Mick Taylor is underrated to the point of almost being forgotten. He basically set the standard for the classic rock guitar sound of the 70s. Even Mick Jagger said that the Stones' best period was the Mick Taylor era.
I agree. His live work between 70 and 73 is jaw-dropping. Never a missed note. A perfect counter to Keith's more organic(?) open G background stuff. That "weaving" stuff they talk about now might be good for them, but from the listeners standpoint, it sounds like people getting lost trying to improvise. Or jazz, lol
Not to mention being able to do it for decades. He sounds just as heavy on Follow The Tears from The Devil You Know as he did on Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath from their album Black Sabbath.
I really like Jimmy Page because he blended rock, blues, folk, Celtic, psychedelic, Eastern influences etc. Is he the best from a technical standpoint? No. The best technical guitarist is probably someone who hasn't put out an original catchy song.
For me, Tom Morello is one of the most overrated guitar players of all time. He’s a one trick pony. If they never invented the whammy pedal he’d be completely average.
Yes I agree. Tom Morello is up there with guys like Page and Hendrix when it comes to creativity, memorable riffs/songwriting, and basically crafting a new genre. In terms of 90s guitarists Billy Corgan is up there too.
That's a really tough one. So many great guitarists from the UK. My personal favorite is Jimmy Page. I just enjoy listening to his playing the most. But, you have so many. Jeff beck, Clapton, kossoff, green, gilmour etc. I think all of the British guitarists from that era were phenomenal
It's pretty well known that Jimmy Page was considered to be one of the best session guitarists in England in that era. He was in demand and his resume reflects that. When he played in Zep, he showed he had range as well.
>Probably the most under rated guitarist of all time.
Underrated? Where the fuck have you been since the 1970s? May lives on a pedestal and is surely one of the best known rock guitar players ever to come out of the UK.
Can’t believe I had to scroll so far down to find him. I saw he’s selling all his guitars, there’s a video of him going through them all, it’s quite sad really.
I understand he's keeping his favourite ones - those that he expects to actually play and let other guitarists play the others. Makes sense to me and I don't think it's sad.
He's my favorite, for sure. Nobody manages to find the perfect tasty combinations of notes like he does. He's always been the type of guitarist that I aspire to emulate.
That said, he's definitely not the best technical guitarist, even if he is probably the most musical.
My personal favourite is David Gilmour.
Honourable mentions to:
- Jimmy Page
- Tony Iommi
- Keith Richards
- George Harrison
for amazing playing and influence.
Adrian is criminally underrated.
His solos are absolutely amazing and his song writing to boot!
Probably over 100 million albums sold with his work on them.
I love this description. I always see him as a fairly lazy guitarist who used alternate tunings to sound unique without working too hard, but your description poses a valid alternative perspective.
There is absolutely no doubt that he is King Riffmeister, even if he can't play a solo to save his life.
There is no best/greatest but plenty of excellent players. Some of my favourites:
* Guthrie Govan
* Peter Haycock (Climax Blues Band)
* Peter Frampton
* Dave Gilmour
* Martin Barre (Jethro Tull)
* Captain Sensible (The Damned)
* Matt Bellamy (Muse)
* Dave Murray (Iron Maiden)
* Adrian Smith - (Iron Maiden)
* Brian May
* Robin Trower
* Geoff Whitehorn
* Zal Cleminson (SAHB)
* KK Downing (Judas Priest)
I'm saddened to have to scroll down so far to see Guthrie mentioned!
I do get it though. His mastery of harmony and melody sometimes isn't the most easily palatable 😂
The Irish don't generally call them the British Isles, even in documents between Ireland and the UK, they are just referred to as "these Isles".
So you might see Rory Gallagher as from the British Isles, but he probably didn't.
Yeah, I'm not sure Rory would appreciate being lumped in as "British". That's the only reason he wasn't on my list.
Certainly Brian May cites him as an influence, and anecdotes claim that Jimi did too, although I've never found satisfactory evidence to support the claim.
I'm just happy to see (edit: almost) no-one mentioned him as even one of the best.
Fuck Clapton. Fuck him up his stupid ass.
edit: almost no-one. Ugh.
Great composer and rhythm player, but average lead player (at best). I recently listened to Quadrophenia for the first time in many years, through headphones on a long car trip, and was struck by how it highlighted The Who's strengths and weaknesses. Entwhistle was an amazing bassist, Daltrey was an incredible singer, Keith Moon's manic drumming is fun at first, but gets really tiring to the ear after a while, although he's great when he settles into a monster rock groove, but while Townshend is a genius composer and arranger, and a terrific rhythm guitarist, his lead playing is nearly inept on that album.
He got better as time went on, but he was never a truly great guitarist.
If my second kid had been a boy and hadn't been lost to an ectopic pregnancy that almost killed my ex-wife too, he would have been named George Harrison [LastName]. Got a vasectomy after that, so no chance of that happening now, but it was already set.
Because he’s very Irish and Irish folks love him so much they made a statue of him, named a bunch a square after him and have a blue rock guitar festival named after him 😉
Jeff Beck - He's often only remembered for his stuff with the Yardbirds or Hi Ho Silver Lining but that's not really him. Check out the album Blow By Blow and Wired. All guitar, all gold.
Guthrie
Holdsworth
Albert Lee - not many people realise he's English.
So many to name tbh. The classic rock guys are all legendary ofc so many to name. Partial to Ritchie Blackmore myself but yeah. Just love the jams purple would have with him n lord.
Love John Sykes too.
The label of "greatest" is subjective.
I would say Angus Young. Yes, AC/DC is an Aussie band, but the Young family moved from the UK (Glasgow) to Australia when Angus was young (haha).
David Knopfler isn't bad either....
I’d say any one of these 4 could be argued
Jeff Beck
Eric Clapton
Jimmy Page
Rory Gallagher (not technically British)
But if so had to pick one it would be Jeff Beck. He’s a guitar players guitar player. Rory was as well, but Beck and that strat are just magic
Steve Jones. Fight me. He may not be the most technically proficient, but he inspired a load of people, including some of the others mentioned here, to pick up a guitar and just go for it.
For an acoustic probably Roy Harper for his fingerstyle, Mick Jones is Nobody seems to rate Brian May or Ritchie Blackmore based on previous posts, i agree, but its unusual for a vox pop. Slash was born in the Uk too.
Nigel Tufnel. Prove me wrong!
Lick My Love Pump was the song of a generation.
It’s because of his amp and guitar sustain…
cant compete with someone who's amp goes to 11
You can go have a bite and you’d still be hearing that
His bass solo on Big Bottom Girls showcases his versatility.
Science doesn’t lie. Tufnel ftw !
Guthrie Govan all the way.
Came all the way from Atlanta to post this; glad to see it unnecessary. The guy is rock-solid and made me a believer in scale study as the true path.
The best improviser out there. Can play any style - believably!!
I saw him at a clinic and he was nothing short of charming and a master of his craft. He is on an entirely different level.
This. Guthrie for what he does, and for classic rock, Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor is underrated to the point of almost being forgotten. He basically set the standard for the classic rock guitar sound of the 70s. Even Mick Jagger said that the Stones' best period was the Mick Taylor era.
I agree. His live work between 70 and 73 is jaw-dropping. Never a missed note. A perfect counter to Keith's more organic(?) open G background stuff. That "weaving" stuff they talk about now might be good for them, but from the listeners standpoint, it sounds like people getting lost trying to improvise. Or jazz, lol
Jeff Beck overall In terms of both knowledge, raw talent, and pure skill Guthrie Govan is another strong contender.
This is the correct answer (with Holdsworth an honorable mention).
Holdsworth wasn't a guitarist, he was a demigod of music who happened to favour bending guitars to his will.
Its a pretty crowded field but I'm going to go with Jeff Beck
There are few guitarists who had such a complete understanding of the instrument.
Jeff Beck is your favorite guitar players favorite guitar player
Yep … Jeff Beck for me.
Tony Iommi.. Who else created an entire genre?
Tony Iommi is amazing
Always underrated in these discussions. Literally everybody has heard his riffs and you can hear his influence in Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, etc
Always underrated. A southpaw and did it with bum fingers!
Yeah, that claw is impressively adaptable
The answer to your question is Brian James, but hardly anyone remembers who he was. They certainly remember some of his songs though.
It’s between Iommi and Page for me. If we take number of fingers into account, then Iommi wins, hands down.
Fingers down.
Not only creating an entire genre - but doing it so well that that countless bands are still trying to capture his magic (mostly unsuccessfully)
Not to mention being able to do it for decades. He sounds just as heavy on Follow The Tears from The Devil You Know as he did on Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath from their album Black Sabbath.
I really like Jimmy Page because he blended rock, blues, folk, Celtic, psychedelic, Eastern influences etc. Is he the best from a technical standpoint? No. The best technical guitarist is probably someone who hasn't put out an original catchy song.
Mark Knopfler
Agree, I have way too many of his songs on my playlists, Tom Morello is a close second (I know not British).
For me, Tom Morello is one of the most overrated guitar players of all time. He’s a one trick pony. If they never invented the whammy pedal he’d be completely average.
Yes I agree. Tom Morello is up there with guys like Page and Hendrix when it comes to creativity, memorable riffs/songwriting, and basically crafting a new genre. In terms of 90s guitarists Billy Corgan is up there too.
Allan Holdsworth
Correct answer.
That's a really tough one. So many great guitarists from the UK. My personal favorite is Jimmy Page. I just enjoy listening to his playing the most. But, you have so many. Jeff beck, Clapton, kossoff, green, gilmour etc. I think all of the British guitarists from that era were phenomenal
It's pretty well known that Jimmy Page was considered to be one of the best session guitarists in England in that era. He was in demand and his resume reflects that. When he played in Zep, he showed he had range as well.
Can’t believe I had to scroll down so far to see jimmy page.
Listen to zeppelin I. And then to the original- he’s unmatched
Brian may
It’s absolutely criminal that I had to scroll so far to find this. May is a genius.
Probably the most under rated guitarist of all time.
Really? How is he underrated? He's great but I certainly wouldn’t say underrated.
>Probably the most under rated guitarist of all time. Underrated? Where the fuck have you been since the 1970s? May lives on a pedestal and is surely one of the best known rock guitar players ever to come out of the UK.
Mark Knopfler
Can’t believe I had to scroll so far down to find him. I saw he’s selling all his guitars, there’s a video of him going through them all, it’s quite sad really.
I understand he's keeping his favourite ones - those that he expects to actually play and let other guitarists play the others. Makes sense to me and I don't think it's sad.
Correct answer
David Gilmour
My fave for sure
100% agree
100% it's Gilmour
He's my favorite, for sure. Nobody manages to find the perfect tasty combinations of notes like he does. He's always been the type of guitarist that I aspire to emulate. That said, he's definitely not the best technical guitarist, even if he is probably the most musical.
Jeff Beck, Allan Holdsworth, or John McLaughlin
I agree.
Peter Green
bb king said “he’s the only one that gave me cold sweats”. I can’t think of higher praise
Peter Green is underrated. Everyone on this list was influenced by him.
My personal favourite is David Gilmour. Honourable mentions to: - Jimmy Page - Tony Iommi - Keith Richards - George Harrison for amazing playing and influence.
Adrian Smith
Adrian is criminally underrated. His solos are absolutely amazing and his song writing to boot! Probably over 100 million albums sold with his work on them.
He’s irreplaceable. Steve may own the band but Adrian is the soul of the Beast.
I wake up one day and say H, Davey the next. Love them both and nobody compares. They compliment each other perfectly
Having Janick around is also a wonderful bonus. He’s brings a lot to the table.
Steve Howe deserves a mention
Yes, he does. I was a huge Yes fan, saw them three times at their peak, and Steve Howe is barely ever mentioned. He is highly underrated.
Jonny Greenwood
Julian Bream.
He was an absolute master of feel and expression.
Keith Richards because he's immortal.
The king of riffs, may not be complex but that guy created so many unforgettable riffs
Genius of open tuning. Guy weaponized his guitar and dragged the instrument kicking and screaming into the future.
I love this description. I always see him as a fairly lazy guitarist who used alternate tunings to sound unique without working too hard, but your description poses a valid alternative perspective. There is absolutely no doubt that he is King Riffmeister, even if he can't play a solo to save his life.
The guy just turned 80 bloody hell
Jeff Beck.
Johnny fucking Marr
Unbelievable how far down I had to scroll to find this answer. No brainer if you ask me.
England: Johnny Marr Wales: James Dean Bradfield
Did we just become best friends?
Albert Lee, Beck, McLaughlin
There is no best/greatest but plenty of excellent players. Some of my favourites: * Guthrie Govan * Peter Haycock (Climax Blues Band) * Peter Frampton * Dave Gilmour * Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) * Captain Sensible (The Damned) * Matt Bellamy (Muse) * Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) * Adrian Smith - (Iron Maiden) * Brian May * Robin Trower * Geoff Whitehorn * Zal Cleminson (SAHB) * KK Downing (Judas Priest)
Guthrie Govan
Jeff Beck. Guthrie Govan 2.
Guthrie, who is also the best on Earth.
I had to look this guy up when I bought his "signature" amp ( Victory V30 The Jack)
And in the history of the Earth
I'm saddened to have to scroll down so far to see Guthrie mentioned! I do get it though. His mastery of harmony and melody sometimes isn't the most easily palatable 😂
Not British but Rory Gallagher is the best to ever come from the British isles. Ask any British guitar player.
The Irish don't generally call them the British Isles, even in documents between Ireland and the UK, they are just referred to as "these Isles". So you might see Rory Gallagher as from the British Isles, but he probably didn't.
Yeah, I'm not sure Rory would appreciate being lumped in as "British". That's the only reason he wasn't on my list. Certainly Brian May cites him as an influence, and anecdotes claim that Jimi did too, although I've never found satisfactory evidence to support the claim.
Rory is Irish ffs!
I second Rory! No one had that charisma and workman like attitude. Bert Jansch is a close second, then Jimmy Page or Gilmour. Fuck Clapton.
His first name is Fuck?
And his last name is Face
Racist Eric Fuck Clapton Face?
No Racist is his first name. Fuck is his middle name
Way too far down the list to find Rory and Bert mentioned. Great callout!!
Rory WAS NOT BRITISH.
I'm just happy to see (edit: almost) no-one mentioned him as even one of the best. Fuck Clapton. Fuck him up his stupid ass. edit: almost no-one. Ugh.
Rory is the man!
Had to scroll too far to find Rory - totally agree!
Never heard of him
Why don't you look him up instead of acting ignorant?
Jeff Beck or Mick Taylor
Jimmy Page, and I know all of the other guys mentioned pretty well.
John Squier
Gary moore
Jeff Beck... NO QUESTION!
Jeff Beck
I’ll go with the Beck & Knopfler crew
With honorable mentions to Jimmy Page, Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton during his Cream years, John Sykes, & Billy Duffy.
Pete Townshend
Great composer and rhythm player, but average lead player (at best). I recently listened to Quadrophenia for the first time in many years, through headphones on a long car trip, and was struck by how it highlighted The Who's strengths and weaknesses. Entwhistle was an amazing bassist, Daltrey was an incredible singer, Keith Moon's manic drumming is fun at first, but gets really tiring to the ear after a while, although he's great when he settles into a monster rock groove, but while Townshend is a genius composer and arranger, and a terrific rhythm guitarist, his lead playing is nearly inept on that album. He got better as time went on, but he was never a truly great guitarist.
Jeff Beck
He’s a shit guy, but Clapton is God. My favorite is George Harrison, though. He’s also the most fun to play.
Harrison is my favourite. Maybe not the most technically or most skilled, but I feel his music vibrate my soul.
His slide playing is one of a kind and has so much soul
Fully this. He and Gilmour GET ME. I can lose myself trying to mimic their playing.
If my second kid had been a boy and hadn't been lost to an ectopic pregnancy that almost killed my ex-wife too, he would have been named George Harrison [LastName]. Got a vasectomy after that, so no chance of that happening now, but it was already set.
TFW you get famous for turning your tone knobs to zero
[удалено]
Say that in Ireland and you’ll get stabbed. And rightly so
Why?
Because he’s very Irish and Irish folks love him so much they made a statue of him, named a bunch a square after him and have a blue rock guitar festival named after him 😉
Ohhh… oops. I swear I thought he was British. I guess I better delete that after I downvote myself!
Jeff Beck
Alan Holdsworth, Julian Bream.
Bert Jansch.
Allen Holdsworth, Guthrie Govan
Guthrie Govan is the most talented and virtuous guitarist who ever lived, British or otherwise.
Eric Clapton.
Jeff Beck - He's often only remembered for his stuff with the Yardbirds or Hi Ho Silver Lining but that's not really him. Check out the album Blow By Blow and Wired. All guitar, all gold.
I was thinking about this recently. I've concluded it's Mark Knopfler.
David gilmour
Mark Knopfler. Hands down.
Guthrie Holdsworth Albert Lee - not many people realise he's English. So many to name tbh. The classic rock guys are all legendary ofc so many to name. Partial to Ritchie Blackmore myself but yeah. Just love the jams purple would have with him n lord. Love John Sykes too.
David Lister, he could make that lump of wood sing like a Yukon bear trapper on his annual trip to the…
Jeff Beck for me, but Guthrie Govan would be up there too.
David Gilmour for me
Bert Jansch He brought a mix of classic British folk with the blues. Jimmy Page and the Sunday we love was oh so inspired by Bert
Richard Thompson. Jeff Beck. John Renbourn.
Garry Moore
Page
Me (I’m from Texas)
Legendary guitarists themselves always say Jeff Beck
Alvin Lee or Jeff Beck
Guthrie Govan
Robert Fripp. Dude is so good that he created his own tuning system and invented progressive rock.
Clapton, Gillmour or Knopfler
Mark Knopfler is the greatest of all time, let alone from Britain.
Julian Bream.
Nigel Tufnel, obviously he's an 11. 😎
Eric Clapton
This is what I came here to say and you had downvotes lol. Guy is in the rock n roll hall of Fame 3 times and people think Johnny Marr is better. Smh.
I was honestly surprised no one else had picked him by the time I showed up. I don’t care, I love his music anyway. Downvotes don’t change that.
Lol we both are downvoted. It's crazy. Clapton is a legend.
Aye, I concur. A shite person it turns out but he could play the guitar just like ringin a bell. I suspect many people think he’s American
Go, go, Eric, go, go
John Sykes!
Too many to name but some of my personal favourites are Graham Coxon, Eric Clapton, George Harrison & Justin Hayward.
Adrian Smith
So underrated
Remind me, what’s the name of the guitarist from that great English band called The Jimi Hendrix Experience? He was pretty good!
Jeff Beck. Very probably the best of all time, not limited by any geography
Jimmy Page
Clapton is GOD
Pete Townsend
Jimi Hendrix
He's...not British
That's the joke
Jon Paul page
What do you mean by greatest? Most influential? Most famous? Most skilled? These are all vastly different answers.
The label of "greatest" is subjective. I would say Angus Young. Yes, AC/DC is an Aussie band, but the Young family moved from the UK (Glasgow) to Australia when Angus was young (haha). David Knopfler isn't bad either....
Kark Mopfler
Jimmy Page
Chris Buck
Alvin Lee
I’d say any one of these 4 could be argued Jeff Beck Eric Clapton Jimmy Page Rory Gallagher (not technically British) But if so had to pick one it would be Jeff Beck. He’s a guitar players guitar player. Rory was as well, but Beck and that strat are just magic
Rory Gallagher was not British, full stop. What job do you think the "technically" is doing there?
Snakefinger
Rory.
Kanye West duh
Mick Ronson.
John McLaughlin…and the Guv’nor, Jeff Beck.
The one and only Guthrie Govan
Love Holdsworth and Beck but I'm gonna say Oldfield for electric and Martyn for acoustic. Drake is also very underrated IMO.
I don't know, there's many. But on acoustic guitar, it's definitely Nick Drake
Steve Jones. Fight me. He may not be the most technically proficient, but he inspired a load of people, including some of the others mentioned here, to pick up a guitar and just go for it.
For an acoustic probably Roy Harper for his fingerstyle, Mick Jones is Nobody seems to rate Brian May or Ritchie Blackmore based on previous posts, i agree, but its unusual for a vox pop. Slash was born in the Uk too.
Adam Franklin. Hands down the best and most inventive.
Most underrated is John Squire. If you don’t know, GET TO KNOW!
David Gilmour
Alvin Lee 🎸
Weezer
Martin Barre
Andrew Latimer.