Andrew+Q's+OpEd+Article

The Best Guitarist media type="file" key="andrewq-muckraker-2011.mp3" width="240" height="20"

The only parts of a guitarist’s body that dances are their fingers, unless you are Chuck Berry or Angus Young. Guitarists are the ones in the band who make their music recognizable. For example there is Ritchie Blackmore and his famous riff on Smoke on the Water. Need I say more?

Ever since my friend and I picked up guitars and have listened to Rock N’ Roll, we have always talked about who we thought was the best guitarist, sometimes even argued over it.

I recently came to realize that there can not be some one who is the best guitarist because every guitarist is and sounds different. For example there are the virtuosos such as, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, and Randy Rhoads etc… Then there are the bluesmen like Charley Patton, T-Bone Walker, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan etc… Then there are the Rock guitarists like Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Billy Gibbons, and Carlos Santana etc… Last but not least there are the Hard Rock and Metal guitarists such as, Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Joe Perry, Angus Young, Slash, Leslie West, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, and Kirk Hammet etc… The lists just keep going and going.

Even the guitarists who were inspired by other guitarists sound different. For example Eddie Van Halen was inspired by Eric Clapton as he was learning to play guitar. However, the two sound totally different. So my point is that there can never be someone who is the world’s greatest guitarist. This concludes my thoughts on the greatest guitarists.