Rolling Stones Top 100 Guitarist of all time?

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 16 Oct 2006 3:38 pm

I certainly have heard of Quine, and I have a friend who is a big Lou Reed guy that speaks of Quine (I believe he also played with Reed for awhile)-but I guess this helps to reinforce that it wasn't a popularity contest to sell the magazine, except for the obvious presence of Jimi on the cover.

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Mark

Terry Edwards · Post by **Terry Edwards** » 16 Oct 2006 5:37 pm

I can't believe Esteban is not on that list!!!!!!

Fred Shannon · Post by **Fred Shannon** » 16 Oct 2006 6:45 pm

Anyone care to expound on the definition of "Guitarist". I guess I missed something. The only Rolling Stone I ever payed any attention to anyway was the one Dr. Hook sang---something about "the cover----".

Phred

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"From Truth, Justice is Born"--Quanah Parker-1904

[This message was edited by Fred Shannon on 16 October 2006 at 07:45 PM.]

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 16 Oct 2006 6:54 pm

I can't believe Esteban is not on that list!!!!!!

me too.

[This message was edited by Mike Shefrin on 10 November 2006 at 05:17 PM.]

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 16 Oct 2006 7:10 pm

Is he that guy who sells $100 guitars on late-night TV?

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 16 Oct 2006 8:30 pm

Even the order of the ones who made it is laughable. Considering the source, why should I be surprised?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 16 Oct 2006 8:51 pm

Jack White, but no Larry Coryel

Kurt Cobain but no John Abercrombie

Johnny Ramone, but no Adrian Belew

Who the heck is Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps????

Neil Young???? I love Neil, but not as a picker.
If he wasn't such a great songwriter singer,
most of his lead solos would have been
erased by most producers...

Julian Bream anyone!

Larry Carlton
Lee Ritnour
Alan Holdsworth
Joe Pass
Bucky Pizziarelli

And let's not forget
Steve Hackett of the early Genesis.

As original and facile a guitarist as one can imagine.

No one every sounded like him.
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 16 October 2006 at 09:52 PM.]

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 16 Oct 2006 11:25 pm

Who the heck is Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps????

Cliff Gallup is on MY top 20 list just for his intro on "Race with the Devil" and his solo on "Be Bop A Lula".
There is a story about when Gene Vincent And The Blue Caps went in to record at Capital Records for the first time. Ken Nelson was unsure of Gene's band, so he brought in Grady Martin and Hank Garland, from Nashville, for the session. Then after Cliff Gallup played his into to "Race with the Devil", Ken Nelson sent the Nashville guys back home.

Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top would also be on MY list, and he didn't make the Rolling Stone list.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Oct 2006 2:08 am

Rock guitarists, David, rock guitarists. You are mentioning some jazz guitarists in your post that weren't on the list...see my post earlier in the thread. Carlton, Ritenour, Abercrombie, Pass...

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Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 17 October 2006 at 03:11 AM.]

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 17 Oct 2006 3:44 am

I would have thought a Rock list would include Yngwe Malmstein, no? (Not my own opinion, but I thought he was supposed to be a big deal)

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 17 Oct 2006 4:34 am

Is he that guy who sells $100 guitars on late-night TV?

Yes Jim.

[This message was edited by Mike Shefrin on 10 November 2006 at 05:19 PM.]

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 17 Oct 2006 4:54 am

Mark I saw

"The 100 Greatest Guitar Players of All Times,"

Seems pretty all inclusive,
until you read the list.

John MacGlaughlin IS on the list.
That opened the door to ANY guitarist.

And since I believe he and Jimi were rehearsing an album together
when he died,
does that make Jimi a almost jazz guitarist?[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 17 October 2006 at 05:57 AM.]

Webb Kline · Post by **Webb Kline** » 17 Oct 2006 5:10 am

David, that's what i was thinking. Really McLaughlin upstaged by some of the buffoons listed on there?

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 17 Oct 2006 5:38 am

Cliff Gallup - groundbreaking player!

Albert Lee used to say that he developed his chops trying to emulate the solos from Gene Vincent records. The solo from 'Blue Jean Bop' is a bit of a challenge, too!

This list is way too subjective, obviously, but can I toss Bobby Gibbons into the mix? Great LA studio guy from the '50s....

We'd need a 'top 1000' to cover all bases!

RR

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Oct 2006 7:10 am

David-that's true-but when you think of McLaughlin, in a context which relates to rock, you also think of his association with Santana, as in the Devadip Carlos Santana era.

So John M's association with Jimi, and later Carlos Santana, not to mention his playing on Miles Davis Bitches Brew, which was probably one of the first albums that became a big seller that encompassed jazz rock fusion.

Everytime there is a thread like this on a discussion board, it always opens up the can of worms of folks naming off additional worthy favorites.

Remember, in my my earlier post, I used the word "implied" as to the list's rock content, if one were taking the all-inclusive aspect literally, then it goes without saying that Chet Atkins should be on there, at or near the very top.

Shoot-I never worked for Rolling Stone, so I have no clue what their frame of reference was, but one would have to believe that the list centers around rock.

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Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 17 October 2006 at 08:49 AM.][This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 18 October 2006 at 02:12 PM.]

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Oct 2006 7:39 am

Okay, fellas, I just found my copy of the magazine.

Had topic starter Kenny Burford been able to provide this information, this would be a very different thread.

Here is how they introduce the article on the table of contents page:

"THE 100 GREATEST GUITARISTS"

"It's the list that launched a thousand arguments: David Gilmour's too low! Kirk Hammett's too high! Who's Hubert Sumlin? (You really owe it to yourself to find out.) Here they are, the hundred guitarists that the rock world couldn't live without, complete with each one's essential work. Complainers, take your best shots."

The hundred guitarists that the ROCK world couldn't live without-and at the end of the article, on the page about Hendrix (which was written by Pete Townshend), they provide the web link with the following verbiage: "YOUR GREATEST GUITARIST...Don't agree with our list? Vote for your favorite at rollingstone.com/greatestguitarist."

Oh-I like a passage from the Townshend piece that was highlighted in larger print: "With Jimi, I didn't have any envy. I never had any sense I could come close."

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Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 17 October 2006 at 08:46 AM.]

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 17 Oct 2006 9:37 am

Mark if this was opend to jazz rock fusion, then all these other cats fit too.

I thought after Caravan Serai,
Carlos went to MacGlaughlin territory,
and not the other way round.

I also know Chester and Lester put Chet in with Les Paul,
and that certainly quailfies as great guitar playing.

If Charlie Christian was Rock,
then I am Porky Pig.
I sure do dig those Benny Goodman small groups with Christian.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Oct 2006 10:15 am

David-I was only trying to get inside the heads of the Rolling Stone editorial staff, whose philosophy behind the article should now be pretty apparent given my previous post.

Obviously, to use one of your favorite guitarists (and mine) as an example, Joe Pass never had either of his feet planted in the rock world in the way that John McLaughlin did, hence the magazine's inclusion of John (regardless of how Carlos and John got together).

The guitarist ranked at number 98, Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer, couldn't carry the gig bag for someone like Joe Pass, but he was included for the following reasons: "Back in 1968, before heavy metal had a name, Stephens was shredding eardrums with the psychedelic trio Blue Cheer. The group bragged of being the loudest in the world, and Stephens' molten solos epitomize Sixties rock at its most untethered and abandoned."

I know-I saw them play twice-not on purpose-I remember they were a group on multi-band bills. I don't know if my ears ever did really recover!

I wouldn't walk across the street now to see Leigh Stephens, the way he played back in the early Blue Cheer days (since we have such a diverse group here, no doubt someone is going to jump in who was a friend of Leigh Stephens and explain that Leigh had a geat career after Blue Cheer playing jazz clubs and became known as a stellar jazz player-LOL), but his effect on the forthcoming metal era surely was influential.

In my opinion, the title of the article would have been more appropriately written as "The 100 Most Influential Guitarists On Rock Music Of All Time."

Robert Johnson was not a rock guitarist either, but his INFLUENCE on the future music form was certainly huge.

But if a Rolling Stone staffer walked into Jann Wenner's office with a title like that in hand, he would have either laughed him out of the room, or fired him.

"Go back to your desk and come up with something shorter and catchier-we're in the business of selling magazines here, not a freakin' masters thesis!"

And as some of you no doubt remember-it was pre internet days of discussions like we are having here that helped give rise to the whole punk rock movement, hence the inclusion of Johnny Ramone at number 16.

Johnny hated guitar solos!

Oh-the Charlie Christian reference went over my head-I don't believe Charlie was included on the list.

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Mark
<[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 17 October 2006 at 11:55 AM.]

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 17 Oct 2006 10:21 am

I know-I saw them play twice-not on purpose-I remember they were a group on multi-band bills.

I also heard them once, but not on purpose: I was in the next county!

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 17 Oct 2006 10:45 am

lol

[This message was edited by Mike Shefrin on 17 October 2006 at 11:47 AM.]

Gene H. Brown · Post by **Gene H. Brown** » 17 Oct 2006 3:53 pm

You have to remember where these people that do these surveys are coming from. First of all, they don't know squat about what they are talking about because 99.9% of them are not musicians and think they know everything about music, second , they are very narrow minded and would automatically vote for someone they grew up listening too, not even knowing what it takes to be a great guitar player and last , but not least, they are getting payed to so something that they have no credentials to be doing, sort of like your great movie critics, they only know what they like to see and hear.
I hope they all come after me, I would like to tell them to their face what I think of them.
Gene

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 17 Oct 2006 5:34 pm

Someone once said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture...

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 17 Oct 2006 5:51 pm

I've said that a bunch of times-wish I'd made it up...

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Mark

Tay Joslin · Post by **Tay Joslin** » 18 Oct 2006 6:53 am

DON RICH COULD'VE SHOWN HALF OF THOSE ROCKERS A FEW LICKS ON HIS TELECASTER AND THEIR JAWS WOULD'VE BEEN ON THE FLOOR! What about Carl Perkins, too? I place little faith in the opinions of others, especially those pill-heads who contribute to lists like these. We shouldn't get our tail feathers ruffled over garbage like this; we are in a totally separate breed from the Wild World of Rock.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 18 Oct 2006 7:49 am

Then the other half of those rockers would be the first to tell you that the best pickers in the world can be found in Nashville (not that Don or Carl are identified with Nashville per se, but you get my drift).

I have read interviews with guys like Keith Richards and Pete Townshend that have acknowledged the greatness of the top Nashville guys. I read an article about Eddie Van Halen, where the author was spending time with Eddie in an L.A. studio, and they went down the hall to check out Albert Lee who was doing some recording, and I recall that the author referred to Eddie's jaw dropping while checking out Albert on the Tele.

Mark Knopfler idolized Chet Atkins,and he and Chet became good friends, and they went on to make a couple of CD's together.

Since I found my copy of the magazine, I read some of the profiles in the article written by the "pill poppers," and these guys were right on the money about a lot of these guitarists.

Criticizing the article without having even actually having read some of it doesn't strike me as being very fair.

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Mark
[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 18 October 2006 at 08:54 AM.]