Greatest Guitarist No One Knows About?

[MylesBAstor]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/li...moore-20111122

RIP Scotty.

[Bill Hart]

At first I didn't understand your headline given the "list" of such well known guitarists, but now realize you were aiming at Scotty Moore. He was certainly known to fans of early Elvis, just as James Burton is known for his work on later Elvie (In addition to appearing on Ozzie and Harriet as part of Ricky Nelson's band).

As to "best of" lists:

Hard to argue about Jimi at the top of the list, but to me, Clapton was interesting only during the period from Mayall through Layla; I didn't go through the whole list but would assume they had Roy Buchanan, Rory Gallagher, Mick Ronson, etc. (Buchanan gained fame as the Greatest Guitarist No One Knew Of only after his death; Gallagher was like the Irish Hendrix-his work with the band Taste is beautiful and his live performances of Bad Penny shows how much intensity he had as a hard rock guy; Mick Ronson- to me, Ziggy would have been a footnote if not for Ronson). There are also a lot of lesser known greats, Olly Halsall (best known for the Rutles, but his playing on the Patto albums is brilliant- he was also a vibraphonist, and had that touch tone technique on guitar as well), Bill Kirchen (who does a mean parody of all the "Kings"), Redd Volkaert (who played with Merle Haggard) and Danny Gatton (these three are known for being great Telecaster players), Johnny A (worth hearing- out of Boston, monster player who combines Wes Montgomery jazz licks with distorted rock leads). There are so many--Chris Spedding, Link Wray, Bert Jansch, Richard Thompson. Duane Allman even before the Allman Bros was a monster- Loan Me a Dime- his session track with Boz Scaggs- has two amazing solos. And Dicky Betts was no slouch either.

[Analog21]

His fingerprints are all over Elvis' music. His twangy yet rocky riffs/solos.. I listen to the early Elvis stuff just as much for the guitar riffs and solos as for Elvis' vocals. That's Alright Mama, Jailhouse Rock, Houndog... Scotty really shines and was a perfect match with Elvis.

[mkuller]

I just finished reading the (long and tedious) biography of Sam Phillips of Sun Records. He discovered Scotty Moore (with bill Black) and got him together with Elvis. Scotty went on to do much more than just back The King.

[cpp]

A very well known guitarist to those that actually play the guitar, not to mention a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and number 29 on all time greatest guitarist.

Everyone else wanted to be Elvis," Keith Richards said. "I wanted to be Scotty."