Everyone has their favourite and everyone loves their favourite for a different reason. When I was 13 I didn't play guitar, but my favourite guitar player was Slash from GN'R. Why? because he looked like the best guitar player in the world, he wore cool clothes, played his guitar in a cool way, wore a cool hat and was in a cool band. When I learned to play guitar I found and affection for playing blues music and then Stevie Ray Vaughn became my favourite guitarist. I liked him the best because he could play fast, sound soulful and wore a cool hat.
Everyone likes their heroes for different reasons, so what makes a great player great? I mean Eric Clapton is considered to be a great and so is Randy Rhoads, but they have distincly different styles, so what makes us consider them both to be greats? I have attempted to compile a list of criteria that guitarists fit to be a great. Some fit into more than one, some fit only into one. Think about your 'greats' and which criteria the fit into.
Innovation
Every once in a while a player comes along who blows all his (or her) contermporaries away by doing something new. Jimi Hendrix blew away the competition and re-defined (in many people's opinion) popular music forever. His use of effects, wild playing, mind boggeling solos and over the top stage antics had never been seen before. Eddie Van Halen is another inovator. Back in the 1970s he made popular guitar technicques that had rarely been seen before. By furiously tapping out some of his solos he created a new sound in rock music, the likes of which had never been experienced before but have been copied many times since. Inovation isn't just inventing something new, it can be playing one style of music in a new way. It can be something simple or crazy like being the first guy to wear a school unifrom while playing! Many guitarists are seen as greats due to their contribution to the development of the instrument and creating/making popular new styles of playing. However, not all great guitar player have done this, so what else makes them great?Being Top Of Your Game
There are many guitarists who people worship and adore because, quite simply, they are the best at what they do. Satch, Via, Masteem
etc. didn't invent 'shredding' as such, but they became perfect at it.
They studied their trade and became the best at what they did. They can
navigate a guitar neck like no others at phenominal speeds and blast out
some incredible solos/riffs until the cows come home. Eric Clapton
didn't invent the blues, he never pretended to. But like many British
guitarists of his era he grew up worshipping the sounds of the Mississippi Delta and learned to play the blues like his heroes. Clapton
became a truly amazing player capable of playing blues with the best of
them, he became respected within the genre and is at the top of his
game. However, not all great guitarists are the top of their game, so
what else makes them great?
Riffs / Songs
What do Slash, Richie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Paul Kossoff, James Hetfield and Kurt Cobain
all have in common (apart from being guitar players)? They have all
written some of the most recognizable and best guitar riffs of all time.
Slash had Sweet Child O Mine, Page had Whole Lotta Love, Blackmore had Smoke On The Water, Cobain had Smells Like Teen Spirit, Kossof had All Right Now and Hetfield had Enter Sandman.
If these guys did nothing else in their lives except write these riffs,
they would still be heralded as the greats of our time. Who can
honsetly say they didn't hear these riffs and play air guitar to them,
or learned to play them for real when they first picked up a guitar? How
many times do you walk into a guitar shop and hear people trying out
new guitars with these tried and tested riffs? A good guitarist can wail
an amazing solo on a song, but a great guitarist can write and play a
catchy riff that will stick in your mind for hours, days, months even
years or for the rest of your life.
Style
Bunch of guitarists in a bar arguing, it goes something like this; 'I like Steve Vai best because he plays so fast', 'Well I like BB King best because he plays slow', 'Well I like Duane Allman best because he plays with a slide', 'I like Mark Knoflor best because he picks with his fingers', 'I like Carlos Santana best because he plays with a classical style', 'I like Tom Morello
best because he plays funky' etc. and it goes on. One thing all
different types of guitarists have that unifies them as greats, is they
got style man. They have their own individual style that appeals to
people. A guitarists style will define his/her playing and the greats
have their own unique style that many try to emulate. The true greats
are the ones who develop their style so they are instantly recognizable
and people will say, oh you heard that new band? Yeah their guitarist
sounds kind of like Slash, or sounds kind of like Clapton, or kind of like Hendrix. The greats have their style which other guitarists will be compared to.
Apperance
I can hear you crying out already, 'what has apperance got to do with
playing guitar?' and 'I don't care what my hero looks like it all about
the music man' etc. If this was entirely true, why do/did/do Kiss wear make up? why do Slipknot wear masks? Why does Angus wear a school boy outfit? Why does Slash wear a top hat? Why did the Ramoes Wear leather Jackets? Why did Kurt
wear stripey jumpers? etc. Many people may disagree with this, but I
firmly believe that a guitarist's appearance can contribute to them
being great. A guitarist's appearance can and will contribute towards
their alter-ego, their stage personna, the cool player that we watch and
want to be. Just like many guitarists play in a certain way, many
dress/act/move in a certain way. I mean Ace Frehley is a guitar
god to many, but he is not the technically best player, nor is he
particularly inovative, nor does he have a defining style. But man does
it look cool when he fires rockets out of his guitar!!! Hendrix
wowed his audiences by playing with his teeth or behind his head, he was
still playing the same music, but he appeared ot be doing it in a cool
and sexy sort of way. Ask none guitarists about Hendrix and they won't say 'Man I love his solo on little wing.' They'll say 'Yeah man, he's the dude who set fire to his guitar!'
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by the 'theantigaz'
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