10 awesome guitarists you really should know about
Oh sure, I could talk all day about Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Jimmy Page, Steve Vai, Brian May, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Slash and the rest of them - all of them great guitarists. But these guitarists are the commercial heroes, and it’s about time to move the spotlight over to a few guitarists who have perhaps been overlooked by the general public for far too long. Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I don’t have to make each and every one of you a mix tape.
Let’s get on with it, then… in no particular order, 10 guitarists you should really check out before you die:
Joscho Stephan
When he was just 20 years of age, Joscho Stephan had already become known around his native Germany as a brilliantly talented gypsy jazz guitarist. Following in the footsteps of gypsy jazz legend Django Rheinhardt (who had only 3 fingers on his left hand), Joscho still has his full complement of fingers, and boy does it show.
What really sticks out about Joscho’s playing is his near flawless technical skill, making even the fastest, most complex improvised passages seem like mere childsplay to the 28 year old. Take a look at his version of the classic Bossa Dorado - but if you really want to see his ferocious chopping potential on full blast, check out his interpretation of Django’s Tiger. Unreal.
Michael Hedges
Sadly killed in a car accident in 1997, Michael Hedges was a truly groundbreaking acoustic guitarist, who in many ways created sounds that had never before been heard on the instrument; as well as going some way towards popularising lesser-known variants of the guitar, such as the harp guitar. The seemingly strange techniques he employed while playing were generally more of a result of the challenging nature of the songs he wrote, rather than Hedges consciously attempting to be virtuosic. One thing’s for sure, though - this guy could play.
Hedges’ style was described variously by himself as “heavy mental”, “violent acoustic”, “wacka-wacka” and “deep-tissue gladiator guitar”, reaching his most prolific period during the early to mid 90s. Quirky and humble, Michael really shone during his live performances, in which he loved to interact with his audience. He often recited poems, chatted to the crowd whilst moving to yet another imaginative tuning, and occasionally encouraged them to join in with his performances (check out his truly enigmatic version of the Beatles’ Come Together). Sadly taken from us at the age of 44, Michael’s legacy lives on, but not enough for my liking. Here’s a video of him performing one of his own compositions, Aerial Boundaries.
Doyle Dykes
A fingerstyle guitarist with a wide variety of different styles, Doyle Dykes is an utterly irrepressible musician, and while the mention of his name too often brings confused faces and snorts of derision from the uninitiated, his music speaks for itself.
He’s into God in a big way, and his daughter is kinda hot. But that might just be me.
A great exponent of harmonics and the amusingly-named ‘nut bend’, Dykes often uses unusual tunings for his music, though his hands always seem to be able to keep up. Check out his awesome versions of the golden oldie, Avalon, and the Bye Bye Blues…
Nuno Bettencourt
As the lead guitarist for 80s funk rock outfit Extreme, Nuno Bettencourt is responsible for some of the most blazing guitar riffs and solos ever concocted by man. Sadly, Extreme (and Nuno) are nowadays primarily known for the sappy acoustic ballad More Than Words rather than the intense high-tempo rock/funk repertoire that made the band so great. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cracking song. But there’s a lot more to the discography, and Nuno shines throughout.
Check out Nuno’s dazzling skills in this tidy yet emotive rendition of his own tune, Midnight Express. If you want some insane solos, do a couple of YouTube searches for the following Extreme tunes: Smoke Signals, Play With Me, He Man Woman Hater, Cupid’s Dead, and Mutha (Don’t Wanna Go To School Today). You’re welcome.
Jose Feliciano
I find it almost upsetting when I mention this name amongst fellow music lovers and am met with that same perplexed facial expression. This guy is an absolute legend, yet I can only seem to get a spark of recognition when speaking to the parents of the afore-mentioned music lovers.
First up, Jose is blind, and always has been, having suffered from congenital glaucoma from birth, but has constantly overcome this disability to become an internationally acclaimed and hugely respected musician. Here’s Jose in a recording from very early in his illustrious career, playing his own interpretation of Rimsy-Korsakov’s old favourite, The Flight of the Bumble Bee. Notice how he drops his pick at around 1:04, but carries on regardless, and gets away with it flawlessly. Mind-blowing.
Monte Montgomery
Renowned for the quality of his electric acoustic live shows, Monte Montgomery has finally begun to be recognised for his guitar skills thanks to various recent TV appearances, despite having a varied discography that stretches back to 1993.
An intense and enigmatic player, whether playing his own compositions or cover versions of others, Monte’s playing style sets him well apart from most guitarists - this is certainly one of the better (and more original) acoustic arrangements of Hendrix’s Little Wing that I have ever heard…
Tommy Emmanuel
In my opinion, Tommy Emmanuel does not belong on this list, since he’s actually quite well known in some places. But you’d be surprised at just how many people have let his marvellous playing pass them by.
An almost ridiculously accomplished guitarist, Australian Tommy started playing guitar at the age of 4, and by 1961 was a professional musician at the tender age of 6, having had no formal training. He remains one of the most talented and exciting fingerpickers around, and has played alongside many guitar legends, including two on this list (Doyle Dykes & Joscho Stephan), as well as Chet Atkins, Sir George Martin and John Denver.
Check out this video of a reduced version of one of his gigs, which gives you an example not only of his technical skill, but also his amazing variety.
Andy Mckee
Andy Mckee achieved internet celebrity status with his song Drifting, and to this date the video has amassed over 11 million views, and is one of the highest rated music clips on YouTube today. Yet mention his name at a party and you might get one guy whose sister’s boyfriend’s dog’s previous owner’s nephew once have heard the name. What the hell, guys. What the hell.
Just from listening to a small portion of his repertoire, it’s clear that Andy was influenced by Michael Hedges (amongst many others), and there are similarities in their styles; but it is also clear to see that Mckee is his own musician, often making use of complex guitar techniques and percussive slaps to bring an amazing level of depth to his solo work. God only knows how his brain keeps up with his fingers. Here’s another of his most popular videos on YouTube - an original composition called Rylynn.
John Jorgenson
Once again, personally I don’t feel like I should have to explain who John Jorgenson is, but hey. Jorgenson is a remarkably versatile musician, proficient not only on the guitar but also on the mandolin, piano, upright bass, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, and a few other lesser-known instruments besides.
Best-known for his work with the Desert Rose Band and The Hellecasters, John is also a spectacular acoustic player - here’s him and his quintet playing Shine, a gypsy jazz piece that truly lives up to its title when John’s playing lead…
John Butler
This guy is actually a recent discovery for me, too, and while I’m not sure about how famous he really is around the world, I’ve been passing around this video like crazy and still haven’t met anybody who has ever heard of him - though after watching, I doubt many will ever forget.
Butler is renowned for his live performances, partly due to his humble beginnings as a busker in his home country of Australia. He combines styles from East and West elegantly - not many can pull off playing blues music with Celtic and Indian overtones, but this guy sure can.
So far I must have watched this video over 50 times, yet it still gives me goose bumps with every viewing. His obvious technical skill, combined with the way he pours his emotion into the tune, well, it creates something pretty special. Hey, you know what? Stop reading this rubbish and play the damned video. And yes, he has disgustingly long fingernails. Well spotted.
Before I sign off on this post, let me just clear this up right here - if you already know about most (or all) of these guitarists, then good on you. You have delved deeper than the lowest common denominator guitarists that have been thrust at you on a daily basis. Perhaps you know of a few guitarists who should, in your opinion, have been included on this very list. Feel free to contribute your own suggestions, instead of repeatedly telling me how much I suck for not picking your favourites, or for picking somebody who you would consider famous enough already. This list was made after many years of occasional frustration when speaking about my favourite guitarists around friends and musicians, and hearing the same names being thrust about as ‘definitive’ over and over again while these wonderful (in my opinion) musicians were utterly dismissed on the grounds of ignorance.
For those of you who haven’t heard many of these names, I personally guarantee that you will enjoy at least one of these guys. If you don’t, it’s very possible that you have no soul.
Now share these musicians so I don’t have to do this again. Hope you enjoyed the ride.
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the baldchemist said,
March 27th, 2008 @ 1:44 am
Luis Bonfa the great Brazilian perhaps should get a place also. Thanks for your work man.
Tommy Emmanuel I have worked with in Sydney. The Baldchemist
Fred Wood said,
March 27th, 2008 @ 9:53 am
unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mauricio coindreau said,
March 28th, 2008 @ 6:58 pm
John Butler Trio is the most known of all the bands or guitarist you mentioned! Everyone you said you showed them to, and did not know who he was, is a complete musical incompetent!
Beatles said,
April 1st, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
I would vote for Paul McCartney of The Beatles.
Fireglo said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 5:21 am
ehhhh rory gallagher?
jayce said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
he dropped his pick on purpose
John D0ugh said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
You should check out Phil Keaggy when you get a chance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T89MVl2NcPg
I saw one of his shows a while ago and everyone was blown away!
Steve said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
The lack of Jason Becker = fail
puff said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
Luiz Bonfa was a great composer, but to this list I’d add brazilian Raphael Rabello, considered by Paco de Lucia and other great guitarrists a guitar genius
puff said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
also checkout Jose Feliciano’s Malaguena on Youtube
John said,
April 2nd, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
No electric guitarists?
Christopher Millward said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
I’d have to add Lenny Breau, Tal Farlow, Leo Kottke, and your own countryman Clive Carroll to that list.
And Chet Atkins, though I suspect (hope) that he’s one of the regular ones that comes up in conversation.
Gimpy said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
Along the lines of Jose Feliciano continuing to play after dropping his pick, I once saw Larry Coryell (jazz guitarist) continue to play while restringing his guitar after one of the strings broke.
Thanks for the great web page.
Jason said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
Thank you for mentioning Nuno!!! No one ever bothers to look at him because of More Than Words. He’s a guitar god….
Insomniac said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
John Butler is pretty big in Australia at least. A lot of his Songs have been in Triple J’s Hottest 100 count down. He also performed at the Live Earth concert and that was a world event.
Evil Sock Monkey said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
You missed Joe Satriani. Absolutely amazing.
Dannielle Levan said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
John Butler is part of John Butler Trio, very well known band in Australia/NZ.
Dan Girard said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
You have to include Chris Smithers in this list!!
GuitarHero said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 7:50 pm
11. Richard Thompson
brian K said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 9:01 pm
I’m surprised that leo kottke was not on this list- he may just be too well known (at least to me).
10 Days said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
more 10 awesome guitarists….Mads Eriksen…Kaki King…Rodrigo Y Gabriela….Mattias Ia Eklundh ….Eric Sardinas…???????/
david said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
How could you forget Erik Mongrain? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63qId7DuyFE
Meghan said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
So disappointed you didn’t include Roy Buchanan…most underrated guitar player EVER.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On5372UztI0
musicfan said,
April 3rd, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
DEREK TRUCKS!!!! amazing. Greg Howe is insane too. Two completely different styles, but two great musicians.
Dudeski Robinson said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 2:24 am
But of course, you forgot this guy:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4DOJK3MDiZU
Shame on you!
Dudeski Robinson said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 2:28 am
And on a more serious note, Bob Brozman is simply amazing and VERY different from all the guys on your list.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vX–sM5G52U
jaggedphere said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 4:09 am
Nice llist! I recognized all of the guitarists there except for John Jorgenson. But if anyone is playing a Selmer I’m probably going to like it!
PS: Paco de Lucia is missing from your list…
Gari said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 6:12 am
Hi, great compilation. We featured this post in the digg-style guitar related Fretpoint site.
aic007 said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 9:36 am
Malcolm Holcombe, Not only an amazing guitarist but also an amazing song writer.
Dave said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 10:04 am
Thank you all for your recommendations, I’ll definitely be checking them out when I get the time!
Those complaining at the lack of electric guitarists, several of these guys also play electric guitar (Bettencourt and Jorgenson most obviously), but I was obviously in an acoustic mood when choosing my top 10. I think these videos are more representative of their individual styles.
Those shouting out names like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and the morons asking for Hendrix even though I disclaimered his name in the FIRST TEN WORDS, they are far too well-known to make it onto this list - this list is about guitarists who haven’t yet garnered the fame their talent deserves (in my opinion).
That Roy Buchanan video is fantastic. He plays that thing like it’s a part of him.
slash said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
[…] …http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/slash relieved about weilands departure_106456910 awesome guitarists you really should know aboutOh sure, I could talk all day about Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Jimmy Page, Steve Vai, Brian May, Carlos […]
10 Guitarists You Should Know | Fansession said,
April 4th, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
[…] Over at Crazy Brits they refer to these guys as “10 guitarists you really should check out before you die.” […]
Nob Lesse said,
April 5th, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
Harry Manx - chack him out
Rush said,
April 6th, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
Second to the Phil Keaggy
adam said,
April 6th, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
michael romeo = electric god
Brian said,
April 7th, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
No complaints! Only thanks. I love this style music and now have the end all be all list. Thank you for taking the time!!
10 Beste Akustik-Gitarristen | guitargeorge said,
April 8th, 2008 @ 9:05 am
[…] 8 04 2008 Eine sehr sinnvolle Ergänzung zu meiner Youtube-Gitarristen-Top-10 habe ich im Crazy-Brits-Blog gesehen. Danke an Zettt für diesen Tipp, den er mir per Email zukommen hat lassen. Die “10 […]
MarkDTS said,
April 10th, 2008 @ 7:19 am
I have to say that I’m just a little upset that Stanley Jordan isn’t on this list.
Do yourself a favor and check out this guy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HjXN3OLgoqs
Freakishly amazing.
Boston Legal Screencaps said,
April 11th, 2008 @ 6:45 am
there should be atleast one asian in there. if you don’t believe in the awesome power of asians with the guitar, i think you guys should check out some of this youtube videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7Jh1BV1EOc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_Qc20s6ufwk
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8
Jack said,
April 18th, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
Jack
Geat post. I added you to my blog roll!
santana 30 30 gp said,
May 2nd, 2008 @ 1:33 am
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Guitar Quiz said,
May 6th, 2008 @ 5:01 am
I didn’t know anyone else listened to Nuno
jimmy hendrix said,
May 9th, 2008 @ 3:32 pm
[…] and the rest of them - all of them great guitarists. But these guitarists are the commercial heroes.http://www.crazybrits.co.uk/2008/02/08/10-awesome-guitarists-you-really-should-know-about/Jimi HendrixSoundtrack: Almost Famous. Jimi hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington, on November 27, […]
axeplayer32908 said,
May 23rd, 2008 @ 1:34 am
ok people
people are like “YOU MISSED SO AND SO”
Well no shit this is about guitarist alot of people dont know about.
And for the one that said if you dont know about john butler you are mucisally incompetent…..your an idiot. Again this is guitarist alot fo people dont know. So I don’t know that might tell me that THEY ARE GOOD BUT PEOPLE DONT KNOW ABOUT THEM.
And for the on that said “You missed Joe Satriani”……………you’re kidding right. Satriani is very very popular.
Dave said,
May 24th, 2008 @ 2:19 pm
@ axeplayer32908:
You have to remember, this is the internet, where everybody’s an expert and nobody reads anything to the end!
Joe Satriani and Paco de Lucia are far too mainstream to be included, and you would not believe how many people have emailed me or posted on the Digg comments thread telling me that I missed out Hendrix, Clapton, etc. even though I disclaimered that in the first ten words of the post. I’ve left the comments there in order to capture the idiocy of the posters in question
I tried to introduce these guitarists with as little elitism and arrogance as I could; but unfortunately the rest of the internet doesn’t really care for subtlety.
all about van halen said,
June 19th, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
[…] and the rest of them - all of them great guitarists. But these guitarists are the commercial heroes.http://www.crazybrits.co.uk/2008/02/08/10-awesome-guitarists-you-really-should-know-about/Van Halen - AOL MusicSpinner.com: van halen Old Singers: David Lee Roth, Sammy HagarNew Singer: Gary […]
benji and joel madden said,
June 20th, 2008 @ 3:50 am
benji and joel madden
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read.
jimmy hendrix said,
June 30th, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
[…] and the rest of them - all of them great guitarists. But these guitarists are the commercial heroes.http://www.crazybrits.co.uk/2008/02/08/10-awesome-guitarists-you-really-should-know-about/Jimi Hendrix ?? Hey Joe ?? Listen free at Last.fmListen to Jimi hendrix ?? Hey Joe full track for […]