Ah, no worries! And I'm sure Neil doesn't give a hoot about what others think of his playing. He's about as opposite to typical "Rock Gods" as you can get and still play lead guitar.
Not ego tripping here. Don't think that for even a minute. but... There is a chance that some of us are on other peoples Mountain and we have no idea that we are there. Some other guitar player you were in a band with a long time ago? Someone you gave a pointer to way back when? A person you played with many moons ago and if you saw them playing now there would be some of "your stuff" in their playing? I know I learned a lot from guys and girls I was in bands with. Why wouldn't that be a 2 way street?
i love neil’s sound, and when i told the kids i got a neil sound out of a saggy little tweed with a rangemaster in front they were all ‘yeah dog’.
1. Chuck Berry gave the blueprint for rock and roll. 2. Jimi Hendrix took his blueprint and gave it overdrive through Marshall stacks. 3. Jimi Page gave us some of the most memorable riffs of all time (We all know Stairway to Heaven is banned from any guitar store) through the minor pentatonic scale, basically fusing blues and hard rock together forever. Id also have Brian May with him at number 3. 4. Eddie Van Halen then took all that and flipped it on its head with pinch harmonics, tapping, and solo runs that others weren't doing or had perfected before him. 5. Id argue Mark Tremonti has been the most influential modern guitarist who has created monster riffs and solos that are technically challenging but still radio friendly enough for the common public to love and appreciate them. He is probably PRS' most famous artist and helped popularize the modern PRS guitar, came out with the MT15, and Blackbird was rated as the best solo of all time in one of the popular guitar sites which is crazy to think about any solo of the 00s even getting mentioned when you barely hear guitar playing on the ratio these days.
Agreed. None of my favorite players were game changers, so I wouldn't include them on the "Rushmore" list.
some if these are not even household names! my mom’s favorite guitarists are george benson and glenn campbell; pretty heavy hitters for a square chick.
They'd have to expand Rushmore for my guys: Bloomfield A. King Hendrix McLaughlin SRV Santana Moore P. Green G. Green
My moms favorite guitar player was Al DiMeola. I think he and Keith Emerson were the only things I listened to when i was still at home, that mom liked.
No, Grant Green. For me, he represented a more formative voice than EVH, as his recordings are what hooked me on jazz. An unmistakable style!
Relating to my comments about Neil's single-note solos: I ran across this YouTube video that discusses a particular song with a particular one-note approach to the sax solo (which fails, in this case), but it brings up all the ways it can succeed, by showing examples from other songs (including Neil's Cinnamon Girl): The subject song failed with that solo for a couple of main reasons, as I best understand and conclude: a lack of conviction on the part of the player (the sessions were rushed, didn't have time to really get the groove, as it were); and a lack of underlying chords to play against. I got to that video after watching a video by the same YouTuber about The Girl from Ipanema - that song has some interesting characteristics about it, some of which got "whitewashed away" by the Berklee School of Music "Real Book" transcription. And while watching that video about the Girl from Ipanema, seeing/hearing the different chord shapes, I was reminded that a lot of what makes up a hypothetical Mount Rushmore is the surrounding and supporting boulders and pebbles, without which the granite façade would have nothing to support it. The demonstration of Joao Gilberto's chording using three notes but never including the root note is inspiring to me, since I sometimes mess around with awkward chords and wonder when the chord police are going to come and lock me away for musical abuse. It is that sort of stuff that can inspire the faces that ultimately end up on your own personal Mount Rushmore, even if Joao himself is not up there.
This is only "my" top 4: 1. EVH - he was the sole reason I ever wanted to touch a guitar to begin with as a kid. 2. Page - growing up I listened to a LOT of Zeppelin with my mom. 3. Clapton - what else is there to say.... 4. Slash - say what you will, but the man has inspired a lot of kids to pick up a guitar just like many others before him. He also helped to boost sales for Gibson as well. Besides those things, he has created many iconic riffs and solos over the years. There are sooo many greats, past and present, but this would be my list.
Wow...great thread....so, the 4 I think influenced guitarists the most... (But as others have stated, not necessarily my favorite 4) 1)Robert Johnson 2)Jimi Hendrix 3)EVH 4)SRV or Clapton
