The friday five

[ericcoleman]

Top Five Favorite Rock Guitarists
1 - Pete Townsend - The Who
2 - Zal Cleminson - The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3 - Paul Weller - The Jam
4 - Richard Thompson
5 - Johnny Ramone - The Ramones

Comments

[ramchip.livejournal.com]

For pure technical brilliance, I have to add Joe Satriani to that list

[ericcoleman]

technical yes, brilliance ... no ... I find him totally and completely dull. Speed for no other reason than speed.

[mike46.livejournal.com]

Good list. There is no way I could narrow it down to a firm 5, because my favorite could change depending on what cd or album or song I'm listening to.

The best I could do is - in no particular order -

1 - Pete Townsend - for his amazing rhythm playing
2 - Tony Iommi - because he's a riff-monster
3 - Zakk Wylde - because noone does harmonics like Zakk
4 - Gary Moore - master of bluesy hard rock
5 - Angus Young - cause he's Angus

There are, of course, many many more guitarists who deserve to be on this list.

[ericcoleman]

I like Zakk better as a sideman than solo ...

And I'm listening to Rory Gallagher right now, who Gary Moore would like to be when he grows up

[mike46.livejournal.com]

Well I was thinking strictly as a guitarist, not as solo/sideman.

And Rory is unbelievable. If I listed all the guitar slingers I like\was influenced by, that would take a BIG list. That was what I came up with off the top of my head.

[ericcoleman]

He's always seemed more inspired when he is backing someone else up ...

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Mark Knoffler (Dire Straits)
Walter Becker (Steely Dan)

[ericcoleman]

The best guitar playing on the Steely Dan records are generally someone else other than Walter ...

I've been listening to a LOT of Mark lately

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, Steve Howe, Jimmy Page, Joe Walsh.

[ericcoleman]

Two of my pet peeves there ... Howe and Page ... how can two such fine players be able to suck so badly live?

Joe may make my great underrated list ...

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Page frequently did by being plastered out of his gourd. The only live show I've ever seen of Howe was a relatively recent one and he did a fine job.

[ericcoleman]

Listen to Yessongs ... he keeps getting ahead of himself ... back in the 70s anyway he would frequently try to play things just too damn fast

[hardly-angelic.livejournal.com]

My top five, after excluding the usual suspects (Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Beck, Morse and Van Halen):

John Sykes
Neal Schon
Tony Iommi
Mick Ronson
Steve Hunter/Dick Wagner (Fuck Joe Perry and Brad Whitford - the best Aerosmith album for guitar is Get Your Wings - which mostly is courtesy of Hunter and Wagner. Add in their Lou Reed and Alice Cooper stuff, and it's a no-brainer for me.)

Honorable mentions: Earl Slick and Paul Gilbert

[ericcoleman]

I can deal with the rest ... but Neil Schlong ??? ewwwwwwwwwwww

[hardly-angelic.livejournal.com]

*shrug* Ever listen to the Late Nite album? How about Untold Passion (if you can get past the Jan Hammer wankery)? I also have a healthy amount of love for the first two Journey albums. Needless to say, I have a commensurate amount of revulsion for the Steve Perry as Lead Weasel years.

Actually, I was going to edit my comment anyway and substitute David Gilmour for Schon, but you replied just as I was making the attempt.

(By the way, my favorite Paul Weller moment is his solo on Oasis' Champagne Supernova - and it's also one of my favorite guitar moments overall.)

[ericcoleman]

Paul is a wildly underrated lead player. While I don't tend to like his solo stuff much (a friend said it best, if I want a friggin Steve Winwood record, I'll buy a friggin Steve Winwood record) his playing shines more and more.

The early Journey stuff is decent, but hardly anything I would ever listen to again. I'm firmly in the "Neil has one solo" camp. And I don't think it's that good of a solo.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh gods, what a can or worms....
Hendrix
Page (and yes he could be bloody awful live)
Fripp
Mike Bloomfield (when he was good: and you know what I mean, too)
Gilmour (choice of note counts here - many finer players: almost no-one with better taste)

Which means there's no place for Keef, Eddie, Jeff, Eric, Ritchie, Kossoff, Stevie or whomsoever....But you could swap Mike Bloomfield for any of the above and I wouldn't quibble.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Sorry m'dear, that was me. Bad copy-editing too. Mea culpa.

[ericcoleman]

When Bloomfield was on ... wow ...

[lickintoadz.livejournal.com]

Zakk Wylde
'Dimebag' Darrell Abbot
Tony Iommi
Jimmy Page
Pete Townsend

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

How could this thread get this long with NO ONE mentioning the C-word (Clapton)? I only mention it now because he doesn't happen to be one of my five faves, but I think he does deserve mention.

Rock and Roll Heart ... yeah right

[ericcoleman]

Because he did his last decent work 35 years ago and his best work before that.

If he loves the sound of screaming guitars so much, how about putting some of them into his music?

Re: Rock and Roll Heart ... yeah right

[ericcoleman]

Oh ... and go listen to Buddy Guy, and then see if you can listen to Clapton again.

I will give Clapton one big plus though. When the creeps in Led Zep were ripping off old bluesmen by claiming they these old songs were actually written by a couple of young british guys, Clapton made sure personally that Skip James got his royalties for I'm So Glad.

[gundo.livejournal.com]

Man, that's a hard list...part of the problem is "which style"? There are people that I really like, that do style X well, but...dunno. Izzy Stradlin' and Slash would both make that list for different reasons. Bob Mould again....different reason.

David Gilmour would be in there, even though I very rarely like Strat players...I *might* put Angus in there, but I'd be more tempted to list Malcolm.

Oh, and Mike Campbell would probably be in there as well.

[ericcoleman]

Mould could make the list easily, I just haven't been listening to much Husker Du lately. I intend to do an IPod mix soon ... maybe tonight.

Izzy and Slash, while great players, just don't speak to me.

Gilmour, I love his playing, but see above.

Campbell may well make my underrated list, if I do one.

[gundo.livejournal.com]

I kept looking for gilmour comments from you...don't see any

[ericcoleman]

I love Gilmour, but he just isn't on my radar that much.

[ericcoleman]

And as you can see, style has little or nothing to do with it. I'm just listing people who move me. This bunch does. The list could change at any moment, but a couple will always stay right where they are. Pete will always be #1 ... RT would always be in the top five.