Who's the best? Who cares??

​Guitarists are a funny lot, taken as a group. "Civilians" i.e., our spouses and friends will agree; my wife sure does. We tend to be VERY opinionated on just about everything music-related and even more so (if that's even possible!) when it comes subjects like: What is the best guitar? Is learning a song note-perfect really necessary or even worth the time and effort? But nothing comes close to the real biggie: Who is the "best" guitarist? After a while most guitarists realize there are way too many variables to answer that question definitively but it still gets asked.
 
That's only natural. Take sports, for example. It's easy to drown in an ocean of statistics. It's a great way to back up one's argument because most statistics in sports are beyond dispute. How those statistics are interpreted, that's where things get sticky. Music is a totally different beast. Sure, there are statistics like how many recordings are sold by a particular artist or how many times a song has been downloaded or streamed; how many weeks a song is popular based on those metrics, how many times it's been covered by other artists. Pre-orders of soon to be released recordings, selling out huge concert venues, appearances on TV. To an avid fan who is not a musician it would be natural to draw a line between popularity and expertise.
 
Is that fair, or even correct? From where I sit I must answer with a resounding NO. Last March and April I volunteered at a wonderful place, Fogartyville Community Media and Art Center in Sarasota, Florida. I will put in a link below and if you are going to be in the Sarasota area and are interested in learning more about this wonderful place I promise you will be impressed. I mostly checked in audience members and showed them to their seats at evening shows. The experience was all I'd hoped it would be and then some! The folks who run Fogartyville are warm and friendly; the place is truly a treasure. I'll most likely do it again this coming March and April, if they'll have me back  ;~)
https://wslr.org/fogartyville/
The music I heard there was incredibly good, played by touring musicians and locals who were passionate about putting their craft in front of an audience. As you would imagine I was mostly listening to and watching the guitarists and wow, did I hear some good ones! Applying some metric about how well known they were relative to the quality of their playing would have been downright silly. Sure, most of them would probably like being more widely known and that was certainly one reason they were on the road.

But I would venture a bigger reason is something that non-musicians might not understand. For most professional musicians, putting yourself out there is really the only way to truly test yourself or put another way, determine just how "good" you really are.
 
We can practice diligently in the safety of our homes and there are ways to measure our progress. I encourage my students to use the memo app on their phones to make short recordings of what they are currently working on and save them in a file. BUT....do NOT listen to them! Wait at least a couple months, maybe more, then give them a good listen. In most cases you will hear some measure of improvement and regardless if that improvement is substantial or small you have a legit reason to pat yourself on the back. And no matter how much we may want to deny it, there are times when a good pat is just what we need.

Another quantitative way to measure our progress is using a metronome. For the last few years I've been urging all my students to use one. A metronome clicks and/or flashes and is set by selecting a beats-per-minute setting. Start slowly - considerably slower than what you hope the finished product will be. Fifty or even 40 beats per minute is a good place to start. Important: do NOT turn it on and just start playing in hopes of connecting with the beat, which is much more difficult than it may sound. Let the thing click away and begin counting sequences of beats. You'll most likely be in 4/4 time (4 beats per measure) and you will want to try sequences of three beats if the music is in 3/4. Count at least two measures before diving in. If you've never used a metronome before there will be moments when you want to throw the thing at the nearest wall. But with a bit of practice you'll get the hang of it. Beyond the fact that practicing with one will make you a better player if you want to play with others there is a more important benefit: You now have a solid way to measure your progress. Starting slow but after a practice session or two when you feel confident you can "lock in" at that slow beat, start increasing the speed gradually, something along the lines of just two to five bpm. Just like doing those recordings and listening to them much later you have a solid way to judge your progress.
 
But getting back to The Big Question: Who is the best player? I will give you my thoughts on that and I fully expect there will be those who disagree. A better question is: Which player makes me go - wow, I sure would like to be able to play like that!  In the jazz world my favorite player is Martin Taylor (best guitar name ever!) who is generally considered to be the best finger-style jazz player on the planet. In blues, Keb' 'Mo is by far my favorite player. Keb can play any blues style and does it with grace and class and passion, plus he is a great singer. Among modern steel string acoustic players the late, great Tony Rice has been my favorite for decades and while there are many younger players who have learned that style very well (Billy Strings being the current champion) I will always admire Tony because he was the first to bring elements of jazz into the bluegrass realm along with the great David Grisman on mandolin. I don't really have a favorite among finger-style acoustic guitarists, which is strange as that style is what I mostly play.
 
On the other side of the coin.....Although he certainly has monster chops, Tommy Emmanuel is just a bit too over-the-top for me with his percussive style that sometimes seems like he's challenging his guitar to stay in one piece as he wails away on it. But I can see his appeal, especially to younger players who impressed by flashy playing. In the world of electric blues, Joe Bonamassa pretty much reigns supreme these days but to me he subscribes to the same rule book as Tommy E. in that he would much prefer to play a hundred fast notes where some might feel (me) that half as many played with deep feeling and phrasing might serve him better. I felt the same about the late Stevie Ray Vaughn. Repeating, though - I don't doubt for a second any of those guys have massive talent.
 
So.....see what I mean? Answering the question of who's the "best" I will leave to others. One thing is for certain. Bringing up that question among guitarists will surely spark some lively conversations!
 
Peace & good music,
Gene