Best Rock 'n' Roll guitarist (pre-Beatles)?

[NightTrain]

Poll question: Best Rock 'n' Roll guitarist (pre-Beatles)?

HONORABLE MENTION: Django Reinhardt, Les Paul and Chet Atkins. While none of those gentlemen ever played rock 'n' roll, their respective guitar stylings nonetheless had a profound influence on the form. So thanks, guys! :yourock:

[SeanQuinn]

1. Just listened to Weezer's 'Buddy Holly'

That influenced my vote.

[starroute]

13. I love Buddy Holly, but he was no guitar wizard

It was his singing and songwriting that made him great. His guitar work was distinctive, but not head and shoulders above everyone else.

Chuck Berry, on the other hand, turned the guitar into *the* rock'n'roll instrument. Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis were all still doing their thing on the piano. Elvis struck a few poses with the guitar and then left it to his backup musicians. But Chuck Berry took the guitar and ran with it straight into the center of the American soul.

Gotta go with that.

[htuttle]

2. Chuck Berry really only had one guitar solo...

...but it was a heck of a solo for it's time, so it bore repetition.

[Fenris]

3. I saw Dick Dale in 1997

At a big shendig in Ventura, CA. He rocked.

[MrScorpio]

7. Dick Dale: But, hey... This is Charlie's beach!

Lt Col Kilgore: CHARLIE DON'T PLAY SURFER MUSIC!!!

[corporatewhore]

4. Django Reinhardt wes montgomery charlie christian

[VOX]

16. Excellent choices.

:toast:

[MrScorpio]

5. Hendrix is pre-Beatles

He played for the Isleys.

And what about Les Paul?

Just asking

[NightTrain]

10. You know what I mean!

As for Les Paul, I suggest you read the poll's accompanying text.

[tekriter]

14. Hey! Another SAC-trained killer!

55th AMS, 55th Strat Recon Wing, Awful Offutt 1974 - 1978.

:toast:

[MrScorpio]

25. Believe or not, I was never in SAC

TAC, PACAF, AFDW, USAFE, ACC

Boring mottos all.

I just loved SAC's motto. And I remember the story of some idiot wrote "War is our hobby" on some official letterhead and got his ass canned.

Check Dr. Strangelove for "Peace is our profession" hilarity.

[tekriter]

28. No need to check Dr. Strangelove...

I got that sumbitch memorized!

[Whitacre D_WI]

6. Just listen to "Deuces Wild," drunk out of your mind, at 3am...

...and tell me it ain't Link.

[bobthedrummer]

8. I see there aren't any blues players like Muddy Waters listed

so I voted for Chuck Berry. Although you do have Bo Diddley.
Still, Chuck Berry had a profound effect on rock and roll music.
He wrote so many great songs. My favorite is "Nadine".

[NightTrain]

15. That's because this poll is about the best ROCK 'N' ROLL guitarists!

:eyes:

[Norbert]

9. James Burton

[rog]

11. Lonnie Mack

Still have my original copy of this one.

-----

Lonnie Mack's landmark 1963 album The Wham! Of That Memphis Man was one of the first guitar-hero records, and remains one of the least self-indulgent of the genre. Here was a performer who could burn ferocious lines up and down the neck of his Gibson Flying V, yet he was such a soulful singer/ writer that chops never got in the way of the songs.

.rog.

[rolodomo]

12. Come on, let's get some votes in for the Rock n' Roll TRIO ! (n/t)

[opiate69]

17. I will be mocked...

but, the guy from Herman's Hermits had some serious chops... no joke.. flame away....

[rog]

19. No fair, though ...

"Hermits studio recordings featured top British
session men of the day, and it is rumored that
future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and
John Paul Jones were among them."

http://members.aol.com/bocad/hh.htm

And wasn't this supposed to be "pre-Beatles?" ;-)

.rog.

[beanball]

18. Charlie Christian

the very best.

[bbernardini]

20. What about Johnny "Guitar" Watson?

He smokes *all* of these guys.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

21. No Duane Eddy? n/t

[NightTrain]

23. D'oh!

I always forget somebody good, don't I? :grr:

[mitchum]

22. Hubert Sumlin...

his work with Howlin'Wolf out-rocked EVERYBODY

but voted for Chuck Berry because he is easily the most important guitarplayer. He created the myth and the iconography.

[GumboYaYa]

34. You should check out the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans.

It is a tribute to the great early rock n roll studio musicians and side men that occurs the week between the first and second weekend of jazzfest every year. Sumlin usually plays the festival and is always a highlight.

[Dr Fate]

24. Dont forget Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant...n/t

n/t

[Digger]

26. Chuck Berry

He was a huge influence on Keith Richards and others.

[Laughing Mirror]

27. Link Wray and his Ray-Men, without question

A Gibson Les Paul. The power chord, fuzz, distortion, the birth of heavy metal. Jack the Ripper, Rumble, Rawhide. Tight black jeans and leather jackets. Music for hoods and hot-rodders.

[Mr.Green93]

29. Les Paul

[CO Liberal]

32. Les Paul Isn't Rock-n-Roll

But since he invented the solid-body electric guitar and developed the multi-track recording techniques that are standard today, modern music would be quite different without him.

(TRIVIA - In the LAte '40s, Les Paul was in a serious car accident. His right elbow was shattered. He was given the option of having the arm set straignt (so he would never be able to bend it) or bent(so he would never be able to straighten it). He had it set bent so he could stil play the guitar. And from what I understand, he's still performing in NYC.)

[mac56]

30. T-Bone Walker.

nm

[JCMach1]

31. Les Paul anyone???

[GumboYaYa]

33. If you are talking early Rock n Roll, Deacon John has to be

on that list. The Deacon played on virtually every song that came out of Cosimo Matassa's studio. If you want to find the birthplace of Rock n Roll, that is a good place to start looking.