Brian May: Greatest Guitarist Of All Time?

Total Guitar magazine has voted Queen's Brian May the greatest guitarist of all time. Now, May is amazing. But the greatest? That is subjective. Honestly I would probably put David Gilmour of Pink Floyd over May. And Jimi Hendrix too. Who would you select as the best guitarist of all time?

QUEEN's BRIAN MAY Named Greatest Guitarist Of All Time By TOTAL GUITAR Magazine https://t.co/BxevxWB25t pic.twitter.com/URe5QM0gRD

— BLABBERMOUTH.NET (@BLABBERMOUTHNET) June 8, 2020

Comments

[Gary]

Even though some of his fusion stuff doesn’t appeal to me, Jeff Beck has to be up there. Watch him playing live. He’s literally a freaking magician. Lol

[Mike]

Brian May, along with many others (Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton) was / is a phenomenal guitar player who defined 70s rock and brought his own style.

Greatest of all time... nope. We save that honor for the true INNOVATORS who completely changed the game:

1) Jimi Hendrix
2) EVH
3) Dimebag Darrell

Honorable mention to Randy Rhoads

[GNR]

The old GOAT debates rages on. You can never have a GOAT when time is eternal, silly rabbit Trix are for kids.

Fact: Brian May is the GOAT guitarist in Queen.
Opinion: Brian May is the GOAT guitarist.

But hey, one sells magazines... one does not.

[joeleaux]

IMO, no.

[Bkallday]

Hendrix

[Metalboy!]

1) Hendrix
2) Beck
3) Page

The rest can duke it out including Van Halen, since he wouldn’t have existed without the 3 mentioned above ... And I get it about Clapton, yet even though he would jam with Beck and Page in Page’s Mother’s parlor, and was the first to use the Les Paul / Marshall stack combo, he himself will tell you it is Beck who’s the best.

My personal favorite of all is Page but I get why Hendrix is THE Greatest of All Time!

[stu]

gotta go with jeff beck. he is not afraid to try something new and is very creative with it when he does.
for me, as explosive as hendrix’ work was, the sample size is too small.

[steverox]

Always an interesting debate, and not an easy one because the definition of best is subjective.

I'll start by revealing my ignorance. I'm not into Jeff Beck. I know he's great, but I couldn't name a single song or would recognize one. I recognize that Hendrix and Page are great, but I'm not into their music or bands at all (sorry). So those three are off my list.

So let's go with who I do know. A great guitarist to me is melodic, has great solo's, and has some truly memorable songs. You can instantly recognize the player from the song.

Here's my top picks: Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Steve Vai, Vito Bratta.

And greatest tone = Mick Mars.

[steverox]

Update: I totally disregarded Brian May in my answer, blasphemy.

I love May, and Queen is one of my top 5 bands all time. He is in the debate for GOAT, but I'd put him in my top 10, not top 3. But as far as guitar tone goes, he's in the top 3, you recognize that tone immediately.

Plus, can one band really have the GOAT front an and guitarist??? That just doesn't seem fair, does it ;-) Because there should be very little debate about Freddie.

[Bkallday]

You don't like Hendrix or Zeppelin, Steve??? That's eons more blasphemous than disregarding May in your answer! Just wow.

[Gogmagog]

Stevie Ray Vaughan gets no love in this debate.

For the record, I probably would not have even thought of May if I was putting together a list of the top 20 guitar players. I certainly would not have put him ahead of Rik Emmett or George Lynch or Reb Beach or Blackmore or Satriani (or Vito Bratta, or maybe not even Ronni Le Tekrø, speaking of somebody who gets no love at all). But I'm also not a huge Queen fan, and I'm sure personal preference factors a lot into these kinds of rankings. Likewise with Pantera, so Dimebag wouldn't have been on my radar at all.

[JCD]

There's just too freaking many great ones to choose from, it makes my head hurt to try and narrow it down to a top ten list. It's good to see Ronni LeTekro getting some love Gog. A lot will say EVH but Eddie stopped progressing after the Fair Warning record. We all know the usual suspects but Rik Emmett, George Lynch, Leslie West, Joe Walsh, Vito Bratta, Adrian Vandenberg, Frank Zappa, Frank Marino, etc, etc, they gotta fit in there somewhere. And I'm leaving out many others. If I had to pick just one, based on influence, longevity, creativity, versatility and body of work, it's probably going to be Jeff Beck.

[RNFR]

Agree with Gogmagog SRV is in the discussion of goat unreal passion and player blew Beck away IMO great article about there tour in 89 together. Beck is brilliant but not SRV. Him and Hendrix 1 and 2 in there rest can fight it out. Very tough discussion so many brilliant ones.

[Metalboy!]

What BK says, Steverox!

Huh-uh-uh-lo-oh!

Geezus!

Look, I love Bratta just as much as the next Hair Metalist but he’s basically a knock off of Van Halen.

No easy feat, for sure, but both he and EVH owe so much to Page, it’s ridiculous what you’re saying.

And May is, no doubt, completely incredible! ... His unique sound and blistering solos set him apart, albeit, not completely, as his influence, mainly by Page, shows he’s ultimately a disciple, not a complete original.

[Steverox]

Alright I knew I would get flamed ....

Hopefully my opinion will match the majority next post :-)

[Mike]

Don't worry about it Steve, like you said, subjective.

I mentioned Hendrix, EVH and Dime as the top 3 of all time.
Are they my top 3 favorites? With the exception of Dime, no...

I grew up in the 80s with players like Steve Vai, George Lynch, Paul Gilbert and Warren DeMartini attaining all of the "Guitar Hero" accolades, same as many posters on here. As good and individual as they all were, those guys were still following EVH.

The thing is, there are so many amazing guitarists who could be included on a list and we would still find glaring omissions, but few people have had the impact in completely changing the game for rock guitar like the 3 mentioned.

We can go back further to the beginning and talk Robert Johnson. We can talk about the innovation of Les Paul. Chuck Berry may have been the first true Guitar Hero within the Rock genre.

Then there's Angus Young, Tony Iommi, Michael Schenker, Richie Blackmore, Brian May, Paul Gilbert, Slash, Zakk Wylde, John 5, John Petrucci, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Marty Friedman, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ronnie Montrose, Steve Howe, SRV, Billy Gibbons, Nuno Bettencourt.. the list can go on and on...

But when it comes down to reinvention, thinking outside the box, and pushing the craft of rock guitar into new territory where the whole guitar playing community takes notice and spends years trying to catch up, this is where Hendrix really broke the mold in late '60s; as did EVH in late '70s, and Dimebag in the early '90s. (Once again., honorable mention to Randy Rhoads)

[Steverox]

Talking about reinvention ... then is Tom Morello in the picture? His solo (live) on Ghost of Tom Joad is insanely good!!!

[Him]

Gary, do you like Beck's _Flash_? I know it gets some knocks for being 'of its time' and a bit polished. But, man oh man, I love that album (and, yes, even his version of "People Get Ready" with Rod Stewart). And I think "Gets Us All In The End" with Jimmy Hall is amazing! I have never seen him play. I would love to do so.

GOAT? It is decided by the Gods! MALMSTEEN! At least according to him. He always bring the furry, I mean, fury . . . esp. on long flights.

Seriously though, this is always fascinating to me. I agree with Mike about Iommi. Also agree with him (and Gogmagog) about that fine squire Blackmore. Add in Page, and EVH, and Bratta, and Rhoads. Heck, include M&M (May & Mars). They all contributed.

But I also think Stanley Jordan blows most metal guitarists away:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGoGyGSnVuA

Then again, what do I know? I don't play music. So I defer to granular GOAT shows that involve actual musicians . . . and they tend to gravitate to "influences" unless pushed to say who _most_ influenced them. All cool in my book. No interest in muddying the waters, though I love Muddy Waters too.

It strikes me that, with all lists, we admire those who inspired us (and that doesn't take any musical ability, or writing ability, or . . . blah, blah, blah). Thanks goodness we keep them alive (for those who aren't) by praising what they did and how they made/make us feel. And thank goodness some of them still walk amongst us, sharing what their inspirations helped them create.