Rank of Electric Guitarists

[Wolfman]

What about Alex Lifeson?

[Xtazy]

+1 for Chuck Berry.

[Electrophile]

I'm still putting Joe Walsh out there for consideration. All my previous evidence for why he should be Top 10 at the least are on this page.

[Levee]

Much like most pioneers of the electric guitar, the good ones or most influencial made the guitars sing. At the top of that list I would have to say BB King. I believe he invented the sound of Rock and Roll more than Chuck Berry.

I would say that all of the list so far would site BB as a main influence.

+1 BB.KING

[Xtazy]

I believe he invented the sound of Rock and Roll more than Chuck Berry.

Wha'???

[Deborah J]

#1 - Jimi Hendrix.

#2 - Jimmy Page.

#3 - Eddie Van Halen.

#4 - Jeff Beck.

#5 - Eric Clapton.

#6 - David Gilmour.

#7 - Duane Allman.

For me:

#8 BB King

#9 Stevie Ray Vaughan

#10 Chuck Berry

#11 Robert Johnson

[Levee]

Wha'???

Yes. This is a IMO thread and IMO I believe that BB was a better player and singer.

I'm not bashing Chuck it's just a matter of chosing one over the other.

[Zep 4 Life]

Thanks Deb for re-mentioning BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

For now I have to think who to vote for, for number 8.

For me I think it's gonna come down to Jerry Garcia, Stevie Ray Vaughn and BB King.

Frank Zappa should also be coming up soon.

Along with Joe Walsh, Tony Iommi, and others mentioned above.

[Deborah J]

Thanks Deb for re-mentioning BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

For now I have to think who to vote for, for number 8.

For me I think it's gonna come down to Jerry Garcia, Stevie Ray Vaughn and BB King.

Frank Zappa should also be coming up soon.

Along with Joe Walsh, Tony Iommi, and others mentioned above.

Zep 4 Life and Levee, Thanks for the BB King support. I can't believe we are at #8:-)...almost to 10!!!

[tom kid]

Mclaughlin for 8, although in my opinion he should still be higher.

[Swede]

Indeed, it's time for B.B. to enter this list. But I must insist that both Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher should be above SRV in a list like this. Johnny Winter is a freak on guitar.

[tom kid]

Indeed, it's time for B.B. to enter this list. But I must insist that both Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher should be above SRV in a list like this. Johnny Winter is a freak on guitar.

Winter is devastating. Just got my hands on the San Diego '74 boot. Hey Joe is incendiary!

[Swede]

Winter is devastating. Just got my hands on the San Diego '74 boot. Hey Joe is incendiary!

Nice, never heard the San Diego boot. I've got Johnny Winter And Live from 1971 and Captured Live. The first mentioned is amazing.

Solo part starts around 2:35 and then slide part around 4:20, you'll understand what tom kid and I am speaking about..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbFAEw_Foqw

[tom kid]

Nice, never heard the San Diego boot. I've got Johnny Winter And Live from 1971 and Captured Live. The first mentioned is amazing.

Solo part starts around 2:35 and then slide part around 4:20, you'll understand what tom kid and I am speaking about..

Check ya messages.

[SelfDevouringSnake]

Sorry I missed last Saturday, I'll be back on with #10 tomorrow. Been busy.

[Poindexter]

Johnny Winter has to be somewhere in the the Top 20.

I passed through the Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas area yesterday and thought of Johnny and Janis.

I saw a frail Johnny play a few years ago. Although he had to sit, he can still bring it.

Talk about chained blue lightning and spider-monkey fingers, I bet he can reach across 6 frets.

I just love his Erlewine Lazer guitar, another Texas original.

My personal favorite.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Npfn9UxBiSY

[dazedcat]

Johnny Winter needs to be on the list, I agree. God rest SRV but......Johnny Winter was the original.

Regards;

[SelfDevouringSnake]

I missed yesterday as well. I've been busy, but now I have the time. The selection and write-up will follow.

[SelfDevouringSnake]

I've missed the deadline by three days, but I'm still alive. B.B. King has won by a good portion. He is the first guitarist on the list who could be called blues with little hesitation (note that Hendrix, Page, Van Halen, Beck, Clapton, Gilmour, and Allman are all influenced by the blues in various degrees). Although starting with the choice of Hendrix as the supreme electric guitarist, it was obvious that this list was going to have a lot of rock, this list will accept an electric guitarist regardless of genre. This might be an area of some dispute, but the list will stay like this.

My personal choice for #8 would have been Jerry Garcia. I have no idea where the first blues player on my list would be, so it's probably a good thing that this thread is evaluating the opinions of multiple people.

#8 - Riley "B.B." King.

King is a bluesman, and undoubtedly one of the true greats. Although to declare him "King of the Blues" would be rash, he's a big-time contender, and one of the purest and most influential blues players to grace music. Riley King was born in Mississippi and started playing guitar in his youth. He moved to Memphis where he served at an R&B radio station. There, he met blues legend T-Bone Walker, who inspired him to buy an electric guitar. It was also there that he became known as the "Beale Street Blues Boy", which was shortened to B.B.. Gaining local popularity, King began to play the clubs. King's guitar, Lucille in all its various incarnations, was named after a woman, but not a woman that King is thought to have known: while playing in a venue in the south, two men fought over this woman, knocked over a barrel of kerosene, resulting in the death of two people. King ran out of the building, and, realizing he forgot his guitar, ran back in to get it. King then named his guitar Lucille to remind himself not to do stupid things (for example, fighting over a woman and running into a burning building). King played through "the Chitlin Circuit", a series of venues in the south for African-American R&B players. He gained fame as a player with a distinctive, moaning style which incorporated vibrato, recording a great number of hits throughout the '50s. In the early '60s, he signed onto a company which was bought by MCA (though King has never been particularly picky about labels). King was solidified as a major blues guitarist with the release of Live at the Regal, one of the greatest live blues albums ever. This status led to a Grammy for "The Thrill Is Gone". Although King never dabbled heavily in blues-derived music, sticking to the source, he has collaborated with a huge number of musicians, including fellow bluesmen Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Gary Moore, John Mayall, John Mayer, and even U2. In 1980, King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He remains a public figure, and has appeared on commercials increasing awareness of diabetes. King has toured long and wide throughout his life, and will always be respected amongst those who still have the blues.

#8 - Riley "B.B." King - "The Thrill Is Gone".

"The Thrill Is Gone" can be called B.B. King's signature song, and includes all the technique he is known for. I hate to choose the song that everybody associates with King, but I'd have to choose this over his earlier work (mind that I'm choosing this over about 100 blues standards that he's written or popularized). It's more polished, and the polish goes to show how raw he is.

Rank of Electric Guitarists

#1 - Jimi Hendrix.

#2 - Jimmy Page.

#3 - Eddie Van Halen.

#4 - Jeff Beck.

#5 - Eric Clapton.

#6 - David Gilmour.

#7 - Duane Allman.

#8 - B.B. King.

I'll be honest, it's weird to see King as #8, after seven rock guitarists. Oh well, the list is based on subjectivity anyway. If we're going to have a list titled "Rank of Electric Guitarists", I'll be damned if I'm going to exclude someone just because the first seven were rock. Blues, rock, metal: it's all music anway you put it.

[SelfDevouringSnake]

I know this is probably mostly my fault because I missed last week, but since nobody's commented since I put B.B. King on the list, I'm going to wait another Saturday before I make another selection, even though there is adequate feedback prior to King's selection to make a choice.

[chef free]

Three possible choices:

Frank Zappa

Chuck Berry

Jerry Garcia

[SelfDevouringSnake]

Three possible choices:

Frank Zappa

Chuck Berry

Jerry Garcia

Very apt of you. I think I could have chosen Berry or Garcia today without gripes from anybody (my personal choice is between them, and I'm betting that one of them is going to take the rank), and Zappa has also gained considerable support. Still, I don't feel comfortable without recent input.

Again this is my fault for not consistently appearing on Saturdays and sometimes not contributing my opinion.

[Rock N' Rollin' Man]

I'll go with Tony Iommi followed by Frank Zappa.

[Electrophile]

I'm still keeping Joe Walsh's name out there.

[Deborah J]

Great to see BB make the list:-) Here are my next choices:

#9 Stevie Ray Vaughan

#10 Chuck Berry

#11 Robert Johnson