Most impressive guitar playing you ever witnessed?

[Robert****]

So what is the most impressive guitar playing you ever witnessed in person?

For me, I would have to say seeing Allan Holdsworth live. His technique is min blowing. He is so advanced musically too. In fact, so advanced that I sometimes get bored of his playing... because he plays so many notes and the harmonic complexity is often beyond my understanding... in other words - I sometimes don't get it. I suspect I'm not alone there, but he sure is impressive and inspiring for me to listen to, in the right amounts.

I would have to mention John Scofield too. His improvisation skills are incredible. Seeing him live is incredibly inspiring, from the improvisation perspective.

[Beerman***]

I've seen many of the greats from the 70's....Led Zep, Deep Purple, Clapton, and others but I really continually get blown away by 2 almost totally different guitarists. Alex Lifeson from Rush who I have followed and watch grow tremendously since the first 2 albums. And, believe it or not, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. He's not one you would usually list as he keeps it simple but the feeling he puts into it and the emotion that comes out of it (to me anyway) is just something that I very much enjoy.
There are some good slashers but I'm not into that. Even though some have the technique down, sometimes, the simpler the better.
And, let's not forget that there's so much more to playing guitar than lead solos. Jimmy Page and Alex Lifeson can do some nice classical stuff.

Just thought of 1 more who I've seen 3 times...Steve Howe from Yes. Amazing!
Can't wait to hear who other posters have enjoyed.

[Heywood Jablomie]

Santana back in the early 70s - as good as it gets. And I saw Adrian Legg a couple times at the Tin Angel in Philly - a great player and storyteller.

[Rx Tone]

Jeff Beck.

Johnny Winter.

The best I've ever seen.

[Beerman***]

Jeff Beck.

Johnny Winter.

The best I've ever seen.

Did you see Johnny Winter at the Warehouse? Not sure how old you are but I do remember (barely) seeing him there I think in the early 70's.

[Katastrophe]

Sat in a guitar clinic w/ Scott Henderson back around '91 or '92. He showed us a bunch of concepts that were waaaaaaaaaaay over my head then, and still are now. He played a few tunes with some local musicians, and just floored me.

[Robert****]

Sat in a guitar clinic w/ Scott Henderson back around '91 or '92. He showed us a bunch of concepts that were waaaaaaaaaaay over my head then, and still are now. He played a few tunes with some local musicians, and just floored me.

Cool! Scott is my favorite guitar player, together with Sco! I'm actually buying some lessons from Scott in January. I hope to see him at NAMM too, in January.

I saw Tribal Tech live once, and that was incredibly cool. The sound was just so-so that time, but still fantastic music of course. Tribal Tech was the coolest fusion-jazz band ever, if you don't count Weather Report.

[Katastrophe]

Got to chat with him for a while, too... He was very gracious to a noob that didn't know his arse from a hole in the ground. I remember that he took time out of the clinic to make fun of sweeping. Quite funny.

[Spudman***]

John Petrucci and Chris Duarte. Chris live is much more intense than on his albums, plus he has a ton of Jazz and fusion chops that never make it to his records and he pulls those off live.

John, of course, is flawless.

[Tig***]

In person, Randy Rhoads, early 1982 just before his death. I've seen several other greats, but that sticks out in my memory as the most impressive.

That same night, a teen shredder named Darrell Abbott of a local Dallas group, Pantera, opened for UFO and Ozzy Osbourne. He was just getting his chops.

I have also have seen Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Carlos Santana, David Gilmour, Alex Lifeson, Taj Majal, Steve Howe, Ted Nugent, Prince, Tom Scholz, Neal Schon, and Frank Zappa, so Randy is in pretty good company to come out ahead!

Edit: Add Rick Nielsen, Eddie Van Halen, and The Billy Gibbons to the list!

[Beerman***]

Forgot about Neal Schon who I've seen with Journey a few times. A bit stuck on himself but didn't he play during his skipping out of high school days with Santana? Seem to remember reading that somewhere.

[sunvalleylaw]

Hmm, once I was so into myself and my own guitar playing I drooled on my guitar.

But really, I have not seen a lot of guitar heros playing. Maybe Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi playing, or maybe Tony Furtado live. He is pretty impressive. And Carlos Santana in 1988, "opening" for the Dead was impressive too. Not a shredder by any means, but his control, vibrato, tone, etc. was impressive.

[NWBasser]

I've seen many of the greats from the 70's....Led Zep, Deep Purple, Clapton, and others but I really continually get blown away by 2 almost totally different guitarists. Alex Lifeson from Rush who I have followed and watch grow tremendously since the first 2 albums. And, believe it or not, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. He's not one you would usually list as he keeps it simple but the feeling he puts into it and the emotion that comes out of it (to me anyway) is just something that I very much enjoy.
There are some good slashers but I'm not into that. Even though some have the technique down, sometimes, the simpler the better.
And, let's not forget that there's so much more to playing guitar than lead solos. Jimmy Page and Alex Lifeson can do some nice classical stuff.

Just thought of 1 more who I've seen 3 times...Steve Howe from Yes. Amazing!
Can't wait to hear who other posters have enjoyed.

Nice list Beerman!

A big +1 to Lifeson. I've seen him many times and am always impressed.

A friend of mine since childhood is an amazing guitarist. Watching him play Medditeranean Sunrise was one of the most impressive pieces I've ever witnessed.

[duhvoodooman***]

Two come immediately to mind:

(1) Any of the three live acoustic performances I've seen of Woke Up Dreaming by Joe Bonamassa. As amazing an electric guitar player as Joe is, it's an entire auditorium of jaws on the floor when he performs this number. Check it out on YouTube.

(2) Back in the early '80s, I had a chance to see Steve Morse with the Dregs at a small club in Albany NY shortly before the band split up. The guy is just astonishing. He did a couple of chicken-pickin' infused country-based instrumentals that were just plain scary. For somebody to be able to play that fast and that clean is almost beyond comprehension. Mine, at least.

[duhvoodooman***]

Forgot about Neal Schon who I've seen with Journey a few times. A bit stuck on himself but didn't he play during his skipping out of high school days with Santana? Seem to remember reading that somewhere.

Yes, he was with the band on the third and fourth Santana albums, and then left with Gregg Rolie to form a band initially called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section, which morphed into Journey.

You can hear his guitar work in the well-known Santana song Everybody's Everything. His solo starts at about 2:20:

[Tig***]

Forgot about Neal Schon who I've seen with Journey a few times. A bit stuck on himself but didn't he play during his skipping out of high school days with Santana? Seem to remember reading that somewhere.

I saw Journey open for Santana back in '75 or '76 when I was a kid in 6th grade. Saw them/him again 2 years ago, with Heart and Cheap Trick.

[syo***]

Richard Thompson, either acoustic or electric, is amazing. First time I saw him at the Coach House (San Juan Capistrano, CA?) I was blown away. Tastefully playing bass, rhythm and lead lines simultaneously. Brilliant song writer as well.

[jpfeifer]

For me I think that it happened a few different times. I call these moments "guitar burning moments" because they usually make me want to go home and throw my guitars in the fireplace, and give it up :-) However, lately they mostly just inspire me to keep going.

The first time it happened was when I was in high school and I saw Al Dimeola when he was touring for the Casino album. I was amazed that anyone could get to that level at all. It sounded like a machine was playing a Les Paul through a Marshall stack.

The second time was in the early 80's when Eric Johnson's band gave a free concert at the University where I was attending. There were about 15 people in the audience, and nobody had ever heard of him. He was even doing his own roadie duties, putting his equipment into the back of a U-haul after the show, and I got to talk with him for a while. I'd never seen anybody who could mix that many styles and do them all so incredibly well.

Then I saw Steve Morse play with the Dixie Dregs at a small bar and that blew my mind again. His technique was amazing and he was extremely fluid. He made it look very easy.

Lately, it seems harder for me to get completely blown away by somebody after seeing so many great players over the years, but I was pretty impressed with Andreas Oberg when I saw him in a small club recently in Germany.

--Jim

[Algonquin]

In person, Randy Rhoads

Similar to Tig, I saw Randy Rhoads back in the summer of '81 and it was a thrill for me then. I had floor seats at Maple Leaf Gardens about the 12th row or so... he was a guitar god to a young fellow like myself at the time.