Antoine Boyer

**Jonah** · 02-09-2026, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

I sometimes wonder if it's a self fulfilling cycle. People go more extreme because they feel they need to get attention.

YouTubers are trying to draw conclusions from a very noisy signal.

I think also a lack of language... I speak (on different level) 5 languages but I notice how in modern use they all lose their expressiveness in daily speech ... when I was young even the people who were not extremely intelligent and did not read a lot had much more rich vocabulary, they used more different adjectives to describe nuances - not just 'cool', 'great' etc. And they spoke in full long sentences much more.
In different languges it goes differently depending on the nature of the language and national culture but I see it everywhere more or less.

Recently I spoke with one person, we discussed players... and he always said: yes, he is cool... and that one, he is cool.... and this.. yeh, he is cool...

And I asked: if they are all just cool what is the difference between them?

I am not against 'the greatest' actually but it is good when it is defined...
Just 'the greatest guitarist' is nothing... but for example 'the greatest manouche player in Paris since late 2010s' or 'the greatest in the fusion of different genres of Americana tradition in one individual virtuoso style' makes some sense already.
And it shows much more respect for the player.

Basically I would prefer that people use every word with a meaning... if this one is the greatest - ok, but in what and why? What is so special that he does that others cannot? After all the art is about distinction, about being special and different... show some respect, analyze the artistic achievements and express your opinion coherently.

**Christian Miller** · 02-09-2026, 12:16 PM

It strikes me that the YouTube thumbnail is not an expansive literary form.

All the more reason why a richer lexicon is necessary....

Actually I find writing thumbnails and titles really quite demanding. How to get quite a complex idea in five words in a way that piques a reader's interest? What image to put with that?

Or I could have me gurning at camera and a red arrow with 'don't do THIS, do THIS instead'

**charlieparker** · 02-09-2026, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Jonah

astonishing technically but musically it is almost impossible to do it on guitar as well as you can do it on keyboards even for virtuoso players. Too many things are lost (imitations are often hardly heard, lower voice is often lost where it should be highlighted (as it creates broader breath in this piece, also there is a certain metric irregularity in the melody in the 2nd section, but he does not play it all) and all that turns a piece into a very mechanic music...
On guitar you either need less dense texture (so do it in a duo) or maybe slow down to have more space for dynamics and articulation control....
on keyboard (both piano or harpsichord) you can shoot it very fast and still keep the articulation under control.

I wonder how he would play some Sor or Mertz music, or Tarega preludes... even not necessarily very complex technically - like for example Sor's lessons: they can be quite simple but difficult to play well... in that kind of music it would show immediately.

But I like his jazz/pop stuff, I began to appreciate it lately much more than when I heard him first a few years ago.
I missed his concert with Yeore Kim (who is fantastic on chromatic harp) in Leuven unfortunately.....

The harmonica player was amazing. I listened to a few of the clips and thought she stole the show.

**Jonah** · 02-10-2026, 05:14 AM

It is interesting how the gypsy music culture is still vivid and brings up musicians that become very versatile modern players... The story of Bireli Lagrene is well-known but I do not know if Antoine or late Sylvain Luc were connected with gypsy culture as kids but definitely they were influenced. They all began to play at a very very early age and quickly turned out to be prodigy kids, very common for those who grew up in the environment where there is a living folk music tradition in the family.

**Cunamara** · 02-10-2026, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

I am tired of "Is XXXX the world's best guitarist" clickbait, though. Is it Julian Lage? Is it Matteo Mancuso? Antoine Boyer? Guthrie Govan? Alex Skolnick? The guy from Sleep Token? Marcin? Jacob Collier? Or is it Cameron Fernandez, who clearly thinks he's better than most everyone else and entitled to take them down a peg or two on YouTube?

Is it a competition?

Talking to myself here. The best guitarist in the world might actually be Tommy Emmanuel. It seems like he can literally play anything that comes to mind and do it in time, with taste and tone.

**Cunamara** · 02-10-2026, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

It strikes me that the YouTube thumbnail is not an expansive literary form.

OMFG, that was hilarious!

**GBRow** · 02-10-2026, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by grahambop

Not often, but it exists, check out Toots Thielemans (he also played guitar).

Yes, it is 2nd time I heard harmonica in jazz music.

**GBRow** · 02-10-2026, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

Talking to myself here. The best guitarist in the world might actually be Tommy Emmanuel. It seems like he can literally play anything that comes to mind and do it in time, with taste and tone.

The best guitarist title in the world has no meaning, if he/she plays music you don't like. They say Jimmy Hendrix is the best guitarist in history. But the songs he played are not my type. Heavy metal and heavy rock music are also not my likings. And they certainly are not the great guitarists to my ear.

**kris** · 02-11-2026, 01:59 AM

Who is the best in the world is a very subjective assessment.
One musician can have something that the other musician doesn"t.
for example; which guitarist has recorded as many brilliant albums as John Scofield?

**Christian Miller** · 02-11-2026, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by kris

Who is the best in the world is a very subjective assessment.
One musician can have something that the other musician doesn"t.
for example; which guitarist has recorded as many brilliant albums as John Scofield?

True

I generally feel quite unmoved by the latest widdly widdly instrumental rock player that sounds basically the same as the last one, the same sort of distorted tone with a bit of delay, similar vibrato and bends, similar melodic vocabulary and influences, similar compositions. These people can all play great needless to say.

But then people compare them to Allan Holdsworth or someone and I feel like I’m taking my crazy pills. Allan INVENTED a new style of playing out of whole cloth almost. (And he didn’t play generic instrumental rock.)

It’s not a style I especially dig tbh, but millions disagree. Antoine is obviously much more to my taste. There’s not that many players who embrace the polyphonic potential of the instrument. It’s him, Ted Greene, Gilad, a few others.

I’ve just had a bunch of comments on a video telling me how all jazz guitarists sound the same and how we aren’t creative because we don’t bend strings or something. Obviously I think people who day this are wrong, but maybe my lack of appreciation for the Ibanez wranglers of the world is similarly based on a lack of interest in the style. Taste is a funny thing and tbf most players ARE generic.

Not everyone is Sco.

Every so often I do hear a player who I don’t like very much but who is so unique and individual I have to respect them. Definitely true of Tim Henson for example.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Christian Miller** · 02-11-2026, 03:09 PM

That said, you can rely on Steve to always sound like himself - and you know what, no one sounds like him. Solo at 3:58

I do think the 80s players had a lot personality.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**GBRow** · 02-11-2026, 03:31 PM

I wish I could play like Tommy Immanuel one day in the future. He plays guitar even simplest songs rich and interesting.

**Jonah** · 02-11-2026, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by Cunamara

Talking to myself here. The best guitarist in the world might actually be Tommy Emmanuel. It seems like he can literally play anything that comes to mind and do it in time, with taste and tone.

I know quite a few people who can play what comes to mind…
the difference is only what comes to mind