Guitarists that have left you speechless

bacchanalian

Neil Young, the true heir to Hendrix
Robert Cray and Dave Grissom at Hammersmith in 1991
Kurt Cobain was an event
Dave Rawlings

Greatape

Live:

Ty Tabor on King's X tour of 1991. Well, the whole band, really.

Vernon Reid on Living Colour's 'Time'sUp' tour

John McLaughlin with Remember Shakti 

Larry Carlton with Robben Ford on the album tour they did a few years ago.

Kelly Joe Phelps on the Shine Eyed Mr Zen tour.

I must have seen Matt Schofield in an off night .  He just wasn't listening to the band. 

Greatape

octatonic said:

David Torn
Charlie Hunter
Derek Trucks
Holdsworth
Emily Remler
Tuck Andress
Jim Hall
Jim Campilongo
Bonnie Raitt
Django
John McLaughlin
Oz Noy
Mike Stern
Julian Lage

Derek Trucks is the only one who had me seriously questioning whether I bother continuing to play.
He is the most soulful player alive.

Truth.

Blaendulais

I love these threads tho they actually name every guitarist ever

JerkMoans

Blaendulais said:

I love these threads tho they actually name every guitarist ever

Have we had Lil Wayne, yet?

https://youtu.be/8g762REJWcg

Greatape

Also, this band:

earwighoney

tralfamadan said:

Died before I was born but..

Robbie Basho

Clarence White

Roy Buchanan

Wrt guitarists still alive anytime I watch John 5 play my jaw hits the floor.

Good to see another Robbie Basho fan. 

He's pretty much why I bought a 12 string guitar. 

Wonky

Niko Tsonev is my pick.  Everyone talks about tone being in the fingers and he's got a tone that just connects to me.  Touches my heart every time I hear him play.  Truly does.  Some players have technical abilities and some have tone and feeling, but he has both.  One of those players I could recognise anywhere from the sound alone.

clarkefan

springhead said:

richardhomer said:

I saw Jeff Healey at a small club in Manchester sometime around 1990. The word ‘humbling’ springs to mind....

Yes, he was amazing.  I saw him in London around that time, same tour possibly.

Ditto in Dublin.

Moron in audience - "shut up and play yer guitar, boy!"

Healey - "Ahh, glad to see my Dad could make it tonight! "

Miki73

For me it was Eddie Van Halen, Joe Perry, Vernon Reid, Tracii Guns and Paul Gilbert. As a bassist, Billy Sheehan is amazing live!

Teetonetal

Richard Thompson and Ben Howard.

Edit: and Newton Faulkner

TTBZ

Tosin Abasi
Luke & Tim from Protest the Hero

They're incredible players. The solo in PTHs Harbinger is perfection. The first time I heard it I must have rewound it 10 times to listen again. 

Kittyfrisk

Bob Kingston from Tenpole Tudor. Tried to chat up my girlfriend while she was waiting for me as I working at the gig venue in the 80's. Nerve of the cheeky little bastard. He lost 

richardhomer

Another one was Eric Clapton at the Manchester Apollo in 1987. I’ve been a fan since being a kid - but having seen him in ‘78 and ‘83, I wasn’t expecting great things. His band (Nathan East on bass, Steve Ferrone on drums, Greg Philingaines on keys and Mark Knopfler on rhythm guitar) were stellar - and seemed to push him to a whole new level. He played a signature Strat through two Marshall stacks and played like a man possessed. 

One of the most memorable gigs I’ve been to.

steveledzep

Going back to the early seventies now when I was in my teens.  Went to the local venue to see Daryl Way's Wolf (he formerly of Curved Air).  His guitarist was one Chris Spedding.  I'd never witnessed such speed on the fretboard before...gasp!  Was shocked when he did "Motorbikin' " as a single.  Not up to the standard of some guitarists mentioned here, but I remember being gobsmacked watching him.

axisus

I was lucky enough to meet and chat to Eric Roche at a guitar show many years ago. It blew my mind when he then played his amazing interpretation of Smells like teen spirit, and apparently everyone else as well, I've never seen such a crowd amass in such a short time.

Another - I was passing a crowded room at a guitar show also many years ago. This amazing acoustic music was playing, it was mind blowingly incredible, especially at the end sequence when he seemed to be playing bass notes, rhythm and lead melody all at the same time. The guitarist was Doyle Dykes, the song Howling of the wood. Worth a listen!

gordiji

George Benson about 1989 or so in Brighton. He blazed onstage and ripped it up but the clarity and quality of the sound was something i hadn't heard before after all the rock gigs i'd seen in the previous decade. I didn't realise he was so good.

Sassafras

Bill Harkleroad when he played with Beefheart. Saw him a couple of times and he was nothing less than brilliant.

GuyR

John Etheridge
John Scofield
Frank Zappa
Derek Trucks - this evening 

Ted

The Edge of U2 and Dave Davies of the Kinks