 CRS.
 
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Not to talk about being better - that's not in my nature

GIF-Amused-bemused-bill-murray-chuckle-funny-laugh-laughing-LOL-GIF.gif
Great thread. This made me chuckle. Thanks. :)
 
I have too many guitars, and lots of favorite players, many already listed so I'll add some I have not seen:
SRV
Django Reihardt
Rev Gary Davis
Jason Isbell
George Benson
Peter Buck
Scotty Moore
Brian Setzer

This could go on and on.
 
Great thread!

I got my first guitar in 1970 when I traded the “John Barleycorn Must Die” album and $14 for a friend’s no-name acoustic. Terrible guitar with high action and warped neck but it was a start. Another friend showed me a few cords but went into the navy to Vietnam within a month so I was on my own. I’m self taught. I’m not very good at sight reading but have a decent knowledge of music theory. I’ll play a little lead (e.g. Melisa) and strum a I vi IV V oldie on occasion but mostly play solo chord melody finger style.

My interests and playlist are pretty eclectic and range from a delta blues Robert Johnson “Walking Blues,” to Santana’s “Samba Pa Ti,” to Left Bank “Walk Away Renee,” to “Cavatina,” to Beatles “If I Fell,” Stevie Wonder “Superstition,” to “Linus and Lucy”—pretty much all over the board but 95% fingerstyle.

I mostly play a Collins OM-3 and Martin 00028 EC but also have a ‘73 Loprinzi with Brazilian Rosewood (at least a $1000 upgrade for Brazilian these days due to CITES), a Taylor, and cheap electric. I’m contemplating commissioning a guitar from Jason Kostal but don’t really need it.

Great hobby that I encourage anyone with an interest to take up. Even if you just want to noodle around and play on the couch, it’s very rewarding. For me, there is nothing like learning a new song or working up your own arrangement of a song you like.
 
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Honestly there are like a gazillion guitarists, I've played with some "amateurs" who are phenomenal.

To me though, it's not who you opened for, how fast you can play, or how well you can imitate Stevie Ray Vaughan. Neil Young's solo on Cortez the Killer moves me more than any Steve Vai solo, just my personal taste. To me if you can be somewhat original and move a person to an emotion or a place then that's good enough.
Cortez The Killer is my favorite tune of all-time. I've got at least a dozen live versions of it.
Like A Hurricane not far behind.
Also from Four Way Street by CSNY there's an awesome version of Southern Man, where Stephen Stills and Neil are about as good as it gets IMO.
 
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A few I haven’t seen mentioned, but I may have done missed it are Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, and Sonny Landreth.
I was gonna mention Sonny.
Lots of great guitar stuff I've bumped into on the Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival he ran every three years.
It's where I became a big Gary Clark Jr. fan a number of years back.
 
Great thread!

I got my first guitar in 1970 when I traded the “John Barleycorn Must Die” album and $14 for a friend’s no-name acoustic. Terrible guitar with high action and warped neck but it was a start. Another friend showed me a few cords but went into the navy to Vietnam within a month so I was on my own. I’m self taught. I’m not very good at sight reading but have a decent knowledge of music theory. I’ll play a little lead (e.g. Melisa) and strum a I vi IV V oldie on occasion but mostly play solo chord melody finger style.

My interests and playlist are pretty eclectic and range from a delta blues Robert Johnson “Walking Blues,” to Santana’s “Samba Pa Ti,” to Left Bank “Walk Away Renee,” to “Cavatina,” to Beatles “If I Fell,” Stevie Wonder “Superstition,” to “Linus and Lucy”—pretty much all over the board but 95% fingerstyle.

I mostly play a Collins OM-3 and Martin 00028 EC but also have a ‘73 Loprinzi with Brazilian Rosewood (at least a $1000 upgrade for Brazilian these days due to CITES), a Taylor, and cheap electric. I’m contemplating commissioning a guitar from Jason Kostal but don’t really need it.

Great hobby that I encourage anyone with an interest to take up. Even if you just want to noodle around and play on the couch, it’s very rewarding. For me, there is nothing like learning a new song or working up your own arrangement of a song you like.

Great post!

And the I-vi-IV-V song list is really, really long. Some classic stuff on that progression.
 
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Another guy no one’s mentioned is Paul Geremis. Saw him at the Schaffer Central Oark concerts and at the RU Student Cener (audience of about 12 peopl).
 
I second/third Danny Gatton and Brian Setzer as two who are underrated due to the type of music they play, if that betrays some of my tastes. I also agree that there are so many amazing guitarists that I've heard that I will never know their name simply because they were not the focus of the act or part of a small band

Personally, I have a Rogue acoustic and a basic Mexican Tele with the stock pickups exchanged for '52 nocaster pickups and a few other related changes. I do want to build my own Tele style guitar body at some point, perhaps semi-hollow. I have a Fender XD Super Champ that I play though. I am just about at a point where I can afford to greatly expand both collections. I am a finger twitch away from ordering a basic Orange stack.
 
I second/third Danny Gatton and Brian Setzer as two who are underrated due to the type of music they play, if that betrays some of my tastes. I also agree that there are so many amazing guitarists that I've heard that I will never know their name simply because they were not the focus of the act or part of a small band

Personally, I have a Rogue acoustic and a basic Mexican Tele with the stock pickups exchanged for '52 nocaster pickups and a few other related changes. I do want to build my own Tele style guitar body at some point, perhaps semi-hollow. I have a Fender XD Super Champ that I play though. I am just about at a point where I can afford to greatly expand both collections. I am a finger twitch away from ordering a basic Orange stack.

I'd be interested in hearing why you're leaning toward Orange. I've never played one, don't know much about them other than they're always popping up on my various Sweetwater ads.

FWIW, I don't have a stack, yet. I have 2 combo amps; a Fender Mustang LT25 and a 15 watt Marshall. My plan right now is to sit on the gear that I have until I feel like I'm good enough to "deserve an upgrade", at which point I'll probably get a Custom Shop Les Paul and some kind of nice tube amp, either a Twin Reverb or Champion.
 
1978 Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty
1979 Fender Stratocaster 25th Anniversary Ed
1987 Gibson Les Paul Standard in Cherry Red
Late 80's (87?) Ovation 1712 Custom Balladeer
Early 80's Martin 12-string Acoustic
Spanish Flamenco with Nylon strings

Peavey Valveking or Yamaha THR10x thru Sennheiser headphones
Note: My old Marshall from my band days hasn't been used in 15 years

Also
2 Yamaha Stage Keyboards
Yamaha Electone FS300 Organ - the best sound I ever produced was pipe organ thru my cranked Marshall think Boston's Foreplay but even better
 
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I'd disagree that there aren't any better. But agree that he's phenomenal

I have too many guitars, and lots of favorite players, many already listed so I'll add some I have not seen:
SRV
Django Reihardt
Rev Gary Davis
Jason Isbell
George Benson
Peter Buck
Scotty Moore
Brian Setzer

This could go on and on.
I could add a few guitarists from the jazz world who are/awesome:
Wes Montgomery
Jim Hall
Grant Green
Pat Metheny
Kenny Burrell
Pat Martino
Tal Farlow
Jimmy Raney
Doug Raney (his son)
Herb Ellis
Barney Kessel
Ed Bickert (Canadian... played with Paul Desmond)
Jimmy Bruno
Bucky Pizzarelli
John Pizzarelli

and this could go on and on ....
 
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