UK Blues guitarists - your favorites?

Jo Ann Kelly & Tony McPhee - Oh Death

 

If Bert Jansch and John Renbourn count, them. Both played some blues but were not 1 trick ponies.

After them, Eric. He also had a few more up his sleeve.

 

I'm just saying: Clapton has to be the most overrated blues guitarist ever. In my mind anyway.

 

I would agree with that statement on RG plus I love PG

 

Well your right about the not from UK thing of course but Rory would remain a favorite on a any list from anywhere in the world

 

Are you sure about the whole "any list from anywhere in the world" thing?

 

There could/should be a great Freddie King covers album!

 

Peter Green (has to be at the top of any such list)
Eric Clapton
Mick Taylor
Jeff Beck (when he felt like it)
Alvin Lee
Paul Kossoff
Jimmy Page
Gary Moore

Can we count Rory Gallagher?

 

Agreed - but this is a post about UK blues guitarists.

Unlike say Gary Moore or Eric Bell, Rory is not from the UK.

To put it in context, it's a bit like including Mike Bloomfield in a list of great "Texan" guitarists.

 

Please read the title of the post. Rory can't be included. He's Irish.

 

Understood. Many are including him regardless, so that is why the question was offered.

 

True....i was pushing the envelope ....lets substitute Mick Abrahams

 

Did anyone mention Stan Webb?

 

Ireland was part of the UK once upon a time, could just modify the Q to 'from the British Isles'.

 

Forgive me, but I was under the impression that "Independence Day" meant a lot to my American friends in the USA so why can't Irish people have the same entitlement.

Northern Ireland is a part of the UK. Southern Ireland is not.

And no modification to "British Isles" please.

Sorry to be so belligerent about this but it does matter a lot.

No disrespect intended towards my UK friends but Rory is our guitar hero.

 

Peter Green is the greatest guitarist of the british blues boom in my opinion. If the thread turns to be a list of the great blues influenced UK guitar player from 1964 to 1972, the list is endless and the best ones have already been mentioned. I didn't already have seen the names of Martin Stone and Martin Pugh so here they are. And Paul Kossof deserves a special mention in my view. The more i get older the more his economical playing style and the sad story of his personal life moves me.

 

Nobody in the history of music has contributed more to the transformation of the blues from "race music" to the blood that drives all the genres that we love than Eric Clapton. When he took the blues in 1963 with the Yarbirds, it meant nothing in the general opinion..From there, in a mere 7 years, he took it to the beano lp (the definition of what rock guitar will sound in the next 50 years), to Cream (the basis of all heavy music in the next 50 years) to Derek (switching from gibson styled guitar to fender style guitar). If, like his peers (Jimi, and so on) he had died in 1971, he would be considered the greatest that ever was..So I can't share your view saying Eric is overrated.

 

Clapton is good, but I just feel really disappointed in his current studio albums, from Back Home onwards: maybe it's the Simon Climie production technique ?

The live material, from the Cream reunion, up until the 70th Birthday gig, still shows some magic, and his appearances on The Rolling Stones' Blue & Lonesome still show some great work from him. On a different matter, I still listen to Blue & Lonesome, and view it as a great UK blues guitar album.

Otherwise, Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, and his best was transforming blues into Santana-esque Latino forms on Can't You Hear Me Knockin', and Time Waits For No-one.

 

Exactly. If you listen to Clapton's most inspired work - like the Derek and the Dominos album - his greatness really shines through. It's just difficult to maintain that level of inspiration through the decades. Peter Green too, is mainly celebrated for his sublime work with Fleetwood Mac, not the occasional albums he's released since.

 

Exactly. It don't make sense to judge Clapton from what he has done between 1975 to 2017. If someone talks about the merit of Eric Clapton as a music legend, it's the amazing run from Five live yardbirds to 461 ocean boulevard that counts and nothing else. It's the same with all the greats. If someone would want to judge Billy Gibbons's tone while listening to his post London records , something would sure be missed in the equation...

 

If you want to broaden the questions, to Blues Guitarists who made their Big Splash in UK, then I would add Jimi Hendrix. We have just for starters Red House and tunes on the BBC recordings.

 

Gary Moore

 

Peter Green. No one else comes close for me. I like Eric on an enjoyment level, but he's a mere guitar player.

 

oops

 

The thing about Clapton as a blues guitarist is that you have to hear his live playing. The man can play and sing the blues!