Some favorite non rock,shred,etc guitar players

[JTyson]

DiMeola
Tommy Emmanuel
Phil Keaggy
Christopher Parkening
Had the pleasure of seeing all these guys multiple times except TE, Keaggy and Parkening to me are the end result of all guitar playing.
Parkening is hands down the baddest guitar I've ever seen live, the guys command and control of the instrument will absolutely bring tears to your eyes. Been impressed by a lot of players over the years, not many of them made me cry

 

[Red_Label]

I didn't have any formal education in classical but I found it hard going back and forth from nylon to steel and using a pick. For me the more and more I played classical the better I got at it (elementary level Bouree etc) but my pickhand suffered for a while when I go back to electric. I really wish I would have stuck with it but I went to the electric route and broke classical guitar pieces into two tracks, playing the bass line as the rhythm and the rest as more of a lead part.

Randy Rhoads was just getting his feet wet in classical it so he really didn't have time to take it to the next level unfortunately. It was Randy that led me to classical music which I love equally to rock, jazz and fusion. Yngiwe was great in bringing the influence to a different level. Randy may have beaten him to the punch if he had lived, look at the youtube video promo of the new book give a listen to the last 20-30 seconds of it you could tell where he may have been going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3apJl6PRw10

It was very tough going back and forth between real fingerstyle classical and electric styles for sure. In fact, back in '96-97 I quit electric entirely to concentrate on classical. I was working about 4-6 hours every night after my day job on my classical repetoire. I had learned many of the standards (Sor, Guiliani, Bach, etc) and was performing them at recitals, churches and weddings. I had also worked-up Domeniconi's Koyumbaba and was working on the Allegro movement of the Rodrigo concierto when I started to seriously suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It stemmed from sitting at the computer all day, mousing with my right hand. And then hunching over the classical for so long every night with my right forearm laying over the lower bout of the classical. Between those two things, my right arm was numb from the elbow down for much of the day. NOT GOOD!!! So I had to quit and go back to my strats (at the time). Standing and playing with my forearm over the comfort contour was much easier on my right arm and the CTS has been under control ever sinc

During the time I was dedicated to classical, I also dabbled in traditional flamenco and way back then I started dreaming of doing a Nuevo Flamenco (New Flamenco) deal in my area, since no one else was. Fast-forward to last January. My latest original hard rock/metal band had screeched to a grinding halt and I was a bit dissillusioned with the rock band deal. So I bought a pair of Breedlove crossover nylon string acoustic-electrics and was immediately inspired to start wiriting my own flamenco-jazz compositions. I call it flamenco-jazz because it's not traditional flamenco, but it's not jazz either. Latin-inspired stuff basically. I'm using a pick with the right arm and am able so far to keep the CTS away. I find that the thinner necks and radiused fingerboards of the crossovers are much more comfortable for a primarily electric player anymore. I still have two traditional classicals and never play them anymore. I finished writing and recording my first flamenco-jazz album last spring and started writing and recording my second this summer. Have been gigging these tunes in the local art museum, fancy restaraunts, and private parties. Has been received well... especially since there's NO one else in my entire area doing that (that I am aware of).

At any rate... just wanted to throw my story out there and mention the crossover nylon string guitars in case you find yourself wanting to check them out. They are definitely more comfortable than the traditional ones for an electric player. Check out Breedlove, Cordoba, Taylor, and Yamaha if you find yourself interested in the crossovers. They also work well for fingerstyle and acoustic jazz type stuff.

Anyways... I'll check out that video link that you mentioned tomorrow when I get a chance. Thanks!

 

[Red_Label]

DiMeola
Tommy Emmanuel
Phil Keaggy
Christopher ParkeningHad the pleasure of seeing all these guys multiple times except TE, Keaggy and Parkening to me are the end result of all guitar playing.
Parkening is hands down the baddest guitar I've ever seen live, the guys command and control of the instrument will absolutely bring tears to your eyes. Been impressed by a lot of players over the years, not many of them made me cry

Definitely a very skilled, serious, and spiritual guy. Always thought of him as "America's Segovia". He was our first real "royalty" in the world of classical guitar. I find Williams to be more technically capable. And Bream to have more feeling. But Parkening combines both strenghts well and is an awesome complete package. My favorite over-all classical player is probably Manuel Barrueco. His "300 Years of Guitar Masterpeices" compilation is so well done. Favorites off that CD set are the Albeniz and Scarlatti works. But I've got most of Parkening's catalog as well and just love it all. I find that his interpretations of Bach to be particularly soulful and well-done. He's no Elliot Fisk technically, but he's got a bigger tone and a WHOLE lot more feeling to his playing IMO.

 

[petejt]

Just a few.............(yes most of them play rock, but as said earlier they're not from the 'usual camp')

Robert Smith of The Cure
Brian May of Queen
Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd
Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits
Chuck Berry of Chuck Berry
Andy Summers of the Police
Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac
Markos Vamvakaris of Markos Vamvakaris
Hank Schermann of Mercyful Fate (he wrote the core of their earlier songs, but rarely gets mentioned. I love the punky, rebellious lively, engaging attitude he brings to black metal. He brings the dead to life & makes 'em dance! and headbang )

 

[guitarnie]

In my book, Morse shreds. Went to a show in Houston, Morse, EJ and Satch all @ one shitty little club on Westheimer.
Metheny
Di Meola
Ritenoir
Lukather
Easton
M.Campbell

 

[IndyWS6]

Several of the players already listed
Brad Paisley
Kieth Urban
Steve Lukather
etc.

Plus
Jerry Reed
Joe Walsh
Jeff Baxter
Jon Herington
Neil Taylor
Glenn Tilbrook
And many others...

 

[SouthernShred]

Jimmy Herring

 

[JTyson]

DiMeola
Tommy Emmanuel
Phil Keaggy
Christopher ParkeningHad the pleasure of seeing all these guys multiple times except TE, Keaggy and Parkening to me are the end result of all guitar playing.
Parkening is hands down the baddest guitar I've ever seen live, the guys command and control of the instrument will absolutely bring tears to your eyes. Been impressed by a lot of players over the years, not many of them made me cry

Definitely a very skilled, serious, and spiritual guy. Always thought of him as "America's Segovia". He was our first real "royalty" in the world of classical guitar. I find Williams to be more technically capable. And Bream to have more feeling. But Parkening combines both strenghts well and is an awesome complete package. My favorite over-all classical player is probably Manuel Barrueco. His "300 Years of Guitar Masterpeices" compilation is so well done. Favorites off that CD set are the Albeniz and Scarlatti works. But I've got most of Parkening's catalog as well and just love it all. I find that his interpretations of Bach to be particularly soulful and well-done. He's no Elliot Fisk technically, but he's got a bigger tone and a WHOLE lot more feeling to his playing IMO.

You know, I'm less than a total hack when it comes to classical. I could never play any of it, although for about 6 months I decided to try but gave up. I just did not have the discipline in my life at that time to commit to the sheer amount of time it takes to brake all the bad habits I'd formed (I'd played for 15 years up to that point by ear) I saw Parkening the same year I saw Yngwie for the first time on the Marching Out tour, so I was firmly imbedded in the shred camp mindset. I had no idea what to expect when I went and saw him, but I went in with more or less an "So, this is the guy who's played for kings.. ok, impress me" frame of mind. What I experienced when he came out was a total ability to convey any thought or feeling he wanted to through the guitar, and speak to me on a level that I had never experienced before with nothing but an unamplified acoustic. I didint even know this kind of communication was possible, and with a very humble spirit, the guy profoundly turned everything I thought I knew upside down in a moment in time. It was something I will never forget.
He was actually the reason I decided to try to learn classical, but I was far to undisciplined to do anything with it.
My hats off to anyone who can pull off even remotely playing that stuff.

 

[The Traveller]

Jerry Reed
Roy Clark

I always thought Toy Caldwell was a badass as well. He's was southern rock but I think by today's standard he would have been considered country:

 

[Red_Label]

You know, I'm less than a total hack when it comes to classical. I could never play any of it, although for about 6 months I decided to try but gave up. I just did not have the discipline in my life at that time to commit to the sheer amount of time it takes to brake all the bad habits I'd formed (I'd played for 15 years up to that point by ear) I saw Parkening the same year I saw Yngwie for the first time on the Marching Out tour, so I was firmly imbedded in the shred camp mindset. I had no idea what to expect when I went and saw him, but I went in with more or less an "So, this is the guy who's played for kings.. ok, impress me" frame of mind. What I experienced when he came out was a total ability to convey any thought or feeling he wanted to through the guitar, and speak to me on a level that I had never experienced before with nothing but an unamplified acoustic. I didint even know this kind of communication was possible, and with a very humble spirit, the guy profoundly turned everything I thought I knew upside down in a moment in time. It was something I will never forget.
He was actually the reason I decided to try to learn classical, but I was far to undisciplined to do anything with it.
My hats off to anyone who can pull off even remotely playing that stuff.

Good post man! That's awesome that even back then, in the heyday of shred and Yngwie, that you were able to see the magnificence of Parkening's playing and classical guitar in general. I was the same way. Loved both styles. Still do!

I hear you on the breaking bad habits part. I had been playing for about three years (started when I was 16) when I started to dabble seriously with classical. And I couldn't read music at the time, just did it all by ear or with tab. I think that Bach's "Bouree" and Rhoads' "Dee" were certainly early tabs that I learned. But I graduated to learning harder works like Lauro's "Danza Venezolana" by ear and that's when I first auditioned for the classical guitar program. My teacher was impressed that I'd learned it pretty much spot-on by ear, but of course the first thing he made me do was learn to read music. I started with Parkening's beginning classical guitar book just like all of the other students and got better at it. It's still QUITE intimidating to me to pick-up a score to the longer concert works like Sor's "Grand Solo" or Guiliani's "Grand Overture" and soak in all of those pages of sheet music (about 15 pages), much less works like the Rodrido concierto (about 40 pages). I always memorized the music, but what I found over time is that it's easier to memorize a peice of music by reading it than it is to do it by ear. That may seem not to be the case, but having been an ear-learner first I can attest to that fact.

Anyways... I don't often read/learn sheet music anymore, and when I do, it's usually to relearn a peice that I used to know (like the ones I mentioned here).

I always have to chuckle at the "best guitar player" threads on the web (as if there is even such a thing), because most of them completely ignore classical, flamenco, and jazz players. And that's INSANITY... because most metal/rock/country players are just children when compared to these GIANTS in terms of technical command of the instrument, dedication, knowledge of theory, hours spent practicing, etc. Segovia still practiced 4-6 hours a day in his 90s. Having played in bands since '86 and having played solo classical guitar performances I can say that there's NO comparison to the level of "nakedness" that one feels when performing complicated, technically-demanding peices with only a nylon-strung acoustic guitar, compared to playing with a band through loud amps. Of course there are some awesome steel string acoustic players like Phil Keaggy who possess similar levels of skill as well. I've got nothing personal against guys like Slash and his ilk... but people who think that rock players like him are somehow the pinnacle of guitarcraft are completely dillusional. Akin to the thinking that the world was flat prior to the 1400s. Just silliness...

 

[Chris6870]

Estaban

 

[Enjolras56]

George Benson is a BAD ASS.

 

[joepete77]

George therogood ,
Mick Taylor
Brian setzer
Izzy stradlin
Johnny thunders
Mick jones (clash)
Neil young
Mike ness

 

[Juggernaut]

David Gilmore
Billy Gibbons
John 5

 

[guitarnoize]

Scott Henderson

 

[rupe]

An awful lot of rock players being mentioned in a thread that called for "non rock" players

My short list would include:
Les Paul
Django Reinhardt
Maury Muehleisen
Michael Hedges
Freddy King
Jimmy Bryant
Cliff Gallup
Brian Setzer (although he could qualify as rock)

 

[ewill52]

So many greats listed on here. I always feel like kind of a 'tard on this board because I'm not a "metal" guy (but do love some of it...Pantera and KSE.

Brad Paisley and Brent Mason are a couple of favs for sure but my fav non-shred guy is....

David Grissom!!!!! TONE AND CHOPS!!!!

 

[Red_Label]

George Benson is a BAD ASS.

WERD!

Still love watching old live video clips of him doing "On Broadway". Good stuff!

 

[slyib]

So many greats listed on here. I always feel like kind of a 'tard on this board because I'm not a "metal" guy (but do love some of it...Pantera and KSE.

Brad Paisley and Brent Mason are a couple of favs for sure but my fav non-shred guy is....

David Grissom!!!!! TONE AND CHOPS!!!!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I agree that David Grissom is a great player. I recently acquired his #1 goldtop McCarty Trem PRS and have been enjoying all the videos and clips of him playing this amazing guitar. Yesterday I ordered the Storyville "Live at Antone's" CD/DVD set as an early Christmas present to myself.

http://www.vintagerocker.com/saleguitars/grissom.html

Brett

 

[Milerky2]

Some of my fav's

Andy Mckee
Phil Keaggy
Keith L. Cooper
Roscoe Meek
Brent Mason


Just to name a few...