Distinctive guitar players whose playing/tone you easily recognise?

oh_pollo

Richard Thompson
 Robert Fripp
 Geordie Walker
 Duane Denison

welshboyo

Lukather for me - can just tell by the phrasing and note choices

MagicPigDetective

Tom Morello obviously

Logie

May, Gilmour, Wylde, Bettencourt, Slash, Sykes, Blackmore just off the top of my head. A couple of notes from any of them will do for instant recognition.

Lewy

Jimmie Vaughan
Alberts King and Collins
Ry Cooder
Greg Koch

There are obviously the SRVs and Hendrixes etc but they have legions of imitators some of which can get indistinguishably close, so I'm not counting them.

Philly_Q

Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Uli Jon Roth - obviously there's a bit of overlap but pretty easy to tell which is which.

Robin Trower, Leslie West, Michael Schenker, David Gilmour, Angus Young, Brian May, Carlos Santana.

I don't know how likely it is that I'd hear any of these people playing something unfamiliar to give me the challenge of recognising their playing, though.

SimonC

Michael Schenker, instantly recognisable both by his tone and his phrasing.

ZenOvertone

For me it has to be...

John Scofield (a true one off?)
Eric Johnson
Robben Ford
Steve Lukather
Yngwie
Brian May
Albert King
BB King

There's many more but Sco is top of the list

Redlester

@ZenOvertone Schofield yes. I came upon a track halfway through being played on Jazz FM and correctly guessed it was him. He seems to think like a sax player if that makes sense. 

ZenOvertone

Redlester said:

@ZenOvertone Schofield yes. I came upon a track halfway through being played on Jazz FM and correctly guessed it was him. He seems to think like a sax player if that makes sense. 

Exactly, he always sounds like it's about to go wrong with some of those scratchy notes & massive interval leaps but really he's on another level altogether and knows exactly what he's doing!  

Redlester

@ZenOvertone Almost like Monk then. 

Pat Metheny is another player I can identify quickly, although that may be because of the ‘do I like this/ do I not?’ ‘Jazz player’s chorus’ tone he has. 

merlin

In my idea of music, sounding true to yourself and an individual is the whole point.  

Funkfingers

Pre-spiking Peter Green
Lindsey Buckingham

Warren Haynes
Duane Allman
Lowell George
Ry Cooder
Andy Summers
Neil Young
Johnny “Guitar” Watson
Francis Vincent Zappa

Moominpapa

Zappa

Holdsworth

Schofield

Kossoff

would be the players I think I would be most likely to identify if the piece of music were unknown to me.

Flanging_Fred

Surely what this thread illustrates is that ALL famous, recognised and respected guitarists, in whatever field or genre, have their own unique “voice” on the instrument. It’s what makes them stand out in the crowds of millions of players worldwide.

What famous players DON’T have a recognisable “voice” on the instrument?

Cols

Pagey for sure, especially live.  His seconds-from-disaster soloing style is unmistakable.

Other players who are instantly recognisable  would be Brian May, David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons, EVH, Nuno Bettencourt and Tom Morello.

NelsonP

welshboyo said:

Lukather for me - can just tell by the phrasing and note choices

This.

I heard "Physical" by Olivia Newton John on the radio yesterday. I've never really listened to the whole song before but I could tell immediately that Steve Lukather played the solo on it.

It's not just the phrasing but also that unique Bob Bradshaw '80s rack tone....

Cols

Flanging_Fred said:

Surely what this thread illustrates is that ALL famous, recognised and respected guitarists, in whatever field or genre, have their own unique “voice” on the instrument. It’s what makes them stand out in the crowds of millions of players worldwide.

What famous players DON’T have a recognisable “voice” on the instrument?

Prince.  Absolutely phenomenal guitarist, jaw-droppingly good, but I don’t think you could play me one of his guitar parts blindfold and I’d go “Aha!  That’s Prince!”

strat84

Danny Kirwan's vibrato

Redlester

strat84 said:

Danny Kirwan's vibrato

Jigsaw Puzzle Blues!!!