Alive or dead, who is your favorite guitarist?

Quote by Luvs2fucksluttywomen

One everyone failed to mention - Carlos Santana. Europa made me want to play guitar.

Stevie Ray Vaughn, hands down, any genre you want he could play it and hotter than anybody, overall the best most accomplished guy on a guitar EVER

Quote by Luvs2fucksluttywomen

One everyone failed to mention - Carlos Santana. Europa made me want to play guitar.

I don't like all of Santana's music, but for me, Abraxas is still the #1 guitar record of all time. No one beats Santana's playing on that record, not even Carlos himself.

Someone else mentioned Sonic Youth and while they don't have the technical talent of Hendrix, I'd say they were equally innovative in the way they approach the instrument. Big fan of theirs since I was in high school.

Lately, I've been really appreciating Link Wray who made a hell of a racket, and was probably the great god-father of grunge (well before Neil Young was on the scene, who is another favorite guitarist of mine).

And something I've just been discovering is Tuareg Desert Rock from Africa. No idea what they're singing about, but the playing is excellent. Check out Mdou Moctar, Tinariwen, and Bombino (to start):

And then there's this space-metal band from France called Slift:

This list could go on forever. So much great music still going on these days if you put in a bit of effort to search it out. As the saying goes, Rock's not dead, it just smells a bit funny.

Too many genres of music to claim just one person. Gotta break it down.

Quote by Antonio2025

Too many genres of music to claim just one person. Gotta break it down.

Agreed. I have very broad tastes in music and therefore in guitarists. If I did a list it would probably be heavy on the blues end of rock because I like that sound for some reason but then you would have prog guitarists like Howe and Gilmour who lean into more of a jazz or sometimes even classical influenced sound. Or modern metal players who often hew to that diverse prog sound as to the bluesier one of early heavy metal players like Iommi and Blackmore. It is incredible how much great and diverse music has come out of that one instrument.