I am very in the middle in this one, I just can't choose.

Make an effort:)

Hmmm....Clapton and Page's work alone gives this too them. I love Eric Clapton.

Wow, this is probably one of the hardest vs. questions I have ever seen. But I truly have to go with the ones I admire the most. As much as I love Hendrix, and think that he is the greatest guitarist that ever live, I have to go with Clapton, Beck, and Page. Jimmy Page was one of the reasons that I got into music that wasn't my generation. (Not just Jimmy Page but the band as a whole) Eric Clapton was one of the guitarists I admired most when I started playing guitar. And Beck is just insane.

Round 1: Hendrix vs Page, = (Tie)
Round 2: Vaughn vs Beck, = (Tie)
Round 3: Gibbons vs Clapton, = (Tie)

Okay any good reasons please why Clapton is 'boring'? Maybe a song by song description of what exactly bores you guys out there so much?

Oh by the by, Hendrix and Page just amazing, Jimi's albums released when he was alive are just pushing the boundaries in every sense man. The same can be said about Page (i might add that he still is alive). Hendrix beats Page for me strictly because of the sonic innovation thing. But man I think its damn close actually.

I never really thought of Beck as a great guitarist, but I dig his stuff nevertheless. By the by, where's Gilmour, Duane, man, Keith Richards? Oh and some other, notably Mike Bloomfield. Billy Gibbons is a good white bluesman, but he's not of the same class as say Hendrix or Page or Clapton. Oh and yeah SRV is great! Would rate SRV > Clapton if Clapton hadn't been there first with the Beano album.

Lots of personal preference here.

It's Page for me, because he could do a lot - with just the guitar, aside from production. They did quite a bit of different sounds when it was single track even if he was a pioneer in production and mixing multiple tracks. Stevie may have been the best blues guy ever. Beck, pretty amazing, he sounds the same all the time though imo, much like Blackmore. Page's genious was creating different sounds with guitars. Hendrix was great, but I'm not sure how you measure him with the other accomplished songwriters. I like Clapton, but I don't think I'd include him in that group.

If you include the songwriting I think Page is the best of my generation.

I should probably add - Stevie might be the best white blues guy ever.

Well, out of all six of them, Hendrix is my favorite. However, I've always found Gibbons veeeeery cold and derivative. SRV is slightly better, but still just not my cup of tea. So, as a group, Clapton, Beck, and Page, all three of whom are guitar players I both respect and enjoy greatly, have to take this one.

i'm not going to bother with a song by song comparison when it's pretty much everything i've ever heard post-Cream.

he's boring because he's just connecting the dots, he's not digging deep, he's not going out there. he's making faces and playing the (at this point) very boring and very tired style he used to set ablaze when Baker and Bruce were his cohorts.

making a face like you're taking a realllllly long dump and liking it != blues greatness.

then there's this offense.



the first time i heard it i honestly thought it was a misnamed clip or a medley until they started singing.

A perfect description about post-Cream Clapton:finger:

He`s as boring as f*ck!

If thats boring than we should all quit playing guitar.

How could you not recognize that in two notes, it's the same arrangement he's used for forty years, going back to "Layla and other assorted love songs"(in my opinion the greatest rock album ever made).



I just don't get saying Eric Clapton is boring, he's still making great albums.

I feel that he's boring primarily because he's... well... boring.

to be honest i've only ever heard the title track from that album. 40 years of playing Little Wing in a way that sounds so little like the original that they have to start singing for it to be recognized isn't exactly what i'd call a worthwhile cover of what's considered one of Hendrix most recognizable GUITAR pieces.

@RezZ - i like you and all but seriously dude. hearing Clapton singing 'I Shot the Sheriff' is offensive on the same level as middle class suburban white kids talking like they're from the ghetto because they listen to Eminem and Jay-Z.

the whole point of the song is a rebellion by the Jamaicans against cultural oppression from the British. that's the whole point of 'shooting the sheriff, but not killing the deputy'. the sheriff would have been a white colonist forcing a Jamaican to police his peers for the more 'civilized' European laws. Clapton WISHES he grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but his family would have most definitely been a sheriff. he's most definitely not a deputy.

it's not some feel good hippie jam so some upper class brit can completely miss the point of the tune so he can wank out some more blues licks. it's a tune Rage Against the Machine should have covered on Renegades.

I actually posted that because of that guitar solo. Its probably one of my all time favorites. I just couldn't find a video of only that. Its fantastic, and his phrasing/dynamics are beautifully done.

I see your point, but I see the song at face value. Clapton is clearly a big Marley fan and just because he is not a particular type of person doesn't mean he cant make his own version of a song. Now correct if im misinterpreting but what I got from your post was that if your not in any way similar to the content of the song/artist then you have no right covering it.

You should do yourself a favor and give the Layla album a listen, it's the best rock album ever in my opinion.

As far as "Little Wing" goes I think when an artist covers a song they should put their own stamp on it much like how Jimi Hendrix changed the sound of "All Along The Watchtower".

I don't find it offensive that he covered the song, I don't really think it should matter who it is performing a song if it's well done. But I don't like it simply because it's boring as hell. Nine minutes of guitar masturbation does not automatically equal great artistic expression, that's for sure.

I agree with Jedey partially, Layla is a good album.

A 4 minute solo is just masturbation...? That means 50% of most blues players are just masturbating day in and day out.

The preferable nomenclature would be "wanking" :) IMO, EC's innovative period was the 60's and early 70's. That time frame saw him determined to alter his sound from album to album. He developed a purist sound into a really stinging and full tone with the Bluesbreakers, and then evolved into a harsher aggressive tone with Cream, then scaled back to a much more mellow psychedelic style with Blind Faith, then revived his Bluesbreakers style with the Dominoes for his last hurray. He's always been great technically since, just not as interesting to me as he was in the early days.

I'm not categorically saying all solos are masturbatory, I'm specifically talking about Eric Clapton.

^Many decades ago, Clapton was considered THE BLUES SOLOIST, so when you knock him, many people are going to believe your criticizing all soloists. Personally, I like "I Shot the Sheriff" and dig the groovy soulful style, and on hindsight, see it as another variation for EC's style. I think, back in 74' he would have been instrumental in helping Bob Marley breakout big in the US, which was a good thing.

Well that would certainly be a lot to infer from my comments that's for sure.

Fair enough. You must hate B.B. King.

I'm kind of ambivalent about him.

Having seen them all live 'cept Hendrix.

Natural talent should shake down like this.

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Jeff Beck
Eric Clapton
Billy Gibbons.


ymmv



cheers

That's how I feel about David Gilmour.

Key points on why I hate Clapton. He has to be the whitest man to ever desecrate the sanctity of blues music.

I suppose I'd pick Beck for UK, mainly because I've seen him play live and he's still playing very profoundly. And Hendrix for US, because I frankly couldn't care less whom I pick out of those 3...

Id choose Paul Kossoff! haha though I change my mind all the time, absoloutley love early Clapton particularily his work with Cream while I prefer Becks later stuff, however I would probaly consider Jimmy page the best songwriter out of all of them ;)

Jimi Hendrix ftw

The thread should really just be who is second to JH. I mean for christs sake I dont know one person who thinks anyone else has done more for the instrument than him. THey may not like him or his music the best, but as far as electric guitar goes hes pretty much the papi.

Well, I suppose, since I didn't see my name on this list :laughing:, I would have to give my nod to Hendrix of course, though SRV is scorching. As for the British folks across the way...eh...you know? While I think that they are good or rather sometimes great musicians, Beck would be the better individual musician.

Other than that my only gripe is what happened to atleast an honorable mention for Duane Allman? I mean really, At the Fillmore East alone can give a few of these musicians a run for the money, not to mention session work *cough* layla *cough*.

I would put them in this order:

1. Hendrix

2. Vaughn

3. Page

4. Clapton

5. Beck

6. Gibbons

All pretty close, though...

UK-Page
America-Vaughan

Jimmy Page. I'm all about the great riffs for the the songs. They add a driving force never seen before, and seldom if at all since.
That said Hendrix is a close second, Followed by Clapton, then Randy.

Seriously? Pretty amusing comparison. While I have quite the unbiased opinion answering this I have to say.....Hendrix. Then Srv to boot? Man hard team to beat.. just that combo in itself takes out the other three mentioned in my opinion. One the innovator and the other perfecting it. All good artists though. Have respect for all of their talents. Interesting thread

I like ZZ Top the best out of those mentioned, but Stevie Ray Vaughan is a better guitarist than the others.

I would put them in this order

1 Hendrix

2 Page

distant 3 Gibbons

4 Beck

more distant 5 Clapton

1,000,000,000 Vaughn

I myself have always thought Clapton was way overated. Just never got into him all that much.

He's insanemly overrated but at least he did some stuff that demonstrates some song writing skills and originality. SRV is just a worthless guitar wanker.