What makes a great guitar player?

Needs to have long hair, a little bit of eye liner, and can play power chords.

hehe jk. Pretty much exactly what you said. When someone can literally speak through their instrument rather than just “play it”, that’s a true level of greatness to me, to where it connects with the player’s emotions as well as the listener’s. And that can be at many different levels, from technical abilities right down to simple note choices. The whole works.

Someone who comes up with just nasty sounding riffs… seems like everyone can solo, but its the riffs that sell the song… Doesnt have to be technical, just sound good to me…

I’ going to go a little deeper than you guys and say:

A great guitar player plays the things you like.

One way or another it will resolve to that.

To me, a good guitar player/musician is someone who is able to play anything and everything and be able to say something meaningful with it.

And they must also be unique in their sound and playing style. Whenever I listen to a new up and coming guitar player I always ask myself “What does he do that sets him apart from everyone else?”

Ok, I´ll agree with those stuff what Sean has said, but also for me the true level of mastery is when the guitarist is capable for one-man-show. That means when he sings and play at the same time, and he´s always on the same (highest) level. That is the sort of balance wich only masters can get it right.

For example; John Fogerty

For me, this kind of performace is amazing – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slJKIXQgnwI

There’s been some really great stuff said in this thread, and instead of quote and agreeing with people, I’ll just write my mind and know that I probably agree in part to everyone here.

I think a big problem with this topic (in general, not here in particular or anything) is our understanding of terms.

Player – Someone who plays guitar
Musician – Someone who takes an instrument seriously
Composer – Someone who write music

Now, we’re talking about players, people who play guitar. What makes them great? Some might see it as being a great “musician” and those definitions are definately all over the map as to what should make a musician great.

Now, composing is tricky too though. Sometimes people say things like “wow, they have really good composition, but something is still missing” showing that there’s more than just having the right notes with good timing.

But here’s something to chew on:

Mozart is wide regarded and accepted as the best composer to ever set food on God’s green earth. His communication, skill, and tonality were beyond amazing and still unrivaled. But he wasn’t a beyond amazing musician… Paganini for example was a much more talented musician, and only really started getting into composing because nobody at the time was writing anything complex enough for his liking. He was a “shredder” of his day. Everything was too simple, so he started writing overly complex music and went down in histroy with the greats, and is works are still highly emulated by guitarists and even pianists.

So how much of a “player” needs to be an amazing musician and composer relatively? I personally think one of the most important factors is what impact do they leave on people’s lives? If they’re REALLY communicating well with thier instrument then it will have an affect on people. So it’s also important that they be with the times, and understand their audience and generation.

For me what it all comes down to that makes a “player” great is what they can do that nobody else can do. Eddie Van Halen. Nobody can sound like him. I’ve heard some good emulators, but there’s still something missing. This wasn’t truly confirmed to me till I got to see him live a couple months ago. His tone isn’t in the amp, it’s in the hands and it’s truly increadible. I don’t think he’s a great composer at all. He’s not even the most “skillful” musician, but he owns that instrument. He has zero fear of playing and no fear of being in front of people playing and it shows. His command of those strings is unique to himself and he created a whole generation of players trying to sound like him.

We also have other players that by my definition are great, but for wholey different reasons.

Hendrix. Even less skilled than EVH I think. Watch what few videos we have of him playing live. He’s not that amazing on the fretboard. But that doesn’t making him any less great. Like EVH he owns the instrument like he owns parts of his body. It’s so close to just be an extension of him. His music was revolutionary too, so his composition is worthy of notice. Like EVH he had a sound that’s hard to emulate and is easily reconizable by many millions of people.

So I look for those players that I can say “Oh, that’s [so and so]” without knowing the song at all. Who’s got the unique voice out there? Who’s doing new things?

A small list of the first people that come to MY mind (that doesn’t mean this is a comprehensive list, just should show that I think about these players often)

Phil Keaggy
Buckethead
Petrucci
Zakk Wylde
The Edge (I don’t care what people say about him being a delay monkey, I can STILL reconize any new U2 song by HIM before bono starts singing)
Satriani
Vai
Tom Morello

There’s others of course. Many other players I really respect. So I’m sorry if your favorite didn’t make my tiny, pathetic little list. But hopefully you’ve begun to grasp the way I think about it. It’s not a simple calculation that makes me call a guitarists great, but there’s certainly notable factors that DO play a role that ARE somewhat calculatable. It’s not all mystic and about undefinable factors, though the outcome can seem that way.