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Greatest Guitar Album?

My second album would be John Williams Spanish Guitar
 
There exists no such album.

I've been playing stringed instruments since I was about 8 and am a guitar fanatic. One of the hardest things I ever had to disabuse myself of was the notion that there is a greatest anything. Player, album, sound, speed, you-name-it.

There is no shortage of absolutely jaw-dropping guitarists out there and, if you keep looking, you won't ever stop finding them.

How does the fretwork in Metheny's "Question and Answer" compare with Pepe Romero's "Flamenco!" and Tony Rice's "Church Street Blues"?

It doesn't. They're just different.

Where do George Van Epps, Danny Gatton and Redd Volkaert fit into this? Same way. They're insanely good.

But there still is no 'greatest'.
 
Tanngrisnir said:
There exists no such album.

I've been playing stringed instruments since I was about 8 and am a guitar fanatic. One of the hardest things I ever had to disabuse myself of was the notion that there is a greatest anything. Player, album, sound, speed, you-name-it.

There is no shortage of absolutely jaw-dropping guitarists out there and, if you keep looking, you won't ever stop finding them.

How does the fretwork in Metheny's "Question and Answer" compare with Pepe Romero's "Flamenco!" and Tony Rice's "Church Street Blues"?

It doesn't. They're just different.

Where do George Van Epps, Danny Gatton and Redd Volkaert fit into this? Same way. They're insanely good.

But there still is no 'greatest'.
Click to expand...

I hear you, " the best " is subjective but its still possible to identify musicians who are at the top of their game so to speak.

The South African classical guitarist John Williams would be on who I would classify as being the best living classical guitarist.

Segovia when he was alive was considered the best and trained many clasical guitarist including John Williams.
 
John Williams : Vals op.8 No. 4".

 
Fenton said:
I hear you, " the best " is subjective but its still possible to identify musicians who are at the top of their game so to speak.

The South African classical guitarist John Williams would be on who I would classify as being the best living classical guitarist.

Segovia when he was alive was considered the best and trained many clasical guitarist including John Williams.
Click to expand...

Allow me to try and disabuse you of that notion. This is one of the works that makes me want to take my guitars out in the backyard and smash them kindling. That, and there's Christopher Parkening, as well, esp. for Bach pieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMLAhPDGvNQ&list=PLhOyUdVd9TjbFkT_qTZsXyevme9vql68G
 
Tanngrisnir said:
Allow me to try and disabuse you of that notion. This is one of the works that makes me want to take my guitars out in the backyard and smash them kindling. That, and there's Christopher Parkening, as well, esp. for Bach pieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMLAhPDGvNQ&list=PLhOyUdVd9TjbFkT_qTZsXyevme9vql68G
Click to expand...

Flamenco and Classical are not the same. Techniques are different and so are the guitars down to the types of wood used to build them. Guitar styles like Flamenco and even Blue Grass tend to trade speed for accuracy and precision.

My favorite guitar album is Leo Kottke's 6 and 12 string guitar but if you notice about half way through the following song " The Driving Of The Year Nail " he starts to speed up and yes , my favorite all time guitarist starts to get sloppy...



There are allot of Classical guitarist out there but what makes a guitarist like Williams so masterful is his ability to play through some of the most challenging classical pieces without making mistakes. I've played acoustic and classical for over 20 years and I can attest to just how impossible that is.

Here's his attempt at Paganini's 24th caprice, a impossible feat for any guitarist and playing it on classical makes even more difficult. I can pick out a couple of missed notes but otherwise a perfect performance.

 
Fenton said:
Flamenco and Classical are not the same. Techniques are different and so are the guitars down to the types of wood used to build them. Guitar styles like Flamenco and even Blue Grass tend to trade speed for accuracy and precision.
Click to expand...

No doubt. Nor did I suggest that. But they share a vascular system, if you will and, having knowN a lot of classical players, they all aspire to Flameco, or genuflect to it. Odd thing, though, since I've grown up with BG since I was about 10.

I find, w/no favoratism (I hope), that BG players tend to be obsessed with, for lack of a better term, 'cleanliness'. IOW, you'd better have your **** DOWN, because at least three other people are going to be up in that. That said, in some circles, the best BG players know how to 'theory through' anything.
My favorite guitar album by Leo Kottke's 6 and 12 string guitar but if you notice about half way through the following song " The Driving Of The Year Nail " he starts to speed up and yes , my favorite all time guitarist starts to get sloppy...
Click to expand...

You know, I've thought about that for a long time. I know that album. It's a hard thing to judge. I heard him as a kid, 6 and 12, but as a player myself, a young man who HAD to assert himself into my father's circle, this is what really turned my head around. It was the first time I ever heard something and said, "That's how I play!"

This. Right here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvPoBGRIRY
 
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Fenton said:
~ Segovia when he was alive was considered the best and trained many clasical guitarist including John Williams.
Click to expand...

My father got to see Andrés Segovia once, I'm forever envious/
 
another who questions whether there can be a best. but this is one of many favorites. was raised in a household where only two types of music were played: county AND western. this artist's music was my earliest personal foray into country/western

and writing about music is kind of like dancing about architecture
 
Just a little treat for all...



So young... so ****ing brilliant. Such a ****ing waste.

The best part is the audience. They haven't a clue what they just saw...
 
And just about anything from this genius.





 
Top Cat said:
Just a little treat for all...



So young... so ****ing brilliant. Such a ****ing waste.

The best part is the audience. They haven't a clue what they just saw...
Click to expand...


Lol. Yeah that audience reminds me of the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance scene in Back to the Future when Marty went on that wild guitar riff.
 
Fletch said:
Lol. Yeah that audience reminds me of the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance scene in Back to the Future when Marty went on that wild guitar riff.
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Great call! That is exactly it!
 
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