Name your top players....musicians not celebrities....

[SimonHirst]

I'm always interested in hearing who other people rate as their favourite players of various instruments so thought I'd goes straight to the horses' mouths' and ask. Just in a general sense. Obvioulsy different players suit different styles but if you were to do a general pick of your top guys/gals/guygals, go with that. Let's say just drums, bass, guitar and a vocalist Simple but effective.

Drums: John Bonham. He's a monster. I shouldn't need to say more....
Bass: Pino Palladino. Session type guy. Played bass for The Who after Entwistle died. Also plays with Steve Jordon and JM in the John Mayer trio.
Guitar: Michael Einziger from Incubus. Master of the guitar, effects and riffs/parts.
Singer: Bono. 1989-1993 version. The big ballsy voice from the 'Lovetown', and 'ZOOTV' tours. Before POP and all that

[rickenbackerkid]

Drums: JJ Johnson. Mean groove, keeps it simple.
Bass: Pino Palladino would have to be right up there.
Guitar: The Edge from U2. It’s like he doesn’t care about the art of playing guitar, or technique or anything. He just creates atmosphere like no other guitarist on earth. To all those who say he uses FX like a crutch, you are correct, and he does. nothing wrong with that.
I also love Stu G from various bands/session work, great player.
Singer: Kelly Jones from The Stereophonics. He sounds broken, in the best possible way.

[SixGunLover]

Only one of each is really, really hard.

Drums: I'll also go with Bonham, with Moon a close second because Bonham played more "for the song". Moon always sounded like he was just doing whatever the hell he pleased.
Bass: Flea - yes, he's derivative and probably overrated, but he's made some of my favorite bass lines of all time and will forever be the first player I think of when I think of bass guitar.
Guitar: This one is pretty much impossible. If I could only pick one, Slash. He has his own distinct voice, I love his playing style and sound, he's a fantastic songwriter, he's created some of the greatest solos of all time, and he's everything you need in a guitar hero.
Vocals: Again, near impossible. So many singers come to mind - I'll go with Freddie Mercury. He wasn't always "on" live and many others were technically better singers, but I can't think of anyone else whose voice I enjoy the sound of as much throughout their entire range. That era of Bono SiHirst mentioned was a massive influence on me too, though.

[Single coil]

Drums: Hellhammer (Mayhem, Arcturus, Dummiburger, amongst others),
Bass: The king crimson guy '69 - '74,
Guitar: Robert Fripp (King Crimson),
Keys: Rick Wakeman (Yes, solo also)
Synths n shit: The MGMT guys,
Vocals: Kristoffer Rygg (Arcturus, Borknagar, amongst others); Michael Kiske (Helloween '86 - '93).

[rickenbackerkid]

reading over my band list again, I think if you put them all together the band would probably suck.

[SimonHirst]

Only one of each is really, really hard.

Sooo hard. I found vocalist the toughest to be honest!

[SimonHirst]

reading over my band list again, I think if you put them all together the band would probably suck.

Same. Definitely about individuals for this thread though......... We'll make some shit bands of famous people at a later stage haha

[werdna]

Drums: Alex Van Halen
Guitar: Edward Van Halen
Bass: anyone who can play 8th notes on the root
Singer: the bastard son of Myles Kennedy and Paul Rodgers

[twistedthoughts]

Guitar: This one is pretty much impossible. If I could only pick one, Slash. He has his own distinct voice, I love his playing style and sound, he's a fantastic songwriter, he's created some of the greatest solos of all time, and he's everything you need in a guitar hero.

I think he has an era where he was all of those things. Unfortunately, and I say this as a pretty big Slash fan, I think that era is long gone.

All of the clever melodic things he used to do in GnR seem to have vanished now and I absolutely cringe when it comes to the guitar solos on his Slash albums of late. They all seem like such wasted opportunities. Instead of some well thought out melody with some added Slashy dirty bluesy licks, it's just widdly widdly bullshit.

I feel the same for Zakk too. Listen to Miracle Man and No More Tears and you will hear incredibly aggressive guitar work, but with some melody and a storyline. Listen to I Don't Wanna Stop and it's just like they copied and pasted one of Zakk's solo spots during an Ozzy show. Widdly widdly *yawn* widdly.

I think I've digressed enough now and can't remember the point of this post.

[Conway]

All so predictable so far...

Drums - anyone who can hold a beat
Bass - Steve Hanley (The Fall)
Guitar - John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie & the Banshees, PIL)
2nd Guitar - Will Sergeant - (Echo & the Bunnymen)
Vocals - Mark E Smith

[SixGunLover]

Guitar: This one is pretty much impossible. If I could only pick one, Slash. He has his own distinct voice, I love his playing style and sound, he's a fantastic songwriter, he's created some of the greatest solos of all time, and he's everything you need in a guitar hero.

I think he has an era where he was all of those things. Unfortunately, and I say this as a pretty big Slash fan, I think that era is long gone.

All of the clever melodic things he used to do in GnR seem to have vanished now and I absolutely cringe when it comes to the guitar solos on his Slash albums of late. They all seem like such wasted opportunities. Instead of some well thought out melody with some added Slashy dirty bluesy licks, it's just widdly widdly bullshit.

I feel the same for Zakk too. Listen to Miracle Man and No More Tears and you will hear incredibly aggressive guitar work, but with some melody and a storyline. Listen to I Don't Wanna Stop and it's just like they copied and pasted one of Zakk's solo spots during an Ozzy show. Widdly widdly *yawn* widdly.

I think I've digressed enough now and can't remember the point of this post.

I whole-heartedly agree - I guess in my mind I was thinking of the earlier Slash, as opposed to post GnR Slash (Contraband had its moments and I've enjoyed some riffs from his solo stuff but agree that the lead work has been largely forgettable).

[WellyBlues]

Let's make it real people...living musicians.

I've got lotsa love for a whole lot of dead musicians, and plenty of living ones but...

'if you are invited to play in a band going on a US tour in 6 months who else would you want in the band?'

I think the OP has asked a really interesting question, hopefully my variation makes it even more interesting.

Or Not

[Single coil]

"If you are invited to play in a band going on a US tour in 6 months who else would you want in the band?"

Rygg, Fripp, Dave Grohl on drums (and as much coffee as he damn well pleases), Mick Jones, and I guess I'll play bass this time around.

[rickenbackerkid]

Band to play with? I’d want TJ Hill from Future of Forestry on drums/glock/textures and sampling, Roy Mitchell-Cardenas from Mutemath on bass, synths, textures, My mate Sam Keall on violin/guitar and some unknown person on cello/more keys and me on vocals/guitar/keys. Everyone singing BV’s.

[Slowy]

Drums: Steve Gadd, Jason Bonham
Bass: Tony Levin, Leland Sklar
Keys: Richard Wright
Vocals: Robert Plant, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox