Who do you like?
Walter Trout has to be somewhere on the list:
Living - Clapton, Derek Trucks
Dead - SRV, the greatest ever
Stevie Ray Vaughan, hands down, best blues guitarist of all-time.
Luke
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Living - Clapton, Derek Trucks
Dead - SRV, the greatest ever
Would that put Johnny Winter somewhere between living and dead?
I don’t know how anyone can quantify “best” but I saw SRV with Jeff Beck and Beck blew him away. To me SRV is just a flashier Albert King.
My current faves are Chris Whitley, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks.
Any time you mention B.B King you automatically get cooler and increase your chances of getting good pussy.
Just sayin’.
There can be no ‘best’ blues guitar player. Blues and blues guitar isn’t poker, or chess.
However, you can ask “who is your favorite blues guitar player” or “which blues guitar player speaks to you the most”.
I picked up the guitar the same week I heard “Texas Flood”, so SRV was a catalyst for what has become a huge part of my life. However, without Freddie King, Albert King, Lonnie Mack, and Jimi Hendrix there would be no “Stevie Ray Vaughan” to talk about.
A lot more people have SRV albums than Albert King albums, but if you play someone Albert King that doesn’t know any better, they might ask if that’s SRV on guitar but who’s singing(?).
Close your eyes and listen to this:
Derek Trucks:
Warren Haynes is obviously a badass too.
There’s so much talent on this stage I’m amazed it doesn’t collapse from the sheer weight of awesome.
I like Rory Gallagher. He’s a Stratocaster man.
Quick one of Mayer, dude is legit, even if he’s been a douche in the past
[quote]BradTGIF wrote:
Quick one of Mayer, dude is legit, even if he’s been a douche in the past[/quote]
agreed
There is an old black guy that plays guitar (and harmonica) once every couple of weeks in a little bar in Greenwood Mississippi. [seriously]
Mmmm…hard one.
O would like to put in an honorable mention for John Lee Hooker. Sorry–can’t link.
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
I like Rory Gallagher. He’s a Stratocaster man.
Fuck yeah.
Great guitarist and TREMENDOUS songwriter.
Jeff Healey:
SRV and Jeff Healey:
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
There can be no ‘best’ blues guitar player. [/quote]
Good point, as it’s all a matter of opinion.
R.L. Burnside and T-Model Ford. Those two lived though some tough shit.
Too hard to pick a ‘best’ - the list is too extensive and a lot of people wont even have heard of a lot of them.
For classic Delta bluesman:
Son House
Charley Patton
Robert Johnston
Huddie ‘lead belly’ Ledbetter
Lightin Hopkins
Elmore James
t-bone Walker
John Lee Hooker
Albert Collins
bb king
Buddy Guy
Honourable mentions for me go to Jimmy page, Hendrix, and Billy gibbons (not all “strictly” blues men, but awesome blues players all the same).
Some more obscure but still awesome players would be:
Roy Buchanon
Peter Green
Duane Allman
Duane Allman is obscure? Didn’t realize. He’s a household name in my family.