View Poll Results: Favourite Guitarist
- Voters
- 1249. You may not vote on this poll
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John Scofield
132 10.57% -
Bill Frisell
92 7.37% -
Django Reinhardt
156 12.49% -
Wes Montgomery
349 27.94% -
Jim Hall
169 13.53% -
Joe Pass
278 22.26% -
Pat Metheny
161 12.89% -
Kurt Rosenwinkel
80 6.41% -
John Mclaughlin
66 5.28% -
John Abercrombie
29 2.32% -
Lee Ritenour
26 2.08% -
Pat Martino
106 8.49% -
Tal Farlow
64 5.12% -
Barney Kessel
94 7.53% -
Allan Holdsworth
61 4.88% -
George Benson
148 11.85% -
Grant Green
124 9.93% -
Jimmy Raney
51 4.08% -
Charlie Christian
77 6.16% -
Kenny Burrell
164 13.13%
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I got into jazz guitar by listening to a vinyl record of my dad's - Moods, Moods, Moods by Johhny Smith and it still has all the beauty for me. Momentum by Jimmy Raney is another total experience that never fades. Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green are off in other directions though not too far. I have yet to get to Baden Powell since i thought he was a Boy Scout
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09-02-2009 10:34 PM
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Stern, Holdsworth, and Martino for me. Have not had the opportunity to see Pat live, but have seen Stern and Holdsworth quite a few times.
I like Stern a lot because he incorporates a lot of influences. Bops hard and can get aggressive. My favorite musician is Michael Brecker (rip) and Stern reminds me of Brecker's energy. Also like his attitude and I think it comes through in the music.
Holdsworth... what can you say about him. He's so unorthodox, yet has definitely taken music places that others have not. Such a one of a kind player. Just wish he could be happier about his lot in life.
Martino is my favorite more traditional jazz player. I can't get enough of his lines and his harmonic content.
Bottom line is, so much can be learned from all in the list and so many others. Aren't we lucky to have so many to choose from.Last edited by hdswriter; 09-07-2009 at 12:04 PM.
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Ted Greene would be my choice, but of those listed, i picked Wes.
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No love for Lenny Breau on this list?
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Thanks for the poll...I've been turned on to a lot of great guitar players...my list is as follows:
1. Pat Metheny - the guy who got me turned on to jazz guitar in '78
2. Brian Hughes - gets very little attention, but sounds like Metheny/ES 175 era...
3. Al Di Meola - Sorry, fusion, but I love how he plays (especially the slower, jazzier, and classical stuff, the fast stuff...hell, everything).
4. Allan Holdsworth - again, fusion, but nothing more to be said...he is a master...
5. Pat Martino - wonderful, smooth, sonic and is usually accompanied by Joey D'Francesco on the Hammond B3...love it(as I am also a keyboard player...
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I had to go with George Benson, but if Pat Martino was close behind.
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Bireli Lagrene and George Benson, order depending on the day! Benson is a bit funkier but Bireli's lines are beautiful and often surprising. The man is not risk-adverse! Check out his version of "Donna Lee" on Youtube--it's a drummerless quartet with Bireli playing acoustic guitar. It's not often that I swear at a computer, but I often do when watching that vid--in awe, of course!. Joe Pass and NHOP are on Youtube playing Donna Lee, too, and Pass just burns. Much different and more aggressive than his solo guitar work (which is also great).
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Kenny Burrell,certainly him~~~~~
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The two Gs - Grant Green & George Benson.
Check out Grant's albums 'Idle Moments' & 'Street Of Dreams' (both featuring incredible line-ups).
Also George's 'Beyond The Blue Horizon' & 'It's Uptown'.
Full-on, swinging, hard-bop!
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He probably isn't the "Best," guitar player on the list, but if I am in the mood for jazz guitar there is nobody I would rather listen to than Kenny Burrell.
Jim Hall and Joe Pass would be very close in there!
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Wes Montgomery is a must listen also.
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I just noticed the date this poll was started! This is the thing that scares me about the internet. I thought it was all now! LOL
Probably waay too late... but Ed Bickert continually inspires me.
"It don't mean a thing"...
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Ed Bickert is really tasteful and a master of the conservative Sunday brunch jazz bar sound, IMO. Why isn't he on this list?
For that matter, why isn't Ralph Towner on this list? Why isn't Larry Coryell, Carlton, Muthspiel, Emily Remler, Rypdal, Torn, John Stowell, Diorio, Scott Henderson, Kazumi Watanabe....??
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Since Ed Bickert wasn't there I had to go with his fellow pal and closest-sounding-guitarist Jim hall.
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Well I'll admit my tastes hae kind of been changing lately and getting more modernish. I would maybe say...
Mike Stern
Pat Metheney
Wolfgang Muthspiel
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Glad to see Django did so well after all these years. Love Grant Green too. A little sad that Raney got so few votes because his early stuff record for Vogue in Paris is so nice. I can't say why it is great precisely but I keep coming back to it over and over again.
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i dont know why bireli lagrene inst in that list. he's my all time favourite player.
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Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel, Jim Hall, Joe Pass.
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What, no Martin Taylor!
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I love Was, but I chose Grant. He's my standby fav.
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I'll just point out, for anyone who wasn't here back then, that the poll results are skewed. When the poll was first put up, only a maximum of 10 names could be used. This was later, after a lot of voting, extended to 20. Those players in the original 10 had an advantage because if I would have picked KB, for instance, I would have had to pick someone else.
Even allowing for that, from my reading of many, many posts on here, I don't think the top spots would have changed - Wes, Pass, Metheny, Django, Jim Hall and Kenny B would probably still come out on top.
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Originally Posted by Banksia
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Banksia is right, this poll was definately skewed due to a lack of names of many master guitarists beyond the few originally presented. IMHO, a more defintive poll would be to present " who are your favorite top 10 jazz guitarists of all time"? IMHO, we (this forum) are truly a "gathering" of experts on this subject and if we had a poll with no particular names to start with, we would probably have a more interesting, accurate and useful poll. Also, IMHO, many beginning and even some of us old-timers would probably benefit by having more choices of people to listen to and transcribe. We would each need to dig into our "jazz guitar listening" past and present to select a personal "top ten".
best wishes,
wizLast edited by wizard3739; 03-08-2011 at 10:05 PM.
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Having previous voted for Wes, I am really of the opinion that voting for the 'top' guitarist is all a bit pointless. What are we looking at? Technique? Originality? A lick specialist or a comping genius? These are all different aspects and many guitarists fall into any of these categories to some extent.
Therefore, it comes down to which guitarist does the most for us individually. And how is this question answered? By how far and to what extent the music 'moves' us. And in that case, the entire discussion about 'top' guitarists becomes redundant as it is all subjective, just as my vote for Wes was.
It would be much better for people to explain the elements of what makes one particular player stand out for them. In that way it could encourage others to start listening to certain individuals from the different persepective.
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As has been pointed out before, the question is "Favourite" not "Best." As for extolling the virtues of players, we have a section here called "The Players," where people do precisely that. One of the side benefits of the previous poll, as was often stated, was that every time someone said, "Why wasn't X on there?" many of us picked up new names to listen to.
Since this is a jazz site, I think it's highly unlikely that the peer group pressure of seeing Player X at the top of the list will drive a massive, lemming-like increase in album sales.
Also, since this site is run by a guitar teacher, knowing which guitarists are popular among the clientele may help Dirk tailor lessons to suit the members.
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