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Who in your opinion is a guitarist worthy of greater recognition but not thought of as a guitar hero


Notes_Norton

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Who in your opinion is a guitarist worthy of greater recognition but is not generally thought of as a guitar hero

 

A recent thread on this board pointed out that Randy Bachman of Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive is a guitarist that doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

 

I might add Terry Kath (from the original Chicago) and Joe Walsh to the list of guitar heroes of mine who don't have the "Guitar Hero" status that Hendrix' date=' Santana, Page, etc. have.

 

I have a few others, but I left room for you to add them to this thread.

 

So let's hear about them.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

 

[/quote']

 

As far as under rated guitarist, Dave Evans has the edge.

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I'm going to go out on a limb' date=' here, and nominate Dave Edmunds and Brian Setzer - great guitarists if you love traditional rock'n'roll/rockabilly.[/quote']

 

I've seen Setzer at least six times in the past three years, and he is an incredible guitarist. And not rockabilly. He has won several Grammys in recent years for jazz/pop instrumentals like Caravan and Sleepwalk, as well a nomination for My Favorite Things last year.

 

Here's a photo I took at the December concert at the Gibson Amphitheater:

 

l_1cdc8b9f05788a40f4a9e0d48c2e32e8.jpg

 

Here's some More Setzer Photos if anyone's interested.

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Bruce Springsteen, Nils Lofgren, Neil Young, Elliot Easton, Elliot Randall, Tommy Emmanuel, Don Felder, George Lowell, Bonnie Ratt, Stephen Stills, Jackson Browne.

 

(all the people who have said Joe Walsh - I believe he already has the recognition as a guitar hero, though Don Felder is a more tasteful guitarist))

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Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick

various blues guys from Chicago area like Byther Smith, I do not count Buddy because like another mentioned he might be at that status already

that early Chicago(CTA) stuff have some great sounding guitar so will agree with the other...

 

 

maybe I am reaching here, and maybe they already are considered guitar heroes, but the 4 guitarists of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Ed King, and Steve Gaines..

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Roy Buchanan has been mentioned and I totally agree. The only time I ever saw him live was when he opened for one of my personal heros, Harvey Mandel, back in '72 in Louisville. Harvey had about 3 really great guitar instrumental albums in the '70's & I ripped off a lot of licks from him. One of my biggest influences.

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I gotta totally agree about Terry Kath.

Gone before his time. "Freeform Guitar" is on the B side of one of the early Chicago LP's, I can't remeber which one without digging through my LP collection It's TK doing Van Halen-esque dive bombs and jazz licks on a strat.

 

My personal picks are:

 

1. PHIL KEAGGY (the nicest pro guitar player I ever met) He's totally underrated and unknown because he left the mainstream after 2 albums with Glass Harp and became a pioneer in the Christian rock genre. I have a live album from his west coast tour in 1977 or 1978 and the guy was mindblowing. I saw him live last year and the guy still smokes. If you can find an album in the used music stores called "How the West Was Won" with Phil and a band called The second Chapter of Acts" buy it. It's worth the cost just for his tracks. Or his best electric album, IMHO, is Crimson and Blue. I know what you are thinking, it can't be good because it's Christian music. I guarantee you Phil Keaggy is the best guitarist you've never heard of. His more recent stuff uses alternate tunings, double capos and looping to accomplish some really amazing things.

 

2. BARRY GOODREAU - Boston I know everybody talks about Tom Scholz but Tom was the Keyboard player/rythm guitar player. It was Barry that did alot of the lead work. Check out his post-Boston album with Orion the Hunter. It really showcases his licks. I especially like "Mean Woman Blues".

 

3. PAT TRAVERS - Someone already mentioned PT but I have to say it again. PT was the master of the A/DA flanger. Plus I loved the fact that his main guitar was a beat up old melody maker routed out for a humbucker. He is one of the reasons I became a better lead player. I saw him open for Foghat in 1979 and I was totally blown away. That version of the Pat Travers Band was PT and Pat Thrall on guitars (smokin dual and trade off solos) Tommy Aldridge (Black Oak, Ozzy, Whitesnake) on drums, and Mars Cowling, possibly the best funk/rock bass player ever. These guys cranked out boogie woogie with a side of funk and reggae. Check out "Heat in the Street" for some ridiculous time signature work. His best album is the "Live! Go For What You Know" Which covers Boom, Boom and Statesboro Blues and includes the arena anthem "Stevie"

 

Those are my picks.

Cheers!

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You know, there was a fellow, named Mick Abrams who player with Jethro Tull and then Blodwyn Pig, that

had some unique and interesting phrasing and licks, that I never hear much about, after that. Not sure if

he needs to be a "rock god," or anything, but he did some interesting/nice stuff, "back in the day!"

 

Charlie B.

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Pat Travers and Pat Thrall were a force to be reckoned with for sure! I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing alot of the southern boys up close and personal doing lighting ,sound and staging work in the early 80's....most of them were very good players but Hughie Thomasson was another standout player and really nice guy...as was Rickie Medlock. I'm from Boston and Barry Goodreau is a good call too and Elliot Easton from the cars is an awesome guitarist as well.

 

John McFee from the Doobie Brothers is one very talented musician who has played with alot of great artists too. there are quite a few in this catagory beside the mainstream guys that always get mentioned. 3 great blues players also come to mind Buddy Whittington and Coco Montoya both from Mayall's Bluesbreakers and ,of course, Robben Ford is a monster! Then theres the current Allman Bros guitar slinger Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes,both of those guys can hang with anybody....too many great ones out there!

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I think Frank's already beyond "guitar god" status... Though most people think he just wrote quirky songs with funny lyrics..

 

 

That's my point exactly! O:)

Most of the general population puts Jimmy Page' date=' Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, etc in the 'guitar gods' category, but they really don't think of Frank as a guitar god and he is as good if not better than most peoples perception of a guitar god, and that's due to the perception of his music. They need to listen to Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar, and it's sequel, Guitar.

Hmmm Jimmy Page.. :-k ... Yep! Guitar god

Eric Clapton....:-k Guitar god too!

SRV... =D> Absolutely a guitar god

Frank Zappa.. [-( .. :-k ...:-s ...](*,) ...#-o Yea, he is a guitar god!O:)

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Quite a few that others added here are ones I would personally agree with, and a few were added that I'm unfamiliar with (and plan to check out).

 

Someone mentioned Christopher Parkening, and I immediately thought about the people he took his first guitar lessons from, Los Romeros, especially Celedonio and Pepe. (or they in the 'guitar god" status already).

 

Herb Ellis has always been a favorite. That made me think about Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell.

 

Someone mentioned Carlos Santana, but in my opinion, he is already a guitar hero (I love his sense of melody).

 

Someone mentioned a few blues artists, (and where would we be without the blues?). How about the guitarist who played the classic solo in Bobby "Blue" Bland's Stormy Monday Blues? (I believe it was Wayne Bennett, please correct me if I'm wrong - if not, he should be on the list anyway). Did someone mention Albert King?

 

Scotty Moore from the early Elvis days played some nice rock-a-billy.

 

Someone mentioned Django who is supreme, and that led me to think Geisela Reinhardt and Ziroli Winterstein, if you are unfamiliar, search out Titi Winterstein's Djinee Tu Kowa Ziro -- one of my favorite Gypsy Jazz albums.

 

I make it a practice to listen to various kinds of music, even the kind I don't play, because the influences seem to improve my own playing. Among other genres, I also listen to a lot of "classical" music (especially Romantic to Modern) and I figure I'm not the only one, as I hear melodies in Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and others sneaking into popular music.

 

I also listen to instrumentalists that play instruments I don't play. Long before I picked up guitar, I listened to guitarists and that helped my saxophone playing. Vocalists are another source, I learned a lot about singing through my instrument from the great jazz singer, Mark Murphy (and others). But I'm drifting off the topic of the thread.

 

That's all for now, I have an early gig today.

 

Notes

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Nice call on Ry Cooder, Svet. I thought of him when I saw David Lindley mentioned. Another guy comfortable on an array of instruments in many genres and underrated as a git slinger. Lots of early work with the Stones and his "Paris, Texas" soundtrack will give you Chicken Skin.LOL!

 

His album with Ali Farka Toure is amazing too!

 

In fact, maybe AFT should be on my short list as well. He had a nice segment in that PBS blues special a while back.

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Hmmm, lots of very desreving guitarists. Rory gallagher definitely gets my vote, as does Django and Leo Kottke.

I am reading a biography on Frank Zappa right now, by Barrly Miles, and he does point out that Zappa's music was very much more complicated than many realized. Many players stayed with him through the tough time precisely because his music was so good and challenging.

 

Brian

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