BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

I think a true guitar hero is someone who really grabs you within the context of socially relevant music.

Some of my current ones are:

John Frusciante
Jack White
Derek Trucks
Junior Brown
Brian Setzer
Marc Ford
The Edge
Stone Gossard
Mike McCready
Tom Morello

This is fun! For clarity's sake, what time line would you be using to gauge "modern"? Some of your choices have been around for quite a while. Do you just mean anybody who's still out there doing it, regardless of when they first came out?

DocRock wrote:This is fun! For clarity's sake, what time line would you be using to gauge "modern"? Some of your choices have been around for quite a while. Do you just mean anybody who's still out there doing it, regardless of when they first came out?

As far as modern, I would say they can be old, but must still be on top of their game. For instance, The Edge is still as good and as innovative as ever, whereas Billy Gibbons hasn't learned a new lick in 30 yrs. Both are heros, one modern, one past.

Definitely Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes. Trey (anyone else hear the rumors of another Phish reunion?). Doyle Bramhall. Eric Krasno. John Scofield.

Steve Vai
Warren Haynes
Nuno Bettencourt
Larry Carlton
Derek Trucks
Charlie Hunter

to name a few

man you guys about covered all my modern day favorites,, we must all have good taste.
another big fan of Warren, Derek, Trey, Scofield and Charlie H.

OK, I'm going to stir the pot a bit to get some conversation going....I would say to be a true guitar hero, you have to play music that is socially relevant....in other words, you can't just be a guitar players guitar player, because to be a real guitar hero, you have to rock the masses. This would eliminate some ridiculously skilled guitar players from guitar hero status --- Vai, Satriani, E. Johnson, Scott Henderson, Johnny Hiland, etc.

The trouble is, so many who "rock the masses" don't actually rock. Hell, a lot of "the masses" think that jazz and blues are the same thing. Just sayin'.

I really enjoy your threads and your posts, EJ, but this time I think I must respectfully disagree (while I do understand where you're coming from). I guess I'm just one of those guys who feels like adding stipulations like "social relevance" (read: record sales) to the term "guitar hero" sort of defeats the point, at least when asking other guitarists who their heroes are. It would be a different story if you were polling the actual "masses" to see what they thought. You know what I mean?

All meant in a friendly way, and just IMHO, of course.

DocRock wrote:The trouble is, so many who "rock the masses" don't actually rock. Hell, a lot of "the masses" think that jazz and blues are the same thing. Just sayin'.

I really enjoy your threads and your posts, EJ, but this time I think I must respectfully disagree (while I do understand where you're coming from). I guess I'm just one of those guys who feels like adding stipulations like "social relevance" (read: record sales) to the term "guitar hero" sort of defeats the point, at least when asking other guitarists who their heroes are. It would be a different story if you were polling the actual "masses" to see what they thought. You know what I mean?

All meant in a friendly way, and just IMHO, of course.

If we all had the same opinions, this wouldn't be much fun! I totally respect where you're coming from!

I'm going to chime in on this one with a somewhat obscure one. I saw Herbie Hancock the other day at our local Jazz fest here in Ottawa and he was playing with a guitarist named Lionel Loueke from Africa someplace. He's a monster talent and brings an entirely fresh approach to the guitar. Very percussive but subtle style too hard to explain in short but like nobody I've seen before. Absolutely awesome with a wah pedal and used a great range of effects very well including octafuzz and pitch effects. Anyway, if you can bring your own sound and style to a very crowded field of guitar slingers, you are a hero in my book.

ZZ