Blind Willie McTell: Mama ‘Taint Long Fo’ Day (1928). All rights reserved. Other highlights include jamming with Journey at Caesar’s Palace and returning the favor to Neal Schon, and, as an inveterate gear collector, taking receipt of a see-through Lucite Fender Twin and a pristine 1958 Gibson Flying V, aka “Donnie J.” has to be up there, too. Thank you for signing up to Guitar World. Next up in the list (and still lurking in the low-end range of... 3. That Mayer can still be pocketed in the blues tradition says much for his chameleon style. Gomes is still touring on the back of Peace, Love & Loud Guitars - words we can all live by - and shall be right through into 2020. Nichols scores highly for blues face, too, which, on the anguish scale, sits somewhere between passing kidney stones and stubbed pinky toe. “It’s songs that haven’t been covered much but are worthy of attention and worthy of being heard,” says Trout. Rob Ickes – A virtuoso player from the US bluegrass scene. Another Allman Brothers legend, Duane Allman is often described as one of the most influential guitar players of all time. The nominees were what we considered to be the guitarists and guitar gear that have excelled in 2017. The results are in, and the winner, as you probably know by now, is the one, the only Joe Bonamassa, who bested the rest of the top five - Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, Buddy Guy and John Mayer - to land at the top of Bluesville. Not to mention the eminently vocal qualities of her immaculate slide playing. Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. The story of Robert Johnson is one of the most compelling and mysterious in music history. Profiled in the New Yorker as “the last of the bluesmen,” Buddy Guy might be 83 years young but he has more than plenty sap in the tree, and can presently be found, Strat in hand, at venues up and down the length and breadth of the United States. You will receive a verification email shortly. As with Trout, a blues legend tackling overlooked tracks is always essential listening, and an education. The Louisiana Delta blues maestro is a man of simple pleasures, namely a ’72 Fender Thinline Telecaster that he bought for less than half a grand when cutting his debut in the ‘90s, and Category 5 amps. King’s tone is so hot that you could cook a 12oz steak just by waving it in front of his speaker cabinet. Coming Closer to The Day is a masterclass of tone and restraint, and sees Trower in a wry, philosophical mood, with tracks such as Lonesome Road coming to terms with ageing and the fact that one day the curtain falls for good. Expect some new music next year. It brought the house down. This year has been spent touring in support of 2018’s Purple House, an album that sees Robben play infectious blues-rock such as the sour strut of Somebody’s Fool, but also take some chances and roll the dice with acoustic-led compositions such as Break in the Chain and the experimental balladry of Empty Handed. Although Chris Rea went into different styles over the years, you could always hear the obvious blues influences in his… Jonathan Horsley, Whether he’s playing his cover of Willie Dixon’s I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man or Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues, Buddy’s playing is still off-the-charts, hold-the-bus genius - as his showmanship, gleaned from one of his all-time heroes Guitar Slim (Eddie Jones). The MusicRadar/Total Guitar Best in guitars 2017 polls have received over 136,000 votes, and we're ready to roll out the winners. But the Raw Dawg’s cover of Little Wing is proof positive he can stamp his identity on anyone’s material - on the blues itself. He’s a 14-time Grammy winner and a session player on more than 1,500 albums. The world’s most high-profile blues guitarist has spent 2019 packing out pretty much every large, red-plush seated theater he can find in support of last year’s masterly Redemption. But it’s not just his performances that make him so influential; his championing of his fellow blues players elevate the genre, bringing a little more light and heat to the fast-rising blues cats such as Eric Gales (his number one blues-rock player in the world, and your number 12). Blues slide guitar originated in the Mississippi Delta region where it was popularized by a number of blues players, including Robert Johnson. Roy Rogers (Slideways) 8. The 30 best blues guitarists in the world today | Guitar World Focusing on two decades at a time, I’ll highlight the key players for you to explore in bold text. King has a novelist’s sensibility for story in song. One of only a few players to be name-checked by Buddy Guy in his New Yorker article (Trucks, Clark Jr., Kingfish, and Keb’ Mo’ also got props), Robert Cray is a blues institution in his own right. Please refresh the page and try again. The Texas blues shuffle remains strong in Jimmie Vaughan, and it will never leave him. Zoom’s brand-new flagship G11 processor has had $200 slashed off the price, Save $150 on two stunning Gretsch Streamliners in this Black Friday blockbuster, Get 11 TC Electronic pedals for just $39 each in one of the biggest Black Friday guitar deals. BA1 1UA. His signature Epiphone Les Paul is a straight-up rock machine. Fish is taking the blues forward, where it needs to go, and her latest album, Kill or Be Kind, has moments when octave, pitch shifters, fuzz and delay pedals take blues guitar tone into another dimension. But those looking for something to put some Texas heat into their drive time commute would have found this year’s Goin’ 50 compilation a worthy reminder of ZZ Top’s inimitable style. ... Sylvester Weaver (July 25, 1897 – April 4, 1960) was an American blues guitar player and pioneer of country blues. Trucks is the highest slide specialist in our voters’ list, and perhaps that is because his sensibility is such that he never overpowers the jam, often positioning his Gibson Artist Series Dickey Betts SG somewhere in the uncharted frequencies shared by vocals and guitar, and as an enigmatic counterpoint to his wife Susan Tedeschi’s Strat or Les Paul. Check out Trout’s take on Mississippi Fred McDowell’s Going Down to the River, featuring Krieger. They actually started digging in their heels long before Robert Johnson made his haunting Delta blues recordings in Texas in the 1930s. He was the master. 21 November 2019, Here's who you voted the finest players keeping the blues alive. Ford can do it all and has played with everyone. Sure, all great players can tell a story within the blues scale, but Whittington tells those stories with no shortage of wit. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Damian Fanelli Elmore James (King of the Slide Guitar) 3. The Clarksdale, Mississippi, phenom is only 20 years old but already has a sense for feel, phrasing and vibrato that helps him shake the very soul out of his instrument. And, crucially, he keeps it playful. See more ideas about Slide guitar, Blues guitar, Resonator guitar. Since Johnson's time, players - including guys like George Thorogood, Derek Trucks, Ry Cooder, Jerry Douglas and Roy Rogers - have built entire careers around slide guitar and its many stylistic varieties. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors?