best guitar player ... if we dare go here

I think the beef between Pete Anderson and Yoakam was financial, but I really wish they’d stuck together longer or reunited. His playing on those early albums was pretty much perfect for the music, and of course he was also producer.

I know he went on to work with some other artists, but splitting with Dwight really hurt his career. Too bad.

Knopfler once asked Vince Gill to join Dire Straits. That would have been quite a combo.

 

I saw Vince Gill play with the Eagles in 2023 and he didn't do a ton of playing that night, he has done some great stuff at various Crossroads Guitar Fests he has been at. Gill in Dire Straits would have been very interesting, I am sure Knopfler would have come up with something cool for them to do. I saw Dire Straits on the Brothers in Arms tour but don't remember much aside from Stevie Ray Vaughan opening on an insanely hot summer night in Varsity Arena at the University of Toronto.

 

I thought Stern asked if Prince was a better guitar player, and then Grohl said the drumming quote.

 

@Huggy, Pete Anderson is the beating heart of Yoakam’s band.

Edit: Even if they’re not together anymore.

 

Personally I think Page and Hendrix are a virtual tie for #1. Both wrote incredible genre bending music with brilliant execution. They both borrowed from predecessor players and drove old style blues into metal and acid rock, respectively.
Thankfully.
He died too soon but I have to tip my hat to Terry Kath who exploded out of nowhere and could play the hell out of his Strat. Hendrix himself said TK was a better player. His extended solo on “25 or 6 to 4” is an all timer, even if you hate Chicago. I think he would have left the band had he not died. It got to the point where everyone in Chicago hated what it had become so something had to change. A massive talent wasted, but he wasn’t in JH and JP orbit bc he didn’t compose at the same level.
When Hendrix passed the music world was robbed of a much more exciting future, lucky for us his legacy remains. His best is better than anyone else. Page could play acoustic better than any of the top 5 heavyweights, he wrote some excellent stuff.
It’s a toss up.

 

Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton and Wes Montgomery need to be in the conversation.

 

MY MAN

Sharon? Fucked someone's career? UNPOSSIBLE.

Yeah, Jake E. Lee had some really bad luck and, as you said, wasn't always one to help his own cause. Red Dragon Cartel isn't my cup of tea, but he's still got it.

A couple of my friends in high school were serious musicians. This was during the time of Shrapnel Records, Satriani, Vai, Yngwie, and all the new gods that had dudes locked in their rooms for six hours a day trying to get on their level. The one guy they both really wanted to play like was Nuno. They had older brothers who got them into Van Halen and, as you said, Nuno was The Guy to be EVH's successor. I was lucky they dragged me to see Extreme during the first Pornograffiti tour and pre-More Than Words release for Pornograffiti II.

Insane.

Also, he was just a super nice fella after the show to a bunch of zit-faced teenagers. I still have this on cassette and bought it primarily for Nuno's instrumental.

Also, no one sounds like Vernon Reid. Yet another super gracious man to his fans. He and Will Calhoun are both so pleasant. I wish LC toured more regularly but I always make it a point to see them when they come around.

 

DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FUCKING FRIENDS?

The ending riff on "Deceived," the first single from Red Dragon Cartel, still gives me goosebumps. Jake E. looks like he's fucking about to levitate at the end of it:

Extreme's got a real career renaissance going. They're not gonna play arenas but the Real Ones know Nuno is Him. I saw them twice last summer and the joints were SRO. I'm a little surprised at the Extreme-Living Colour pairing--Gary Cherone is a little too far right of far right for my tastes, then again, so are most hard rock bands with roots in the '80s--but it makes a ton of artistic sense as two incredible bands that were just too good to be mainstream.

I've also been fortunate to meet the guys in Extreme a couple times--nothing major, just post-show stuff--and they've never been anything but great. I'm pretty sure Nuno was higher than a kite the last time I met him, but I would bake too if I could do what he does.

 

Also, T-Bone Walker.

 

Someone who never gets mentioned in these discussions, but who is damn good, is Steve Lukather. But you have to look at his work away from Toto to get that. He is all over the Thriller album. Eddie played the solo on Beat it, but Lukather wrote the riffs that drive that song. He's played with just about everyone and seems like a dude you could just hang out with and shoot the shit.

Regarding Page, a term that seems to describe him more and more is "sloppy." I'm not sure what that means in guitar-ese, but in contexts I've read it recently, it seems like a sort of backhanded compliment.

Finally, Gilmour, obviously, is my favorite. I know there are better players. But his solo on Comfortably Numb, in particular the version on Pulse, is untouchable.

 

Also not mentioned yet, unless I missed him: Terry Kath of Chicago. People forget about him because he died more than 40 years ago, and some of his early work with Chicago is forgotten, but Jimi Hendrix was among those who admired Kath's ability. Great guitarist and a very good singer, too.

 

Absolutely.