Hello!
I just had nothing to do, so... Who do you think is the best blues/blues-rock guitarist ever?
B.B. King? Eric Clapton? Santana? Stevie Ray Vaughan? John Lee Hooker? Jeff Beck? Someone completly else? You decied.
Hello!
I just had nothing to do, so... Who do you think is the best blues/blues-rock guitarist ever?
B.B. King? Eric Clapton? Santana? Stevie Ray Vaughan? John Lee Hooker? Jeff Beck? Someone completly else? You decied.
I will go with Albert King as the best "original" electric blues guitarist. He seems to be the root of so much electrically. But my favorite overall for where he took it is SRV. His softer jazzier styles to his takes on the classic blues and King style licks etc.
Steve Thompson
Sun Valley, Idaho
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love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. . .
- j. johnson
Jimi Hendrix of course. Isn't that kinda obvious?
The Law of Gravity is nonsense. No such law exists. If I think I float, and you think I float, then it happens.
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I'm not a so-called purest, but when I think blues, I have to divide it up into electric/blues-rock, or pure, original blues.
For blues-rock, that would be Jimi Hendrix. He ran with it and pushed the limits like no other.
For absolute feeling in the electric blues world, Gary Moore.
For pure blues, Robert Johnson. Unlike the English invasion lads (who I love, such as Clapton, Jeff Beck, etc.), the original Delta blues was created by guys like Robert Johnson. The Chicago guys had the right feeling, but they came along later and copied/progressed upon what the first bluesmen invented. It all came from the past slave work songs they created in the fields.
I'm sure this could go much deeper, but that's not my intention here. I;m also sure I'm not 100% accurate, but you get the meaning.
Coming from a non blues fan, definitely R.L. Burnside.
I particularly love his stuff with the John Spencer Blues Explosion.
Guitars: Gibson LP Studio, MIA Fender Precision, Carvin C350Originally Posted by Spudman
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The truth is that ....No one win the contest because Music is not about being the best, all depends of personal taste and styles. To name a few I would put Albert Collins, BB King, Albert King, Robert Cray, Luther Jonhson, Jimmy Johnson, Tab Benoit, John Mooney, Son House etc....
Guitars:
1978 Fender Telecaster Thinline Custom USA, New Nash TL-72 Thinline Telecaster, 1965 Harmony Meteor, H71, 1986 Fender Telecaster Esquire MIJ, New Martin J-41 Special, 1933 National Duolian, 1941, New Eastwood Mandocaster 12 strings
Amps:
Tweed Vibrolux Custom Denis Manlay, 1976 Fender Deluxe Reverb Silverface
It's personal taste of course. Question is if the initiators are automatically the best blues guitarists....
Well, to me there's one guitarist that fascinated me more than all others. I investigated Blues history, I made up stories in my head how things could have been. The best is, at first listening I had no ear for understanding his greatness, but his records were so special that it became like an addiction listening over and over to them. I always have his songs on my MP3 player...it's like a curse :-) When I hear him play, I try to travel back in time to that lonely hotel room, where he sat and played this handful of songs....you all know who I am talking about don't ya......it's Robert Johnson of course.
"A lot of people in the industry want to blame downloading for the state of the business. But I think if most music wasn't shit to begin with people wouldn't be downloading it for free," - Corey Taylor (Slipknot)
Albert King is probably my favorite - although Buddy Guy and B. B. King are close 2nds. SRV is of course 100% awesome but I've found in listening to the old stuff that the old original players have more soul than anything that's come our way for a long time (IMHO of course).
EDIT: YIKES! How did I forget Muddy Waters???
Dave
Guitars: Ibanez AF-75, Schecter Solo-6 Custom, Douglas SG
Amps: Fender Princeton 65, Marshall AVT50
Pedals: Metal Muff, MXR Smart Gate, EHX Cathedral Reverb, Digitech RP-255
"Best" or "greatest" is impossible for something like this. How do you compare Son House with Joe Bonamassa? I always just go with "favorite." For acoustic I like Son House and Lightin' Hopkins among others. For electric I like B. B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and SRV among others. Though Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf's guitarist) needs to be mentioned.
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"I am a sworn enemy of the saccharine, and a believer in grace over karma." Bono 2001
Blind Willie Johnson
"I happen to have perfect situational awareness, Lana. Which cannot be taught, by the way. Like a poet's ... mind for ... to make the perfect words." - Sterling Archer
I m a Johnny Winter Fan ... Son House & Robert Johnson are inescapable ..
Love the Iceman Albert Collins for tone and licks also Robben Ford for the personality and colors ..
If I listen to anyone's blues it always leads me back to Jimi, he was the package. The only blues that doesn't do that to me is swamp, or jump blues, like Jimmie Vaughn's old T-Birds or James Harmon w/the late and fabulously under-mentioned Hollywood Fats/Michael Mann. SRV's pretty good too!
The Hook sez "That 'Red House', that'll make you grab your mother and choke her! Man, that's really hard, that tears you apart. He could get down, he could mash it, yeah, Lord! He had so many blues"
My Netflix today is the American Folk Blues Festival vol 1., and after watching that I might have to add Earl Hooker to the list. I highly recommend these DVDs for any fan of the blues. There are three of them, Netflix has two of them, and they are all at Amazon.
Guitars: Epiphone Les Paul Ultra; pretty red Squier Acoustic;
Amps: Vox VT30;
Pedals: Dunlop Fuzz Face; Dunlop Crybaby Wah
My kids have: Squier Affinity Stratocaster MII; Fender G-DEC; Squire Acoustic; Jay Turser Strat-copy, Roland Cube amp
"I am a sworn enemy of the saccharine, and a believer in grace over karma." Bono 2001
Yes, the Hooker bros. certainly had different takes on the blues, but they lived them and made them their own.