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Friday Five: Best Guitarists of the late 1960s

I just finished reading a biography of Jeff Beck and these five guitar players were prominent during the late 1960s. They are not ranked, though the way I listed them could be a reasonable a fair order. Who is best will be forever debated. I believe the difference between these five is very small even…

Mike Miller
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I just finished reading a biography of Jeff Beck and these five guitar players were prominent during the late 1960s. They are not ranked, though the way I listed them could be a reasonable a fair order. Who is best will be forever debated. I believe the difference between these five is very small even though their styles are quite different. All five are blues guitarists with a hearty dose of psychedelic and what would become hard rock or blues rock.

Jimi Hendrix – Backed the Isley Brothers and Little Richard, a member of Curtis Knight and the Squires. Founder of Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsies. Master showman and popularized the use of feedback effects.

Eric Clapton – A member of The Yardbirds, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes. Popularized electric British blues.

Jeff Beck – A member of The Yardbirds, Beck, Bogert & Appice, and the Jeff Beck Group. Credited with being an early pioneer of feedback, distortion, and “fuzz” tone effects, and psychedelic rock.

Jimmy Page – Revered session player, a member of The Yardbirds and founder of Led Zeppelin. Credited as one of the pioneers of heavy metal.

Peter Green – Member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, co-founder of Fleetwood Mac. His style of blues was slow and stripped down to basics, economy playing that emphasized tighter phrasing and sustaining notes.

And the others:

Keith Richards

Pete Townshend

Robin Trower

Mick Taylor

David Gilmour

Peter Frampton

Mike Bloomfield

Carlos Santana

Jorma Kaukonen

Rory Gallagher

Alvin Lee

John Mclaughlin

Roy Buchanan

Steve Cropper

B.B. King

Duane Allman

4 responses to “Friday Five: Best Guitarists of the late 1960s”

  1. greenpete58 Avatar
    greenpete58

    Great catnip, Mike. First, a minor criticism: you might specify “rock” in the title. I can think of many jazz and folk-rock guitarists deserving of “best.” Also, Steve Marriott, one of rock’s greatest singers and a talented songwriter, was a mediocre guitarist who only learned to play after the band formed. He even admitted so, which is why he tried to convince the others of bringing in Frampton. (I’m a Small Faces superfan.) Gilmour? Talented, but didn’t really click till the ’70s.

    The others I would easily include in a “best” list. I’d add Jerry Garcia. And like you indicate, the first four are a lock!

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    1. Mike Miller Avatar
      Mike Miller

      I would still include Gilmour, his great days were ahead, but what he did after Syd really challenged the other band members, the longer pieces like “Echoes” and “Interstellar Overdrive”, “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” and “Astronomy Dominé” were much deeper with Gilmour’s guitar skills.
      Instead of Marriott, Frampton is a better choice.

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      1. greenpete58 Avatar
        greenpete58

        We-ell…both “Interstellar Overdrive” and “Astronomy Dominé” were on the Piper album – with Syd on guitar – before Gilmour joined the band (unless you’re thinking of the live version of “Astronomy,” late ’69, from Ummagumma). And “Echoes” wasn’t recorded till ’71. But I do agree he enhanced Floyd’s sound immensely.

        I would say Gilmour was a technically better guitarist and more knowledgeable than Barrett. He taught Barrett licks even before Floyd formed. But I think Barrett was bolder, more experimental, more an “artiste.” He pioneered a way of channeling bottleneck slide, using a Zippo lighter, through an echo device to create a unique, eerie sound. You can hear it really well on a couple of Wright’s early songs. Daevid Allen (Gong) borrowed the idea and called it “glissando.”

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      2. Mike Miller Avatar
        Mike Miller

        I know that several of the songs I mentioned were Syd era songs, I should have mentioned that the live versions with Gilmour have more textures and meat in the bones than the studio versions. “Echoes” existed before if was recorded on the album, working versions are available, I think under a different name. Gilmour’s tonalities are very different from Syd and for me, Gilmour and Wright really connected musically, especially in the time immediately after Syd. Gilmour stopped playing “Echoes” in concert after Wright’s passing out of respect for Wright.

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