Most Distinctive Guitarists

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(this is an offshoot of another thread, but oh well)

Guitarists you can recognize within a few notes, and even if it isn't actually the guitarist, you namecheck him/her in denouncing the real guitarist as a derivative hack:

Richard Thompson
Mark Knopfler
Dick Dale
Jimi Hendrix
Chuck Berry
Johnny Marr
The Edge
Angus Young? maybe?

― PB, Sunday, 13 March 2005 03:59 (twenty years ago)

Leo Kottke

― John Justen (johnjusten), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:13 (twenty years ago)

vini reilly

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)

dean wareham, sort of

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:16 (twenty years ago)

Steve Stevens
Tony Iommi
Dime Bag Darrell
Josh Homme+Nick Oliveri (I only list them together because Homme just doesn't sound right without Oliveri... but that may be just me)

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

Django Reinhardt
BB King
Doc Watson
Neil Young
Stevie Ray Vaughn

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)

Peter Buck
David Gilmour
Jeff Beck

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:43 (twenty years ago)

Robert Fripp
Steve Howe
Frank Zappa

― Don't Ever Antagonize The Horny (AaronHz), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:44 (twenty years ago)

Jerry Garcia
Derek Bailey
John Cipollina
Sonny Sharrock
Albert King
Freddie King
Ritchie Blackmore
Jimmy Page
Steve Cropper
Carlos Santana
Slash
Otis Rush
Lindsey Buckingham
Chet Atkins
Davy Graham
Eddie Van Halen...

any guitarist that isn't a hack is pretty distinctive and recognizable to a trained ear. it's sorta the sine qua non of non-hackdom...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:46 (twenty years ago)

Guitarists you can recognize within a few notes, and even if it isn't actually the guitarist, you namecheck him/her in denouncing the real guitarist as a derivative hack:
Richard Thompson
Mark Knopfler
Dick Dale
Jimi Hendrix
Chuck Berry
Johnny Marr
The Edge
Angus Young? maybe?

-- PB (non...), March 13th, 2005

b-b-but as discussed on the 'Brothers in Arms' thread, Knopfler is just a (self-described) derivative of Chet Atkins!

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:48 (twenty years ago)

Wes motherfucking Montgomery!

― Austin (Austin), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:54 (twenty years ago)

Thurston Moore
Jonny Greenwood

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:55 (twenty years ago)

Hey, does this have to be a positive statement? If not, I sure can't help but recognize Steve Fucking Vai when I hear him. No matter how hard I try...

― John Justen (johnjusten), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:55 (twenty years ago)

Malkmus, in a way.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:56 (twenty years ago)

oh yeah John, Satriani is way recognizable too.

also: Jandek

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:58 (twenty years ago)

noel gallagher.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:00 (twenty years ago)

Brian May

― John Fredland (jfredland), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:00 (twenty years ago)

wes borland.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:01 (twenty years ago)

brad delson from linkin park.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:02 (twenty years ago)

Continuing my unwanted list, Yngwie Malmsteen.

Let me tell you, running a guitar store can make you surly...

― John Justen (johnjusten), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

Steve Morse

― Don't Ever Antagonize The Horny (AaronHz), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:09 (twenty years ago)

Mick Barr

― green uno skip card (ex machina), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

Tom Scholz

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

David Gilmore
Ben Chasny
Michael Karoli
Doug Martsch
J. Mascis
John McLaughlin
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Keith Richards
Neil Young
Mick Ronson

(and on electric bass guitar, Peter Hook and Chris Squire)

― elements of the microunconscious, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:20 (twenty years ago)

Robert Quine

― shieldforyoureyes, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:21 (twenty years ago)

Ron Asheton

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:23 (twenty years ago)

deryck whibley.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:24 (twenty years ago)

walter wangrun.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:24 (twenty years ago)

choosi facetorn.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:24 (twenty years ago)

robbi houston.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:25 (twenty years ago)

hip-hop blogs! they are distinctive. they like hip-hop and the NBA.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:26 (twenty years ago)

Jad Fair!
Craig Flanagin!
Arto Lindsay!

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:32 (twenty years ago)

noel gallagher.

Whaaa?

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:34 (twenty years ago)

Sam Prekop
Joe Walsh
Robin Trower

― elements of the microunconscious, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:40 (twenty years ago)

No one's mentioned The Nuge.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:44 (twenty years ago)

the nuge.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:44 (twenty years ago)

Greg Ginn
Duane Allman
Steve Albini -- at least on the Big Black stuff for sure. I honestly haven't heard enough Shellac to know how distinctive he sounds on that stuff..

haha, I would put Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, except I often can't tell them apart on the same record!!

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:46 (twenty years ago)

Rowland S Howard very much so.

― jcartledge (jcartledge), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:46 (twenty years ago)

East Bay Ray
Nile Rodgers
"Catfish" Collins

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:49 (twenty years ago)

Manuel Gottsching

― elements of the microunconscious, Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:53 (twenty years ago)

I've only heard E2 E4 and I guess its pretty destinctive. What is his other stuff like?

― green uno skip card (ex machina), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:57 (twenty years ago)

Loren Mazzacane Connors -- not always my favorite stuff in the world, but certainly very distinctive

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 13 March 2005 05:58 (twenty years ago)

Jon first Ash Ra Tempel is a pinnacle of heavy psych guitar. I don't know if I could describe it without listening to it again.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 13 March 2005 06:00 (twenty years ago)

George Harrison
Tom Verlaine

― Guitarthur and the Ecstasy Defecators (Arthur), Sunday, 13 March 2005 06:20 (twenty years ago)

Isaac Brock...
Greg Ginn

― dronez are not ours to eat, dronez are not ours to wear (smile), Sunday, 13 March 2005 06:37 (twenty years ago)

I've mentioned this before on here, but I'll point out again how Henry Kaiser once said that Tom Verlaine's guitar playing was "just bad Mike Bloomfield."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 13 March 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

Very much BB King. A sound as distinctive as a voice.

― Justin, Sunday, 13 March 2005 07:28 (twenty years ago)

tom delonge.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 07:31 (twenty years ago)

alex westway from fightstar.

― scg, Sunday, 13 March 2005 07:32 (twenty years ago)

Johnny Ramone.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 13 March 2005 08:07 (twenty years ago)

Michael Rother of Neu!
Achim Reichel
Terje Rypdal
Fennesz
Kevin Shields [can't believe it took this long for him to appear]

― Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Sunday, 13 March 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

deryck whibley.
-- scg (pp...), March 13th, 2005. (later)

is this you know who's evil cousin?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 13 March 2005 10:35 (twenty years ago)

David Fucking Pajo

― krikey (greentypewriter), Sunday, 13 March 2005 10:57 (twenty years ago)

James "Blood" Ulmer
Sonny Sharrock
Pete Cosey
Ron Asheton
Fred "Sonic" Smith

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 13 March 2005 13:05 (twenty years ago)

Pat Metheny
Geordie Walker

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Sunday, 13 March 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

These threads are mind-benders, do people scroll through to check for repetitions every time or hold the entire list in short term memory? Guess my brain is DAMAGED from loud guitar exposure.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 13 March 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

wayne rogers

― john'n'chicago, Sunday, 13 March 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Grant Green
Bill Frisell
John Scofield
Charlie Christian
Kenny Burrell

― Keith C (kcraw916), Sunday, 13 March 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Mick Ronson

― mnm, Sunday, 13 March 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

yeah, him again.

― mnm, Sunday, 13 March 2005 16:25 (twenty years ago)

GEORDIE K. WALKER

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 13 March 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

Roy Montgomery and Julian Swales by a fucking country mile!

― Quit glaring at Ian Riese-Moraine! He's mentally fraught! (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 13 March 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and Richard H. Kirk!

― Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Failing that, Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mant, Sunday, 13 March 2005 17:01 (twenty years ago)

Billy Gibbons -- the most immediately recognizable -living- hard rock stylist of the 70's and 80's. He hits the pinch harmonic two notes in and you know who it is.

Buck Dharma -- if you were going to compose a guitar instro, "Buck's Boogie" wouldn't be a bad place to start. The drone riff from "Reaper" is a nice thing to have after your name, too.

James Williamson -- way more distinctive tone than Ron Asheton's.

Johnny Winter -- two Texans in this list!

Leslie West -- always sounds like a three hundred pound man capable of knocking most of your front teeth out in one punch. BTW, Stormy, have you picked up any of the new official Mountain boots being issued by Corky Laing?

― George Smith, Sunday, 13 March 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

CURTIS MAH'FUCKIN' MAYFIELD

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Sunday, 13 March 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

Also:

Adrian Belew
John McGeoch
Phil Manzanera

― Patrick South (Patrick South), Sunday, 13 March 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Ernie Isley

― Ian John50n (orion), Sunday, 13 March 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

Kevin Shields
Paul Westerberg
Bob Mould (These top three have a way with the sus/alt/open/leaD/rHTHYM stuff)
Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers) At his best the ultimate in sloppy agressive)
Greg Ginn (Black Flag) Random dope smoking tuneless meandering aceness.
D Boon (Minutemen)Choppy choppy, blood on fretboard.
The Edge
Pete Townsend

― hull hole (hull hole), Sunday, 13 March 2005 22:40 (twenty years ago)

Forgot about the late great Robert Quine RIP

― hull hole (hull hole), Sunday, 13 March 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)

Currently, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound is very distinctive.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Sunday, 13 March 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

Alan goddamned Rankine!

― Quit glaring at Ian Riese-Moraine! He's mentally fraught! (Eastern Mantra), Monday, 14 March 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

Brian May

-- John Fredland (johnfredland@hotmail.com ), March 13th, 2005.

that took way too long.

also:
david kilgour
brian crook
ritchie venus

― chris andrews (fraew), Monday, 14 March 2005 01:25 (twenty years ago)

http://www.ukdragon.com/b3ta/monkey2.gif

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Monday, 14 March 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

No one's mentioned Andy Gill? Or is he considered too derivative of Wilko Johnson?

Steve Albini once wrote an article for Matter Magazine on this topic; I can only remember agreeing with him on John McKay (first Banshees album) and Herman from Die Kreuzen.

East Bay Ray = OTM. Very distinctive tone and style! Geordie too.

― Jon Hope (jarge), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

Billy Zoom
Jamie West-Oram
Hugh Cornwell

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

Brix Smith
Jandek
King Buzzo
Mark Morgan

― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

Graham Coxon

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Philip Annoyman v1.0 (Ferg), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Bernard Sumner

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

- john fahey (i can't believe nobody mentioned him yet. he sort of owns this thread)
- eric clapton (i am not a fan but i think i could identify his guitar sound to 99%)

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Robert Quine

― the quinefox, Monday, 14 March 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

Which leads to the obvious answer
Link Wray

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

Jandek...quite seriously, I can always tell when its him playing guitar, infact he has one of the most distinctive styles (or non-style) I can think of

otherwise, Albini, Quine (tho only when he solos), etc

― chris besinger (chris besinger), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

Bill Goffrier (the Embarrassment, Big Dipper) has a rhythm style that no one could copy.

How can you tell Brix from Scanlon et al. on the records?

― Jon Hope (jarge), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

I always thought Billy Corgan had a very distinctive guitar style in the Pisces Iscariot/Siamese Dreams era.

― Jena (JenaP), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)

Funny, I just ran accross this in an old Robert Christgau piece reprinted in his collection "Any Old Way You Choose It" (Rock Is Obsolescent, but So Are You 1970): "Musicianship, so long just a shibboleth, has become a communicative reality -- the list of innovative guitarists seems to lengthen with every round of concerts."

Might be worth noting that this comes in the context of mixed feelings over rock music's having gotten away from its simple roots.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:15 (twenty years ago)

Keiji Haino

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

I know I'm late to the ball here and that he's already been mentioned upthread but in recent years I've really been enjoying Michael Karoli's playing- he is the master of the controlled freakout.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

Adrian Belew - his guitar sounds very rarely actually like a guitar and more often like whales fucking or broken machines falling into wormholes

Michael Brooke - kinda like Adrian Belew in that his guitar rarely sounds like a guitar...his sound is almost the complete antithesis of Adrian's, in that nothing he plays stands out at all, he's all the blue of the sky and the smell on the wind kinda shit

Buckethead - though a great deal of his rhythmic playing sounds exactly like the soundtrack to Pole Position, when he goes on one of those Attack of the Army of Ataris From Space shit, there is absolutely no mistaking from which beast's fingers these excruciating(ly inspired) sounds are coming from

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)

Duane Denison's guitar style is such that even with Mike Patton singing in his new band, it still sounds quite a bit like Jesus Lizard as his way of phrasing is very unique for this kind of rawk.

Dickey Betts has a very unique, singing style of lead guitar. At times he reminds me like a bird, as he likes to repeat little melodic patterns with subtle variations.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

Keith Rowe

― Jena (JenaP), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

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