who are your top ten acoustic guitarists?

Tommy Emmanuel !!!!! ) Met him too, what an awesome person as well!

Of course, Nick Drake (as per my avatar) and Mississippi John Hurt are really nice as well

Gotta put on my thinking cap for 7 more

 

Already mentioned: Leo Kottke, Adrian Legg, John Fahey, Bert Jansch.

Add to the thread list: Peter Lang

 

In no particular order:

Jorma Kaukonen
Norman Blake
Tony Rice
Blind Willie McTell
Doc Watson
Neil Young
Son House
Reverend Gary Davis
Bert Jansch
Pete Townshend

 

Cat Stevens
Alun Davis
Greg Lake

 

My favourite singer/acoustic guitar album of recent years is Roddy Frame's Surf. For those who can't place or are oblivious to Roddy, he led Aztec Camera in his younger days.

 

-I'm not sure if anyone mentioned Davy Graham but he is very good too.

I think I read somewhere he was another influence on Page's Indian flavored acoustic playing

 

Stephen Stills
Jerry Garcia
Nick Drake
Jorma Kaukonen
Eddie Van Halen
Steve Howe
Lindsey Buckingham
Pete Townshend
John Fahey
Jimmy Page

 

Elliott Smith

 

How come nobody lists Gordon Lightfoot? How 'bout Los Indios Tabajaras?

 

I can only give one - Laurence Juber.

 

Stopin', 'an thinkin', I believe the most amazing acoustic guitartist I've ever heard is Joe Pass. I saw him in person once at the Village Gate in New York City.

 

I'm not really an afficionado but the two best I've ever heard would have to be Leo Kottke and Doc Watson. They claim the top of some other folks' lists too, I notice. I would recommend Kottke's 1st album, 6 & 12 String Guitar. Also, Greenhouse on Capitol is marvelous, as are most all of his records on that label. His first one for Chrysalis, Leo Kottke is gem as well.

Watson I can't really cite a specific album, but he absolutely kills live in concert. One of my favorites was the double album Memories on United Artists back in the 70s.

Steve Goodman could also play a pretty mean acoustic, back when he was alive.

 

He's one of those people with tremendous skill and impeccable reputation that I just can't stand. Hate the music. Boring as the day is long, to me. He was on one of those juke-box jury type magazine interviews where musicians get played records and are asked to identify the artist. So the host plays him a variety of other players' guitar recordings. They finally get to a representative Jimi Hendrix track, and Joe says, "I have no idea who that is, but it's absolute rubbish." He then goes on to explain how sloppy, undisciplined, and crappy Hendrix's technique is, all the while not knowing who it is. I found that entertaining.

I'm not a Hendrix fan by the way, but I thought it showed Joe to be a little, shall we say, narrow, in his tastes and opinions.

 

That's a great list, covers at least 6 of mine (BC, RT, JK, SH, SS, PT).

I'd add Bert Jansch, Leo Kotke, Adrian Legg and Lindsay Buckingham.

and many, many others but these guys are the virtuosos.

 

That's what Hendrix's friend Steven Stills has said. I can only imagine the stuff they played for each other, or together, and never recorded.

I love the style of playing Stills uses on a couple of his songs, "Black Queen" and "Blues Man". I'd sure like to hear more of that.

 

How could I forget Ry Cooder! Great guy

 

That's really funny SoundQman! I worked at the Village gate. Frequently, I talked to many of the musicans but never with Joe Pass. As tallented as I think Joe was, I like him in small doses. Sometimes it's just bewildering how he could improvise on a melody. It's amazing but not always entertaining.

 

Leo Kottke
Jorma Kaukonen
Taj Mahal
Django Reinhardt

There are others I appreciate, but these are the ones that I listen to mostly.

 

Paul Simon
Glen Campbell
Pete Townshend
Paul McCartney
Andre Segovia
Jimmy Page
Ian Anderson
Bob Dylan
Peter Tork
Neil Young

 

Some favorites that I haven't seen listed:

Hobart Smith
Elizabeth Cotten
Rory Block
John Lennon (I know he is technically limited. I like his touch.)

 

My 10, imho

Ian Anderson
Neil Young
Andre Segovia
Jimmy Page
Django Reinhard
Anthony Phillips
Steve Hackett
Mike Rutherford
Richard Thompson
Nick Drake

 

Bert Jansch - 'Jack Orion'
John McLaughlin - Shakti's 'Handful of Beauty'
Steve Howe - All the acoustic Yes stuff or Steve's 'Not Necessarily Acoustic'
Richard Thompson - 1952 Black Lightning & Beeswing
Jimmy Page - All the acoustic stuff from LZ
Leo Kottke - '6 & 12 String Guitar'
Nick Drake - 'Pink Moon'
Mississippi John Hurt - 1928 recordings
John Renbourn - All of it especially Pentangle's 'Lord Franklin'
Andres Segovia - "Early Recordings 1927-39'

 

Many favourites have already been mentioned, but I'd like to add the name of Phil Keaggy, a Christian musician that despite of his handicap (he has only nine fingers!) can be considered as one of the best acoustic players around. I have several of his acoustic albums and they're a great listen. He plays a mean slide on his 'electric' albums as well. And many songs on his vocal albums expose that he was heavily influenced by The Beatles. Now if that doesn't raise the curiosity of many forum member around here... Check him out if you spot one of his albums. There are many, since he's around since the sixties.

Edit: I noticed too late that he was already brought to your attention. And rightly so. Don't agree with the member that stated that his singing is awful, but agree that he's a much better guitar player than a singer...

 

For acoustic guitarrists, I have to go with Brazilians (mostly):
Baden Powell (the BEST)
Laurindo Almeida
Joao Gilberto
Bola Sete
Toquinho
Yamandu Costa
Canhoto da Paraiba
Garoto
Fabio Zanon
...and many others.

Outside of Brazil, I'll go with Django.

 

My top three have been mentioned already but...

Bruce Cockburn
Richard Thompson
Lindsey Buckingham