Guitarists that have left you speechless

mark_jwedge

Over the years I have been to countless gigs, often with my dad as he remains as obsessed with guitar at approaching 70 years old as he did when he first picked it up. Consequently we have seen probably hundreds of really great guitar players but there are a few that have rendered us both slack jawed and turning to look at each other in disbelief followed by weeks of talking about the gig, listening to them and trying to steal as much from their playing as possible. Thinking about it the list would be:

Steve Vai on the very first G3 tour
Tommy Emmanuel 
Richie Kotzen
Matt Schofield
Mark Tremonti on the first Alter Bridge tour
John Petruci
Joe Bonamassa before the days of the massive corporate machine
JD Simo

looking forward to Joey Landreth and Chris Buck next month.

So who are the guitarists that completely blew you away when you first saw them live?

ICBM

Neil Young

rivercider

Vernon Reid

rivercider

Oh and Stevie Ray, but sadly never got to see him play live. Sorry if that misses the point of the OP, but I nearly saw him when he came over.....and his live stuff always floors me.

imalrightjack

Robbie Fulks.

CHRISB50

Antoine Dufour

webrthomson

John 5

gibsongretschfan

Stuart Braithwaite

thegummy

Quite a few PRS players have left me unable to speak through use of novocane

soma1975

Nuno
Vernon Reid
BB King

guitarmangler

Holdsworth. And not just the 1st time.

munckee

John Squire and Johnny Greenwood stand out as great players that I've seen live.  I've seen pink floyd (not with Dave Gilmour) and REM at massive concerts but their playing loses a bit of magic on that sized scale for me.  The whole of Gomez impressed me they each played virtually every instrument at some point.

Onpar

JD Simo
John Mayer
Ariel Posan
BB King
Buddy Guy

All left me speachless for different reasons.

mrleon83

Nuno Bettencourt... Alterbridge... devin townsend acoustic show in london was incredible ...( this show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uEz8dCHSQU )

sweepy

Holdsworth, Beck, Metheny and David Torn spring to mind 

ewal

Rarely separate out the individual guitarist from the band. But Alan Sparhawk and Jonsi are perhaps noteable exceptions

Stinkfoot

Was lucky enough to see SRV when I was still a teenager and that made a huge impression. 
I also saw a jam band at a Nashville nightclub in the 90s made up of various top notch session musos. Brent Mason was the bandleader and he was just jaw droppingly good. 

Philly_Q

Going back a long way, Vernon Reid, Ty Tabor.  Frank Hannon of Tesla.  Maybe Vivian Campbell on the first Dio tour.

I remember seeing Extreme supported by Saigon Kick and although Jason Bieler's not a better player than Nuno he certainly sounded better.

And a non guitar player - John Paul Jones on bass (and lap steel).  With Nick Beggs in his band.  That was utterly amazing.

dindude

Beck and Robben Ford probably

theflyisback

Can't remember the exact line up at the time but in 2005 i saw Captain Beefheart's Magic Band (minus DVV) live.  Easily the best live band i've ever encountered.  Played for hours even though they were all pushing 70 and had more energy and vivality than any other band ive seen a a third of their age.

Also saw Peter Green live late 90's.  Wasn't vintage stuff and don't think he was physically and mentally near the top of his game but he still made his instrument sing in a special way.


Aside from that i haven't memorably been blown away by anyone in particular but theres a regular touring tribute band in the UK called The Classic Rock Show and they play the songs better than the originals.  One guy in particular called Howie G.  Probably the best axeman i've witnessed in the flesh. 

Creed_Clicks

hmm, technically, I suppose the shredders. Though I'm not really into it, I admire the skill. Being able to use that skill to write a memorable song, even better.
John Butler doing Ocean always floors me. The guys in Mastodon.
I do admire guitarists who use the instrument to come up with sonic textures. Can't think of any that would really leave me speechless, but I suppose what Mogwai, or Radiohead would do with their guitars and more so, their pedals. Also TV on the Radio seem to be able to make a wall of noise with their guitars.
I always admire a guy called Jeff Lang. There's a good video of him talking about his setup, a clever way to get new sounds out of an acoustic and some pedals. He's also a great player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaSYKzQVY64