by Pablito on 17 Dec 2011 14:29
The legendary guitar rig designer Bob Bradshaw put it this way: The best guitar sound that I've heard was Jimi Hendrix's, the second was Andy Summers.
Well, if we consider who really invented a sound in the guitar history, Andy Summers is way up high in the list. To tell the story of the electric guitar one should put his name in the top ten of all time because of his tone and musical language and he's the number one as the most clever musician ever to play guitar in a Rock n' Roll band. The most deep musical knowledge in a popular music context. The Police have indeed the highest combination of originality and sophistication from the three members. Andy had the most copied sound in the studios around the world from late seventies through the eighties.
My historical list (in order of appearance in the big scene) would be:
Chuck Berry
Scotty Moore
George Harrison
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Frank Zappa
Pete Townshend
Jimmy Page
Keith Richards
Jeff Beck
Eddie Van Halen
Andy Summers.
One decade one guitar player it would be:
50's Chuck Berry
60's Jimi Hendrix
70's Jimmy Page
80's Andy Summers
So that's it to me. Andy can be number 4, number 12, but never 85.
Best wishes! Paulo.