best prog guitar player......

1. Jimi Hendrix (Because there are guitarists and then there's Hendrix...)

2. Robert Fripp (Even though he wouldn't give me his damn autograph, I still admire his technique)

3. Frank Zappa (Most of his solos were IMPROVISED!! And they WORKED!!)

4. Justin Hayward (Niiights in Whiite Saaatiiin, baby!!)

5. Roger Hodgson (The reason Supertramp is considered halfway progressive)

When asked I would claim Fripp is the best musician (who happens to execute his musicianship through the medium of the guitar). But for my money the best prog guitarist is Jan Akkerman of Focus. Speed/invention/technique/classical sensibility and outright raw power are all within his grasp.

Bubblin under...

Gary Green/Fred Frith/Steve Hackett/Steve Howe/

and of course Gilmour for sheer taste and knowing how to play the rests as well as the notes!

It's a little hard to describe Hendrix properly nowadays. You see, back in the day when I was growing up in the 60s, guitarists simply didn't do that much with their instruments. They just strummed or picked or smasked them to pieces, and THAT was rock music. There were no real melodies, no real riffs, no real siginicance in their tenchnique. And then out of nowhere came Hendrix, doing the weirdest sh*t with his guitar. It was the Big Bang of rock music as we know it. Try listening to rock music  He made the guitar INTERESTING. He's been imitated over and over since then, so it's hard for yuoung people to understand what was happening, but suffice it to say, Hendrix did for guitars what Dylan did for lyrics. His sonic experiments represented, possibly, the greatest leap in the sound of rock that has ever been witnessed. He was, more than anybody else, a complete guitarist, in that his riffing, soloing, and noise-making abilities were practically untouchable. For all intents and purposes, it was as if Jimi didn't just play his guitar - he was a guitar. Everything, whether coaxing a strange noise from his axe, or playing with his teeth, or whatever, was like breathing or going to the bathroom for him.

Just pick up a rock record that came out before 1967 and you'll know what I'm talking about.

FuzzyDude wrote: It's a little hard to describe Hendrix properly nowadays. You see, back in the day when I was growing up in the 60s, guitarists simply didn't do that much with their instruments. They just strummed or picked or smasked them to pieces, and THAT was rock music. There were no real melodies, no real riffs, no real siginicance in their tenchnique. And then out of nowhere came Hendrix, doing the weirdest sh*t with his guitar. It was the Big Bang of rock music as we know it. Try listening to rock music  He made the guitar INTERESTING. He's been imitated over and over since then, so it's hard for yuoung people to understand what was happening, but suffice it to say, Hendrix did for guitars what Dylan did for lyrics. His sonic experiments represented, possibly, the greatest leap in the sound of rock that has ever been witnessed. He was, more than anybody else, a complete guitarist, in that his riffing, soloing, and noise-making abilities were practically untouchable. For all intents and purposes, it was as if Jimi didn't just play his guitar - he was a guitar. Everything, whether coaxing a strange noise from his axe, or playing with his teeth, or whatever, was like breathing or going to the bathroom for him. Just pick up a rock record that came out before 1967 and you'll know what I'm talking about.

I see.  Well that clears up a lot. 

Certif1ed wrote: Nice to see Steve Rothery so high on your list there, Greenie - but I think you're unnecessarily harsh on Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead), who develops some amazing sounds and does some really creative (and progressive ) things with his guitar. Because you don't like Radiohead, your marking of him just looks like sour grapes - not a reasonable technical evaluation at all.

maybe you are partly right, Cert, but i proceed with comparison, and, seriously, i have right now no worse guitarist names in my mind: they certainly exist, so that greenwood' ratings would slightly increase to 0.5/10; 1/10 in the best case.

DANIEL FICHELSCHER (on the right) from the german folk fusion popol Vuh is by far one of the most talented and original guitarist in prog music...better than Gilmour, Fripp and others

philippe wrote: AL DI MEOLA is also great and remains one of my favorite (technicaly speaking)

Right on! I forgot about this guy. On "The Wizard" Di Meola does some wicked speed picking.