Who's your favorite guitarist or do you even have one?

What I always liked was listening to "Before the Kiss, A Redcap" off of the first album --

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vSkXNM1XUQ&feature=related]Before The Kiss A Redcap[/ame]

-- then listening to the live version off of "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees".

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmztsZTydpQ]Before The Kiss - Live[/ame]

In the three plus years since the first album and "On Your Feet", they played "Before The Kiss" so many times, that it had become almost rote to them. I liked the way that the band ripped through the song on the live album - the tempo is speeded up considerably!

 

BOC has always been a favorite. I saw them on the tour when On Your feet or On Your Knees was recorded (not that show, but that tour). When they played ME-262 all 5 guys in the band grabbed a guitar and went at it. Fantastic!

My favorite BOC show was about 10 years ago. It was in a bar and the band was squished into a corner and the crowd was about to spill over onto them. I could have reached out and tapped Buck on the shoulder. Man, it was crowded for us, too. They were in top form...great show!!

Then last week I saw them again. They have really dropped off. Eric is still good, but Buck....I don't know...not much to say about him. They closed with Don't fear The Reaper and he made a mess of it. Painful to watch.

Edit: RE/ Before The Kiss. Check out this riff. Sound Familiar?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N59MwzoAm7U&feature=related"]Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart-Plynth (Water Down The Drain) - YouTube[/ame]

 

I have to make a list. Can't think of ONE favorite.

Favorites working today:

Jeff Beck
Steve Hackett
Robin Trower

Other Favorites:

SRV
Albert King
David Gilmour
Rory Gallagher
Gary Moore
Jan Akkerman
Jimmy Page
Alvin Lee
Carlos Santana
Tommy Bolin ******

Most have never heard of Tommy Bolin. If you haven't, he's easily the best guitarist you never heard of. He played with Moxy, Energy, Zephyr, The James Gang, Deep Purple, Billy Cobham, Alphonse Mouzon and also had some solo albums....all before dying at 25 years old. Here's some of his stuff. That's Tommy singing, too, on the last 2 tracks.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbLjObdYWhQ"]Tommy Bolin / Billy Cobham-Spectrum 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUUnDeNjv28"]Tommy Bolin - Flying Fingers - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2FYpNP2DHc&feature=related"]Tommy Bolin - Teaser (remixed) - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzZN8uBw6xs&feature=related"]Tommy Bolin - Wild Dogs (Deluxe Edition 2011) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL40Ak5QV6I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL40Ak5QV6I[/ame]

 

Jimi Hendrix...

... and Michael Hedges...

... both dead.

Among the living...

... Carlos Santana...

... and Eddie van Halen.

 

Eddie is still alive???

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6ymVaq3Fqk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6ymVaq3Fqk[/ame]

 

Probably an ESP - he's been playing mostly them for years. What do you mean by 'goth looking'? What shape was it?

 

Goth is all I can think of in layman terms. Solid black, no binding, chrome tuners, pickup covers, and controls, no pick guard, chrome and black tremolo bar, solid body with florentine cutouts all around the body (hence the goth term), no name on the headstock, 2 more florentine cuts there, appears to be a standard neck, rosewood fingerboard with mother-of-pearl blockwork. About all I could see. Standard endstock plug in.

 

All time favorite?

Billy Ray Vaughn.

 

It is very difficult to choose. A lot of good guitarists. Probably Mark Knopfler

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPDLjw15gVA&feature=fvst"]Mark Knopfler - Postcards from Paraguay - YouTube[/ame]

 

It's never easy to describe a guitar in detail! It's most likely to be an ESP, though, but he does have others.

Found a wiki list of the guitars he uses, if that helps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Hammett#Guitars

From the 'goth' description, could it be something like this (or a variation of it with added chrome bits):

That's the ESP AX-360.

or this:


That's the ESP F-350. The wiki list doesn't include those as being played by him, but it's certainly not impossible that he'll have had/used one at some point (there are obviously other manufacturers using similar shapes, but ESP would obvously be the most likely for him to use).

Have a look at the range on ESP's website (note that both KH and James Hetfield have ESP signature models) - that might help:
http://www.espguitars.com/guitars.html

 

I saw BOC at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis many years ago. They were playing at the Ameristar Casino in KCMO a year or so ago, and people that saw the show said much the same as you - that Buck Dharma just isn't as good as he used to be.

The riff does sound a little familiar.

BTW - You know that his wife Sandy wrote most of their music, correct?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dyNw0UfuVI]The Dharmas[/ame]

 

I am my favorite guitarist only because I also play the mandolin and fiddle, and I mix some of the playing of those instruments into my guitar playing. Of the pro people, I'd say it would be the acoustic fingerpicking of Merle Travis, Mississippi John Hurt, Bob Dylan, and Patrick Sky and flatpicking of Doc Watson from the 60s folky days. Later on in the Rock world, it's Glenn Tipton, Lindsey Buckingham, Jimmy Page, et al .
In Bluegrass, Tony Rice, Dan Crary, Larry Sparks, and Clarence White.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tuMAA-Rmvc"]Rainbow Quest: Patrick Sky - Separation Blues - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgdLVWgU4G0&NR=1"]Mississippi John Hurt - You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XBJNaPYfEg&NR=1"]Tony Rice-Gold Rush - YouTube[/ame]

 

Don't think anyone has mentioned this guy yet. He gets alot of flack for lacking 'feel' (some of which is justified), and being a great guitar player who doesn't necessarily write great songs (also patly justified!), but his contribution to the modern style of guitar playing shouldn't be overlooked, and he certainly had his moments:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaV-I5C90zk"]Yngwie Malmsteen[/ame]

 

And in those contribution terms, it would also be impossible to ignore these two (but I don't think they've been mentioned either):

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFh8noEepU4"]Tony Iommi[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpWQiGQSUyk"]Ritchie Blackmore[/ame]

 

His influence in today's metal is unmistakable. He's definitely one of my guitar heros and has influenced my playing. His concerto suite for electric is probably my favorite of his work. Petrucci did some good acoustic work on that album as well.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJXUXCQb97I"]Yngwie Malmsteen - Concerto Suite - Fugue - YouTube[/ame]

 

Paul Gilbert and his freakishly long fingers.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn-wj4pRpIE"]Paul Gilbert - Technical Difficulties (Racer X) - YouTube[/ame]

Michael Angelo Batio who takes technical/speedy neo classical metal to an insane level. I don't like how he rest his right hand on the guitar though.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG74eVb6V10"]Speed Lives - No Boundaries - Michael Angelo Batio - YouTube[/ame]

 

For his alternate tunings and fingerpicking style:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIDZR-zv4UU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIDZR-zv4UU[/ame]

 

The guitarist from Pink Floyd, Dave Gilmour, I think, is a very good guitar player.

 

You know...

Another guitar player we've all overlooked is Capt. Jack's dad - Captain Teague Sparrow --



He's played a combination of lead and rhythm guitar with his band for almost 50 years - and contributed a lot of great riffs along the way!

 

Interesting choice. Nick Drake did some very individual things with a guitar, but in many ways he also learned from the master, of course, and that particular master would be my favorite guitar player in those kind of terms:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2DwPhnxTNI"]Roy Harper - One Man Rock 'n' Roll Band [/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0PDbJs9YFk"]Roy Harper - Forget Me Not[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9jvUNpI7pc"]Roy Harper - Tom Tiddler's Ground[/ame]

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQhECkexmSI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQhECkexmSI[/ame]

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNQK9RpOloc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNQK9RpOloc[/ame]

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Svm_Vnntyk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Svm_Vnntyk[/ame]