Historic Guitar Virtuosos

One thing that has always interested me has been the history of the guitar and the legendary guitar players.

When I started playing I tried to find the original innovators of each style to learn from because I felt guitar knowledge was cumulative.

So I assembled a list of guitar players that I felt would lead me towards the modern era that I could build on and eventually add to.

Here is the list:

Early Jazz Guitar: Charlie Christian - I dig Charlie because not only did he bring the electric guitar to center stage,he is mythical in that he set the world on its ear at the young age of 21 and then died at age 23. His playing still holds up today. If you subscribe to my newsletter you will find his biography posted.

Jazz Guitar from another planet: Tango - I was fortunate enough to have an in depth discussion with Jerry Garcia about Tango and he said it best:

`You just can`t cover the cat`.

Despite having only 2 working fingers on his fretting hand he was able to to play riffs and runs most people with 4 fingers (and thumb) still can't play.

Country finger picking: Chet Atkins - His beautiful melodic style held up for over a half a century.

Bluegrass: Lester Flatt - Flatt and Scruggs - one of the reasons bluegrass music is successful today There are few guitarist/lead singers who are better known in bluegrass music than Lester Raymond Flatt—probably none.

Blues: B.B. King - His reign as King of the Blues has been as long as that of any monarch on earth.

General all around: Les Paul - An innovator both as a musician and as a technician.

Modern influences:

Carlos Santana - His blend of rock and Latin music sets him apart from other guitar players of the modern era.

Jerry Garcia - His playing covered every style and created whole genre.

Clapton, Page and Beck - Major influences of Rock. They brought the blues into the mainstream. The early blues man owe as much to them as they owe the early blues man.

These are the guitarist that influenced me.