Who's your favorite lead guitarist?

[Gorilla Monsoon]

Hiram Bullock, for his amazing work with Jaco, Will Lee and Marcus Miller over the years:

I caught Hiram along with Will Lee at the Cellar Door in DC. He was late. When he finally showed up, it was…an entrance for the ages. He fell down the stairs, elbows over knees. I thought he was seriously injured. He got right up and plugged in. Was absolutely hammered…He had put on 60-80 lbs from the last time i saw him. He played like nothing phased him. Memorable show…Sadly, he was gone a year later.

 

[foal30]

Prince USA
Johnny Marr UK
Shayne Carter NZ

 

[Basvarken]

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Audley Freed
Jimi Hendrix
Paul Kossoff
Marc Ford
Brian Robertson
Philip Sayce
(pre 1986) Michael Schenker
Jake E Lee

 

[groooooove]

julian bream, alan holdsworth, gutherie govan.

 

[shadven]

Bill Kirchen

 

[Fynn]

Billy Gibbons, maybe Joe Bonamassa, or maybe Hound Dog Taylor. All three for varying reasons, and to name a single favorite wouldn't be fair to my future self, because it constantly changes depending on the day, weather, mood, how many people are in the car with me, and so on

 

[Gorilla Monsoon]

Bill Kirchen

My old bass tech, Larry Smoak made several of Bill’s guitars. When i went to his place to pick up my Fender Jazz that he refretted, Bill was there playing one of the guitars Larry made for him. It was gorgeous. $17,000, i think. I miss Larry. He also worked on one of Jaco’s basses, and the last i heard has retired to Florida. It was pretty cool having a tech with his ability not 15 miles away. He was the Wood Wizard.

 

[BassAndCigars]

Gak it's too hard without a miles long list developing. If forced to keep it shorter the first several that come to mind?
Robben Ford
Chris Cain
Larry Carlton
Billy Gibbons
Sean Costello
George Benson
Freddy King
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Jeff Beck
Al McKay
Bruce Conte
Lee Ritenour
Norman Brown
Nick Colionne
Angus Young
Albert King
BB King
Earl Klugh

 

[Mastermold]

I generally hate guitar solos, but... Who's your favorite lead guitarist?

Mike Campbell.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Another one I forgot about, but I only got into Blue Oyster Cult in the last couple of years and never sure when it's him or Eric Bloom soloing. While those guys have been successful and are still going, I still feel BOC is a bit underrated.

Eric Bloom doesn't solo. Buck Dharma and Richie Castellano do...even Allen Lanier (RIP) used to rip on his Telecaster. Eric's guitar rig: guitar > cable > amp.

Riis

 

[BassKees]

For me it's a tie between Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Can't say I have a favorite, per se, but some of my favorites would include the likes of:

Chuck Loeb
Jeff Richman
Dann Huff
Mike Landau
Pedro Martins
Brent Mason
Tom Hemby

[Edit] And I'm not sure how I could forget Captain Fingers! He's on that list, too.

 

[BassBrass]

Bill Frisell, Blood Ulmer, Kieth Levine, Andy Gill, Buckethead, Mick Box, Robert Frip, Reeves Gabrells (who I knew in Boston's The Dark before Bowie took him) Joe Pass, John Abercrombie, David Torn, Fred Frith,Robin Guthrie (not "lead" but atmospheric) Annie Clark, and another for Bostonians- Rich Gilbert (The Zulus, Human Sexual Response, Concussion Ensemble, Blackstone Valley Sinners and countless others...
genius rhythm while singing: Kristen Hersh, PJ Harvey, Ani Defranco, Richard Thompson

 

[LiptonJigglers]

Frank Zappa.
Rowland Howard.
Keith Levine.
Mark Seymour

 

[Number179]

SRV - “never played the same thing once”
Dimebag
Metheny
Billy Corgan
Ler
Dickey Betts
Jerry Cantrell
Jimi
Jimmy

 

[Relayer71]

Eric Bloom doesn't solo. Buck Dharma and Richie Castellano do...even Allen Lanier (RIP) used to rip on his Telecaster. Eric's guitar rig: guitar > cable > amp.

Riis

Didn't know that, thanks. Well, then whoever was soloing on the albums from 1973 (Tyranny and Mutation) to 1981 (Fire of Unknown Origin) - didn't care for the stuff after (although their last album was surprisingly good).

 

[Rib 13]

For taste: David Gilmour
For shred: Tony McAlpine
Overall: Tim Henson

 

[Rib 13]

Eric Bloom doesn't solo. Buck Dharma and Richie Castellano do...even Allen Lanier (RIP) used to rip on his Telecaster. Eric's guitar rig: guitar > cable > amp.

Riis

I recorded with Don (Buck) in Ithaca, NY back in 1989.....awesome guy! It was also my first digital recording experience....I have no idea what happened to those tracks

 

[gregmon79]

I generally hate guitar solos, but... Who's your favorite lead guitarist?

I can think of many. But when asked this question, the first person to cross my mind is Daron Malakian from SOAD. Just like Timmy C from Rage made me get up off the couch one day and buy a bass, Daron made me get up one day and buy a guitar. Just inspiring a$$ stuff to me.

 

[21DaHoagie12]

Alex Lifeson … maybe not “the best” but definitely my favorite