Dubai Knight wrote:Its overall knowledge of the instrument and ability to create a unique signature from the instrument either acoustically or electrically amplified.
A few examples of some extremely talented and able players, although lesser known, are:
Jan Akkerman
Nuno Bettencourt
Stanley Jordan
Gordon Giltrap
Ultimately, its all about the music.
Knight
Gordon Giltrap is my preferred choice from the list, he has worked a lot recently with Keyboard Wizard, Rick Wakeman and together they have produced some excellent music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKmwwtiIqaM
And there are of course the Great Guitar Stranglers, Richie Havens who opened Woodstock in Aug ’69 gets my vote for this title, he needed an industrial strength plectrum in those days and more often than not, used a piece of shoe leather as it withstood his punishing routines better. His compositions were biased towards political messages within his lyrics, rather than his prowess as a musician although his playing style became less aggressive and more refined in later Years, I still wonder how many Guitars he murdered along the way?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1pMeyy__r0