#music, My Top 10 Super Guitarists of Rock!

Ok, I will start with my top 10 and then I’ll tell you why…

1) Jimmy Page

2) Duane Allman

3) Terry Kath

4) David Gilmore

5) Jerry Garcia

6) Eric Clapton

7) Mark Knopfler

8) Charlie Daniels

9) John Fogerty

10) Jimi Jendrix.

Reference Terry Kath (1946-1978): Jimi Hendrix once said that Kath was a much better guitarist than he was. Hendrix was so impressed (and totally intimidated) by Kath’s solo on «25 or 6 to 4«, where he did not repeat himself in a tour de force of rock-and-psychedelic jazz, that Jimi did not want to come onstage. Chicago Transit Authority was opening at that time for the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Philadelphia in 1968. Terry died too soon and soon forgotten to history (mostly) because of Chicago’s turn towards soft-rock in the 1980’s.

Jerry Garcia (1942-1995): Was the master of improvisation. He listened to the band and created solos that were in keeping with the structure of the music. He had the necessary knowledge of harmony and could work scales in any time signature with ease. Therefore, one of the greatest guitarists in rock.

Charlie Daniels (1936-2020): A master studio musician in Nashville who played not only the guitar as a master, but the bass and the fiddle. He played in many studio albums including one for Bob Dylan, and for Leonard Cohen, before he put on his cowboy hat and ventured out on his own.

Mark Knopfler (1949): Delicate finger-picking, a master of tone and control giving texture and emotion to his solos rather than just a bunch of distorted notes.

John Fogerty (1945): The undisputed king of «swamp rock». Fogerty is the master of musical economy. He created direct riffs, playing masterfully with three chords. He didn’t do eight minute solos but he did compose classics like «Green River», «Lodi» and «Proud Mary». To me Fogerty (and CCR) represented the proletariat class of rock.

Duane Allman (1946-1971): For sure the god of the slide guitar. His guitar duel with Clapton on «Layla«, and his performance at the Fillmore East, is legendary and created rock history. Duane’s lyrical phrasing, sounding almost like a blues singer would, has not been replicated by any guitarists in rock.

And if you notice that there are many representatives here of Southern Rock and Country. I’ll tell you why:

Today, the best musicians (onstage or as studio/session musicians) on Earth are in Nashville. While pop. mainstream rock and urban music depend on the Auto-Tune, and programmed bases that producers arrange in computers, Country music continues to make pure and real music created by talented musicians.

There is not trick recording allowed. If a musician wants to succeed in the Country music circuit (e.g. Chris Stapleton, Billy Strings with his acoustic guitar, or the studio musicians recording in studios in Nashville), you have to be a virtuoso. These musicians can play as easily onstage as in the recording studio and they can create a song on the first take perfectly. Their sense of rhythm, dynamics, harmony and meter is wild, and perfect. They are able to handle their instruments, i.e. guitars, fiddles, mandolins, keyboards, to professional perfection. Anywhere and any time.

Now, you tell me, who would you put in your top 10 guitarists of rock.

CHEERS