Guitar Dudes (and Dudesses, because why not?)

Back in the day when blues was relatively unknown to the general public, a lot of old-time musicians made their own guitars out of whatever they could find.
"There is something about the voice and soul of an acoustic, homemade guitar that feels like a musical time machine for me. This small cigar box guitar, with a hand-hammered tin can for a resonator was built by Homegrown Strings. It was one of the first cigar box guitars I ever played, and I've recorded with it more than just about any other guitar. The tone sits somewhere between a banjo and resonator, and it's strung up with the highest 4 strings (D-G-B-E) from a 6-string pack." - Justin Johnson

 

Murrmurr said:
It's impossible to play Misirlou exactly the way Dick Dale did in 1963 unless you are exceptionally well-practiced at playing your guitar upside down without changing the order of the strings, so that the E string is on top, and so on. Dick Dale was left-handed, so he just flipped his first guitar over, left the strings where they were, and learned to play it that way.

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Oh Murrmurr you really outdid yourself with this one. As the worlds biggest wannabee axeman my short list of the best of the best lead guitarist would span Earth a thousand times over but before I post my personal favorites I'll post the industry's top 100, 50, 25,10, 5 and the best according to different polls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitarist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_guitar

www.guitarworld.com/features/the-100-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time

www.loudersound.com/features/the-50-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time

www.themystique.com/music/the-25-best-rock-guitarists-of-all-time/?view-all&chrome=1

www.ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/best-guitarists-of-all-time/

www.9changes.com/top-5-guitarist-you-ever-heard-of/

www.loudersound.com/news/jimi-hendrix-voted-greatest-guitarist-of-all-time
 
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@FastTrax Slash was overrated, imo. I liked some of Guns n Roses stuff, and he played some pretty cool stuff on recordings but he never played it like that live, so I'm not sure - maybe he needed the solitude of a studio. He was no Van Halen, that's for sure.

I really dig your other choices, though.
 
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Murrmurr said:
@FastTrax - Huge fan of Les Paul here. And with Mary Ford's vocals, I could listen all day.

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Les Paul was the true pioneer in guitar showmanship without all the acrobatics and visual stimulation. You didn't need an overpriced front and center seat in a football sized venue, dope or excessive drink to enjoy a true axemaster at his craft. IMHO knowingly or not every axeman from Jazz to Grunge were in some way influenced by him.
 
FastTrax said:
Les Paul was the true pioneer in guitar showmanship without all the acrobatics and visual stimulation. You didn't need an overpriced front and center seat in a football sized venue, dope or excessive drink to enjoy a true axemaster at his craft. IMHO knowingly or not every axeman from Jazz to Grunge were in some way influenced by him.
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There are very few great rock and jazz guitarists who haven't mentioned his name. And if I remember right, Les Paul mentioned in an old interview that he was heavily influenced by Django Reinhardt, the king of gypsy jazz (the creator of gypsy jazz, as far as I know).
 

Terry Kath​

Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singles. He has been praised by the band for his guitar skills and Ray Charles-influenced vocal style.

Growing up in a musical family, Kath took up a variety of instruments in his teens, including the drums and banjo. He played bass in a number of bands in the mid-1960s, before settling on the guitar when forming the group that became Chicago. His guitar playing was an important component of the group's sound from the start of their career. He used a number of different guitars, but eventually became identified with a Fender Telecaster fitted with a single neck-position humbucker pickup combined with a bridge position angled single-coil pickup and decorated with numerous stickers. Kath was also said to be Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitarist.[1]

Kath struggled with health issues and drug abuse towards the end of the 1970s. He died in January 1978 from an unintentional self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The bereavement tempted Chicago to consider disbanding, but they ultimately decided to resume as is signified by their memorial song "Alive Again". To commemorate his musicianship, they issued the 1997 album, The Innovative Guitar of Terry Kath.

This is a documentary done by Terry's Daughter about her Dad. Features a lot of Terries guitar playing, and let's you get a feel for a guitar legends
life that was very unique. It is 1:20:00 long... Spellbinding.

Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience

watch what he does with the solo in a live performance of "25 or 6 to 4"!!

 
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Paco Dennis said:

Terry Kath​

Terry Alan Kath (January 31, 1946 – January 23, 1978) was an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He played guitar and sang lead vocals on many of the band's early hit singles. He has been praised by the band for his guitar skills and Ray Charles-influenced vocal style.

Growing up in a musical family, Kath took up a variety of instruments in his teens, including the drums and banjo. He played bass in a number of bands in the mid-1960s, before settling on the guitar when forming the group that became Chicago. His guitar playing was an important component of the group's sound from the start of their career. He used a number of different guitars, but eventually became identified with a Fender Telecaster fitted with a single neck-position humbucker pickup combined with a bridge position angled single-coil pickup and decorated with numerous stickers. Kath was also said to be Jimi Hendrix's favorite guitarist.[1]

Kath struggled with health issues and drug abuse towards the end of the 1970s. He died in January 1978 from an unintentional self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The bereavement tempted Chicago to consider disbanding, but they ultimately decided to resume as is signified by their memorial song "Alive Again". To commemorate his musicianship, they issued the 1997 album, The Innovative Guitar of Terry Kath.

This is a documentary done by Terry's Daughter about her Dad. Features a lot of Terries guitar playing, and let's you get a feel for a guitar legends
life that was very unique. It is 1:20:00 long... Spellbinding.

Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience

watch what he does with the solo in a live performance of "25 or 6 to 4"!!
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Terry Kath was a monster on guitar! I'm going to watch that documentary this evening. Thanks for posting it!
 
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