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RE: A brief history of guitar virtuosity... Part 4 (2000s) - (if you like it, I will continue)
I know these are guitar players of the 2000's but I'll take Hendrix, Wes Montromery and George Benson over these guys any day.
I haven't heard Wes Montromery before? I've heard of George Benson. Hendrix was a force of nature. He had something unique about him that came from more than simply many hours of practice. I think the musical world would be a far more interesting place had he not died.
As I stated in the blog post from the 1990s. Each successive generation tends to stand on the shoulders of the giants that came before them. This does not mean better, it just means they had more opportunity and more lessons to learn from those that came before. If you were to put them side by side with the exception of someone like Hendrix who clearly had SOMETHING freakish about him that was beyond just skill the modern players would walk circles around the players back then. THAT is assuming we had time machines. If those modern players had been given the same opportunities, been able to stand on the shoulders of people like themselves it'd be a very different story.
I truly do not believe in a BEST guitarist. Everyone I listed (and many I did not) are truly amazing. In addition, you can get guitarists that are amazing at a particular style, and not so amazing at others. It is extremely rare to find a guitarist who spans many genres. Joe Satriani spanned a lot of genres, and the students he actually taught went on to become some of the best in the world. I only recently noticed this Guthrie Govan guy and he seems to be spanning quite a few styles too, and be very skilled. He is coming two decades after Satriani. I am pretty impressed with Govan.
I don't remember much of George Benson's playing, though I do know the name. You'd need to share a highlight or something. I don't know that I've ever heard of Wes Montromery.
With all of that said. Musical tastes are highly subjective. So if it is Benson, Montromery, and Hendrix that do it for you then that is great. :) I'm a pretty huge fan of Hendrix myself.