Guitarists that have left you speechless

HPhillipsmusic

Blake Mills
Derek Trucks
Ry Cooder
Adam Levy


Actually one that took me by suprise was Andy Fairweather Low, he played in my local towns theatre and absolutely tore it up, with god like tone, he was playing a humbucker strat into a Cornell 'Duke' plexi type thing, absolutely blew me away!

normula1

Robbie McIntosh, Jan Ackerman

Dan_Halen

From who I've seen live (avoiding previous mentions) - Steve Lukather, Eric Gales, Gary Moore

Special shout out to Robert Cray. His guitar playing was great but his voice live was simply something else. Simply ene of the best voices I've ever heard.

I've also been disappointed at a couple gigs where what's on the record is great but live they don't really nail their own lines/solos.

Philly_Q

theflyisback said:

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. 

I was watching some of their clips on YouTube the other day.  Entirely by accident, I'd never heard of them but they're very good, very slick and professional.  They seem to have two or three different singers, one of them was excellent. 

I was a bit dismayed that whenever they showed the audience they were even older than me.  Looked like Neil Warnock and his missus there for the Bingo.

designerseye88

Of recent it has to be:

Marcus king
Kingfish Ingram
Eric Gales 


Im a bit too young to have caught any of the above in their prime

blobb

Bert Jansch

Andy Latimer

Steffi Sharpstrings

Ed Wynne

Stinkfoot

Oh, and Derek Trucks at the Palladium tonight stands a good chance of making it on to my list I would hope!

CountryDave

Jeff Beck

Steve Lukather

Albert Lee

Kenny Vaughan

Tommy Emmanuel

Craig Ogden

horsehead

Robbie McIntosh, Joey Landreth both of these guys are unassuming and have such natural talent that it just flows from them. Matt Schofield is just out of this world and on another plane. Also Nalle Colt from Vintage Trouble, not the flashiest player, but his fills and soulful playing is sublime

Jimbro66

I’m not sure I would say jawdropping but there’s a player I always enjoy immensely not just because of his mastery of the guitar but also because his playing has humour and character - that is Jim Mullen.

theflyisback

Philly_Q said:

theflyisback said:

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. 

I was watching some of their clips on YouTube the other day.  Entirely by accident, I'd never heard of them but they're very good, very slick and professional.  They seem to have two or three different singers, one of them was excellent. 

I was a bit dismayed that whenever they showed the audience they were even older than me.  Looked like Neil Warnock and his missus there for the Bingo.

I've seen them a few times.  They're amazing.  They play totally in sync with videos of the originals on the screen behind them - which is pretty difficult to do.  Hotel California especially.  And telegraph road by dire straits.  

They also do the Brit Floyd show which is better than the Aussie version.  

Agree though, i'm nearly 40 and i've always beat the rest of the audience by at least 20 years!

Lewy

Laur "Little Joe" Joamets - was lucky enough to see Sturgill Simpson twice whilst Laur was in his band and there were just so many of those moments where you turn to your mate and you're both laughing because of how good it is.

lincolnblue

For different reasons: Martyn Joseph and Joey Landreth

bigjon

Both times I saw Phil Keaggy live, I had that reaction

builttospill

From memory here we go:

Doug Marstch/Built To Spill the solo during 'Carry The Zero' and intro to 'Velvet Waltz' absolutely stunning! Electric Ballroom, Camden 2013.
James Dean Bradfield, solo for 'Archives of Pain' in fact everything off that album sounded f**king amazing live! he was truly on form that night, Holy Bible Tour, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Oct 1994. 

5redlights

Jack Garratt (yes, I know) at Ronnie Scott's upstairs, just on an acoustic. Was superb.

maw4neu

When I was a kid . . .  Eddie Van Halen playing Eruption when Van Halen supported Black Sabbath in Manchester, a million years ago, I was literally 10 foot away from him  . . . I was the kid with glasses and bleeding ears . . . Gary Moore ( RIP ). . I was just so stunned when I saw him play, when the Concert finished I felt like I'd witnessed a God :-)  I was sad for days . . . 

Tommy Emmanuel, because he's an awesome bloke as well as a prolific talent. . . The weather was so bad that night in Halifax  . . a genuine snow blizzard . . .  and Tommy literally thanked the late comers personally and clapped them in . . He also stayed on after the show to meet and greet and thank the audience for turning out for him. Top Man Tommy

Albert Lee, because he's Albert Lee, enough said, Mr Eric Clapton because Ive seen him twice and both times he was totally on it ! !  Stevie Ray Vaughan, even though I nearly threw my guitar in the bin after watching Live at the El Mocambo . .  Steve Howe even though he seems a bit bonkers these days. Doyle Bramhall 2, Derek Trucks, John 5, Gary Clark Jr. Chris Shiflett, so much talent :-)

 

springhead

SRV when I was lucky enough to see him at Hammy Odeon

Jeff Beck in a little gig with Imelda May playing 50's/60's rock and roll.

Rory Gallagher.

BB, every time I saw him.

More recently Simo, Kirk Fletcher, Josh Smith.

welshboyo

Phil Campbell and Wurzel left me deaf - does that count?

chromatuna

In 1997 I went to see Phish at Shepherds Bush courtesy of a spare ticket. I had never heard them and was blown away by Trey’s playing, particularly his long exploratory and frequently explosive solos. My love affair with the band was fairly short as overall I don’t find their songs that great but for a couple of years I was a bit obsessed with them.