Face it. No matter how expansive your guitar pedal kits, how perfect your guitar distortion, how diverse your guitar multi effects, you’ll never be able to replicate the tones of the greatest guitarists’ sound equipment. That’s okay, though. No one ever will, and we can all agree on that. Where there might be some disagreement, though, is just who exactly “the greatest guitarists in the world” is referring to.
Here are a few expert opinions on which musicians were able to best master their sound equipment and become the centers of many, many, heated arguments.
Sonic Youth.
According to SPIN, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore did more to influence the entire Indie rock scene in the 1980’s than any other band. Putting soul into noise, SPIN argues that the duo changed the course of music history with heroic moments like their tune “Schizophrenia,” where their sound equipment slowly revolves a jangle of mistuned music against faraway distortion, building and building and building, until the big freak out.
Eddie Van Halen.
Guitar World asked their readership to vote in a battle royale determining the greatest guitarist in the world, and after defeating the likes of such legends as Slash, Jake E. Lee, Michael Schenker, Randy Rhoads, Alex Lifeson, and Joe Satriani, it was the soaring noise from Eddie Van Halen’s sound equipment that came out on top.
Jimi Hendrix.
Rolling Stone recently released their own compilation of the greatest guitarists of all time, and put Jimi Hendrix right at the top. It makes sense, as the man was less of a musician using a guitar to make art than an alchemist using sound equipment to truly create something epic from nothing.
Whether you believe that these were the greatest guitarists in the world or not, there’s one thing everyone can agree on–all can learn something from these masters. Although you may never be able to recreate Hendrix’s classic tones with your guitar effect pedals, or master the same sound equipment Eddie Van Halen used, you’re bound to gain invaluable experience in the attempt. Learn more at this link.
