AudiogoN Forums: Best Acoustic Guitar Players Of All Time?

Best Acoustic Guitar Players Of All Time?

Piggybacking on the unique guitar theme, I thought it might be fun to get your list of acoustic masters.

Here is my list:
1. Michael Hedges - This will more than likely be a controversial #1 choice, because I know Michael was heavily influenced by Leo Kottke, but I think Hedges took all his influences to a higher compositional level. He was a total freak on the acoustic guitar and paved the way for so many of the new fingerstyle players. He may not be the best of all time, but he gets my vote anyway.
2. Andres Segovia
3. Leo Kottke
4. Chet Atkins
5. Al DiMeola
6. John McLaughlin
7. Tommy Emmanuel
8. Duck Baker
9. Doyle Dykes
10. Don Ross
11. Antoine Dufour
12. Andy McKee
14. Preston Reed
15. Peppino D'Agostino
16. Pierre Bensusan
17. Billy McLaughlin
18. Tim Sparks
19. Mark O'Conner
20. Tony Rice

I'm sure there's many more I've missed, but I'll leave those gems up to you guys!

Dawgbyte (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

12-27-06

Responses (1-71 of 71)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

12-27-06 Lol, other than chet akins i do not know one name. guess i ... Mattybumpkin

12-27-06: Metralla
Segovia? Never heard the name? Wow.

Regards,
Metralla (System | Answers | This Thread)

12-27-06 Matty one good place to start is youtube.com! you can find s ... Dawgbyte

12-27-06 I didn't see kelly joe phelps on your list. perhaps not the ... Mijknarf

12-27-06 Metralla; i assume (hope) you're kidding. dawgbyte; i think ... Pawlowski6132

12-27-06 Jorma kaukonen willie nelson Drubin

12-27-06 I think antonio forcione is worthy of consideration as one o ... Beatlebum

12-27-06 Michael hedges is my favorite. andy mckee was just recently ... Ellery911

12-27-06 Tommy smothers Jaybo

12-27-06 Please add: laurence juber, doug smith, lindsey buckingham Drjoe

12-27-06 Steve howe Audiotomb

12-27-06 Charlie byrd Skeyebox

12-27-06 Django richard thompson jerry douglass a sleeper - marshall ... Martykl

12-27-06 Don't forget steve howe. originality counts largely. not all ... 6sn7

12-27-06 Some great picks so far. i think ry cooder's acoustic work c ... Slothman

12-27-06 Ry cooder richard thompson ali farka toure d'gary raph ... Boa2

12-27-06 I'll throw ian anderson into the mix. yeah, the guy from j t ... Lindisfarne

12-27-06 Not necessarily the best but a few you might enjoy by the lo ... Taylor514

12-27-06 Pawlowski6132, was my post too cryptic? i was responding ... Metralla

12-27-06 Tiny tim. Danlib1

12-27-06 John fahey john fahey john fahey john fahey john fahey john ... Synthfreek

12-27-06 Add jim hall. double add joe pass. Tarsando

12-27-06 Maybe not best of all time but how about: merle travis. Lokie

12-27-06 Phil keaggy Fdaltoaolcom

12-27-06 I would also add paco de lucia. Audphile1

12-27-06 In no particular order; kelly joe phelps, segovia, rory bloc ... Jax2

12-27-06 Other than segovia, none of these is even close to paco de l ... Ncarv

12-27-06 No mention yet of martin simpson? tsk, tsk. Gliderguider

12-28-06 I too would have added in a living time frame paco de lucia, ... Nevillekapadia

12-28-06 I was trying to remember paco de lucia, when i put al dimeol ... Dawgbyte

12-28-06 Kudos to the paco fans...you guys need to hear the assad bro ... Jlamb

12-28-06 steve hackett Mike_in_md

12-29-06 I can't figure why doc watson isn't on this list??? no tony ... Cmo

12-29-06 20. tony rice. i'm glad he was there as i was listening to ... Metralla

12-29-06 Doc watson Dawgbyte

12-29-06 Nice list. hedges is easily my number one too. i saw someo ... sksmith66@

12-29-06 Pat metheny, jerry garcia (i love his style & tone) & john c ... Pehare

12-29-06 Don't forget alex degrassi, william ackerman and andrew york Ggil

12-29-06 -mantas di plata was pretty astounding (paco fans will proba ... Duanegoosen

12-29-06 I can't believe i forgot uwe kropinski. good call, duane. ... Boa2

12-29-06 Nuno can smoke!... kind of wondering about the earlier menti ... Duanegoosen

12-30-06 Hey howard - can you recommend a good nuno cd? all the sele ... Jax2

12-30-06 criminy, i don't know why they would be so much. $92 for gu ... Boa2

12-30-06 Here's a video of rory block , since women seem to be a min ... Jax2

12-30-06 Another great, cut short in his prime, chris whitley (and ... Jax2

12-31-06 I agree with cmo that the bluegrass/flatpickers appear to be ... Cruz123

12-31-06 Yes grier is great, also bryan sutton is an excellent bluegr ... Pehare

12-31-06 Helborg is a bass player. look at the context of the post. Dawgbyte

12-31-06 Joe pass plays only acoustic guitar on at least one album, ( ... Duanegoosen

12-26-12 I didn't read through every post here as it is a rather date ... Fripp1

12-27-12 Nice list. i agree with you on michael hedges. one of the be ... Maxnewid

12-27-12 Norman blake. sean persinger. richard thompson. chris procto ... Fripp1

12-27-12 In terms of originality, i'll mention another of the neglect ... Swampwalker

12-27-12 Rory block for sure. anyone mention joni mitchell, stephen s ... Csontos

12-27-12 Pentangle deserves a special place on this list. bert jansc ... Martykl

12-28-12 I saw segovia live once.it's hard to imagine a better player ... Playpen

12-27-12 Michael hedges. Jafant

12-28-12 Hard to pick just one but if pressed hedges. he really soun ... Montejay

12-31-12 I was lucky enough to see m hedges a few times in some intim ... Shakedown

01-01-13 hi, i'll add jan akkerman. Racamuti

01-01-13 Ok, i won't totally condemn the thread as there are some rea ... Rawinsonde

01-01-13 Genre specific? how about best acoustic guitar playing hee ... Martykl

01-02-13 keller williams is pretty outrageous. howard morgen die ... Rebbi

01-02-13 Certainly john williams deserves some consideration. i also ... Larryi

01-14-13 I attended a john fahey concert at the peanut gallery in tam ... Rawinsonde

01-15-13 Chet atkins and les paul they have a cd out: chester & lest ... Akg_ca

01-16-13 Forgot to mention a lesser known but true giant of the acous ... Edorr

01-16-13 Baden powell de aquino, from brazil. underrated, but a good ... Singleendedsingle

01-18-13 Hedges, saw him twice in the burgh!! awesome!! Toddnkaya

01-20-13 Leo kottke Yogiboy

02-09-13 One of my favorites is jesse cook. Mattkimb96