Guthrie Govan is the best guitar player alive today

Guthrie Govan is the best guitar player alive today

  • Total voters
    118
Bojangles said:
Thanks for the link

Its funny though, he got me into suhrs. however im not sure if id follow into Charvel territory, it would take a lot of convincing
Click to expand...
Yes, I have a signature Rasmus and a Modern Satin based on his influences, tried the Charvel when it came out and couldn’t bond at all with it.
 
Guthrie's work on Hand Cannot Erase was simply breathtaking.

The emotional elements conveyed in his playing is comparable to some of the greatest violinists that ever lived.

But IMO there is no "best" guitar player and the question shows intellectual immaturity.
 
I think it's a totally legit statement. The music industry, by nature, promotes 'Best'. Best Album, Best New Artist, Best Song, Best This & That. As long as we realize 'best' is very subjective. What consitutes 'best'? Most album sales? Most money earned? Fastest picking? Most melodic? Song writing genius?

I like Bonamassa's songwriting and listen when I want to hear blues pushed into rock. I like listening to Satriani rock melodies just like I listened to the melodic licks of Atlanta Rhythm Section, Steely Dan or Allman Brothers decades ago. Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Albert Lee, Alvin Lee, BB King, Chet Atkins, Ry Cooder... the list of greats is long.

If we gauged it by monetary success or popularity then the list would be different. 99 out 100 people you quiz have never even heard of Govan whereas someone like Noel Gallagher, who by his own admission is a mediocre guitarist at best, is a songwriting fool having made a gazillion dollars playing guitar and signing. As have Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson.

We live in a lucky time for guitarist. Each one brings you to a certain place, mood or purpose.

I will hum a Stevie Ray Vaughn song. I don't hum Govan tunes. I listen to Guthrie when I want to be blown away.
 
I can't think of a better guitarist living in our time. He's incredible!
Listening to his albums I can hear a lot of his influences while he puts his own twist on those influences.
 
Wow, this debate has been going on for a couple years. I guess I'm a little late, but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

GG is definitely up there as one of the best ever. If we were talking about technique alone, then yeah he may be the best. But when you compare his music catalog with someone like Satriani or Buckethead, it's not even close. If you ask me, there's only 1 reason to pick up a guitar and that is to write great music. GG definitely has some, but not as much great stuff as the two I've mentioned. Buckethead and Satriani really do have it all in my opinion. They've got the technique, the versatility, the unmistakable identity, and TONS of great songs. Buckethead has released over 260 albums since 2011. 260!! Yes, there's a lot of experimental stuff that's not for everybody but there's also a LOT of absolute classics in there. Just look up Claymation courtyard, project little man, or underneath the arctic. He's been putting out those kind of albums at about once a week. Once a week! just let that sink in.
 
Mr.nobody said:
Guthrie's work on Hand Cannot Erase was simply breathtaking.

The emotional elements conveyed in his playing is comparable to some of the greatest violinists that ever lived.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Fantastic album and playing. On another note The Aristocrats live are an amazing experience...
 
I have no interest in hemming and hawing about what "the best" means; that's why I prefer to use the term "favorite" instead.

That said, Guthrie was the first guitarist in a long time that legitimately blew me away. After years of becoming jaded with 500 BPM shredders who could play fast but had no identity, Guthrie was a breath of fresh air. His feel, his composition, his versatility, his technicality, and his humbleness really elevate Guthrie over a whole slew of guitar players these days for me.

I could also pay the same compliment to Tosin Abasi. That guy challenged my idea of what could be done on a guitar in a new way with a fresh sound. I find him inspiring in the same way that I find Guthrie.
 
mwd said:
I think it's a totally legit statement. The music industry, by nature, promotes 'Best'. Best Album, Best New Artist, Best Song, Best This & That. As long as we realize 'best' is very subjective. What consitutes 'best'? Most album sales? Most money earned? Fastest picking? Most melodic? Song writing genius?

I like Bonamassa's songwriting and listen when I want to hear blues pushed into rock. I like listening to Satriani rock melodies just like I listened to the melodic licks of Atlanta Rhythm Section, Steely Dan or Allman Brothers decades ago. Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, Albert Lee, Alvin Lee, BB King, Chet Atkins, Ry Cooder... the list of greats is long.

If we gauged it by monetary success or popularity then the list would be different. 99 out 100 people you quiz have never even heard of Govan whereas someone like Noel Gallagher, who by his own admission is a mediocre guitarist at best, is a songwriting fool having made a gazillion dollars playing guitar and signing. As have Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson.

We live in a lucky time for guitarist. Each one brings you to a certain place, mood or purpose.

I will hum a Stevie Ray Vaughn song. I don't hum Govan tunes. I listen to Guthrie when I want to be blown away.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. I'm wondering if you are me in an alternate universe.
 
craiguitar said:
I don't think Guthrie plays to be 'the best'. He just loves making music, to the best of his ability. Music is art, and can only be judged individually. He often mentions the 'flaws' he sees in his own playing. I'd doubt the rest of us would notice, but many great players do think they themselves 'suck'. Players like Allan Holdsworth and Jeff Beck are among the well known insecure guitarists. So is Guthrie the best? I say no he isn't. And neither is anyone else. But every time I hear a snippit of his playing, it seems like he's progressed a little more if that's even possible. We all strive to eek out a fraction of the goodness from our playing as these guys do and if that drives us on to be more accomplished players then that's only a good thing.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. If earth was under attack and the aliens said to win the battle we needed to provide earth's best guitarist, I'd find none more qualified than Mr Govan. There literally are no gaps in his playing and he uses speed and technique in extremely melodic ways. Never get the "look at me" thing from him, yet he always amazes and makes you laugh because he's that good.
 
For me, a lot of our modern guitar players (guthrie govan, bumblefoot, andy timmons, greg howe to name a few) do sound absolutely great from a guitarist's standpoint. Fast playing, some cool scales and some great melodys too, but they also do sound the same. It's almost as if they had the same guitar teacher or studied at the same school (with GIT that might in fact be true). This might in fact be one of the factors the guitar is actually stopping (or has allready stopped) to evolve since modern players are quite good in offering what we allready know but there is no innovation in the way the guitar is used. Hendrix kind of invented a lot of rock guitar sounds and techniques. Eddie van halen did some more. This made a lot of people want to play guitar to be like their "heroes". To me that's a big factor in deciding which guitarist is the best of the best. There are a lot of guitar players out there that can probably play way better than any of the guitarists mentioned here but do we know them? No. Since songwriting and promotion plays a big role too. From the standpoint of getting a new generation of players interested in guitar the next hero after eddie van halen was probably taylor swift or something like that.
Players like guthrie govan play great but what they do is play music for musicians. While there is nothing wring with that. It still only reaches people that actually played guitar before hearing this music.
So for me the best guitar player today is probably Nuno Bettencourt. Who has a great technique and actually a great sense of rhythm! A category which is often overlocked by lead guitarists! (I'm talking to you Jimmy Page)
But Nuno does not only play great guitar parts in his hardrock band extreme. He is or was also playing some great guitar parts with rihanna. Most guitarist will never listen to this but that's the way to keep your beloved instrument alive. Play stuff the people will hear. And what he played was actually really musicial and great to hear for a guitarist too!

Still they are all incredible guitarists and musicians!
 
bradlake said:
Thanks for reminding me about this Zimmer tour ! Just scored my seat for aug 5 in Chicago!
Click to expand...
HOLY SHINOLA!! Last nights performance by Zimmer’s extraordinary ensemble was one of the strongest shows of any genre I have recently seen, of which Guthrie was an intrinsic part, but so were each of the more than 50 (!) players from around the world on stage at once....and visually stunning as well with staging and light/video effects that actually featured soloing in an intimate, closeup focus projected onto a huge screen by some of the newest in video tech...I didn’t think I was particularly fond of Zimmers film compositions, I went to see Govan, but I left a huge fan, the guys got chops , emotion, proper political perspectives, and a hell of a lot of famous/and/or beautiful (physically and artistically) friends who jumped onto this unique tour....modeler update...I counted one FX8 (guthrie’s), 3 kempers, and one helix rack amongst the gear onstage.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom