Your Mount Rushmore

[alantig]

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?

They may be boring choices, but they are undeniably four of the most important innovators for playing the instrument. Are they the four most important? That's subjective.

 

[jxe]

They may be boring choices, but they are undeniably four of the most important innovators for playing the instrument. Are they the four most important? That's subjective.

all those guys were important, i mean wasn’t the electric pickup invented so charlie could be heard over the clarinet? it’s boring because it’s tough to argue with good choices, not because he’s at all wrong about it.

 

[RickP]

many of these players use way too much wah.

Don’t be a Cry Baby

 

[László]

I don't think music's a contest. There are really too many great ones to list. But here are some players whose recordings affect me every time I hear their work:

Mike Bloomfield
Albert King
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page

 

[jfb]

These are a handful of the guitarists that inspired me to play guitar and love music in my earliest of days. It would change tomorrow, but these are a few I am thinking about today.

Tony Iommi
Phil Collen
Dave Mustaine
J. Mascis

 

[jxe]

These are a handful of the guitarists that inspired me to play guitar and love music in my earliest of days. It would change tomorrow, but these are a few I am thinking about today.

Tony Iommi
Phil Collen
Dave Mustaine
J. Mascis

i love those guys, dinosaur jr was my studying music in grad school.

 

[Tosca]

These are a handful of the guitarists that inspired me to play guitar and love music in my earliest of days. It would change tomorrow, but these are a few I am thinking about today.

Tony Iommi
Phil Collen
Dave Mustaine
J. Mascis

I love how personal this list is. That’s what music is all about.

 

[stillgottheblues4you]

marty freidman
gary moore
van halen
SRV

in no particular order obviously

 

[Kiwi]

Groundbreakers all (and a pair of Bluesbreakers):

Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Steve Howe

=K

 

[ppacheco1284]

Gilmour
Page
SRV
Mayer

 

[Serious Poo]

My personal Mt. Rushmore has 5 people on it:

Rik Emmett
Phil Keaggy
Alex Lifeson
Randy Rhoads
Michael Hedges

 

[dogrocketp]

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?

Eddie Lang was Bing Crosby’s accompanist. According to the contract, he had to be in every movie Bing was in. Unfortunately he died of complications from appendicitis.

 

[Mike Duncan]

 

[Mike Duncan]

I have others....more Strat players.

 

[Kiwi]

 

[jxe]

Eddie Lang was Bing Crosby’s accompanist. According to the contract, he had to be in every movie Bing was in. Unfortunately he died of complications from appendicitis.

i’m behind you on eddie lang, but then i still listen to fred astaire records.

 

[shinksma]

And nobody’s picked Gilmore? Shocker

David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame (David Gilmore is a jazz guitarist) is my favorite guitarist of all time.

He has certainly influenced me to no end. But I honestly don't know if he has had an "influence" on the guitar playing public as much as the others mentioned. I'd like to think so, but some would argue that Gilmour was the net result of influences from so many previous great players, and therefore his influence is not as discrete.

So if I'm going to allow my personal influences to color my judgement, my personal Mount Rushmore is:

David Gilmour
Neil Young
Alex Lifeson
Glenn Tipton/KK Downing

But going back to the original intent of who I think influenced guitarists and guitarism in general (did I just invent a word?) over the generations, letting just a bit of my favoritism into it, maybe this:

Jimi
EVH
Gilmour
Chuck Berry or maybe BB King or maybe Django

Or maybe Jimmy Page - his rock'n'roll persona may have been more of an influence than his technical skill or "feel", I suppose (which some could very well say about Slash). Page was a rock icon to me in high school, but it didn't stick through college when I gravitated heavily to Floyd.

I dunno, I still think this is an impossible task. OTOH, that is also what is so great about guitar playing - there are so many awesome influences to be found throughout the history of the instrument.

For example, I was just listening to some Echo and the Bunnymen last night (long story as to why...) and was impressed at how well that music has withstood the years - more guitar in there than I remember. A major influence? No, not for me, not even a minor influence for my personal experience. But they probably did influence Radiohead and other bands.

 

[Lister]

Let's stir the pot...

Here are the "Mount Rushmore" candidates from a couple PRS employees. Again, these aren't necesarily their favorite players, but the people they feel revelutionized the game.

And nobody’s picked Gilmore? Shocker

And this is where these type of threads always seem to get a bit sideways. I love Gilmour's playing, he can say more with one note than a lot of players say with 100. But...did he revolutionize the game? Did Clapton? Blackmore? Page? SRV? Iommi? Beck? Without a doubt all of these guys are all unbelievable players, and several would be on my personal Rushmore, but I don't see them fitting with Shawn's original criteria.

 

[11top]

Neil Young

 

[shinksma]

Neil Young

Hey, what can I say? His soloing on Cortez the Killer is absolutely fantastic, IMHO. And the riot of noise that is the soloing on Rockin' In The Free World is tremendous. He gets perhaps rightfully trashed for Down by The River and Cinnamon Girl because the "solos" are not really lead breaks, just single note textures. But his general attitude of using the electric guitar as an almost broad-brush abstract artform is very moving to me.