Django Reinhart from the posted video was the inspiration for Tony to keep playing the guitar which led to him forming Black Sabbath due to listening to Django being able to play despite having a heavily deformed pinky. I just love the fact that people think Tony down tuned his guitar to make it sound meaner when he really just did it to loosen the tension to make his permanently injured fingers not kill him while playing.

Gotta love it!

Most of these "best" arguments really boil down to personal taste. At my age, metal grates on my eardrums, and I'm more in tune with jazz, fusion, and blues players, but that doesn't take away from the skills of Van Halens of the world.

Here's two versions of the same song, by two top-notch players--one a legend, one virtually unknown in the mainstream of pop. Which one is better? That's where taste comes in. I like them both, personally.

Beck killed that !!! ,, get's my vote ..

Becks studio version of Cause we ended as lovers is my favorite guitar solo of all time

No love for Joe Walsh? Such a shame! Satriani, Vai, Brian May, and Nuno Bettencourt all claimed him as their hero when introducing him on stage in Sevilla 1992! Talk about influence!

Mike P reminded me of the one saying that I can't remember where I got it from, maybe me when I was super bored, I don't know. But basically the very best musicians of our time are the one's we will never hear of and who have no fame outside the bar they are in.

Though about the first video listed, I'd have to honestly say Satriani reigns over Vai because Satriani was Steve Vai's guitar teacher! A video I have with someone interviewing Joe asked him about his former students (Vai and Skolnick) and Joe basically said Vai showed up at his doorstep as a little kid with a guitar in one hand and a pack of strings in the other and asked for help.

Beauty of that is after lessons and time Vai got famous and his ravings about Satriani, who was denied by pretty much every label out there, got Satch signed on and the rest is history!

more fuel from Gibson...:rotf2:

The 10 Most Influential Guitar Stylists

That list should kick this thread in play again. :hihi:

aah, its not worth it. everyone has their opinion. The guitar is an amazing instrument that reaches so many people and so many types of music.

In addition to a bunch of those listed before me I would propose: Steve Morse, Al DiMeola, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Larry Carlton (already covered by PM as I knew he would be) Larry Coryell, Adrian Belew, and Andy Summers to name just a few that we have heard of.

More importantly, any list without Wes Montgomery, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Billy Gibbons and Buddy Guy is just morally bankrupt. That's all I have to say about that.

hey that guy has good taste:uhuh:

unlike some who's taste is in their mouth

and their culture is in their yogurt

These list things can get crazy, but I was intrigued by the style influence listing. You can always bicker rankings and who does not belong and style basis/leanings, but I tend to just apply the who's missing test.

My all time favorite!

Any list that includes Slash with the likes of BB Kink, Robert Johnson, Clapton, Hendrix or Zappa looses all credibility with me. BTW....No Garcia?