Guitarist

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Guitar players in the city centre of Buenos Aires. Guitar players in the city centre of Buenos Aires.JPG
Guitar players in the city centre of Buenos Aires.

A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar by singing or playing the harmonica, or both.

Contents

Techniques

The guitarist may employ any of several methods for sounding the guitar, including finger-picking, depending on the type of strings used (either nylon or steel), and including strumming with the fingers, or a guitar pick made of bone, horn, plastic, metal, felt, leather, or paper, and melodic flatpicking and finger-picking.

The guitarist may also employ various methods for selecting notes and chords, including fingering, thumbing, the barre (a finger lying across many or all strings at a particular fret), and guitar slides, usually made of glass or metal. These left- and right-hand techniques may be intermixed in performance.

Notable guitarists

Rock, metal, jazz, country and blues

Several magazines and websites have compiled what they intend as lists of the greatest guitarists—for example The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine, or 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by Guitar World magazine.

Rolling Stone

The first in this list is the American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, introduced by Pete Townshend, guitarist for the Who, who was, in his turn, ranked at #10 in the list.

In describing the list to readers, Paul MacInnes from British newspaper The Guardian wrote, "Surprisingly enough for an American magazine, the top 10 is fair jam-packed with Yanks", though he also noted three exceptions in the top 10. [1] The online magazine Blogcritics criticized the list for introducing some allegedly undeserving guitarists while forgetting some artists the writer considered perhaps more worthy, such as Johnny Marr, Al Di Meola, Phil Keaggy or John Petrucci. [2]

In 2011, Rolling Stone updated the list, which this time was chosen by a panel of guitarists and other experts with the top 100 consisting of Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Keith Richards and Tony Iommi. [3] Artists who had not been included in the previous list were added. Rory Gallagher, for example, was ranked in 57th place. [4]

The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time is mentioned in many biographies about artists who appear in the list. [5]

Guitar World

Guitar World , a monthly music magazine devoted to the guitar, also published their list of 100 greatest guitarists in the book Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time from the Pages of Guitar World Magazine. [6] Different from the Rolling Stone list, which listed guitarists in descending order, Guitar World divided guitarists by music genre—such as "Lords of Hard Rock" for hard rock artists or "Jazzmen" for jazz players. Despite the appearance in other magazines like Billboard , [7] this publication by Guitar World was criticized for including no female musicians within its selection. [8] However, Guitar World recently published a list of "Eight Amazing Female Acoustic Players", including Kaki King, Muriel Anderson and Sharon Isbin. [9]

Time and others

Following the death of Les Paul, Time website presented their list of 10 greatest artists in electric guitar. As in Rolling Stone magazine's list, Jimi Hendrix was chosen as the greatest guitarist followed by Slash from Guns N' Roses, B.B. King, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton. [10] Gigwise.com , an online music magazine, also ranks Jimi Hendrix as the greatest guitarist ever, followed by Jimmy Page, B.B. King, Keith Richards and Kirk Hammett. [11]

Other genres

The classical guitar is strung with gut or nylon strings on top and wound basses for the lower strings. It was often ornately decorated with mother of pearl. Many early classical guitarists played with their finger tips only but later guitarists play with a combination of finger nail and flesh to project a clear sound and allowing for many different changes in sound quality (or timbre). This guitar tradition dates back at least to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when a four course instrument was popular among aristocrats. In the early nineteenth century there the guitar enjoyed a surge of popularity when composer/performers such as Fernando Sor, Napoléon Coste, Mauro Giuliani, and many others published thousands of pieces for the concert hall and home gatherings. The classical guitar enjoyed another period of popularity in the twentieth century when recordings amplified the relatively quiet instrument. There are many classical guitarists listed as "notable" in their respective epochs.

One of the most renowned flamenco guitarists in recent decades was Paco de Lucía. Flamenco music is a popular traditional music associated with the Andalucia region of southern Spain. It is characterized by intricate syncopated rhythms intimately informed by a gypsy dance style. Flamenco guitarists also often accompany flamenco singers performing "cante jondo" (deep song). De Lucía was also one of the first to have successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz. [12]

The cuatro guitar is a family of Latin American string instruments played in Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. It is derived from the Spanish guitar. Although some have viola-like shapes, most cuatros resemble a small to mid-sized classical guitar. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is an ensemble instrument for secular and religious music, and is played at parties and traditional gatherings. [13] Christian Nieves is a Puerto Rican cuatro player and is recognized by the Institute of Puerto Rican culture as the most talented young of their national instrument, the Puerto Rican cuatro.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical guitar</span> Member of the guitar family used in classical music

The classical guitar, also called Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the modern steel-string acoustic and electric guitars, both of which use metal strings. Classical guitars derive from the Spanish vihuela and gittern of the 15th and 16th century. Those instruments evolved into the 17th and 18th-century baroque guitar—and by the mid-19th century, early forms of the modern classical guitar. Today's modern classical guitar was established by the late designs of the 19th-century Spanish luthier, Antonio Torres Jurado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimi Hendrix</span> American guitarist (1942–1970)

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slide guitar</span> Guitar technique

Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle. The term bottleneck was historically used to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Hazel</span> American guitarist (1950–1992)

Edward Earl Hazel was an American guitarist and singer in early funk music who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic. Hazel was a posthumous inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. His ten-minute guitar solo in the Funkadelic song "Maggot Brain" is hailed as "one of the greatest solos of all time on any instrument". In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Hazel at no. 29 in its list of 250 of the greatest guitarists of all time.

<i>Electric Ladyland</i> 1968 studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Electric Ladyland is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968. A double album, it was the only record from the Experience with production solely credited to Hendrix. The band's most commercially successful release and its only number one album, it was released by Reprise Records in the United States on October 16, 1968, and by Track Records in the UK nine days later. By mid-November, it had reached number 1 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, spending two weeks there. In the UK it peaked at number 6, where it spent 12 weeks on the British charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wah-wah pedal</span> Effect pedal used manually with electric guitars to express a sweeping vocal quality

A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The pedal sweeps the peak response of a frequency filter up and down in frequency to create the sound, a spectral glide, also known as "the wah effect". The wah-wah effect originated in the 1920s, with trumpet or trombone players finding they could produce an expressive crying tone by moving a mute in and out of the instrument's bell. This was later simulated with electronic circuitry for the electric guitar when the wah-wah pedal was invented. It is controlled by movement of the player's foot on a rocking pedal connected to a potentiometer. Wah-wah effects may be used as a fixed-filter to alter an instrument’s timbre ; they may be used when a guitarist is soloing; or, classically, they may be used to create a "wacka-wacka" funk-styled rhythm for rhythm guitar playing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McLaughlin (musician)</span> English jazz fusion guitarist, founder of the Mahavishnu Orchestra (born 1942)

John McLaughlin, also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Iommi</span> British rock guitarist

Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. is an English-Italian musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. Iommi was ranked number 13 in Rolling Stone magazine's 2023 list of greatest guitarists of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Kossoff</span> English guitarist (1950–1976)

Paul Francis Kossoff was an English guitarist, best known as the co-founder and guitarist for the rock band Free. He was ranked number 51 in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guitar solo</span> Passage or section of music designated for a guitar

A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written to be played on a classical, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular music such as blues, swing, jazz, jazz fusion, rock and heavy metal, guitar solos often contain virtuoso techniques and varying degrees of improvisation. Guitar solos on classical guitar, which are typically written in musical notation, are also used in classical music forms such as chamber music and concertos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Kramer</span> British audio engineer and producer

Edwin H. Kramer is a South African-born recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Kinks, Kiss, John Mellencamp, and Carlos Santana, as well as records for other well-known artists in various genres.

<i>Axis: Bold as Love</i> 1967 studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Axis: Bold as Love is the second studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was first released by Track Records in the United Kingdom on December 1, 1967, only seven months after the release of the group's highly successful debut album, Are You Experienced. In the United States, Reprise Records delayed the release until the following month. The album reached the top ten in the album charts in both countries.

"Little Wing" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967. It is a slower tempo, rhythm and blues-inspired ballad featuring Hendrix's vocal and guitar with recording studio effects accompanied by bass, drums, and glockenspiel. Lyrically, it is one of several of his songs that reference an idealized feminine or guardian angel-like figure. At about two and a half minutes in length, it is one of his most concise and melodically focused pieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foxy Lady</span> 1967 song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

"Foxy Lady" is a song by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It first appeared on their 1967 debut album Are You Experienced and was later issued as their third single in the U.S. with the alternate spelling. It is one of Hendrix's best-known songs and was frequently performed in concerts throughout his career. Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 153 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shred guitar</span> Virtuoso lead guitar solo playing style

Shred guitar or shredding is a virtuoso style of playing the electric guitar, based on various advanced and complex playing techniques, particularly rapid passages and advanced performance effects. Shred guitar includes fast alternate picking, sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic scales, finger-tapping and whammy bar use. It is commonly used in heavy metal, where guitarists use the electric guitar with a guitar amplifier and a range of electronic effects such as distortion, which create a more sustained guitar tone and facilitate guitar feedback effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voodoo Child (Slight Return)</span> Song written by Jimi Hendrix

"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" is a song recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968 that appears as the final track on the Electric Ladyland album released that year. It contains improvised guitar and a vocal from Jimi Hendrix, backed by Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. The song is one of Hendrix's best known; it was a feature of his concert performances throughout his career, and several live renditions were recorded and released on later albums.

The cuatro is a family of Latin American string instruments played in Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. It is derived from the Spanish guitar. Although some have viola-like shapes, most cuatros resemble a small to mid-sized classical guitar. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is an ensemble instrument for secular and religious music, and is played at parties and traditional gatherings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flamenco guitar</span> Acoustic guitar used in Flamenco music

A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the classical guitar. It is used in toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of flamenco.

César Carrillo Díaz was a Puerto Rican born guitar amplifier technician and guitarist who worked with a number of high-profile musicians, most notably Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Neil Young, and others. Guitar World dubbed him "The Amp Doctor" for his work in tube amplifier repair and modification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puerto Rican cuatro</span> Musical instrument

The Puerto Rican cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. It belongs to the lute family of string instruments, and is guitar-like in function, but with a shape closer to that of the violin. The word cuatro means "four", which was the total number of strings of the earliest Puerto Rican instrument known by the cuatro name.

References

  1. MacInnes, Paul (13 February 2007). "Who are the 100 greatest guitarists of all time?". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  2. The Theory (28 August 2003). "The Top 100 Guitarists According to Rolling Stone". Blogcritics . Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  3. "Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Tony Iommi Among '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time'". 23 November 2011.
  4. "100 Greatest Guitarists: Rory Gallagher". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  5. Clement, Vivian (2007). How to Succeed As a Female Guitarist: The Essential Guide for Working in a Male-dominated Industry. Alfred Publishing. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-7390-4304-2.
  6. Jeff Kitts, Brad Tolinski (2002). Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time from the Pages of Guitar World Magazine. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN   0-634-04619-5.
  7. Billboard, vol. 117, n° 49, pp. 67
  8. Leonard, Marion (2007). Gender in the music industry: Rock, discourse and girl power. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 38. ISBN   978-0-7546-3862-9.
  9. "Eight Amazing Female Acoustic Guitar Players". 24 August 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  10. "The 10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players". Time . 14 August 2009. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  11. "The 50 Greatest Guitarists... Ever!". Gigwise.com . Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  12. "C". Stringed Instrument Database. Retrieved 20 March 2018.