All-Time, Top Five Favorite Guitar Players
As a disclaimer, before anyone gets their panties in a knot, the list says “favorite” not “best”. Also, it could be called “biggest influences on guitar” rather than “favorite”. I’ve never tried to play like Eddie Van Halen, Dimebag or Slash, even though I love all three of them. These are the guys, for better or worse, who have influenced my playing in one way or another.
1. Steve Jones
Steve did some great work with The Professionals and the Neurotic Outsiders, but let’s be honest, he’s on this list because Nevermind the Bollocks is all-time, perfect ten, absolute banger of a record. It’s hard to say what one album I’ve listened to most in my life, but it’s not a bad bet to choose that one, if for no other reason than it’s stayed with me no matter the phase I was in. There are a handful of records that just attached themselves to me and won’t let go and this was one of them. The attitude in his tone, his rock-solid timing, the ferociousness without needing to play fast or drop the tuning. To me, rock guitar playing doesn’t get much better than this.
2. Malcolm Young
Angus gets all the credit in AC/DC, for good reason, but he’s the car salesman. Malcolm was the blue-collar guy who built the car. Another rock-solid rhythm player. You could program your metronome to him. Let’s face it, AC/DC made a career out of one sound, but it works because they’re well-written songs and they groove. Without Malcolm, there is no groove to AC/DC and they’re still playing in bars in Australia. You can pick him up more if you’re wearing headphones and Angus and Malcolm are split more in the mix. You can pick up in their different, but complimentary tones and you can hear the foundation laid underneath Angus’ solos. Malcolm is just a dude who went to work every day with his lunch pail and guitar determined to make the best rock and roll he could without worrying about the glory.
3. Mike Campbell
Mike Campbell had my dream job: guitar player for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Of course, part of the reason it was my dream job was because of what Mike did for those songs. Mike doesn’t play notes that don’t need to be played. He’s the ultimate lead guitar player in service to the song. I don’t think Mike gets enough credit as a player, but you don’t get asked to replace Lindsay Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac because you’re mid. My favorite Tom Petty songs at this point aren’t the big hits (not that I don’t love them too), but some of those incredible album tracks. I used to drive around L.A. listening to Tom Petty Radio on Sirius and rocking out to all those under-rated gems. Too many favorite Mike moments to mention, but go listen to “I Should Have Known It” off of Mojo, insanely sick groove.
4. Mick Ronson
I think all these guys are under-appreciated, but Ronno might be the most under-rated man in music history as a guitar player and producer (and seemingly, all-around sweet man). I definitely recommend the documentary on him they did about twenty years back or so after he died. It’s a sad story, but a good one to watch. He worked on Lou Reed’s Transformer, Mellencamp’s Uh Huh, and with Vince Gill in Pure Prairie League, but obviously he’s most known for his years with David Bowie. Starting with The Man Who Sold the World and staying with him through Alladin Sane. While there’s plenty of Bowie to appreciate, those four albums are Bowie’s pinnacle. Another case of a man working outside the spotlight, doing the hard work in the shadows to make the thing, bigger than the thing it would’ve been otherwise. When I head Ziggy Stardust, I hear Ronno before I hear David.
5. Johnny Marr
As the theme continues… the Smiths are equally Morrissey, Marr, O’Rourke and Joyce. But that having been said, who else sounds like Johnny Marr? He inspired imitators, but no one sounds like him. His use of chord inversions, his timing, his studio expertise… everything to serve the song and push sonic boundaries. I mean, the dude wrote “Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” and “How Soon is Now?” in the same weekend. On “How Soon is Now?” he wanted to draw on influences from Elvis Presley and Bo Diddley, but that song doesn’t sound like either of them. He was, to borrow from Sir Isaac Newton, standing on the shoulders of giants and he raised the bar for all guitar players and songwriters to come after.
Honorable Mentions: John Davis, Noel Gallagher & Tim Pierce