I know that opens a whole can of worms and many will go straight to "shredders", but there's so much more involved.

My pics are in no particular order...

Merle Travis: Had this incredible ability to lay down a bass track with his thumb, while the fingers picked out the melody. It almost sounded like two different guitar players, except for the fact that he integrated both so smoothly.

Django Reinhardt: I'm not a musician, so much of what he did seemed like magic to me. Speed, yes, but the notes he pulled seemed at times to come from the gods themselves. Just incredible artistry.

Chett Atkins: I just love that smooth, pluckin' style! Didn't realize how good he was until he did an album with Mark Knoppfler.

Mark Knoppfler: Shouldn't have to say anything. You all know him.

Jerry Reed: Yes, the "Smokey and the Bandit" guy. If you're not familiar with him as a guitarist, go listen now.

Ry Cooder: I actually became acquainted with his style from a movie about a young man battling the devil. Ralph Macchio was the young man dueling with Satan and his minions, and the actual guitar playing was Ry. Good stuff.

Brad Paisley: Yeah, another Country guitar player, but so much more.

Joe Walsh: Doesn't get enough credit IMO.

So, educate me. Who are your favorites?

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by swt61

Warren Haynes - Heavy country rock. Gov't Mule, Allman Brothers Band, varios Dead spinoffs, played in David Allen Coe's and Dickey Betts' bands back in the day. Can improvise with anyone, and doesn't sound like anyone else. Similar to what you describe with Merle Travis, I've seen Warren play his guitar licks while simultaneously playing the bass parts to Gov't Mule songs when they toured as a duo following the death of their bass player in 2001. https://archive.org/details/WHMA2000-11-08

Billy Strings - A shredder who plays bluegrass and country, with a virtuosity in improvisation
https://archive.org/details/billystrings2023-08-24.4017vl

Jimmy Herring - Guitar player for Widespread Panic. Was part of the greatest band ever, Col Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, also the Allman Brothers, dead spinoff bands, etc.

Derek Trucks - guitar from Tedeschi Trucks Band, formerly of the Allman Brothers Band and various dead spinoffs. First saw him at 12 years old when he was already amazing

Jason Isbell - songwriter and genius with an acoustic guitar, his band is the 400 Unit, and he was in Drive By Truckers.
https://archive.org/details/jason-isbell-2026-07-18

Wes Montgomery

And I always have a soft spot for Leo Kotte.

What is this TikTok?

hehe - my friend rants about 'best' or 'greatest' anything lists all the time.

So, I would say 'favorite' guitar players.

SRV is probably my favorite guitar player, found pretty randomly in the 80's and my appreciation has only grown from there - RIP. And Steve Howe, one of the best technical players, and is able to stand up to the monster that is Yes.

This is followed by a list of 100 plus players from Classical to Jazz to Country to Blues all the way to 'shredders'.

But it is always nice to have a list of other peoples favs to remind me to go back and listen to some Ry or Wes or ...

In early 1990, not that long before his tragic death, Stevie Ray Vaughan performed on MVT's Unplugged (y'all remember when ...nevermind.) Watching on a small CRT with a mono speaker, it was somewhere in in the middle of "Pride and Joy" where I became an SRV fan. Just Stevie, an acoustic 12 string (years later I'd learn it was 1969 Guild) and a stupid amount of talent.

At the time I had no idea how difficult it is to play a twelve string, never mind how Stevie did it. In 1989, three musical genres were peaking: hip hop, death metal and rave. I was into all of them and decidedly not into blues rock (acoustic or otherwise). I bought my first CD player in the summer of 1990 (a Pioneer 6 disc magazine changer.) The first "CD" I bought was the legendary Led Zep 4 disc boxed set. The next two were some now famous Iron Maiden single re-releases. After that was SRV & Double Trouble's In Step. Stevie has my vote.

For me, it gets a little muddy between technical abilities, and how the guitar playing impacts me/makes me feel.

For that reason alone, my favorite is David Gilmour. What some people do with an acoustic or Classical guitar is absolutely amazing, but he hits me in the feels with a lot of his playing.