greatest guitarist in past 15 years

and for you young Brits out there... Rik Clay of the band Fulc is ace.

If any of you play guitar, you would know that the hardest shit to play is Dave Matthews. Noone else from the past 20 years is hard at all to figure out.

You have just invented a new aesthetic criterion ?Hard to Play?. Just wear gloves.

?No one can play his.? No one would want to. " Spinal Tapism". This is juvenile hero worship. It's just music, a few scales & chords. You think there are unappreciated geniuses. Maybe you?that chick in high school? Linking music to earthly rewards means you don?t appreciated the music and have crappy materialistic values. Wanting to be a star is a character flaw. I like to have a very large can of malt liquor and play blues harp in the toilet. The only problem is that cheap malt liquor gives you a headache.

No one has mentioned acoustic cats like Jorma Kaukonen, Leo Kottke, or John Fahey.

I assume the guy who named John Kay of Steppenwolf must have just liked his leather jacket. The guy wasn't even the lead guitarist, and Steppenwolf was legendary for being the worst live band ever.

Bill Nelson is another great one no one has mentioned.

LA's comment about Led Zep and Jeff Beck is exactly wrong. Beck actually had his first album out (with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart) before Led Zep's first one, and he had a quick second one, too. The first Beck and Led Zeps albums both had "You Shook Me" on them.

Good response, and at least you defend your choice. With regard to rock, I would put Page in the top 3, but my other top 2 would have to be Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. I remember seeing Hendrix for the first time at Masonic Auditoriium in Detroit, with Soft Machine and the MC5 (and another local band, TIME). This would have been in 1967, and I was not old enough to drive. Imagine being 14 years old, the Haight has just happened, and all of sudden here is this utter madman playing guitar like you never ever saw, dressed like a gypsy, and then destroying the stage at the end. And the volume- man, was that ever loud (until I saw Blue Cheer, anyway). I'd have to say Hendrix, except that the thread is about the last 15 years and he has been dead for 31 years. Over the last 15 years, the guitar gods are mainly considered to be Vai, Satriani and Johnson- of these, I like Eric the best and his solo on the song Zap is one of the great cutting solos in the history of rock. And not well known. But if you are picking Page, it is for his work before the last 15 years, you know? Beck is still creative, big time- and he just released last week yet another excellent record.

To each his own, I suppose. Anybody watch the PBS special with BB King and Beck? It played maybe two months ago in these parts.

i've been playing guitar for about 10 years now. started when i heard SRV and EC (unplugged).

but, no one gets my respect, for really getting me into guitar, more than dave matthews. listen to under the table and crash and you'll know what i mean

jimi thing

warehouse

nancies

2step

yikes - 'that is some bad-ass shit'

Glenn Branca's The Ascension was just re-released and features a pre-Sonic Youth Lee Ranaldo as one of the guitarists on the massive symphony for guitar that Branca composed. You want to hear guitar like you never did, listen to this.

And consider Alan Holdsworth as another guitarist of note. Elliot Sharp as well. The late Michael Hedges. Uli Jon Roth. Robert Fripp. Trey Gunn. In all seriousness, Ani DiFranco is a hell of a finger picker. So is Jorma, who is playing Reverend Gary Davis blues style music.

forgot about ani. right on.

I've been playing guitar almost as long as I've been running..29 years. This question can't be answered unless you break it down by genre. It's still very difficult even then, as you'd have to give at least a top 5 per genre...blues, jazz, rock, metal, etc...there are countless names. Clapton, Beck, Larry Carlton, Wes Montgomery, SR Vaughn, Terry Kath, Metheny, DiMeola, Byrd, Hendrix, Chet Atkins, Knopfler, Jorma, Dickie Betts and Duane, the young KW Shepherd.

A better question might be to ask "who is the best all-around guitarist of the past 15 years". Chet Atkins was able to do it all ...just ask Joe Walsh, Mark Knopfler or Clapton.

I have a Martin HD-28 just like one of Dave Matthews'. He's not all that hard to figue out (I've only tried a couple of his songs)...I don't think he even uses many alternate tunings. I like him though, because he's a Little Feat fan.

I think Norman Blake is awesome. You may not know him because he only plays acoustic, but it's just unbelievable.

That's what I mean...it's very easy to miss someone great. Blake plays country-like stuff..played on a Nitty Gritty Dirt band album....I've never been a country fan, but there are some great guitarists from the genre.

You should pick up some of his solo stuff. Two other acoustic greats are Doc Watson and Tony Rice. On the electric side of things Johnny Winter is my favorite, He just blows you away. He's a really tall albino blues guy that looks like a freak, but he's awesome.

Terry Kath? Please. Chicago is probably the worst megaselling band of all-time.

I've always considered Robert Fripp to be extremely overrated. The standout performer and songwriter on the great "In The Court of The Crimson King" is actually the reeds and keyboards guy Ian McDonald... not Fripp.

No one has mentioned Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music (and Eno's shortlived 801). On the basis of their last couple of tours, Roxy is in better playing shape than any of the old far bands, and Manzanera is better than ever.

No one's mentioned Mick Ronson either

Terry Kath played a Gibson SG through a Marshall stack (essentially a "heavy metal" setup) on the first album against a backdrop of major 7 chords and a jazzy brass section, and was incredible...who cares about Chicago as a band? Kath was a great guitarist.

Yeah, he showed all of his talent on "Free Form Guitar"...

I quit...that song did suck...I don't know what he was on.