better guitarists than AY and this is without looking any up and Just by Memory Jimmy Page Aaron Dessner Lesley West Bryce Dessner Eric Clapton Keith Richards Duane Allman Jeff Beck Dickie Betts Robin Trower Derek Trucks Richard Thompson Steve Winwood Dave Mason Martin Barre Mason Williams Warren Haynes Jimmy Herring George Harrison Joe Walsh Jimi Hendrix Steven Stills Leo Kotke Neil Young Jorma Kaukonen Brian May SRV Robbie Robertson James Honeyman Scott Johnny Ramone Mick Jones Alex Lifeson Adrian Belew Jerry Garcia Dave Evans ("the Edge")
I just was listening people I have SEEN live or I have records from. Santriani doesn't make either list.
You can tell how good a band is by how they sound live. There are a lot of bands that I like that do not (or did not back in their day) sound so great live.
Cream has to be in the top ten. BF was great but I wouldn't put them in the top ten due to so little production. Same with the other one shot effort EC was in-Derek and the Dominoes Cream had everything-wonderful song writing. brilliant singing (Jack Bruce-one of the best) maybe the best guitar work going at the time (EC) and the Bruce-Baker rhythm was as good as it got. I rate Jack Bruce as the best rock bassist of all time due to his multi-talents.
the band that sounded the best live compared to their records 1) Grateful Dead-but then again they played so many live concerts 2) Stones 3) LZ and actually the best IMHO-the RAMONES
This would be a lot easier if it was best rock bands from the 70s or what not. It is just too general and there are just too many great bands.
I would have disagree about the Dead. While some of their stuff is okay, that is not really my kind of music. It's too slow and folksy for me much of the time, so that is another reason why these types of threads don't mean anything, because music is subjective to the listener.
Hard to argue with that , did you ever watch the documentary called " beware of Mr. Baker" . I recommend it .