Yet another top-10 list. Sucka.

I was going to have a more political discussion to commemorate a great conversation with my good friend Tom Gale, but I’m all politik’d out right now. So what’s a good substitute? A top-10 list. Here are a few:

My top-10 favourite guitarists of all time (in no particular order):

Shawn Tubbs – session player/Violet Burning. It seems silly to list Shawn, because so many people down here know him personally, it’s like mentioning your next-door neighbour as your all-time favourite poker-player. But the truth is, Shawn is an incredible player and had a huge influence on me as a young player. I used to pick up all his albums, even if he only had a single solo on it. Sean’s got great tone and a solid, but unique soloing style.

Ty Tabor – King’s X. It amazes me how few guitarists tip their hats to Ty- especially those in heavy bands. Ty perfected dropped tunings (in a way which almost no one has been able to duplicate without making me want to puke). Ty is a riffer’s rifer. He’s also a great singer and a good arranger, but I probably wouldn’t put him on here if it weren’t for his soloing. Between Ty and Shawn, I had my hands full trying (yet never succeeding) to learn their solos. Ty’s solo style is all his own- beautiful yet interesting.

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Double Trouble. As much as I hate the Stevie imitators, it’s a tribute to his incredible distinctiveness as a player that so many people have tried (and failed) to rip him off. There are some fine young copycats out there, including (but not limited to) John Mayer, Colin James and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, but no one touches Stevie. For starters, he was the first to take that Jimi thang and make it his own. And he did it cleaner than Jimi with tone to make you soil yourself. And he did it 20 years ago when most Van Halen wanna-bes were tweaking their rack systems.

Rusty Anderson – session/Paul McCartney/Ednaswap. I just love Rusty’s playing. His tone and his technique, while not being anything extraordinarily ground-breaking are just solid. Frankly, Rusty’s got the dream tone. He’s got the tone I want. I’d swap tone with him any day (don’t take that the wrong way, Rusty). Rusty’s got very balanced, mature tone. He’s not afraid to get a little mid-rangey, but it somehow retains it’s bright spongeyness. It’s easy to get great tone with a Strat (which he did on the “living la vida loca” riff), but getting good mahogany tones takes skill, and Rusty has that in spades. Technically speaking, Rusty has very few competitors. He’s got huge fingers and he knows how to use ‘em.

Phil Keaggy – solo artist. As a songwriter, Phil bores me to tears. As a guitarist, Phil blows everyone away. What he can do with an acoustic should shame all of us 10-fingered players into practice. But there’s no reason: no one else can do with an acoustic what Phil can do with an acoustic. He’s the kind of guy that people on this list would salivate over (in fact: I think Shawn Tubbs is one of those people). He’s more than a player’s player. He’s the player. Period.

Jagori Tanna – I Mother Earth/Producer. Sadly, no one on this list will have ever heard of Jag; and very few people not on this list would know him either. But it doesn’t diminish Jag’s talent. Tonally speaking, he does a better SRV than anyone I’ve mentioned before (save SRV himself), but he does his own thing. Jag blends the tone of Stevie with the fretboard restlessness of Carlos Santana (though he blows Senior Santana out of the water, as a player), with the creativeness of Tom Morello, and he did it in a tired and dying genre. He held me in awe during his many jam sessions. He was also an innovator: I don’t know anyone else who plays slap guitar, but if they do, they’d be hard-pressed to slap as well as Jag does on the song “Production.” What a fiend. Although I’ve seen him play around 30 times, it saddens me that he will likely never find a stage again. If that is true, it is a waste of incredible talent.

Brian May – Queen. Brian taught me that midrange is okay. I swore by Strats until the day I first heard “Bohemian.” That’s not exactly true: I was in elementary school when I first heard that song, but Brian did instill in me an appreciation for complex overtones and midrangey mahogany guitars. He was way, way ahead of his time.

Johnny Greenwood – Radiohead. How decidedly un-obscure of me. Oh well. Johnny’s amazing and that’s all you can say. He’s so creative and fresh. Listening to Johnny is like dipping your face in a cool lake after swimming in puddle water for years. His tones are interesting (the man uses solid-state amps for goodness’ sake! Not all the time mind you, but still… how daring).

Jason Falkner – Jellyfish/Jason Falkner. Jason impresses me more as a songwriter and a singer, but he’s an incredible player, too. Not as gifted as a Jon Brion, Jason does his own thing, and he does it very well. Borne out of the Beatles camp, Jason is adept at melodic playing and soloing. His solos, while being less technical than Shawn Tubbs or Ty Tabor, are melody-intensive. They’re movements until themselves. They never fail to propel a song until a new place. Jason is one of the very, very few vibey soloists left. He’s an ass, but he kicks ass too.

Jon Brion – Solo/Producer/Movies. Jon is everything Jason is but better. More virtuosic on the guitar, yet somehow more vibey. More technically adept, yet more credible and cool than Andy Wharhol at a swinger’s party. Jon is an accomplished musician on every level, but as a guitarist, he has a way of picking out incredible, innovative parts, which sound at once familiar and fresh. Because Jon’s musical vocabulary is so extensive, he has a rich heritage to draw from. As such, you will never find Jon playing a boring chord unless somehow it fits the song, but then you’ll find it was never boring to begin with. Jon would take that chord- like a discarded t-shirt, and wear it with a fresh new style you never thought possible. And tone. Jon commands tone. Whether it’s shimmering sponge or complex midrange, or ugly fuzz, Jon knows how to do it better than almost anyone. I heard it on good authority that Jon owns an AC-30 so good-sounding, that Brian May offered him the world just to have it. And Jon turned it down. Jon is a musical chameleon, the likes of which the world has never seen, but as a guitarist: he’s top-notch. Next up, piano….