My Favorite Players

In no order, just the players that I admired when I started and still respect today...

Jimmy Page.....

What can I say the master, totally in command . Happy on electric or acoustic and he never "over played" on record . Live Led Zeppelin were truly the hammer of the gods, but even now Page has the indefinable something that stands out , just listen to the stuff he did with the Black Crows a little while back . Page is always in a league of his own .

Ritchie Blackmore...

Now I know he's lost to the fairies at the bottom of the garden now (mind  there's some good stuff on the last Blackmores' knight album...honest!!) , But In his day he was amazing. The original mean moody axe man. Nobody else could do that "electric Bach" thing quite like Ritchie. The mans presents on stage was huge . To see Deep purple now days without him is like a pub with no beer. He's almost lost to the younger generation now which is a crime ...forget yngwie J . Ritchie could also write a tune!!!....check out "Deep Purple in Rock"  or " Made In Japan" ," Burn", "Rainbow Rising" or " Long Live Rock and Roll" for the man in black at his fiery best.

Angus Young...

Very under rated as a player, I guess its the school boy thing, but truly possessed by the demons of rock n roll. When Angus plays his commitment to the music is total and I mean total. Listen to his work on any AC/DC album and there's never a wasted note. His solo's always have a swing to them, they sing out , they rock... fantastic stuff. Riffs that are always instantly recognizable, to the point and cool. Without  gadgets and effects,  whatever he plays it always rocks....

Gary Moore...

Now Gary has been though a few style changes over the years to say the least. I liked him best when he rocked , be it with Thin Lizzy or solo. A very powerful player yet, jazzy and fluent all at once. I'm not keen on his singing to be fair but he made up for it in spades with his guitar work, big time. Check out the "Black Rose" album by Thin Lizzy , or solo "Corridors of  Power" and "Victims Of the future" , but to be fair to Gary the last time I saw him like he was rocking big time again ...

Brian may...

Another underrated guitarist in a way Brian May is a master. If you listen to any live stuff by Queen you can see how important he was to that band . Always a very tasteful player , always playing what the song needs rather than just showing off . Everything he plays is so catchy. You cant fail to admire a guy who made his own guitar and came up with such a unique tone. You can always tell when it Brian May on record  and that's not something you can say about every guitarist now is it? Also how many times have you heard somebody else try to do the three part harmony repeat echo trick? Nobody can do it quite Like Brain May...and all with a sixpence , cool or what ?

B. B. King....

Riley B. King , Blues Boy King ... ah yes now here's a guy who knows how to make his guitar sing for him. B.B never plays chords just sings then lets his guitar take over . He makes it all look so effortless , he didn't learn to play the blues he was born with it deep in Mississippi ..he was born to play the blues .Oh yes he is a master of what he does if you ever think blues is boring give him a listen , his best recordings are the live ones. On a good night Lucille sings for him with a life seemingly of her own .... oh lord have mercy...

Tony Iommi...

All those Goth metal bands and death metal bands and everything in between owe this guy a great deal. Tony was the first, the heaviest and the darkest player ever. If your gonna call your band Black Sabbath then it better sound like a horror movie and they did! A riff master extraordinaire Tony has had a hand in some of the heaviest riffs of all time. He doesn't seem to always get the credit he deservers , sure we know all about Ozzy now but would we have without Tony? Album after album of classic riffs say more than I can , not bad for a guy missing the tips of three fingers!

Jimi Hendrix....

The first , the original guitar hero without Jimi the rest wouldn't be around I cant say anymore if you haven't heard Jimi go listen to him right now ..... go on now!

Leslie west...

A big man with a big sound. The driving force behind the great Mountain, Jimi Hendrix said he was great, Ritchie Blackmore loved Mountain so much he got them to tour with Deep Purple on their come back tour. The way Leslie feels a song is fantastic, never playing fast flashy stuff when long slow held notes say so much more ... check out the track "theme form an imaginary western" it's one of my all time favourites . Oh and he can sing really well to... a class act.

Jeff Beck....

An enigma one minute playing like he couldn't care less the next flashes of true genius . The first Jeff Beck group album is prototype Led Zeppelin for sure . The main thing about Jeff is he doesn't make enough recordings which is sad. But catch him playing a guest spot live somewhere and he can wipe the floor with almost any other guitarist if he's in the mood.

Michael Schenker....

The Teutonic rocker with class. You can always tell when its metal Mickey playing that trade mark frantic, mechanical yet melodic style, the set wah-wah used almost as a treble booster .Always classy and unique .Check out UFO's  live album "strangers In The Night" and you will see what I mean .I had the honour to open for Michael (with No Shame) at the twist in Colchester (26.1.08) and he was magical just to watch warm up and a really nice guy as well ... rock on Michael !

Nigel Tufnell....

A guitar God always played on eleven I can say no more.

Now there are loads of guitarist I admire and I could fill pages and pages with them But I will mention a few more here while I think about it . Paul Chapman (UFO/Waysted), Ace Frehley, Trevor Rabin ((Yes/solo), Joe Ryan, Dave Meniketti (Y&T) Neil Schon (Journey) K.K Downing and Glen Tipton (Judas Priest) Ted Nugent, Paul Kossoff (Free).

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