The Greatest Rock Guitarist – Who Is He?

Rock guitarists seem to have always pleased audiences, even since the Les Paul days. He may not qualify as a rock guitarist in the sense that we understand him today, but the Les Paul certainly made people sit up and notice every time he played. Of course, Les was at the beginning of solid body electric guitar entry on stage, so at that time there were very few guitarists who were interested enough to get the technique to become a great guitarist. rock.

The basis of the rock guitarist concept lay in the consolidation of the small group with drums, bass, lead and rhythmic guitars, in addition to perhaps a keyboard. Groups like Dick Dale’s The Shadows, The Ventures and Dell Tones had young people go out to buy guitars and sit in their rooms for hours practicing. When The Beatles became the first small group to gain international attention from people of all ages, the guitar reached the peak of its popularity.

The era of the great rock guitarist began in the late sixties with Eric Clapton on Cream. But like all innovations, there was someone else working on his wacky guitar technique in another part of the world. Jimi Hendrix’s first appearance in England made Eric Clapton feel a bit insecure on his throne, as his guitar playing and stage ability mesmerized audiences. The extended guitar solo was born, along with its clumsy brothers, the bedroom guitar and the garage band.

If we think about who we consider the best rock guitarist in the world, names from the sixties and seventies immediately pop into our heads, like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton. In fact, most of the people who vote in polls about this kind of thing seem to be betting on Hendrix, a guitarist who had a very short life some forty years ago.

These are guitarists who became famous when loudness was king of rock guitar and flashy technique was their gay partner, but what about guitarists whose names are generally not known, even though they were with popular bands? Pete Ham from Badfinger, or Jerry Miller from Moby Grape comes to mind. Mick Ronson was an English guitarist who made a name for himself as David Bowie’s lead guitarist, and Mike Campbell, Tom Petty’s guitarist for about a trillion years, is admired by many guitarists but unknown to the general public. There are many guitarists in bands now whose approach to music is very different from the rock guitarists of previous decades, although their debt to the music of the seventies is obvious. The question of who is the greatest rock guitarist of all time will continue and more names will be added to the mix as time goes on.