I always struggle with questions like “Who’s the best guitarist?” or “Who’s a better guitarist – X or Y? When it comes to artistic expression in any form I don’t think terms like better or best have any meaning. Everyone has their own way of judging those questions and in truth can only say “I think” or “I prefer”. Music is not a competition.

Even the degree of commercial or critical success a guitarist achieves doesn’t make them the best on any level except popularity. Is Steve Vai a better guitarist than Eric – Give God a solo! – Clapton for example? Most guitarists would probably say yes. Steve is technical wizard, a shredding guru and a sonic adventurer. Eric is a traditional blues player. Yet its obvious who is the most popular in commercial terms. 

Quora is full of “Who’s the best guitarist”, type questions and I never answer them. What’s the point? Even if there was a finite way to determine if Ritchie Blackmore is better than Jimmy Page, would that matter to a John Williams fan? Of course not. 

If it doesn’t already exist I’m sure its possible to create a machine that could count how many notes per second Eddie Van Halen could play. You could then compare other players’ speed and create a leader board. Most of my favourite guitarists would be at the very bottom of that league yet are at the top of every “best of” poll. So really the only measureable way you could make an aspect of guitar playing competitive is meaningless to most people. 

Different Viewpoints

If you ask a recording engineer to define the best guitarists he would have a whole different set of criteria. He’d be more interested in how the guitarist played than what he played: Did he turn up with fresh, properly stretched strings? Did he mute open strings that weren’t part of the chords being played? Can he nail the part quickly? All that stuff makes his job easier. When all those boxes are ticked then he can listen to whats being played.

The wonderful thing about music is that its wide open. There’s an audience for every genre and style of music from avant garde to classical, from pop to death metal. The size of that audience will vary but again, its not a competition. 

I remember being very flattered when a friend compared my early electric style to that of Neil Young. It wasn’t what I was aiming for but hey, I’ll take it. Later I heard Steve Vai playing “The attitude song” and was blown away. At first I felt like cutting my hands off! Then, like every fledgling guitarist in Glasgow I started to learn a little of his approach. I’d pop in to Sound Control’s guitar section and hear 12 year olds doing it better than I could.

Luckily I soon realized I didn’t really want to play this kind of music anyway and that trying to compete with those who did was pointless. It was more like a sport than making music. But I did absorb a little bit of Vai and crumbled it like a stock cube into the melting pot of my own style.

The Unseen Heroes That Will Never Be Counted

Pretty much everything went into that pot whether anyone thought it was best or not. Joining Neil and Steve were, amongst many others: Blixa Bargeld – asked by Nick Cave to play guitar in The Bad Seeds BECAUSE, he’s not a guitarist; Peter Buck of REM for his deceptively simple riffs and Ebow playing; Richard Thompson for his extraordinary alternative tuning masterpieces; John Martyn for his Echoplex and Copycat; The Edge for the delay stuff and Dave Gilmour for his sheer tastefulness.

You’ll notice – and remember this my personal taste – that all of these players are parts of a whole. They are either also incredible singers and or songwriters and/or are members of an incredible band. That also goes for Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore and Mark Knopfler – whoes guitar work on Sultans of Swing alone would put him in any “Best” list. But we’re not going there.

The fact is that there are thousands – maybe millions, of incredible players out there who you will never hear. That alone makes voting for the best from a very small pool utterly meaningless. No way have you heard them all! 

The late, great Big George

One of my guitar heroes was a Glasgow blues guitarist called (big) George Watts. He was every bit as good, maybe even “better”, than Stevie Ray Vaughan. Even if he hadn’t died before his time and hadn’t been praised by the likes of BB King, he will only ever be known to the relatively small number of people who were privileged to hear him. 

Who’s The Best Guitarist In Your Town?

Many towns across the world will have a Big George. They might never go further than the local bars. They might not want to. Or they might not be struck by the luck lightning that introduces the Jimmy Pages of this world to The Robert Plants, John Bonhams and JP Joneses or the Keiths to the Mick, Brian, Charlie and Bills. They never get seen by the Andrew Loog Oldhams, Peter Grants or Alan McGees who pluck them from obscurity and lead them to fame and fortune. They’ll never be one of the choices in “Who’s the best guitarist”, arguments. C’est la vie.

It could be, as I write this in 2021 that the age of the guitar as a major force in popular music is over. Maybe though, as happens every decade or so, guitar bands will see another renaissance. If you want spearhead that renaissance you’ll need to bring something fresh to the table. 

 Its probably true that there is nothing left that hasn’t been tried on the guitar. But that only means there are countless ingredients to combine into your own recipe. As Big George used to say “Its up to you to stir the stew”. Listen to everything, steal everything you like the sound of and melt it all down into your own, unique “Strange Brew”. Don’t worry about who’s best.


DaveM
DaveM

I'm Dave Menzies a digital entrepreneur, photographer and guitarist. I live on the Argyll coast of Scotland. My partner and I write, record and produce our own music and videos in our home studio. I love to help individuals discover the lifestyle freedom offered by the digital world and guitarists to develop their own style.