Top Insrumentalists

Here is an oportunity to list your top 5-10 prog musicians on any instrument, also an oportunity to let who you think are underated musicians get heard about! Two rules though: no less than five musicians per category; each post has to contain several categories, this is to avoid forum members giving posts like "Geddy Lee is the best bassist. End of story." and stuff along those lines. That is not the point of this thread!

My selection would be:

Keyboards:
Rick Wakeman
Kerry Minnear (GG)
Hugh Banton (VDGG)
Keith Emerson
Patrick Moraz
Neal Morse
Thomas Bodin (TFK)
Tony Banks

Guitars:
Mr Fripp
Steve Hackett
Omar-Rodriguez Lopez (TMV)
Frank Zappa
Alex Lifeson
Alan Morse
Roine Stolt

Drums:
Billy Cobham
Danny Carey
Jon Theodore (early TMV)
Nick D'Virglio
Guy Evans
Bill Bruford
Phil Collins

Bass:
Jonas Reingold
Chris Squire
Dave Meros
Geddy Lee
Justin Chancellor
Victor Wooten (Ok, he's not prog, but he owns as much as prog does )

It's also worth noting that they are in no particular order. Yours don't have to be either.

Guitar:
John McLaughlin
Robert Fripp
John Frusciante
Steve Howe
David Gilmore
Chuck Shuldiner
Ritchie Blackmore
Tony McPhee
Jeff Beck
Steve Vai
Richard Thompson
Jan Akkerman
Adam Jones
Johnny Greenwood/Ed O'Brien
David Pajo
Marc Ribot
Ian Williams
Peter Banks

Bass:
John Paul Jones
Lemmy
Geezer Butler
Chris Squire
Bill Entwhistle
Flea
Colin Greenwood
Miroslav Vitous
Paul McCartney
Scott Clendenin
Rick Laird


Vocals:

Greg Lake
Roger Daulghtry
Robert Plant
Ian Gillian
Ronnie James Dio
James Brown
David Bowie
Don Van Vliet
Jim Morrison
Bruce Dickinson
David Coverdale
Rob Halford
Brian Ferry
Gary Brooker
Annie Haslam
Cedric Bixler-Zavala
Ian Anderson
Peter Gabriel
Peter Hammill
Thom Yorke
Maynard James Keenan
Jonsi


Drums:
Dennis Chambers
Billy Cobham
Virgil Donati
Grant Collins
Ringo Starr
Bill Ward
John Bonham
Ian Paice
Mitch Mitchell
Keith Moon
Damon Che
Trilok Gurtu
Ustad Allah Rakha
Danny Carrey
Phil Collins
Gene Hoglan
John Stanier
Chris Penne
Tim Alexander
Zakir Hussain
Colin Walcott
Jack DeJohnette
Chad Wackerman
Terry Bozzio
Dave Weckl
Tony Williams
Bill Bruford
Yoshida Tatsuya
Jon Theodore


Keyboard:
Keith Emerson
Keith Jarret
Joseph Zawinul
Philip Glass
Jon Lord
Brian Eno
Guy Evans
Matthew Fischer
Dave Stewart
Jan Hammer
Tony Banks
Peter Bardens
Edgar Froese
the guy from Semiramis


[edit: got carried away into totally non-prog territory]



Edited by BroSpence - April 11 2008 at 04:41

There is one drummer obviously missing from the above lists, so I'll start with drums.

Oh why not...

Keys:  Tony Banks, Kieth Emerson, Neal Morse, Jem Godfrey, Jordan Rudess
Bass:  John Myung, Tony Levin, Geddy Lee, Mike Rutherford, Greg Lake
Guitar:  Ronnie Stolt, Steve Hackett, John Petrucci, David Gilmore, Alan Morse, Robert Fripp, Stephen Davis
Drums:  Mike Portnoy, Neal Peart, Phil Collins, Nick D'Virglio, Carl Palmer
Vocals:  Peter Gabriel, Fish, Jon Anderson, Phil Collins, Neal Morse, Mariusz Duda

For a fantasy band line up give me Tony Banks, Tony Levin, Ronnie Stolt, Nick D'Virglio and Fish.  I struggled with the rhythm section for a bit before choosing Nick.  I'm not certain he's the best choice to play with Levin, though he seemed like the best choice on my list.

keys: emerson,wakeman,minear,

guitar:mclaughlin,hackett,fripp,dimeola,zappa

drums:palmer,bruford,moon,bonham

bass:claypool,jaco,clarke,vitous