Fripp still kicks ass. Saw him with King Crimson last summer in NYC.

Aleksandar Živojinović FTW

Not sure what order that was in, but no Adrian Belew?

Fripp, Howe, Belew all belong at the top of the list. I'm a huge Gilmour fan, but it seems like he stopped innovating some time i the late 80s. Manzanera (Roxy Music) might also make my list.

God save the King/Queen?

You feel the music in your pelvis and then you start to dance?

prog

most unsurprising list ever.

WTF? David Gilmour? Yes, the man is in my top 5 guitarists, and I will always love Pink Floyd, but lumping them in with prog if you actually know anything about prog rock besides what Rolling Stone might have said is ridiculous. And I'm sorry, bad ass though he may be, Gilmour is fundamentally a blues guitarist, that is, has been, and always will be his domain. Don't even lump him in with a guy like Robert Fripp.

Alex Lifeson!! YES!

to this day it is King Krimson that comes off the least dated and the most avant-garde sounding of all these bands (pink floyd excluded, GIlmour in that list is a little odd)



in retrospect, I feel justified in giving my roommate a world of shiat for being a ELP fan, many years back

The only Yes song I like is 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'

/ducks

TeddyBallGame: Aleksandar Živojinović FTW

I can't like him. He has a funny name.

VERY happy to see Petrucci in this list...

Lifeson might not be the best Prog-Rock guitarist, but he is certainly the most talented on that list

That's a hilarious pic of Fripp there, that is.

Anybody have a copy of "The Last of the Great New York Heartthrobs"?? Can I get a copy?

TeddyBallGame: Aleksandar Živojinović FTW

Niiiiice! Even got the phonetic marks in place :D

/waits for someone to not get who it is

All those bands suck. Except Pink Floyd, and I didn't like the guitarist all that much.

Steve Howe for the win

they forgot to mention the rockabilly style solo on all good people

also the guitar work on the yesssongs versions of perpetual change , yours is no disgrace , and star ship trooper - farking brilliant breath taking work ...

NakedReporta: That's a hilarious pic of Fripp there, that is.

The long-haired Fripp is strange, but even stranger is when you see a pic of Fripp standing while playing.

Robert Fripp. Steve Hackett and David Gilmour: Top 10 prog rock guitarists

Fixed. Since, as we all know, prog rock is just rock done better.

MmmBadEggs: The long-haired Fripp is strange, but even stranger is when you see a pic of Fripp standing while playing.

True... he's not sitting on a stool, and he's actually visible. I don't know if I've ever seen him on stage when he's not in shadow (not counting when he's walking over to the stool).

One of my favorite parts of recent Crimson shows has been the hour-long Soundscapes before the show. And that's both for the musical content, and the fact that Fripp will leave the stage with about 10 minutes to go, and the music just keeps playing unattended.

Best part of the last show for me... they played Walking on Air. That was my first dance song at my wedding reception.

Dumb article, they didn't even mention Greg Lake's finest moment on guitar, The Sage. The middle section is hard to play well, some great fingerpicking and chordal work there.

Hilarious picture of Robert Fripp. Listened to the expanded USA the other night, he just kills on that album, especially on the incredible Asbury Park. Cross, Fripp, Wetton and Bruford FTW.

Shouldn't Steve Hackett be a sub-section of "Robert Fripp", considering he stole his look, stage setup and style from him wholesale?

Dream Theater *shudder*

The top of the article mentions bands that are keeping Prog rock alive, and the list is about great guitarists. Im not denying that Gilmour isn't a great guitarist but he is not a great guitarist dedicated to prog rock. The band and guitarists that are missing?

Coheed and Cambria.

Henry Holland: Shouldn't Steve Hackett be a sub-section of "Robert Fripp", considering he stole his look, stage setup and style from him wholesale?

Everybody stole from Crimson. Besides, it was Derek Smalls who stole his look from Steve Hackett. Check this out:





I rest my case.

I didn't know Liam Neeson was in Focus.

/Neal Morse.

sorry, Derek Smalls took his look from the bassist for Saxxon, he even toured with them for a little while to get the right look...

As lists go, this is a very good one. You really can't go wrong listening to any of these guys.

Henry Holland: Dream Theater - shudder? Your loss, not ours. Petrucci is as good as it gets, and quite frankly, if it weren't for Dream Theater virtually holding a lone torch for intelligent metal in the early 90s and building the loyal fanbase that they did, prog rock might be dead as a doorknob today.

Hey, Akkerman is getting some love. Three yodels to that!

for fark's sake....
yes David Gilmour is a freakin great guitarist,
but
he is not a *progressive rock* guitarist.
Pink Floyd was not progressive rock.
[ i think they even shy'd away from that term in the 70's]

hell, wasn't it Fripp who did not identify King Crimson with Progressive Rock? ie. around "Red" time? he didn't want to be identified with the dinosaur bands?

but then again, prog. rock is kind of a loose term that gets thrown around a lot for slightly undeserving bands:
like:
Badger
Pavlov's Dog
Asia

Great to see Barre from Tull getting some love in the article.
truly underrated / barely mentioned elsewhere.

Huh. i never knew Peter Banks was in Flash....
guess i learn something new everyday.

I'd like to see Steve Wilson on this list.. but on the other hand, I can understand why he isn't there, given the company.

More like "Ten guitarists from the only prog bands the author knows."

Obvious list is obvious.

prog rock is for balding, mustached republicans.

I think two are missing: Steve Hillage and Ollie Halsall. You'd need to bend the "prog" description, but Hillage did some real spacey stuff as a solo and with Gong and Halsall was just out there with his work with Patto, Tempest and Kevin Ayers. He even sang the Eric Idle parts in the Rutles and appears for three seconds as Leppo. Rumor has it that Halsall did a record with Fripp in '74 or so as Ollie and the Blue Traffs (pun included) which has never seen the light of day.

Not An Alt: prog rock is for balding, mustached republicans.

Screw you, I shave.

kab: I'd like to see Steve Wilson on this list.. but on the other hand, I can understand why he isn't there, given the company.

His solo album, Insurgentes, comes out next week. I'm hearing good buzz.

GypsyJoker: More like "Ten guitarists from the only prog bands the author knows."

Obvious list is obvious.

Serious. No Fred Frith, no respect.

HappyHarryHardOn: to this day it is King Krimson

And to think one of their current drummers first came to wide public attention with this band (pops)

Patterson: GypsyJoker: More like "Ten guitarists from the only prog bands the author knows."

Obvious list is obvious.

Serious. No Fred Frith, no respect.

No lie.

Holdsworth, Manzanera, Phil Miller, Bill Nelson, Frank Zappa....

Bunch a goddamn hippies.

I don't know about "progressive", but where is Steve Morse?

Third_Uncle_Eno: Great to see Barre from Tull getting some love in the article.
truly underrated / barely mentioned elsewhere.

Dude does have a great sense of time and melody, too bad he seems to be slipping into obscurity. I was listening to Aqualung and Benefit the other day.

kab: I'd like to see Steve Wilson on this list.. but on the other hand, I can understand why he isn't there, given the company.

Wilson should get a nod not only for his playing, but his abilities as a songwriter and band leader. In Absentia stayed in my CD player for ages.

I am willing to endure the stigma of being an ELP fan, but Greg Lake shouldn't be on that list.

Oooh, great, another list with vapor definitions.


What, exactly, is the definition of "prog"?
1 - Odd time signatures?
2 - Spacey lyrics?
3 - "Classical" influence (aka "non-blues based rock")?
4 - Way too many keyboards
5 - Way too many overdubs?
6 - Having more bong hits smoked during listenings than any other kind of music?
7 - Extremely long songs and/or concept albums?

Is someone arguing that King Crimson isn't a definitive prog example? They qualify on 1, 2, 3, and 6.

I'm not real sure how David Gilmour, being THE guitarist for Floyd would NOT be a prog guitarist? They qualify on 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Rush (and Alex Lifeson) demonstrate that you do not have to have great chops or musicianship to make the list. They were prog - he was not a great guitarist.

Seriously, the omissions are glaring.

Belew should be on the list (see "Fripp").
Manzanera should be on the list (for 801 and solo work).
Carlos Alomar
Fred Frith
Steve Hillage
Henry Kaiser
Sound Tribe S9
Charming Hostess / SleepyTime Gorilla Museum
Nine Wood
Golden Palominos

I might even throw in David Byrne/Brian Eno - note that Brian Eno is at the center of much "prog" (Manzanera, Belew, Fripp, U2 (who get pretty sick guitar tones in a pop world) etc.)

A few other criteria on prog guitarists:

A - More than 5 pedals in the pedalboard in 1975, 15 in 1985, 20 in 1995, 25 in 2005, 20% of which are distortions that are on at the same time, at least one of which has never been heard of by anyone else on the face of the planet.
Asub - A pedalboard routing schematic that requires a PhD in electrical engineering.
B - Keeps the company of prog musicians.
C - Uses an ebow or holds a note for longer than a minute.
D - Tries to sound like anything other than a guitar (synth, birds, planes, rhinos, drums, vocalist)
E - uses more than one guitar in a song (either through a "guitar on a stick" or pedal steel or roadie throwing out another guitar during the non-guitar part)



Nelson qualifies on A, B, D
Steve Morse (and Steve Vai, Frank Zappa, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck etc.) probably are disqualifed because of D.
Daniel Lanois qualifies on A, B, C, D

I mean, if we codify, this could get fun.

GypsyJoker: Patterson: GypsyJoker: More like "Ten guitarists from the only prog bands the author knows."

Obvious list is obvious.

Serious. No Fred Frith, no respect.

No lie.

Holdsworth, Manzanera, Phil Miller, Bill Nelson, Frank Zappa....

Well, I WAS going to bring up Holdsworth, but he's questionably prog (progressive jazz fusion methinks) and besides, he's the best player ever, bar none. I thought his inclusion would be just unfair.

Phil Miller is comically underrated. I fell in love with his style that fit in so perfectly with Hatfield and The North. He's the guitar equivalent of Dave Stewert's keyboard tone.

Also, why is Rush prog again? Don't even get me started on Dream Theatre.

WookieBopShuffle: A - More than 5 pedals in the pedalboard in 1975, 15 in 1985, 20 in 1995, 25 in 2005, 20% of which are distortions that are on at the same time, at least one of which has never been heard of by anyone else on the face of the planet.
Asub - A pedalboard routing schematic that requires a PhD in electrical engineering.
B - Keeps the company of prog musicians.
C - Uses an ebow or holds a note for longer than a minute.
D - Tries to sound like anything other than a guitar (synth, birds, planes, rhinos, drums, vocalist)
E - uses more than one guitar in a song (either through a "guitar on a stick" or pedal steel or roadie throwing out another guitar during the non-guitar part)

F - Never, but NEVER, makes quasi-orgasmic "Lookit me - I'm RAWKING OUT" faces on stage. Keyboard players might not display any facial expression at all (cf. Banks, Tony).

Gulper Eel: Never, but NEVER, makes quasi-orgasmic "Lookit me - I'm RAWKING OUT" faces on stage.

Have you ever seen Steve Howe play? (new window)

Patterson:
Well, I WAS going to bring up Holdsworth, but he's questionably prog (progressive jazz fusion methinks) and besides, he's the best player ever, bar none. I thought his inclusion would be just unfair.

Agreed. He belongs in the jazz fusion vein, where he still blows everyone away, which is saying something.

Also, why is Rush prog again? Don't even get me started on Dream Theatre.

Because they're "prog"ressive? They're certainly not mainstream. And Dream Theater is most definitely not mainstream. For crying out loud, they released a compilation album with one of the funniest titles evar: "Greatest Hit (...and 21 other pretty cool songs)". If you wouldn't call them progressive, I don't know who you could.

oh wow.
i can't believe i totally forgot about Steve Hillage.
he was good in Gong, and even better on his first couple of solo albums!!!!

Fender bender's unwelcome