Rolling Stone list

Well, they've published their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time www.rollingstone.com

No sign of Segovia, though, as Pete (Sleepy Fingers Jones) pointed out on RMMGA.

Let the flame wars begin!!!

Cheers,

oh, ffs. here we go again.

or, just mentally add about forty posts to this one, all pretty much saying:

'WTF?? that list is rubbish!! how can $name be up at number $postion??!! (he|she)'s crap!!LOL!1!!!

and why no mention of $other_name??!?!?LOLROFL!!!'

add/remove exclamation marks to taste.

From the poll on the front page:

Who is the greatest guitarist ever? () Jimi Hendrix () Eric Clapton () Eddie Van Halen () JACK WHITE!??!

what? And he gets 40% of the votes, just below Hendrix at 41%... I know Hendrix is not everyones cup-of-tea (i'm a die hard, however) but I hope Jack White is embarrassed... Good ol' Rolling' Stone. 'Stay calm, sir,' I cried. 'Don't excite yourself, it could mean death.' He took me at my word and instantly fell inert. I didn't know whether he was obeying me or had died.

Tom Baker

Working as a hospital orderly, in his autobiography

Yeah, that's the one. :->

Anyway, it's only the greatest guitarists of all time UP UNTIL NOW, that is. Might well be you in a few years

I'll assume that the majority who voted are non-guitarists who enjoy rock guitar music. I've been a player for ~20 years (with all the assumptions/prejudices that implies) so it's good to hear the 'music fan' perspective. There's more nuggets/punk/raw players in the list than I expected, but I remember hearing the 1st Ramones album and thinking that's how guitars should be used. No other instrument does the nasty/aggressive thing as well as an electric guitar, but sometimes I think I'm practising to eradicate this from my playing.

Jeff Beck on Jack White: 'a fantastic player...the bare bones of what rock and roll is about, and that really is where it *should* be at.'

Clearly an attempt to sell more issues off the back of a currently 'happening' name.

You're bang on there. It's really a poll of favourite people in the 'music biz' who happen to play guitar. Seems like, despite RS's descent into being the OK! magazine of music, there are still some readers who understand what music is supposed to be all about.

I can almost buy into that. Jack White isn't by any means the finest musician I've heard, but he makes an appropriate and joyful noise, and 'Elephant' is one of my favourite CDs this year. More power to his elbow. (And more healing to his finger while we're discussing his anatomy).

Cheers,

I don't view him as that.

oh no.

...

<breath style='size: deep; mode: foreboding' />

I view jack white as a pustule on top of a wart. next to a boil.

I view him as an unfortunately noisy guitar stand.

I view him as a large number of meat pies yet to be assembled.

I view him as rarely as possible, and listen to him similarly.

I can go on if prompted.

Yes, you're probably right, I am afraid these 'best guitarist polls' always illicit this kind of spleen venting approach from myself... Now I have had time to idly reflect, I have ceased to be so bothered.

Sorry, clive, for proving you right and using no less than 2 exclamation points and 2 question marks. As Terry Pratchett (I think?) once put it: Anyone who needs more than one exclamation mark is clearly insane.

[ ... ]

I can say with confidence that I have never knowingly heard him, whoever he is.

Nice to see Les Paul present - and regarded as a player rather than as a guitar - even if way down at 46, but there is at least one other very puzzling omission...

PS: How many others remember the name 'Blue Cheer' (number 98)?