Neil Young - Guitarist


We all know Neil for his outstanding songwriting skills and some may even recognize his talents with a guitar but is he underrated? in 2015 Rolling Stone ranked him as number 17 of 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Can anyone pull more raw emotion out of a guitar than Neil?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijrkKNZRIfM
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aalenik's post begs the important question: Is technical ability what distinguishes one as a superior guitarist---or singer, or drummer, or whatever? Or is it something some elusive, more abstract, more, dare I say it, artistic?

In the mid-70's I jammed with a guy who, when the subject of The Band came up (as it often does if I'm in a musical conversation ;-), dismissed Robbie Robertson's guitar playing. I knew exactly why, as I myself at first had. That was before I realized the musical contribution his playing was making to the song itself. This guy was talking about Robertson's abilities at playing a guitar solo, the yardstick by which he judged all guitarists. How small. I didn't waste my breathe in the hopeless task of raising his musical consciousness---that comes from within.

I have heard plenty of guitarists whose playing I find unmusical at best, downright ugly if not, that's right, vulgar, at worst. Others consider them virtuosos. At what? Not making good music, in my opinion. To admire their playing is to me like considering a fast runner a great dancer. If that makes any sense.

Beside Daryl, he has a vast model train setup to play with.  World class!
For entertaining guitar, Kottke,Fahey, Lang, Knopfler and ,of course, Chuck Berry.
Hmm...I'm struggling with accepting the idea that "artistic" doesn't involve technical skill. In music, it does. Playing a musical instrument "greatly" requires many things--one of those requirements is deep technical skill. Frank Zappa wrote the challenging Black Page #1 for the drum kit and then used it to audition his drummers. If you couldn't play Black Page #1, then you weren't playing for Zappa. It turns out Zappa had a few truly great drummers! Playing Black Page #1 doesn't make anyone a great drummer. It simply demonstrate deep technical chops. The same concept applies to great guitar musicianship. Technical skill combined with musicality, originality, practicing for improvement, and a well trained ear are a few of the foundations for musical greatness.  
My perso favs

Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, John Frusciante, Brian May, Mike Campbell, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Jack White, Keith Richards.

they all speak through the guitar. It is a unique gift to be able to make a guitar speak. There are many others. Conveying feeling requires subtlety. These musicians also play for the song.

Wanabees

Santana, Eddie van Halen and Hendrix - they all try too hard. Impressive tone and skill but in the outrageous showmanship quest they often ignore important aspects of rhythm, respecting the other musicians and playing to give feeling to the song.