Your Mount Rushmore

[vchizzle]

Jimi
Tony Iommi
EVH

Having a tough time with #4. I feel like it’s out of my scope and that maybe I’m too young. I feel like Chuck Berry maybe. Are we leaving country music out? Who are the defining players? Chet?

 

[jxe]

country music doesn’t matter.

can you believe the audacity of carving all those politicians into that mountain? mount mckinley isn’t even anymore.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

As framed, this is a tough one for me. I’d say....

Jimi
Eddie
Holdswoth
Jeff Beck.

But the last two didn’t change the landscape, because nobody plays like Beck and no human will ever play like Holdsworth. It’s just not possible. So, I’ll say...

Jimi
Eddie
Yngwie
And....

Trower. He’s still the best blues player alive and what he did for the “blues rock” area paved the way for generations of greats. I really believe that without Trower, guys like SRV, Kenny Wayne Shepard and many, many others we all know, would never never been “known” names. He paved the way for generations of “blues based” playing to stay in the main stream. And, he’s still one of the greatest guitar players alive! And ever.

 

[Eddie kim]

For me it’s
Eddie
Randy Rhoads
SRV
Garry Moore

 

[Roy]

I’m going to go off the beaten path a little with who influenced me.

Roy Clark - as a kid I was in awe of his playing. Seeing him live in a small amphitheater planted the seed for me trying to learn playing the guitar.

Dick Dale - kept pushing Leo Fender for more reverb...

Jimi - showed that distortion is music

The fourth should be the face of all musicians brave enough to get up on stage and play their hearts out.

 

[DogPhishHead]

???
Why would you want to filter out the personal tastes of this?!?! I think for each of us this is the mountain carving based on exactly that.... our personal tastes.

Here are the carvings based on my personal tastes:
Jeff Beck
Carlos Santana
Eric Clapton
Stevie Ray Vaughan.

We are almost the same on personal tastes, I’d swap Trey Anastasio for Beck and call it a day.

 

[Mozzi]

If we are talking about revolutionary guitarists that changed the face of Guitar Playing, then I guess

1: Jimmy Page
2: Jimi Hendrix
3: Eddie Van Halen
4: Eric Clapton

This wasn't easy as Players like Robert Johnson (would we have had the likes of BB King without him and BB King could easily be on this list too), Chuck Berry, Lennon & Harrison, Les Paul, Pete Townsend, Steve Vai, Yngwie etc etc etc - this list could go on and on...

In the end I settled for 4 that I think have had the most impact on me and/or most of the music I grew up listening to...

 

[HANGAR18]

And nobody’s picked Gilmore? Shocker

No Duane Allman either?

 

[Mozzi]

No Duane Allman either?

No Mark Knopfler either....

 

[Alnus Rubra]

You guys have taken all the good names!

Influential for me:

Paul Kossoff

Robben Ford

Larry Carlton

Angus Young

but that wasn’t really the game!

And James Taylor.

 

[alantig]

Elsewhere on the interwebz, I saw Warren Haynes' post about EVH's death. He didn't address it as a Rushmore situation, but he said in his mind, there were four (so it fits) people who altered the course of the electric guitar, and it's hard to argue w/his choices:

Charlie Christian
Les Paul
Jimi Hendrix
Eddie Van Halen

 

[jxe]

Elsewhere on the interwebz, I saw Warren Haynes' post about EVH's death. He didn't address it as a Rushmore situation, but he said in his mind, there were four (so it fits) people who altered the course of the electric guitar, and it's hard to argue w/his choices:

Charlie Christian
Les Paul
Jimi Hendrix
Eddie Van Halen

those choices are right out of the guitar book though and therefore boring choices.

how about bing crosby if they invented tape so he could go home during his radio show?

 

[Deleted member 5962]

those choices are right out of the guitar book though and therefore boring choices.

how about bing crosby if they invented tape so he could go home during his radio show?

Sorry, no write in votes for Bing Crosby. That was in the rules for the thread. Please read the rules before posting.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

Jimi
EVH
Hetfield
Wes Montgomery

 

[RickP]

David Gilmour
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Eddie Van Halen
Jimi Hendrix

In my lifetime, the world of guitar experienced a paradigm shift with the emergence of each of these players. What was, and what could be, was irrevocably changed.

By the way, to the folks who lament that Eddie was the last monumental guitar hero who will ever be, keep in mind that this same thought was out there when each of these guys came along and knocked the stale and boring right off the stage. There is always hope.

 

[jxe]

many of these players use way too much wah.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I’ve never heard James Taylor use Wah!

Maybe on his vocals!

 

[alantig]

I’ve never heard James Taylor use Wah!

Maybe on his vocals!

Not Wah - like this: Waaah. Try it again.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I’ve never heard James Taylor use Wah!

But he's used a "sha" and a "nah" and in extreme cases even a "la" all of which are universally accepted substitutes for a wah.

 

[DogPhishHead]

those choices are right out of the guitar book though and therefore boring choices.

how about bing crosby if they invented tape so he could go home during his radio show?

I'd have a hard time arguing with the likes of Warren Haynes, that man is about as pure of a guitarist as they come (and that golden, soulful voice....Mmmmmmmmmm).