No suggestions here, but a big thanks to those of you who have shared your choices. It's given me a load of guitarists to check out. There's so many I'd never even heard of living here in the UK.
I agree that in general Freddie was the biggest influence of the two on Clapton by far, but what Harmonicatunes said about 'Strange Brew' still stands - that solo is almost note-for-note Albert King.
---------- My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :)
-- I'll just be nice and say that is silly. Clapton runs rings around Mandel in expression, ideas, songwriting, influence, and just flat out skill.
Last Edited by atty1chgo on May 24, 2015 3:48 PM
"Clapton runs rings around Mandel in expression, ideas, songwriting, influence, and just flat out skill. "
This is wishful thinking at best. Clapton is very tasty riff archivest. He plays with fire, to be be sure, but there came a point early after Cream broke up where he stopped growing as a guitarist. A goodly amount of what he's released on an insane number of double record live albums is recycle the same riffs with the same phrasing,the same spaces, the same old same old. He has been a predictable guitarist for decades, coming alive only when he's playing straight up blues. Mandel, in turn, has tried new things, mixed it up, just played his guitar. His best work is legions over virtually Clapton has released in terms of muscianship. Personal taste, please note, is some thing else. But what is factually true is that nothing Clapton has recorded has the kind of changes this Mandel track contains, all done smoothly , fluidly. This was the kind of jazz fusion Jeff Beck would attempt some years later and not nearly as successully, musically, as what Mandel did on the albums The Snake and Shrengrenade. This is not the overstated virtuosity of Return to Forever, but the tune has quite a bit going on in it. This isn't the blues, and that's the point; Clapton cannot cut this. ---------- Ted Burke __________________ ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.com
Last Edited by ted burke on May 25, 2015 12:38 PM
waltertore - When ROy came here in the 80's (New Zealand), I got to see him in concert and was suitably blown away. Because I was running a Blues show on a student radio station I got to go backstage and meet him. This was less than a year before he passed away, I think.
The fire he had on stage was amazing.
---------- My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :)
I saw Roy B back in 79 I think it was. Student Union gig at Qld Uni. I was literally feet away marvelling at his fingers. Delicate pointy finger spiders that walked all over the fretboard if I remember correctly.
It was amazing stuff.
Also managed to see Albert Collins (with his trademark crowd walk), Sonny & Brownie (they really sniped at each other between songs but when they played! wow!), and a few others before they kicked it.
@Goldbrick: In the two videos you've chosen, it obviously sounds as though Freddie King is a huge influence on Clapton, but that's a complicated thing. Clapton and King knew each other, shared stages many times; when Clapton is doing one of King's songs, it's not surprising that he, like many blues guitarists, black and white (including Buddy Guy playing Guitar Slim stuff), should quite deliberately echo his good and late friend.
Muddy Waters was imitative in very much this way when he covered Ann Cole's "Got My Mojo Working." You can certainly hear her influence on Muddy: the way he sings the vocal line. The same thing was true of John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson working off of Memphis Minnie's "Me and My Chauffeur" when he recorded "Good Morning Little School Girl." Good blues players find a way of acknowledging the influence, as Clapton, Muddy, and SBW do.
Edited to add: I didn't realize that Cole, a gospel singer from Newark, had gone on tour through the South with Muddy in 1956; he heard her do the song, added some new lyrics, recorded it, and claimed songwriting credit for it.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on May 24, 2015 8:06 PM
B.B. King was known to have said that the guitarist that gave him the chills was Peter Green.
Also, Rory Gallagher should be mentioned. He was one of the first to combine rhythm and lead guitar into one entity and was schooled in the blues. ---------- The Iceman
T-Bone Walker BB King Albert King Otis Rush Robert Lokwood Louis Myers Jimmy Rogers Snooks Eaglin and modern masters Junior Watson Duke Robillard
I also love the work of Freddy Robinson, BIll Jennings, Tiny Grimes, Little Milton, Kid Ramos, Robert Ward, early Buddy Guy and so on but top ten list is too small and too important list :) ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) my music
Is it possible that I am the first to suggest that Duane Allman belongs on this list, both for his slide work and his non-slide work, as on this slow blues, which may be my favorite slow blues of all time, on which Mr. Allman seems to play every slow blues lick there is.
Last Edited by Mighty Slim on May 25, 2015 9:11 AM
Sticking with "modern" (post WW2 basically) guys, and in somewhat random order:
Muddy Waters Albert King BB King Freddy King Earl Hooker Magic Sam John Lee Hooker Elmore James Hubert Sumlin Mike Bloomfield
Last Edited by Frank101 on May 25, 2015 12:44 PM
No mention of Bonnie Raitt though so far. Surely there's more women guitarists out there?
Instead of lists what would be better would be a "Tag Cloud of fucking great guitarists" instead.
Great thing about a tag cloud is you could also timeline it and even cluster them by style within time. Same for harmonica. You could even map the influence links back and forth.
It would also remove the subjective chest beating listical justification and instead selection for inclusion is just down to "Were they any good"? (Not technically flashy peacock players, but did they MOVE people)
