But at least I can always back up my statements.

Crapton sucks because:

1. He only knows a single scale. A half century of pitiful playing, and he has never been able to even learn a second one.

2. Most great songs people associate with Crapton, have other guitarists actually playing the difficult parts.

3. He has never written a hit song. All covers or written for him, with himself added on as co-writer so he can slurp half the royalties on the back end.

Yep, even Tears In Heaven was written by Bill Jennings

4. Crapton only spent a single day with his 4 year old son before he died.

Had no problem cashing in on his death for 40 years after

5. Brags about raping women

6. Crazy ass racist (Google "Clapton racist rant" from Rolling Stone website NSFW)

7. Sells a signature guitar named **Blackie** (my phone won't even let me type it in, lol)

8. Enjoyed putting a nude 11 year old girl on the cover of his album holding a phallus

-

Only good thing he did was cause Rock Against Racism to be created because of him

Crapton is the worst

There are a lot of great guitarists from the jazz fusion tradition. I’d add Al Di Meola, John Scofield, and Larry Carlton as just a few more out of many such.

Jaco Pastorius for bass, and Stanley Clarke.

I think most of my favorites have already been mentioned except for some of the great blues guitarists like Albert King, Albert Collins, BB King, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Johnny Winter.

I agree, and add Larry Coryell to that list.

You forgot the worst guitar crime of them all.......

He does not use his pinkie finger.

"Among God's creatures two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes, in order not to be separated from the man."

Andres Segovia

No such thing. But the greatest drummer was Buddy Rich.

1. Clapton (and Hendrix) introduced the blueprint for the rock guitar sound.
2. Did John Mayall or The Yardbirds want Clapton in their group because he sucked?
3. Who are all those other guitar players playing the "difficult parts" on the four Cream records? From the looks of things, the one and only guitarist
on all those recordings was Eric Clapton. And there was nothing even remotely sounding like the guitar work in Cream when they came out in
1966? All the other mainsteam, bombastic bluesy "Guitar Gods" didn't release their first records until 1967 or later.
4. So, it's safe to say that Clapton's playing has inspired and informed other guitarists, who all sound like him, not the other way
around.
5. He is the only 3 time member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (certainly not the be all, end all, but shows that he has the respect of his peers).
6. John Lennon wanted him to join The Beatles if George didn't come back.
7. Put together the Concert for George after George's passing. It is the greatest dedication concert ever put on tape, in my opinion.
8. What 60's-80's rock star didn't have his way with women? Whatever he had, I'm sure Mick Jagger had more. If he was bragging about anything
non-consensual, of course that's not acceptable.
9. Has apologized for racist comments. Don't know what else someone is supposed to do. Besides, we're debating "greatest guitarist", not highest
morals.

Hendrix has not yet been topped in my mind.

But I’m not dead yet.

I liked Eddie a lot too. But Hendrix surpasses both him and randy Rhodes in my mind.

Layla…hmm that reminds me of someone who played on that song, Duane Allman, who I don’t think was mentioned yet. He was pretty damn awesome, especially on slide.

Absolutely ROCKS! Hendrix himself said Terry was the best!

I get off more on great rhythm guitar and riffs than solos or shredding. I can listen to EVH play rhythm guitar all day, same with Pete Townshend. Just watched an old Black Crowes concert from the early 90s and had forgotten how much I liked Rich Robinson’s playing. Marc Ford played almost all the solos while he just stood there and riffed away.

Edit: Jimi was an other-worldly rhythm guy too… yikes

I have been to 3 shows seeing slash play, and to me seeing him play live is amazing.

Agree 100% on Prince. Not only was he the greatest guitarist that ever lived he might just be the best overall musician period. He could play all of the other instruments masterfully. When I was in college I would watch him rehearse at Paisley Park regularily and some nights he would rehearse the same song over and over playing a different instrument each time. Drums, keyboards, bass.... he played all of the parts. Most nights he wouldn't come out to perform until after 2a.m. and by the time he was done playing the sun would be up. Its crazy the amount of music he has written and recorded that hasn't been released. They'll be pulling new songs out of the vault for a long time to come.

I can’t believe it took page 3 for Slash to finally get some love. If you get a chance to see his solo band live, please treat yourself!!

Jaco, greatest bass player of all time, Hendricks greatest guitarist of all time

Who is the greatest Theorbo player?

Sandy Nelson.

LTG : )

Phil Keaggy

My top 5
1. Albert King
2. Carlos Santana
3. Mark Knopfler
4. Robert Johnson
5. Paco de Lucia

Dimebag Darrell

Adam Jones

Came here to post that dimebag video, don't think there is truly a way to determine the GOAT guitar player, but he's my personal choice.

Ah, I was unaware of UK law.

So if Mick Jagger was a rapist, then it's legal for Crapton to rape.

Gotcha.

I might be a little biased but I’m a Robert Fripp fan.

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Steve Rothery of Marillion might be the most underrated.

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Made with a special blend of herbs and spices.

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Joe Bonamassa...smooth as silk

And no one mentions Derek Trucks ? What’s going on here? If you don’t know who he is, you should.

Yes, Danny Gatton. Was going to post him. Tragic ending sadly.

Susanna Hoffs

The question was “who looks greatest with a guitar” right?

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As an “alternative” (ha!) to the metal and blues shredders:

Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd,
Television “Marquee Moon”:

Bob Mould,
Sugar “Copper Blue” (just play the whole album, not a single filler track):

There is just simply too many to name that are GREAT players…From Slash to Dimebag etc…Where does Angus fit…clear distinct sound and style…you know it’s AC/DC in the first 5 seconds or sooner. Malcom was a solid rhythm guitarist. So now you can start another list of best rhythm guitarists.

Don't forget Ted The Sledge Nugent...

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Absolutely tragic loss, and it’s painful to juxtapose the joy in his playing with that reality.

Roy Buchanan was similarly talented and met a similarly tragic demise:

Rory Gallagher, Roy Buchanan, Duane Allman we’re all amazing guitarists

Clapton doesn’t even belong in this discussion for best players. All these. Brits from the late 50’s/60’s knew each other….only a few are actually GREAT musicians. They just happened to be in bands and wrote great songs…the Beatles were not great musicians by any means but they could write good songs. Jeff Beck is probably the best guitarist out of that era. Clapton’s playing in Cream was nothing special…simple blues/rock for the most part. Great use of effects pedals and distortion/fuzz thrown in on occasion worked well to give depth to a 3 piece band. To me some of the drumming by Ginger Baker really stand out…another drummer worthy of discussing.

At least no one listed Kirk Hammett. Thank goodness. Way overrated. Vibrato is terrible. And he has a wah pedal stuck to the bottom of his foot........

While not the “best” player ever the opening riff to Cat Scratch Fever is possibly the best rock riff ever….I will give him that. He is good but far from the best.

Never heard of him before, but I'm really liking his style. Thanks for posting his name and that video!

Robin Trower added a couple of notes to the minor scale, and became the evil Jimi Hendrix.

Bridge of Sighs

And Roy Buchannen.
Anyone interested, check out this DVD 'Anacostia Delta, the legend of DC's Telemasters'.
https://jazzguitartoday.com/2020/08/documentary-film-anacostia-delta-the-legacy-of-dcs-telemasters/

Ha I was going to say that. I do like Marty Friedman, man his Megadeth stuff is awesome.

I really liked Robin Trower. I posted this before, but I saw him in concert at a small venue and I stood about 8 feet from him in front, AND, the biggest speaker was about 12 feet away. It was awesome, but my ears rang for days afterward. I think it is more than likely that my hearing in the upper range these days is not great because of that one.

Dang, I love the internet. I found that concert! It was 4/24/76. I remember that Gary Wright played before Trower, he was OK, he had that one song Dreamweaver. I have zero memory of Status Quo playing.

I also saw Blue Oyster Cult there, not sure if it was the 77 or 78 concert.

I fucked up though, I was living near there at the time, I should have got my ass over there for many more, if you look at the list on that link:

Johnny Winter and Ted Nugent, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, dammit what was I thinking? JUDAS PRIEST?!?!? Christ. (I did see ZZ Top at another venue at least).

https://rocktourdatabase.com/venues/swing-auditorium

EDIT I should add, I didn't make it to CA until Summer 72, so the stuff before that I would not have had a chance. But wow, in that small venue, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin. AND, Jimi Hendrix. Unbelievable. (another edit, Hendrix played there June 20, 1970. 3 months later, he was gone. Damn.)

You didn't quote the rest of the comment, "If he was bragging about anything non-consensual, of course that's not acceptable." Women threw themselves at these guys. Everyone knows that. And where's the quote about him supposedly bragging about raping women? Of course, nothing is beyond the realm of possibility, but you are prone to making things up.

I had the privilege of seeing Roy Buchanan perform on multiple occasions, the highlight was a small venue in Denver. He signed my Telecaster during a break and invited me backstage. We visited until it was time for his next set. Before going back on stage, he grabbed my guitar and added ‘your friend’ above his signature. He was a nice man and brilliant guitarist.

There is NO consensual rape.

None.

Quit trying to defend the indefensible

It's in the Spew Testament (aka his autobiography), but for those who don't follow the word of their god, he also has said he thought it was his entitlement to constantly rape his wife:

https://apnews.com/article/314a3a689dd3e15ebbc8d567dfadb06f

Probably need to narrow down or categorize the type of guitarists. Fun reading through the thread and seeing everyone's opinion.

Personally, I'm a big fan of The Edge (U2) and the unique effects sounds he's brought to the instrument, Jack White is good, and I enjoyed Kurt Cobain's playing (probably couldn't call any of these "the greatest", but they all have their uniqueness and brought their own sound to Rock). While I don't really listen to it much there are some fantastic classical guitarists, Country music has some greats (both old country and new), blues guitarists (don't know much about this genre, but could listen to BB King all day), and there are some excellent studio guitarists.

If you've not seen it, the 2008 electric guitar virtuosos documentary "It Might Get Loud" is well worth the watch (features two of my favorites, and Jimmy is not bad either):

I have figured out who the greatest guitarist EVER was, at least from the perspective of electric guitar/blues/rock/metal etc etc. Unfortunately, he is the Unknown Guitarist who we all worship but will never know who he was.

Most likely a dude, but we will never know his name. Probably some time in the later 1800s in the Deep South of the USA, this guy was sitting there with a guitar, jamming to various songs of the time, probably based on older African music which morphed into slave chants, and he figured out how to put the pentatonic scale with a I-IV-V chord progression, and added a nifty turnaround at the end and some lyrics about the hard life of the time, and created the very first blues song.

And then, all the rest that happened after sprung from that...