Help Christen the Mount Rushmore of Guitar Players

[junior94]

To help be more appropriate, and encouragement from some other posters, moving the idea I sort of just casually had for Chuck Berry away from his condolences thread and so exclusively into this one. Mount Rushmore has got room for 4 faces, in this place we're replacing US Presidential giants with gods of the rock & roll world, wielding in particular, the guitar.


But so who you got? name possibilities I'm already hearing are... the man Chuck Berry himself, Eric Clapton, Jimmi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck... who else?

[junior94]

btw, time was, I would devise a poll on reasonably the 10 most likely names to get serious discussion, but it'd have to be multiple choice to round out the "top 4" winners, when you're looking for ultimately a group of 4 there's no point in just having a winner of 1. But as has been shown plenty, there are those here who on a multiple choice poll who will click on every damn box every damn time. I've never had a clue on how/why this is supposed to be at all funny/clever/subversive/whatever. It seemed like a practical, pragmatic enough way to me for the 4 best favorites to filter thru at the top for the final mountain face. But so that's why I just went poll-free.

[BTCS_JTR]

I'd throw Rory Gallagher up there.

[Drwbllz]

Clapton, Hendrix, SRV, B.B. King

[TwoStep2888]

Originally Posted by Drwbllz

Clapton, Hendrix, SRV, B.B. King

that's a good guitar Rushmore

[TrippinNancies1]

On a guitarist Mount Rushmore, composition should be represented, so I'll throw David Gilmour up there.

'David Gilmour can do more with one note than most other guitar players can do with the whole fretboard'- Dave Mustaine

Gilmour's phrasing is second to none IMO. Others may be faster, or more proficient improvisationally, but the dude composes the most memorable guitar solos e.g. Dogs, Time, Comfortably Numb, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Money...

[BotheLaneFan]

BB King, Hendrix, Clapton, The Edge

[TwoStep2888]

I was waiting for Bo to bring Edge into the conversation

[K270]

I'd put Slash on that mountain.

[jamband1]

My personal top 4: Hendrix, Page, Santana, Beck

But if you value just pure, technical proficiency, I think you've gotta consider guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or yngwie malmsteen.

And our boy TR is pretty damn impressive as well.

[BTBaboon]

Not sure I'd actually have him on it at the end, but Prince should be in the conversation

[scrock25]

Originally Posted by jamband1

My personal top 4: Hendrix, Page, Santana, Beck

But if you value just pure, technical proficiency, I think you've gotta consider guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or yngwie malmsteen.

And our boy TR is pretty damn impressive as well.

I was just hipping Yngwie to this 23 year old kid at work the other day.

[Drwbllz]

Originally Posted by TwoStep2888

I was waiting for Bo to bring Edge into the conversation

Too bad it's a list of quitar players and not a list of guys that can't play anything without using delays to cover up their. technical shortcomings.

I get that this list is largely subjective and that he certainly created a "sound", but IMO he is not a very good guitar player. If you've ever seen "It Might Get Loud" (highly recommend), you can see him play with Jack White and Jimmy Page and if you don't think "He's nowhere near as talented a player as those guys", then you probably don't know what you're talking about.

He's certainly innovative in the effects he created/creates, and maybe he can go on the Rushmore of sound of engineers or something, but players? No.

[AlpineValley804]

Originally Posted by TrippinNancies1

On a guitarist Mount Rushmore, composition should be represented, so I'll throw David Gilmour up there.

'David Gilmour can do more with one note than most other guitar players can do with the whole fretboard'- Dave Mustaine

Gilmour's phrasing is second to none IMO. Others may be faster, or more proficient improvisationally, but the dude composes the most memorable guitar solos e.g. Dogs, Time, Comfortably Numb, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Money...

I can totally get behind this.

Time is one of my all-time favorite songs.

[smokew11]

Hendrix and Clapton are the no-brainers imo. After that it gets a little cloudy- Santana, Beck, Page, Gilmour...even Mark Knopler, but he probably wouldn't be there at the end

[ricky towel]

Duane Allman.

It would simply be wrong without him there.

[Useliteski]

Originally Posted by BotheU2Fan

BB King, Hendrix, Clapton, The Edge

not even in the top 100...

[chadizzy1]

It's easy to do a top 3.

Chet Atkins
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix (when I typed in his name it autocorrected to "Kiki he drinks")

After that, it could go a number of ways. For the #4 slot - Page, Santana, Beck, BB King, etc.

[mthawk07]

Not enough mentions of David Gilmour in this thread.

[BotheLaneFan]

Originally Posted by BTBaboon

Not sure I'd actually have him on it at the end, but Prince should be in the conversation

He's on the Mt. Rushmore of fucking.

[BotheLaneFan]

Originally Posted by Drwbllz

Too bad it's a list of quitar players and not a list of guys that can't play anything without using delays to cover up their. technical shortcomings.

I get that this list is largely subjective and that he certainly created a "sound", but IMO he is not a very good guitar player. If you've ever seen "It Might Get Loud" (highly recommend), you can see him play with Jack White and Jimmy Page and if you don't think "He's nowhere near as talented a player as those guys", then you probably don't know what you're talking about.

He's certainly innovative in the effects he created/creates, and maybe he can go on the Rushmore of sound of engineers or something, but players? No.

I have him on mainly due to influence, honestly. He's done stuff that people STILL can't pull off, and basically every band post Unforgettable Fire has been influenced by U2 (whether they know it or not) and a lot of that is due to The Edge.

He's not a great straight ahead guitar player, but that's more because he stopped trying to be when he realized the instrument could be so much more.

[chadizzy1]

Originally Posted by mthawk07

Not enough mentions of David Gilmour in this thread.

Or Chet Atkins.

[junior94]

do I seriously seem THAT unreasonable apparently for bringing Eddie Van Halen up?? I know there's not a ton of replies so far, but nobody else has dropped his name.

not that Rolling Stone magazine hasn't bungled up plenty of "all time" lists they've published over the years, but for the record back when they did top 100 guitarists, I'm pretty sure Eddie was #3 (def no worse than #5).

c'mon, you have to be impressed I'm reigning in my Pearl Jam fandom enough not to bother trying to argue Mike McCready should be in there (I'm still pissed at RS they didn't have him in top 100, that's simply factually inaccurate)

[ToySoldier#34]

Tommy Emmanuel isn't as well known as other more obvious candidates but the guy is a freak

[Useliteski]

gotta have Buddy Guy in the mix. So many of my current favs list him as an influence (and were lucky to still have him ).

my Mt. Rushmore of OG's would look like this: Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Eddie Van Halen

my list of current favs: Derek Trucks, Tom Morello, Trey Anastasio, John Mayer

i wanted to put Hendrix and Allman up there, but they didn't live long

[Useliteski]

that was hard. so many i wanted to put up on the OG list, but i had to narrow my focus and think broadly.

[Useliteski]

Originally Posted by ricky towel

Duane Allman.

It would simply be wrong without him there.

my musical world wouldn't be the same if it hadn't been for Duane.

It just kills me that he didn't get more time on this earth. what he had was so organic yet so masterful, and he didn't even live to see 25.

I think about this with Hendrix too, all the time. true pioneers that deserved so much more time!

[Jake]

Originally Posted by ToySoldier#34

Tommy Emmanuel isn't as well known as other more obvious candidates but the guy is a freak

I just saw him play with Colin Hay. He's amazing.


for now, I'd put:

Hendrix
Atkins
Prince
Berry



it's kinda crazy that Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani isn't even close, but that just speaks to how great some guitarists are

[barbogast]

He probably doesn't deserve Rushmore status but I think Randy Rhoades deserves a mention in here

[BotheLaneFan]

I forgot Robert Johnson. He can bump Edge.