Rock out with your...

Summer, typically, is the time for outdoor stadium concerts, and for good reason.  I’ve been gushing about the Grateful Dead shows and their inclusion of Trey Anastasio which got me thinking about my favorite guitarists.  So, for you, here’s a list of my top 5 rock guitarists of all time:

5. Eric Clapton – Dude has had a huge career, but before we get into that, this rating is purely his time with Cream, with maybe a little big with Derek and the Dominoes.  Tons of people play guitar, Clapton during his early years was the guitar.  And, with his cohorts in crime, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, no rock trip (with maybe the exception of Rush) made more sound.  Dudes wailed, and Clapton took them places with lead guitar, weaving in and out of blues riffs, that would be copied for years to come.

Suggested disk/s: Disraeli Gears.  You already know “Strange Brew” and “Sunshine of Your Love.”  Fill out your knowledge with “Tales of Great Ulysees” and “SWLABR”

4. Frank Zappa – Speed.  So, yeah, he was super strange…but I would argue that he brought to rock what many classical composers brought to their medium.  Much of his music was highly orchestrated and perfection required.  Also, dude shredded a mean guitar.  Very few players could cram as many notes into a line with the precision that Zappa had. 

Suggested disk/s: Gotta go with Hot Rats on this one.  It skews towards jazz…is largely instrumental, and has some incredible guitar solos (along with some honking and shrieking as progressive/acid jazz lends itself to).

3. Duane Allman – Two words: Eric Clapton.  At the time that the Layla disk dropped, Clapton had already tied up all loose ends with Baker and Bruce.  He was an established rock guitar god.  So, where do you go when you need a guitar solo for the titular track?  You go to Duane Allman, because, in so many ways, he did for slide guitar what Dizzy Gillespie did for trumpet…he put that shit on the map.  Just ask his little brother Greg.  And, by late 1971, more than Greg’s voice, Duane singlehandedly defined the sound of southern jam rock on one of the best classic rock albums, Eat a Peach.

Suggested disk/s: The aforementioned as well as the live album The Fillmore Concerts

2. Jimmy Page – Dude just used a bow on his guitar!  Drop the mic.  Done.  There’s not a hard rock/heavy metal guitar player who doesn’t owe a debt to Jimmy Page.  There are too many songs to mention, but the Led Zeppelin catalogue is rife with memorable guitar hooks and blistering solos and improvisation.  While sometimes seen as ostentatious and excessive, there is something superbly impressive about the dude who brings the canon to the water balloon fight in the form of the double-necked Gibson EDS-1275 used on the masterful “Stairway to Heaven.”

Suggested disk/s: Buy it all; start with Zep I-IV and then grab Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti.  If you’re still hungry, grab Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda.  Boom, you now own it all!

1. Jimi Hendrix – Best rock and roll guitarist of all time.  As reported by Matt Snow for Mojo Magazine:

On January 11, 1967, the [Jimi Hendrix Experience] conquered London when they appeared at The Bag O'Nails nightclub. In attendance that night were John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Brian Epstein, Lulu, the Hollies, Small Faces, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Donovan, Georgie Fame, Denny Laine, Terry Reid, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton, who rarely missed any of Hendrix's London gigs. Townshend admitted, "[Jimi] changed the whole sound of electric guitar and turned the rock world upside down". Clapton agreed: "after Pete Townshend and I went to see him play, I thought that was it, the game was up for all of us, we may as well pack it in."

Suggested disk/s: Start with the Experience Catalogue.  Lots of short tunes that are/were largely radio friendly.  Then, grab Band of Gypsys and the posthumous Valleys of Neptune along with the Isle of Wight live album.  Put on headphones so that, when your mind is blown, it doesn’t go all over the place.

Honorable mentions include:

Jerry Garcia – hugely talented musician who had a knack of connecting with the audience in big and small venues

George Harrison – extremely emotional guitar playing which allowed for some of the Beatles most introspective songs to be written without getting silly/crazy (a la Lennon).

Trey Anastasio – because this is my blog and the guy can play as well as anybody.  Hell, he just learned the entire Dead catalogue so that he can play them once!  Respect!