Who is the king of the Prog Rock Guitar?

In prog, in most music in fact, the relationship between composition and playing is totally relevant. I like guitarists whose solos have a strong melodic basis- such as Steve's Hackett and Rothery .
Without any idea of composition and structure the solos get boring very quickly.

 

Fripp is god

 

Hammill, Hastings, Richardson. Brilliant.
Might aswell include Jon Anderson then.

 

Warren Haynes

 

Steve Hackett gets my vote. Just a wonderful guitarist.

Robert Fripp next. Obvs.

Steve Howe is a great guitarist, but I his tone is sometimes too twangy for my taste.

—Geoff

 

Cast my vote for Scottish rock legend Ian Bairnson of Pilot and The Alan Parsons Project. In addition to those two instantly recognizable projects, Ian has also played on sessions for the likes of Jon Anderson, Kate Bush, Al Stewart, Joe Cocker, Chris DeBurgh, Mick Fleetwood and Neil Diamond.

 

The only Jon Anderson I know of is the singer, who, to my knowledge, ocassionally plays a ukulele.

 

For me it's a three way contest between Gilmour (Floyd *is* prog), Andrew Latimer, and Steve Rothery. It's all about that soaring tone for me. I like Hillage but probably need to hear more of him before I speak of him with that group.

 

He often strums along.

 

Howe is probably the most well-rounded guitarist.

Fripp, the most experimental, pushing boundries.

Hackett is my choice ... simply because he balanced experimentation with really good song-craft (well ... at least to me) overall. Just my little opinion.

 

Hackett needs to pick up his acoustic guitar more often in concert. His intros to "After The Ordeal" and "Blood on The Rooftops" always leave me wanting more.

 

After the ordeal.
Did Genesis ever play this live?

 

I think Steve Howe takes the cake here. Hackett second. Don't know enough about King Crimson to have a opinion about Fripp.

Honorable Mention for Alex Lifeson. Must be hard to be the least known member of the band. Still, he is really great an would be the shining star in a lot of other bands.

 

Steve H.

 

Well, the thread's about the "king" of prog guitar, which would probably be an innovator of some kind. It's not "prog guitarists we like".
I like Rothery, but not the "king".

 

Fripp can't touch Howe on acoustic.

 

I didn’t know this was a competition.

 

I'll just mention a guy I think was overlooked a bit because he usually played bass: Greg Lake.

Just check out his guitar work on From the Beginning and Karn Evil 9 Part 1.

 

Fripp has played some amazing acoustic stuff. I'd say his technique is far superior to Howe.

 

Steve Howe
Robert Fripp
Steve Hackett
Allan Holdsworth
Steve Hillage
Alex Leifson
Peter Banks
Martin Barre

 

Fripp and Howe. It won’t get better than that. I love Hackett and Belew as well. Just not in the same legue.

 

Another vote for Howe. Plenty of great prog guitarists but, in my opinion, Howe is at the next level.

 

Could you pick a song by each and better explain? btw, I absolutely love both for different reasons.

 

Because of their amazing tone and absolute genius with the 6 string, my top two are:
David Gilmour
Steve Hackett

There are tons of Honorable Mentions.

 

A more modern choice for me would be Steve Rothery of Marillion. His work is consistently excellent throughout their catalog. He too has an amazing tone.
Especially on the excellent This Strange Engine.