50 Greatest Tones

Jack-Flash-Jr

From Guitarist 2008, not sure what the "rules" were (comments after number one!)

#50 Charlie Christian - Flying Home
Original Guitar Hero (1939)

#49 Noel Gallagher - Slide Away
Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)

#48 Chuck Berry - Maybellene
Greatest Hits (1955)

#47 Ry Cooder - Sister Morphine
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (1971)

#46 Link Wray - Rumble
The Original Rumble (1958)

#45 Dick Dale - Misirlou
Surfers’ Choice (1962)

#44 Larry Carlton - It Was Only Yesterday
Larry Carlton (1978)

#43 James Williamson - Search And Destroy
The Stooges (1973)

#42 James Hetfield - Orion
Master Of Puppets (1986)

#41 Chet Atkins - Mr Sandman
(1955, TV show)

#40 Dave Davies - You Really Got Me
Kinks (1964)

#39 Brad Paisley - Me Neither
Who Needs Pictures (2001)

#38 Carlos Santana - Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
Abraxas (1970)

#37 Randy Rhoads - Suicide Solution
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz (1980)

#36 Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn
(1960)

#35 Tom Morello - Killing In The Name
Rage Against The Machine (1993)

#34 Eric Johnson - Cliffs Of Dover
Ah Via Musicom (1990)

#33 Gary Moore - Still In Love With You
Thin Lizzy - Nightlife (1974)

#32 Wes Montgomery - D-Natural Blues
The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery (1960)

#31 Rory Gallagher - Walk On Hot Coals
Irish Tour (1974)

#30 Joe Satriani - Ice 9
Surfing With The Alien (1987)

#29 Steve Vai - Touching Tongues
Sex & Religion (1993)

#28 Matt Bellamy - Plug In Baby
Muse - Origin Of Symmetry (2001)

#27 Robben Ford - Talk To Your Daughter
Talk To Your Daughter (1988)

#26 Pete Townshend - Pinball Wizard
The Who - Tommy (1969)

#25 Johnny Marr - How Soon Is Now?
The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (1984)

#24 Keith Richards - (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
The Rolling Stones - Out Of Our Heads (1965)

#23 Kurt Cobain - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
Live on The Word in 1991

#22 Tony Iommi - Iron Man
Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)

#21 The Edge - Bad
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

#20 Mark Knopfler - Money For Nothing
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (1985)

#19 Jeff Beck - Where Were You
Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop (1989)

#18 Paul Kossoff - My Brother Jake
Free - Highway (1970)

#17 BB King - When Love Comes To Town
U2 - Rattle And Hum (1988)

#16 Scotty Moore - Hound Dog
Elvis Presley - Greatest Jukebox Hits (1956)

#15 Jimmy Page - Whole Lotta Love
Led Zeppelin II (1969)

#14 Peter Green - Stop Messin’ Around
Fleetwood Mac - Mr Wonderful (1968)

#13 George Harrison - Something
The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

#12 Ritchie Blackmore - Long Live Rock ’N’ Roll
Rainbow - Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll (1978)

#11 Billy Gibbons - Gimme All Your Lovin’
ZZ Top - Eliminator (1983)

#10 Eric Clapton - I Feel Free
Fresh Cream (1966)

#9 Jack White - Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)

#8 Angus Young - Highway To Hell
AC/DC - Highway To Hell (1979)

#7 Hank Marvin - Wonderful Land
The Shadows Are Go (1962)

#6 Slash - Welcome To The Jungle
Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)

#5 Stevie Ray Vaughan
Couldn’t Stand The Weather, Couldn’t Stand The Weather (1984)

#4 Brian May - Play The Game
Queen - The Game (1980)

#3 Eddie Van Halen - Sinner’s Swing
Van Halen - Fair Warning (1981)

#2 Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Electric Ladyland (1968)

#1 David Gilmour - Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

OK, Voodo Chile (Slight Return) is by far my favourite tone ever captured but I'm surprise Ry Cooder on Sister Morphine isn't higher up! I also think the cranked up acoustic on Jumpin' Jack Flash is a nicer if not as historic a tone as Satisfaction. Puzzling inclusion: Ritchie Blackmore. Link Ray and Ray Davies should also be higher up for my money. Who's missing of my favourites? A lot but it's criminal leaving off Marc Ford (The Black Crowes, everything on Amorica).

singemonkey

Jeez. I think the only ones I actually like are P. Green's Stop Messin' Around, and AC/DC's Highway to Hell.

There's Kurt again :?

MikeM

There were about 10 that I agreed with (More or less) but don't know most of them..

[deleted]

Bah!

/curmudgeon

vic

I'm not surprised that George Harrison's Something (13) and Hank Marvin's Wonderful Land (7) are there...both defining sounds imho. Even today is difficult to nail.

Warren

I prefer Knopler's "Sultans" tone to "Money for Nothing".

Love Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" tone, but I guess that's a bit cliched ?

Also love Wes Montgomery's tone.

I know SRV's "CSTW" tone is popular, but I prefer "Texas Flood."

Bob-Dubery

Warren wrote: I prefer Knopler's "Sultans" tone to "Money for Nothing".

Agreed. He had great tone on that album, and the tone was appropriate to what he was playing.

I'm glad to see Cream-era EC on that list. When he was with Cream he was notable not only for the precision and passion of his playing but also, IMO, for a great sound.

singemonkey

X-rated Bob wrote: I'm glad to see Cream-era EC on that list. When he was with Cream he was notable not only for the precision and passion of his playing but also, IMO, for a great sound.

Sometimes. But occasionally he got a bit thin, or lost all the dynamics in a fuzz pedal. For me EC's tone was perfect with the Marshall JTM45 combo and the 1960 LP Standard. But I do love his tone on Sunshine of your Love, Outside Woman Blues, and the wah sounds on White Room and Tales of Brave Ulysses. There was a guy who knew what a wah pedal was for.

DonovanB

There's no John Mayer - Something's Missing. (Heavier Things) Or even Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (Continuum) so this list is rot to me....

Others missing for me are;
Neal Schon - Don't Stop believing
Tom Scholz with Boston - Don't look back

actually the more I look for it, you can't pinpoint a perfect tone, unless it is accompanied by the perfect riff. Think of Jonny Buckland form Coldplay, he gets some amazing tone, but if he were to try play "Back In Black" with the tone from "God put a Smile Upon your Face" it would suck.

Squonk

Quite a strange Blackmore tone to include.

I actually enjoyed the sound he got before the Mark II Deep Purple.

The cover of "Hush" from the first Album had some great tone!

"When a blind man cries" , I also used to enjoy long years ago, doesn't sound as good now though.

vic

First time I heard a wah in action was in "Pictures of Matchstick men",late '67...? (Status Quo)....(remember/heard that one ? ? )..was this weird but exciting sound.

Squonk

vic wrote: First time I heard a wah in action was in "Pictures of Matchstick men",late '67...? (Status Quo)....(remember/heard that one ? ? )..was this weird but exciting sound.

I enjoyed "Pictures of Matchstick men", what a great memory Vic ?

Speaking of WAH, Jimi's solo in 'All along the Watchtower" used to give me goosebumps

Warren

Donovan Banks wrote: There's no John Mayer - Something's Missing. (Heavier Things) Or even Slow Dancing in a Burning Room (Continuum) so this list is rot to me....

Hell yeah. Gravity and Slow Dancing in a Burning Room have absolutely wonderful tone. Great stuff! ?

I love the double-stop playing on Slow Dancing. The live version is particularly awesome.

Bob-Dubery

Jerry Donohue on Joan Armatrading's "Tall In The Saddle".

One of those cases where the tone is not just great but great for that solo.

I liked Beck's tone on the original release of "'Cos We Ended As Lovers" on the "Blow By Blow" album.

Warren

X-rated Bob wrote: I liked Beck's tone on the original release of "'Cos We Ended As Lovers" on the "Blow By Blow" album.

I've only heard a live version of that on the Crossroads 2007 concert DVD. Pretty cool. Had Tal Wilkenfel playing bass with him too ? In fact, that DVD has stacks of awesome tone, featuring plenty of great players. Susan Tedeschi plays a great version of "Little by Little", featuring some really hot little licks. Not sure what guitar she's playing though.

Other tones: Joe Bonamassa has some great singing blues tone on Sloe Gin and Black Night.

Bob-Dubery

Warren wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote: I liked Beck's tone on the original release of "'Cos We Ended As Lovers" on the "Blow By Blow" album.
I've only heard a live version of that on the Crossroads 2007 concert DVD. Pretty cool. Had Tal Wilkenfel playing bass with him too ? In fact, that DVD has stacks of awesome tone, featuring plenty of great players. Susan Tedeschi plays a great version of "Little by Little", featuring some really hot little licks. Not sure what guitar she's playing though.

On the album he played a telecaster fitted with PAFs. The live versions that I have seen have not nailed the same tone. WHich is understandable.

Blow by Blow was engineered by Geoff Emerick who IMO is one of the engineering greats.

chris77

My favourite Knopfler tone is his mournfull tone on Brothers in Arms. Favourite
Clapton tone is Fathers Eyes. Tone really is rather subjective, isn't it. ?

Renesongs

If you own a multi FX pedal and you go on to the a patch exchange site you will see a lightly different picture some of the most popular tones I have noticed are:
Dire Staights - Sultans of Swing
Eric Clapton's "Woman tone"
Steve Vai - For The Love of God
Pink Floyd - Comfortably numb"
SRV - Pride and Joy or Lenny
Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing or Voodoo Chile
Hank Marvin - Apache
Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dream

stu

Killing in the name is from 1992 not 1993. Just something I noticed there. Must be a typo.
I not sure about the rest of you but I think the solo in that song is stupid. Actually just about all of Morello solos are stupid especially 'Show me how to live' from when he was in Audioslave. However I really liked his solo in 'your time has come' (also Audioslave).

DonovanB

stu his solo's were les about widdly wee and more about creative sounds. some people want to push the boundaries of what a guitar can do more than what they can do with a guitar