Mr Keith Richards, purely for the fact that he is still alive, living the lifestyle. ?

Gotta say EVH, however unoriginal. It just happens to be true imo. In 1978, he changed everything.

Ultimate....not neccessarily your favourite ?
I hear EVH, I do,,,

The correct answer is probably Jimi Hendrix but,

Billy Gibbons must be the coolest Rock Maestro of them all.

What do you mean "maestro," Hammeron? As in zippiest player and all that? Can play 120 notes per second while chained up in a safe at the bottom of a lake kinda thing?

1 player to rule them all....period.
Dead or Alive >

No way, maybe if you could mix a couple of players and make one Uber Maestro.

I mean, I am such a James Hetfield fanboy it's actually sick, but at the same time I know Brian Setzer is far better...different styles yes, but you see where I'm going with this.

? no one can own that title of "ultimate"......... but as someone said personal favourite rock muso is possible..... then my personal favourite is steve vai

Jimmy Page

Hendrix might have got the whole supergod status thing going but Jimmy Page became the stadium hero and I am sure inspired a lot of rock bands without them really knowing.

I know you are all going to say that Led Zeppelin were not really rock, had bit's of folk etc. But Pages style, shirtless fondling of his LP and the double necked guitar just oozed Rock Maestro.

We are not worthy

Page a close second. EVH without a doubt for me though, clear as crystal. Ushered in the 'modern' era of rock music. Gave us shredding, gave us the modern guitar tone.

"Favourite" I'd probably also go with Vai, just gotta ignore all his showtunes and insistence on singing, which accounts for way more than 50% of his discography. ???

I don't think there are any better players than Vai. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to make a lot of actual music that you might want to listen to ?

One to rule them all from a rock god point of view

Robert Plant imho

the epitomy of a rock god with the mane of golden hair , damn good looks a voice to match and the self belief to strut it ...

from a guitar POV hendrix an EVH are unparraleled ....

Keira WitherKay wrote: ? no one can own that title of "ultimate".........

+1. Some players you can cite because they changed the game completely: Hendrix, EvH, Vai, etc. but then you have to look back to others who did the same in their day too - Hank Garland, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhard, etc.

Tops for me is Frank Zappa - not just a mean (and unusual) player but an incredibly skilled and innovative composer, engineer, social commentator, businessman, conductor, and filmmaker too. Not only did he march to his own drummer, but he wrote the drum parts for him too.

The closest I have found to Zappa in a modern player is Bumblefoot, who pushes the technical envelope as a player, but still composes good music that has many influences and lots of unusual musical nods of the head that can make me laugh. Mattias Eklundh gets an honorary mention for pushing the technique envelope.

Vai has always been a favourite because of his Zappa influence and the showmanship and compositional abilities. Not the fastest or most technical player by modern standards, and his innovativeness seems to have tapered off, but he's still far more musical than most.

Another player I love because of his unique approach to the instrument is Adrian Belew.

Since rock is just jumped up blues anyway I'd have to go with RJ.
All roads lead to him my friends.

BMU wrote: Page a close second. EVH without a doubt for me though, clear as crystal. Ushered in the 'modern' era of rock music. Gave us shredding, gave us the modern guitar tone.

I 2nd that

+1
Anyone that can make a plank AKA "Frankenstein" sound the way EVH did and to have that guitar replicated many years later, right down to the finest detail, deserves the title

Jack Flash Jr wrote: Since rock is just jumped up blues anyway I'd have to go with RJ.
All roads lead to him my friends.

Stole the words right outta my mouth!

WTF is an RJ?

Ohhh.. i sincerely hope not Robert Johnson. Gee, why not take it back to the first caveman to strike a musical note from another fellow's head? All music is just a step away from that right?

BMU wrote: WTF is an RJ?

Ohhh.. i sincerely hope not Robert Johnson. Gee, why not take it back to the first caveman to strike a musical note from another fellow's head? All music is just a step away from that right?

This leads nicely into a debate about the nature of "rock". Does it have to have overdriven guitars, big amps and lots of leather? Was Dylan rock? The Beatles? Can Metallica and Little Feat both be "rock"? What about Chuck Berry? Oh... he was "rock 'n roll". So where does "rock" start and "rock 'n roll" end? Gee.... what about Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I mean no guitars ? (well, not a lot). Can that be rock? Depeche Mode?

I suspect that often when people say "rock" they really mean "music featuring overdriven or distorted guitars played by people who wear mostly black clothes".