Without aging myself in too hysterical a fashion, I have been including music from the likes of the Stones, Led Zeppelin and Golden Earring in some of my live sets and people seem to dig these dinos in the mix a lot. One of my goals as a deejay is to give people reference points for some of the new stuff I am playing. Besides just enjoying hearing this music played LOUD myself, I have truly enjoyed reactions to some of this material from people who hear the salient references I am trying to make.
From the point of view of guitar playing, (and I consider the Pumpkins and the Bald Wonder to be history (!!!!!) on this BB now) it is still an incredible thrill for me to hear Jimmy Page really doing it up, Pete Townshend has to be one of the all time rhythm guitar masters and Hendrix, well, I know just how much so many of you are serioussssssss Jimi freaks on this list, I just never seem to get tired of his music and some of the pieces of music on Electric Ladyland are points of departure for so much that came after, electronic and otherwise. These are rock and rollers to me personally. I even love some of the softer Westcoast Sound people many of whom have a high level of sincerity in their music and some truly awesome abilities. Neil Young has written songs that rate anyway, anyhow, anywhere.
I would be interested to hear from other listees who might have guitar heroes. My tastes are pretty eclectic because besides the folks above, I love Shawn Colvin's playing and Daniel Lanois really blew me away when I saw him play on In The Studio. I am a big fan of Ali Farka Toure and Leo Kottke as well. John Mclaughlin is in my pantheon, along with Paco de Lucia and Al di Meola. Joe Walsh has done some great stuff but I also love Joe Pass and Bucky Pizzarelli. I liked what Andy Summers did with the Police.
So, my list of guitar players, drawn mostly from the ranks of the rockers but with some crossovers, but all of whom I consider germane to most areas of modern music today are:
1/. Jimi Hendrix
2/. Jimmy Page
3/. Pete Townshend
4/. Duane Allman
5/. Carlos Santana
6/. John McLaughlin
7/. Eric Clapton
8/. Jeff Beck
9/. Stevie Ray Vaughn
10/.Steve Howe
I know all this dates me, but how sweet it is to be dated by the music that these people created. Actually, I limited this list to about a decade and to people who I feel were revolutionary in their own way. I'm sure there are names I left out and that I will think of 12 minutes after I send this off and want to add, but so it goes!
Anybody out there have a list of guitar players to share?
leslie/The Power of Sound
9/.
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