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There are so many to love, but my favorite is (was) Jeff Beck -- may he RIP. His "Where Were You" knocks me on my butt every time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=howz7gVecjE
Stevie Ray Vaughan's power on the strings puts him at a close second for me. His "Pride and Joy" truly rocks like rock started.
Joe Bonamassa is probably the third, especially when he's accompanied by Beth Hart, but he grabs me by the heart when solo as well.
No Good Place for the Lonely: https://youtu.be/jZmVwjkKv9c
Carlos Santana was my first exposure to guitar when I was in middle school. I saw him play "Oye Como Va" on PBS, and was totally mesmerized. https://youtu.be/J7ATTjg7tpE (Coincidently, that was where I first saw Janis Joplin, before she started rock n roll. She was playing the piano and singing a choir song with the sweetest voice I'd ever heard.)
I liked Joe Satriani's older work, but then he diverged into areas I couldn't follow. I did like his "Starry Night"" https://youtu.be/q_m0-f7N9hM
Great lists so far. Lots of deserving guitarists have been mentioned. My only slight so far with all the responses is that I am SHOCKED that only one other person mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughn. Shocked I say.
For me, and most guitarists in the rock/blues world, Stevie is THE man rated at #2 right behind Hendrix as the greatest to ever do it.
A lot of these debates revolve around who did it first vs who did it best. For instance, Jimi did a lot of things first, but for this millenial, I just simply don't care for his music - the recordings aren't good, there's not that many songs, and he's not that polished. What he is is the most overrated guitarist of all time. Likewise Jimmy Page had great guitar work, but all the covers of Lead Zepplin material are much better than the original stuff. Who thinks who is better depends on if you grew up listening to them or if you grew up when people did covers of their stuff, if you don't have nostalgia with the originals they don't sound that good.
You think all the covers of Led Zeppelin are better than the originals? Wow, that's the first time I heard that opinion.
Name a few of these covers. I've got to hear this.
Most influential is something else entirely IMHO....I believe Hendrix will keep reigning supreme there for a while longer, Eddie Van Halen and Tony Iommi were almost as important but they came later
It's all about the type of music and productions that you enjoy listening and speaks to you ...
so when you've listed a whole bunch of popular recording artists, they're gonna' be the "best" to you ...
But here's two great musicians that haven't been mentioned yet ... both, IMO, are musically head and shoulders above most of the performers mentioned so far. And to their credit, both have given much time to teaching their craft to budding artists, especially with "master class" sessions of astounding capabilities ...
Mark Knopfler
Andres Segovia
Probably could put Julian Bream up close to those two.
As well, many years ago I heard a fellow play in Boulder, CO who was the "demo" artist for NBN guitars which I understood were a custom luthier based in Boulder that catered to pro musicians. It was mentioned that he was a professor in the CU School of Music ... and while he played a bunch of "pop" music tunes to demonstrate the qualities of the guitars he was promoting, his forte was "classical" music ranging across the ages from many different cultures. Sorry, I can't remember his name, but his talent and skill far exceeded the norms of the "pop" music industry and productions.
I'd say that we all "hear" music differently. For those of us who learned to play various acoustic instruments in our school/college years, we may be hearing stuff that other folks without a musical background don't hear. So be it ... if it brings you enjoyment and you're putting your money towards the various artists ... that's what the industry is all about. Enjoy.
As others have mentioned, there's a lot of very talented musicians out there that haven't had "the break" in the industry to be more widely heard. Some of them have made a career of being session musicians ... and I've heard some of them play at talent levels that blow the doors off the "lead" stars of many commercially successful bands ... thanks to an uncle who was a sound editor in H'wood and had master original studio tapes (and a bunch of Studer and Ampex tape machines) of a lot of music for movies here in the USA and in Europe. Like so many people in the entertainment industry, my uncle ... a highly trained violinist ... pursed a career in the industry that handsomely paid his bills and allowed him to travel the world, choosing his assignments rather than competing on the concert violinist circuit. He was good enough to have been on the circuit, but he chose a route that allowed him to enjoy his music and still make a good living from his musical talents. His passion was having get-togethers with his film partners in the biz that were also very talented musicians but made their living in other aspects than concert performers; I got to listen in a couple of their live sessions at his home studio of trios and quartets that were absolutely at the top of the performances ... or some well-known in the biz but not concert performers on his Grotrian grand piano. The first time I heard Stradivarius instruments was in his home studio ... close up and personal, back in the day when they were valued but not in the stratosphere of collectability prices that they have commanded over the last few decades. Hearing that sound was the motivator and his encouragement for me to try my hand at learning to play those instruments ... where I found out as the years went by that I had little talent for it. But I did get to develop a trained ear and appreciation for those folk who can truly display real talent ....
If you have seen the movie Chariots of Fire and how the other athletes react when watching Eric Liddell run I had a similar reaction seeing Stevie Ray Vaughn on a Saturday magazine show promoting a local performance. It is hard to say how he would rank without seeing his passion first.
Pat Metheny has that he can do anything with a melody or solo. I have only heard one other player trying to play from the Metheny school after 40 years.
Al Di Meola is the super chops guy on acoustic or electric.
Ray Parker Jr as I have learned more about his early days as a Funk Brother when Motown was on the downslope from their apex he passed Nile Rogers
Most influential is something else entirely IMHO....I believe Hendrix will keep reigning supreme there for a while longer, Eddie Van Halen and Tony Iommi were almost as important but they came later
No Maiden on your greatest?
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