So who is your favourite guitarist?
That will vary, depending on the mood I am in - and the criteria set. At any moment, I may have a favorite blues guitarist, a favorite rock guitarist, a favorite classical guitarist, etc...
And, at any moment, I'm quite likely to have another favorite guitarist - in any one of a number of different categories.
Some of my favorite guitarists aren't actually on this list.
An example that I frequently use is BB King. I loved him and I love his guitar work. However, he's not actually qualified to be on this list. Another one might be Jerry Garcia, but he's only barely on the list - or not on the list at all. Noel Paul Stookey is another one that's just not right to place on the list, because he won't shut up long enough to show his guitar ability and I'm pretty sure the concept of bitchin' solo is something that mortifies him.
BB King is really cool. I don't know Noel Paul Stookey, so I will try and listen to some of his stuff.
Have you heard As An Am the album by Frank Zappa? I love that - I also love the solo from Yo Mama and I love Watermelon In Easter Hay and I read or heard somewhere that it was actually Zappa's favourite track - it's deeply emotional, very beautiful.
When I listen to a guitar player - I don't listen for technical ability but instead the ability to communicate the feelings which words cannot contain. Watermelon in Easter Hay is one of these songs.
Gary Moore is cool - he has my birthday.
I'm pretty familiar with much of Zappa's work and he's really a big part of what we call a 'guitar solo.'
Words like "feeling" and "art" (or even "like") have no place on my list. It's not that they have no place in music, it's that they have no place on my list. My list is, inasmuch as is possible, to remove all the criteria that is subjective and to rate them with metrics that can be quantified and established as approximate truths.
There is still some subjectivity, but I try to remove as much of it as I can.
There are artists on my list that I don't actually regularly listen to. There some that I don't even really like, such as Malmsteen. I admire his work as a technical feat, but I don't really care to listen to a great deal of his music - certainly not consecutively.
If you really want to understand, it'd probably help to read the articles. You can see this link:
https://playguitar.gq/guitarists-better-than-hendrix-the-complete-list/
That's most of 'em. There's a few that are missing, 'cause I haven't updated the list in a few weeks. I've been both busy and lazy.
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