| brian_may_wannabe 16.11.2004 14:57 |
Brian has, not only the best hair in rock history, but also the best guitar skills in rock. Listen to The Invisible Man, Bohemian Rhapsody, I Want It All and Driven By You. Who can make better guitar solo versions? |
| Gunpowder Gelatine 16.11.2004 15:03 |
I'm not sure if he was the best guitarist ever, because it's hard to judge that. I mean, are you basing it on speed or how well they convey emotion or what the guitar sounds like...? But Brian's definitely an amazing guitarist. He's got such a unique sound; whenever you hear it, you just know it's him. |
| Libor2 16.11.2004 15:28 |
Hmm, I don't think it's good to set out things this way. Best guitarist ever, errm; isn't it better to say one of the best ... ? I like his playing guitar and I appreciate his playing a lot. But what about Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Howe, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, M. Romeo, J. Petrucci, J. Satriani, S. Vai ... I could enjoy them the same way as Brian. So, it's better to say Bri is amongs the best 10 or 20 axe men. It'll be more accurate IMO. |
| Farlander 16.11.2004 16:15 |
I think Brian is the best, yes. |
| deleted user 16.11.2004 16:16 |
Oh Sebastian, where are you? Yoohoo! |
| brian_may_wannabe 16.11.2004 16:19 |
Thanks Farlander. Only today, I was told by my supply singing teacher that she thinks Brian is God. I couldn't help but agreeing. |
| Daburcor? 16.11.2004 16:21 |
I know for a FACT that he's my favorite. Not sure if that makes him the best though... |
| tomnever 16.11.2004 17:29 |
I don't know if he's the best technician, but he is the only guitarist I ever heard who can SING with his guitar |
| brENsKi 16.11.2004 17:49 |
libor2 suggested: But what about Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Howe, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, ____________________________ ...all great shouts, but i would add Pete Townsend, Michael Schenker, Ace Frehley, Phil Collen....and perhaps one who died so young - but on two albums showed just how great he was...step forward Randy Rhoads |
| Simmer 16.11.2004 18:55 |
Maybe not the best, but he is my favourite guitarist. His playing style is the most fun to listen to... Red Special is gold. No.. actually it's still red of course but you know what I mean!! |
| iGSM 16.11.2004 20:32 |
I'm not really an authority to say but I would rate him up there with the top. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dillinger, Josef Stalin...and so on. I think his manipulation of the guitar itself is quite envious. I've developed a distinct liking for 'Good Company' the last couple of weeks wondering how many other guitarists would have the time and patience to sit down and play note by excruciating note to make a clarinet/trombone/wah-wah trumpet. Probably 9. |
| LiveAidQueen 16.11.2004 21:08 |
He's not the best, but one of the best. |
| GonnaUseMyPrisoners 16.11.2004 21:09 |
"Brian May is the best guitar orchestrator ever" - I think that would be pretty tough to shoot down. |
| iGSM 16.11.2004 21:11 |
Who was the bloke that Jimi Hendrix said was better than even himself? He ended up shooting himself in the head not before saying 'Don't worry, it's not loaded' |
| NOTWMEDDLE 16.11.2004 22:12 |
Brian May and David Gilmour picked up where Hendrix left off when Hendrix died. By 1969, Jimi was a shell of his former self with all the drugs he consumed. Brian and David are both my favorite guitarists. They got to develop and play very well into their old age unlike Hendrix whom lived fast and died young! |
| siljeoen 17.11.2004 04:29 |
IMO Brian is the best guitarist ever! He rocks!!:D |
| djaef 17.11.2004 04:41 |
Brian is the 2nd best guitarist ever!!! (sorry) JIMMY PAGE IS GOD! |
| deleted user 17.11.2004 04:45 |
In my opinion he would have to be but thats probably because i just love Queen. There are some other guitarists people say are better than Brian but to me Brians by far one of the best EVER! |
| deleted user 17.11.2004 06:20 |
Brian is my favorite guitarist but I don't think he is the best.... No one knows who is best I think. The are all different. I saw a list of the top50 best guitarist in the world and he was in the 33th I think....that TOO bad... I would have placed him in the top 10 :P But that's just me. |
| gabriel79 17.11.2004 08:09 |
he's one of my favourite bu oi think he's not the greatest. clapton,knopfler,bettencourt,slash,blackmore,page |
| KingRat 17.11.2004 09:53 |
Brian May is my favourite guitarist and one of the best ever. As some mentioned there are just too many attributes to guitar playing to declare one best guitarist. Brian is as close as it gets to the total package in my opinion. He has the technical skills, the sound, emotion, orchestration ability, and imagination. Besides that, what makes him so great is that he is also one of the most versatile players ever, considering he can play any style from metal to country. Simply put, Brian Rocks!!! |
| The Real Wizard 17.11.2004 11:57 |
tomnever wrote: I don't know if he's the best technician, but he is the only guitarist I ever heard who can SING with his guitarEric Clapton Tom Shultz Rik Emmitt Dave Gilmour ?? djaef wrote: JIMMY PAGE IS GOD!For about 5 years he was one of the best. After that, the drugs took over. Page, most of the time, was pretty sloppy. But nobody can deny his influence. GonnaUseMyPrisoners wrote: "Brian May is the best guitar orchestrator ever" - I think that would be pretty tough to shoot down.Yes, that's definitely correct. iGSM wrote: Who was the bloke that Jimi Hendrix said was better than even himself? He ended up shooting himself in the head not before saying 'Don't worry, it's not loaded'Oh yes, Terry Kath. Add him to the little list I made above! |
| radio_what's_new 17.11.2004 13:01 |
jimi hendrex is the best |
| The Real Wizard 17.11.2004 14:08 |
radio_what's_new wrote: jimi hendrex is the bestIn terms of influence, I agree. No musician changed his instrument the way Hendrix changed the guitar. But in terms of talent and technical ability, there are hundreds of guys who are so far beyond Hendrix. |
| HDvorak 17.11.2004 14:14 |
Yup, guitarists with greater technical ability than Jimi are a dime a dozen. Hundreds of guitarists with greater talent?! I've never heard one with greater talent than Jimi. Please list! |
| Giacco 73 17.11.2004 15:06 |
My favourite Top Ten guitarists ever are: 1.Brian May! 2.Jimi Hendrix 3.David Gilmour of Pink Floyd 4.Glenn Tipton and K.K.Downing of Judas Priest 5.Dave Murray and Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden 6.Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple 7.Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin 8.Angus Young of AC/DC 9.Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath 10.James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett of Metallica |
| Awesome-O _4000 17.11.2004 16:36 |
the_hero wrote:Um... hello!!! I'm pretty sure what they meant was that he could make his guitar SING(it's an expression) not sing and play at the same time, which Brian did the best I've ever heard. Correct me if I'm wrong ...tomnever wrote: I don't know if he's the best technician, but he is the only guitarist I ever heard who can SING with his guitarJimi Hendrix played guitar and sang, so did Tommy Bolin (only live though, one song *cough*) |
| haythijs 17.11.2004 17:25 |
Nice list Giacco, but you seem to forget the most influenced player of the last 25 years after the Hendrikx/Page/Clapton/Beck or May generation. Edward van Halen might be the masterclass of his area, that's why wonderful talents like Kirk Hamlett play the way they do. Also a player who deserves more credit, Joe Perry from Aerosmith. He doesn't sound the same twice, wich song or concert. Especially when he performs together wiht Brad Whitford, to me they might be the best duo-players in the R&R scene |
| haythijs 17.11.2004 17:28 |
Sorry, one message more from here. Just for the dutch peoples, we also got great talents. Just remember Jan Akkerman or George Kooymans from Golden Earring. |
| Scirocco1977 17.11.2004 18:03 |
I once saw Walter Trout once and he made his guitar sing, too... But he seems to be a bit far out... I highly respect his guitar skills nonetheless. |
| mike hunt 18.11.2004 00:01 |
my favorite, but to be honest not the best that goes to jimi. I feel he's top ten material. |
| The Mir@cle 18.11.2004 03:16 |
Brian, Knoppfler and Hendrix... those where/are the certainly the best. |
| Teo_torriate04 18.11.2004 03:54 |
Remember reading a quote from Jeff Beck once saying that in his opinion Brian May was the best in the business at creating instantly memorable sounds from his guitar, and that he wished he could do it. And forgive me if I'm wrong, but has anybody mentioned the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn. His version of Voodoo Chile is, dare I say it, even better than Jimis' original. |
| djaef 18.11.2004 05:52 |
Sir GH<br><font size=1>ah yeah</font> wrote:djaef wrote: JIMMY PAGE IS GOD!For about 5 years he was one of the best. After that, the drugs took over. Page, most of the time, was pretty sloppy. But nobody can deny his influence. |
| djaef 18.11.2004 05:54 |
djaef wrote:Sir GH wrote:Sure, he was a little sloppy at times, but if we were talking about who was the most accurate, technically brilliant guitarist I'd have said Brian May. Jimmy though pulled stuff out of that Gibson of his that didn't sound humanly possible. Hence the God tag. :)djaef wrote: JIMMY PAGE IS GOD!For about 5 years he was one of the best. After that, the drugs took over. Page, most of the time, was pretty sloppy. But nobody can deny his influence. |
| djaef 18.11.2004 05:55 |
QUOTE]Sir GH wrote:
djaef wrote: JIMMY PAGE IS GOD!For about 5 years he was one of the best. After that, the drugs took over. Page, most of the time, was pretty sloppy. But nobody can deny his influence. Sure, he was a little sloppy at times, but if we were talking about who was the most accurate, technically brilliant guitarist I'd have said Brian May. Jimmy though pulled stuff out of that Gibson of his that didn't sound humanly possible. Hence the God tag. :) |
| twowaymirrormountain 18.11.2004 07:26 |
If I didn't like Brian May, I wouldn't be posting here. Having said that, there are many guitar players who technically have more skill than BM. However, Brian May has sound and a style that is incredibly unique. He also really knows how to create guitar parts that enhance and complement a song. How many faceless shredders can you say this about? Brian's playing is sort of like Freddie's voice in this way: you can hear a half second of it and know exactly who it is. Regarding Jimmy Page: I think he was just as sloppy early on as later. Think of the solo in Heartbreaker. While not the most technically advanced guitarist either, his arranging and studio skills were great. Actaully, some of my favorite Zeppelin stuff was from later albums. Achilles Last Stand, Carouselambra, In The Light, Trampled Underfoot, etc. Achilles Last Stand on the live DVD is amazing. Enough of this off topic palaver. some of my favorite guitar players: Henry Kaiser Frank Zappa Hans Reichel Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo Stephen O'Malley Adam MacGregor Fred Frith Bill Frisell Rick Nielsen Agata Jeff Schneider Steve Matos and many more |
| Sebastian 18.11.2004 08:00 |
There are of course many kinds of opinions about who is "better" for something. Consider football: Pele is "the King", but imo there are hundreds of better skilled players nowadays. The thing is that they probably wouldn't even be playing football if not because they had the influence of Pele. Perhaps yes, perhaps no. They would have chosen another heroe, Didi or Vava or maybe Roberto Rivelinho. Enough about weird analogies, what I mean is that Hendrix revolutioned the guitar world as nobody before or after. That doesn't mean there wouldn't be guitar players without him. Human race looks for idols everywhere. If Hendrix hadn't ever been born, people would say Clapton, Beck or Page revolutioned the guitar world. Or maybe someone we don't know, like that player of Real Madrid in mid 90s who was perhaps better than Raul but had a serious injury so it was Raul who got all the success. By other side, Hendrix was certainly the most influential, no wonder why he survived the test of time and thousands of players praise him. That doesn't mean there are no better players. If the student can't be beter than the teacher, the teacher is not good. And I'm sure Hendrix was an outstanding teacher since I see all or most of his start learners went further than him. Same for everyone (e.g. Nuno went much further than Brian or Van Halen imho, and surely in some years someone will go further than him, or he/she already did) |
| Timothy smale 18.11.2004 08:26 |
BECAUSE OF HIS PURE SKILL IN FINGER STYLE AND HOW HE GLIDS DOWN THE FRETS TO PICK THE CHORDS AND STRINGS |
| FreDRicca_MeRcUrY 18.11.2004 08:54 |
out of all those lists' in my city on the radio they never ever include mr.may on their best guitar lists', so I do also indeed agree that he's so under-rated as a guitarist i am sorry jeff beck doesn't do a god damn thing for me nor does ron wood so GO BRIAN GO its about time somebody gave him so god damn props;-) carry on! |
| FredMerBul 18.11.2004 14:32 |
Someone wrote: But what about Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Howe, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, M. Romeo, J. Petrucci, J. Satriani, S. Vai ... THEY ARE NOTHING!!! BRIAN IS JUST THE BEST EVER!!! |
| meemoe 18.11.2004 14:58 |
tomnever wrote: I don't know if he's the best technician, but he is the only guitarist I ever heard who can SING with his guitarActually, Peter Frampton, although not as skilled with his guitar, literally sings with his guitar... |
| Libor2 18.11.2004 17:20 |
FredMerBul wrote: Someone wrote: But what about Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Howe, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, M. Romeo, J. Petrucci, J. Satriani, S. Vai ... THEY ARE NOTHING!!! BRIAN IS JUST THE BEST EVER!!!Well, I wrote that. And your answer to this says enough. Your arguments are "deadly" :-> |
| iGSM 18.11.2004 19:02 |
< Yes, yes..with that thing that makes his guitar go 'wah'...'wah, wah wah wah wah wah waaaaah' Yes. Family Guy has showed me the way. |
| The Real Wizard 18.11.2004 23:43 |
The Mir@cle wrote: Brian, Knoppfler and Hendrix... those where/are the certainly the best.Knoppfler, or however you spell it... completely over-rated. That solo in Sultans Of Swing is one of the sloppiest things I've ever heard make it onto a record. *cringe* |
| The Real Wizard 18.11.2004 23:44 |
The Mir@cle wrote: Brian, Knoppfler and Hendrix... those where/are the certainly the best.Knoppfler, or however you spell it... completely over-rated. That solo in Sultans Of Swing is one of the sloppiest things I've ever heard make it onto a record. *cringe* |
| The Real Wizard 18.11.2004 23:47 |
FredMerBul wrote: Someone wrote: But what about Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Howe, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, M. Romeo, J. Petrucci, J. Satriani, S. Vai ... THEY ARE NOTHING!!! BRIAN IS JUST THE BEST EVER!!!Wow, I just can't get over how ignorant some people are. I don't know where to begin with someone like you. Have you even listened to any of these guitarists before? Twowaymirrormountain, your post completely went over just about every head on this board. What a superb list of guitarists, certainly most of which few people here have heard of. I should check out a few of them more in depth. *edit* This post should be way lower on the page! |
| Polar Bear 18.11.2004 23:49 |
In reply to the thread topic, indeed i think he is. However that's based more on emotion than skill. Hendrix was definitely more of an influence, but Brian was always a better guitarist, although as a showman he is a little lacking in comparrison. After watching the Milton Keynes DVD I'm even more in awe of Brian's skills, he plays so much better here than on the Wembley DVD. Some of his technical prowess is often overlooked as well, he had the chops to demolish even the speediest of popular players, have a listen to Invisible Man which is all tremolo picked as opposed to using tapping, Hammering or pull offs. Cyborb has some mega tapping in it as well, that would make even Mr VH have a smile I'd imagine. One thing that has to be said about Brian is that everytime he plays he tells a beautiful story, his playing always says something, everything he plays is meaningful, how many other player can claim that? |
| Stephan 19.11.2004 04:30 |
NO! He isn't. All the guitar players mentioned here are very popular and they play(ed) in great bands but they are definetely not the best. But who is the best? JOHN PETRUCCI!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Sebastian 19.11.2004 04:48 |
Invisible Man is way overrated in this forum imho. It has five-ten seconds of nice technique and speed. End of story. A Steve Vai performance has two-three hours (7200-12400 sec) of amazing technique and incomparable speed. That's light years away. |
| Stephan 19.11.2004 06:52 |
Yeah! |
| charlotte 19.11.2004 09:23 |
since i was a kid i've loved queen's music. brian may's guitar playing still gives me goosepimples! but that doesn't make him the best player, yes he is the best melody maker but he is only one of the best guitarists of all time! |
| Awesome-O _4000 19.11.2004 11:22 |
Sir GH<br><font size=1>ah yeah</font> wrote:Are you insane?? Knoppfler's solo Sultans of Swing is amazing. His playing was so smooth and easy, yet what he played was so difficult. I can't believe someone would dare critixize that song!The Mir@cle wrote: Brian, Knoppfler and Hendrix... those where/are the certainly the best.Knoppfler, or however you spell it... completely over-rated. That solo in Sultans Of Swing is one of the sloppiest things I've ever heard make it onto a record. *cringe* Also, all great guitar players had their trademark that made them great, an Brian himself on his website said that he wished people would quit telling him that he was better than this player or that player, because all players are different. |
| Roger_in_Tigerskin_Trousers 19.11.2004 13:31 |
NO!!! HE was not!!! Watch him live and see how little he moves around the fingerboard. His solos are just variations on scales near the bottom frets with lots of (easy) bends. Also Brighton Rock isn't exactly the greatest piece of gitarring is it? Look at other guitarist's special solos they are WAY better. (love you Jimmy Page) |
| The Real Wizard 19.11.2004 13:41 |
Awesome-O _4000 wrote: Are you insane?? Knoppfler's solo Sultans of Swing is amazing. His playing was so smooth and easy, yet what he played was so difficult. I can't believe someone would dare critixize that song!No, I'm not insane. I've been playing guitar for ten years, and I along with ten friends could play that solo better. Mark is very sloppy on the recorded version. Guitarists tend to critique other guitarists, and the further along they get on their musical journey, the more faults they find in others' playing. Once upon a time I thought Jimmy Page was a flawless god. Now I think otherwise. The only guitarists I've ever heard that are close to flawless are John Petrucci, Steve Vai, and Phil Keaggy. Those guys, like them are not, have some of the best technique in the world. Guys like Page, Knoppfler, and all those other classic rock guys have nothing on the above three. |
| Stephan 19.11.2004 14:01 |
I think the main problem here is that most of the Queen fans don't know the virtuoso guitar players like Petrucci oder Vai because they don't play any role in the mainstream media. Therefore their view is very limited. I think that all the Queen fans here should be a little bit more open to enlarge their musical horizons. Go to your music shop and buy Dream Theater's "Images & Words" or "Scenes From A Memory" and you'll know what I mean. |
| HDvorak 19.11.2004 14:07 |
"Any fool can play something difficult". -- Robert Fripp |
| The Real Wizard 20.11.2004 01:46 |
Stephan wrote: I think the main problem here is that most of the Queen fans don't know the virtuoso guitar players like Petrucci oder Vai because they don't play any role in the mainstream media. Therefore their view is very limited. I think that all the Queen fans here should be a little bit more open to enlarge their musical horizons.For most, ignorance is bliss. |