Favorite minimalist Guitarist

[Riffi]

The Edge?

Minimalist in playing, in gear….

 

[Spider Mark]

Neil Finn

 

[plektrum]

Russell Lissack (Bloc Party)

 

[Shelldigger]

Nobody said Steve Miller yet?

 

[theanthonyv]

My smart-a$$ answer would be John Mayer. He’s more successful than anyone else at playing the minimal amount of stuff that I enjoy.

But I digress…

I’ll go with David Hidalgo or Derek O’Brien. They both have instrumental mastery but elect to play with tone, touch, phrasing and musicality rather than try to ‘wow’ people with skill or beat them on the head with self-serving material.

 

[MSW]

What do you mean by minimalist? To me, that means someone who uses the fewest notes possible to get an idea across. People like Greg and Stephen from Sunn O))), or Vinni Rielly from Durutti Column, or Alan Sparhawk from Low. Certainly not shredders like Eddie Van Halen or black magic wizards like Richard Thompson.

 

[Ggroove]

Josh from JHS Pedals.

 

[Psychedaleic]

Tom petty
Johnny Ramone
Lou Reed
Franché Coma
Joe Strummer
John Denver
Jonny Cash
Buck Owens
Kurt kobain
Etc

All pretty basic but solid

 

[blong]

I like Yngwie and Al DiMeola...
Kidding, of course.

The Edge. And whoever plays guitar in The Smiths. And Billy Duffy.

Bob

 

[misterturtlehead]

(check out the various Twin Peaks Soundtracks with Badalamenti)

I don't know if he played on all of them. But Vinnie Bell played guitar and six string bass on the first Twin Peaks soundtrack and on Julee Cruise's record Floating Into The Night.

 

[Jarick]

First one that came to mind was Peter Buck from R.E.M. There's so many great little guitar phrases that aren't very complex or flashy but really add a ton to the songs. Driver 8, The One I Love, the slide guitar on Man In the Moon, his textures on Monster. Great stuff.

Totally agree on Mike Campbell, same school. Not typically a lot of flash, sure he took some solos, but a lot of time it was just simple phrases. Breakdown is a prime example.

So many of the 80's alternative bands that crossed into pop could belong here. The Smiths, The Pretenders, Tears for Fears, etc. Or even listen to the session guys who were laying down tracks in the background of pop songs all over the place. Really great examples of maximum impact with minimal notes.

Of course punk rock can be a prime example too, the whole genre is based on deconstruction, and I think that's a big part of the minimalist approach that influenced the new wave bands that shaped rock and pop in the 80's.

 

[X Ray]

A recent article about one of the greatest who helped define a new sound

‘Invention, grace and bloodlust ballet’: post-punk guitarist John McGeoch

McGeoch sent a jolt through the scene with Magazine, Siouxsie Sioux and more. Johnny Marr, James Dean Bradfield and others salute an overlooked musician

www.theguardian.com

 

[Vishnu]

Dude from Radioheid........by a country mile

 

[zygoat]

Don't know if it's been said yet - Ian and Guy from Fugazi. Super interesting guitar parts, basically zero effects used and guitar rigs virtually unchanged during the band's history.

 

[MGT]

Peter Stroud (plays with Sheryl Crow & others)

 

[daveg777]

Elliot Easton of The Cars. Just the right amount of the right notes, never too much. Economic musical perfection.

My very first thought

 

[dohootowl]

Elliot Easton of The Cars. Just the right amount of the right notes, never too much. Economic musical perfection.

I certainly don't think of him as minimalist. Maybe I'm incorrectly defining the term? To me, it would be something that can be easily duplicated but yet is original and makes a statement. There's a ton of Easton's work that I couldn't duplicate! Just a beautiful artist. I'm sitting here thinking of "Touch and Go" at the moment.

 

[GibsonMarshallguy41]

there's lot of 'em...

Malcolm Young
Marc Ribot
Tim Sult
Ace Frehley

I could go on and on