Your Favorite Bowie Guitarist

Gassage

This is a subject very dear to my heart. THe former @randomhandclaps fella and I have debated this at length many times.

Firstly, just list the ones he's worked with on his stuff alone:

Beck
Ronson
Alomar
Slick
Stacey Hayden
Belew
Fripp
Gardiner (hugely forgotten but played  a lot of the licks on low incl Be My Wife)
SRV
Nile Rodgers
Kevin Armstrong
Frampton
Charlie Sexton
Gabrels
Ben Monder

How you can choose from those is beyond me.

Belew for live, SRV for tone, Alomar for writing and Ronson for being the most 'Bowiest', joint tie for Slick and Belew for being the coolest.

Gassage

Oh and lastly, re the other musicians like Gail-Ann- I don't believe there's been many power trios quite in the league of the D.A.M trio ever and Dennis Davies would probably be in my top 3 drummers of all time. Absolute genius and so much these three did gave us moderb Bowie.

ourmaninthenorth

Like to say Fripp, but it's Ronson by a country mile. 

Gassage

Fretwired said:

And Adrian Belew live ...

@fretwired and 12 years later, and Adrian had perfected that intro....

axisus

Good question!

As a massive SRV fan in the past, I feel I should vote for him, especially as Let's Dance is my Fave Bowie album overall. Having said that, I'm actually going to go Ronson, as that was in my opinion the most special time in the Bowie catalogue, and I think he fitted in best with the music that was created.

simon

I love SRV, but if we're only looking at Bowie's output. it's got to be Mick. That twisted fuzz sound throughout The Man Who Sold The World album is amazing.

frank1985

Fripp for invention....Slick and Alomer for funk & groove....SRV for feeling.....

guitars4you

I'd say Mick Ronson as the original

I saw him live with Peter Frampton

But I have to thank DB for introducing me to SRV

duotone

For me it's Ronson, love his melodic playing.

stratman3142

The Ziggy Stardust phase was the magic period for me, so it will have to be Mick Ronson. There was also some superb bass playing by Trevor Bolder.

Kebabkid

Mick Ronson.

Fripp and Carlos Alomar did some interesting stuff though - EDIT: Belew although I prefer him with King Crimson

I actually have a nice story on this topic.

An amp repairer I use, who's also a fine guitarist, went out to New York to work on some sessions and try his luck and found himself jamming regularly with a group of musicians who ended up being recruited as Bowie's backing band. Sadly, as good as he was, they didn't or I should say, couldn't take him on as "Bowie had already selected his other guitarist". It was none other than SRV!

I suppose you can live with that decision when that was your competition

thumpingrug

Has to be Mick, but I saw Bowie live with Belew and his playing was awesome.

dindude

Belew live for me

guitars4you

ICBM said:

Mick Ronson.

I did also like SRV on Let's Dance - in fact it's my favourite work of his. Also don't forget Nile Rodgers played a bit on Let's Dance...

the story goes that Let's Dance was originally a lot slower as per Bowie's idea and Nile, as the producer was the one who upped the tempo

telecasterking

Ronno.

stratman3142

Fretwired said:

And Adrian Belew live ...

I hadn't realised Adrian Belew was such a good rhythm player. He established a great groove at the start but (going into picky mode) does anyone else find the groove unsettling when the band come in? There seems to be a sudden lurch forwards in tempo at around 37s. The bass player (in particular) seems to be pushing the beat too much for my taste.

Fretwired

stratman3142 said:

I hadn't realised Adrian Belew was such a good rhythm player. He established a great groove at the start but (going into picky mode) does anyone else find the groove unsettling when the band come in? There seems to be a sudden lurch forwards in tempo at around 37s. The bass player (in particular) seems to be pushing the beat too much for my taste.

You had to be good to get into Zappa's band and past the ultimate Mr Picky aka Robert Fripp.

Jalapeno

Ronson - he was also the arranger and joint writer.

There is the Stienberger-Spirit range that's priced to compete with the Hohner copies.

Moominpapa

Great thread question - agonizing, almost impossible to pick a favourite.

Best single recorded tone: Ronson on "Jean Genie". One of the nastiest, greasiest, sleaziest guitar parts ever.

Best performance over one album:  SRV on Let's Dance

Best all-round guitar sideman: Belew - simply has to be.  Putting Bowie and Belew on the same stage together for more than a few hours risked plunging the world into a new ice age: it couldn't handle that much concentrated cool.

impmann

Impossible question - although I have to say that Fripp's playing with Bowie is so other-worldly that almost edges it over Ronno. Although Carlos Alomar's playing is/was amazing. And for sheer aggression, control and power you'd have to go a long way to beat Gabrels (Hello Spaceboy still raises the hairs on the back of my neck).