Guitar Heros

Who is the best guitar player in the world? We could argue this for days, weeks and probably even years. Your opinion may be based on your favorite style of music whether that be rock, country, jazz or whatever. Personally I appreciate good guitar players from all music genres. Some of the all time greats are Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, Glen Campbell (a noted session guitarist before hitting it big as a singer), Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, the Allman Brothers trio of Dickie Betts, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks, and a couple later day heroes Joe Satriani and Brad Paisley. I could go on and on. Feel free to contribute to the blog and add your own.

My friend Mike, referred to in an earlier blog and an incredible guitar player in his own right, has his favorite in Jeff Beck. Mike's style sort of mimics Beck's with use of the whammy bar and getting many "unusual" sounds from his guitar. I guess for my money I prefer Eric Clapton. I can't really tell you why I just like his sound and his phrasings. Another guitar playing friend, Eric, who also is an incredible guitarist and a string bending, bar chording, finger picking bastard like Mike (incidentally, they play in the same band Back on Earth) turned me on to Django Reinhardt. Django is a jazz guitarist from the 1920's, 30's, 40's and 50's. He was known as the "Gypsy Guitarist". The man is incredible. He was badly burned in a fire at about the age of 18 and lost the use of his ring and pinkie fingers. He had to relearn to play the guitar using mostly his index and middle fingers as his other fingers were curled in towards his palm. Go to You Tube and search for him. You will be amazed at his ability and the speed of his fingering. Check it out it is a real treat if you like good guitar playing.

If you would like to share your guitar hero or heroes please do so. Until next time.