Best rhythm guitarist?

txbumper57

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I'm tempted to go with Jeff's original nominee John Lennon, until I remembered "that guy from the Wrecking Crew".
:playful:

All of 'em exemplify the idea that the best lead guitarists have a solid foundation in rhythm.
Glenn Campbell, James Burton...
How DO you classify guys like that, who could do it all and all at the same time, to boot?
:shocked:
But I'm nominating those guys for sheer versatility, breadth of style.

Glenn Campbell, James Burton, and one of my Favorites Mr. John Denver are the type players in general that are the ultimate end game to me. I love players that can play rhythm and lead together. That is where I want to be as a goal before it is all over with. To me that is what becoming a better player is all about.

TX
 

Stuball48

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I wonder who the before mentioned rhythm players would pick in their top 5 if it were possible to poll them? Bet there would be a dominate name or two and a couple "head scratchers."
We all have someone we admire.
 

Ross

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Joan Armatrading - another percussive player
 

Quantum Strummer

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Scotty Moore once told me Elvis was the best rhythm he ever heard,

Elvis shows off some chops, on Scotty’s guitar, in the ‘68 TV special during Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me To Do. The various takes of this are all good stuff. He could play, and IMO shoulda played more in the studio.

-Dave-
 

adorshki

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Elvis shows off some chops, on Scotty’s guitar, in the ‘68 TV special during Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me To Do. The various takes of this are all good stuff. He could play, and IMO shoulda played more in the studio.

-Dave-

Yeah that's exactly what I thought of, that whole informal acoustic jam, when Rick posted that.
It's where I first started to actually dig Elvis, like 20 years after the fact.
Then seeing Kid Creole for the first time sealed the deal a few years later.
King-Creole-Musical3.png

As far as I can tell, that's a live take baby.
A revelation to me. GI Blues had a couple of 'em too, IIRC.
Pure ear candy after seeing so many of the later ones with nothing but lip-synching in 'em.
 
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gjmalcyon

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David Crosby.

I find myself listening to his electric rhythm work and constantly saying, "What chord is THAT???"
 
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Elvis shows off some chops, on Scotty’s guitar, in the ‘68 TV special during Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me To Do. The various takes of this are all good stuff. He could play, and IMO shoulda played more in the studio.

-Dave-

This was told to me when I was in a Nashville with Scotty and DJ doing a commentary on DVD for the 68 special.
 

Westerly Wood

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C coke minor.
(Sorry couldn't resist. If I Could Only Remember My Name 's one of my all time faves )
:friendly_wink:

"Laughing" is brilliant

re his chords, a lot of that was just open tuning and barred all over the neck.
 

adorshki

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Dave Edmunds and a 335 in Rockpile, but I have to concede that Lennon was right about himself.
And John's hero was Elvis, so I'm back full circle to John as #1, for breadth of style (s).
Richie's a very close runner up losing out only for actually being a percussionist (I was only half joking, before):
“I realized this is six strings, which could equal six guys in a doo-wop group. So now I’m the lead and this is my back-up. I laid it flat on my lap and put my thumb across it like a bar, and chunked along like a dulcimer. I am a frustrated drummer. I think that is really the sense of music, the drums. I am playing drums on guitar, that is what I do.”.
That always stuck with me and I was reminded of it when I came across a corollary proposition in a book about the nascent avant garde jazz scene by Val Wilmer, As Serious As Your Life.
In it she proposed that all musical instrument families trace their heritage back to a drum, the basic rhythm instrument.
Some kind of resonating element transmitting vibration to a reflector of some type, even if it's simply the shell of a hollow log.
 

crank

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Speaking of Elvis, I used to have, on cassette, The Million Dollar Quartet. There is some solo Elvis playing guitar and singing on that album that really shows his rhythm skills.

Speaking of Bob Weir, I saw Dead and Company last night in Hartford, CT. He was playing and singing really well though he screwed up a few words and missed his in cue a few times. The band was really good and the present configuration with Oteil Burbridge on bass, John Mayer on lead guitar and Jeff Chimenti is, IMO freaking great.
 
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