Incredibly Talented Musicians?

[Samuel Cook]

I know I always go on about them, but every member of The Dillinger Escape Plan is exceptional at their instrument. I mean, their latest drummer is 23, and although not as good as the last 2, can play phenomenally. Also, their guitarist/keys is amazing, he's also fantastic on the technology side of it too.

 

[Bourne]

 

[Deltron]

J Dilla, Primo

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

Michael Jackson. He wrote most of his songs himself. I don't care weather you like him or not. Look past the weird things he did and you'll see the genius inside.

Also there is this kid at my school who can play like 8 different instruments and at this performance thing he was asked at the last minuet to perform, so he just sat down and played Mozart no troubles.

 

[eastinfecter]

Eddie Veder and/or J.S. Bach. Can`t decide which one is "the most".

 

[Calhoun347]

Louis Armstrong. That man did more for the trumpet than anyone else. He also had a very unique (and good) voice.

 

[skitzo van]

Well, I'd say Steve Vai, for being the most incredible guitarist to have ever lived, technically speaking.

Don't wanna start a flame war, but Shawn lane had more technicality, you know what, I think I'll just say Shawn Lane, the dude kicked ass on piano, and many guitar giants say that they couldn't touch his guitar playing.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Ken Hensley. Words can't describe the songs he writes, he's a genious on both guitar and piano/keyboard. What he did for Uriah Heep and what he's still doing today... Amazing! (And that's still an insulting understatement)

 

[revjay]

I could write a book filled with just the names of talented musicians. In no particular order, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane, Satchmo, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jimmy Page, Lemmy, I could go on but I won't.

 

[StriderShinryu]

No mention of Mike Oldfield yet? For shame. As a 17 year old he crafted the amazing Tubular Bells, an epic that encompassed everything from jazz to rock to classical. Oh, and he also played all 30 or so instruments on the album himself.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Well, I'll go with my default answer for these kind of threads and say Devin Townsend. Again.
Going from this
To this
And pretty much everything else in between.

 

[MostlyHarmless]

Freaking Buckethead. If you listen to some of his lessons on Youtube, you will have an eargasm. His other stuff is great, but not all of it is incredibly stupefying.

 

[the Dept of Science]

Louis Armstrong. That man did more for the trumpet than anyone else. He also had a very unique (and good) voice.

What about Miles Davis or Dizzee Gillespie?

While we are on jazz... Django Reinhardt, Charles Mingus, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk.

2 names I feel I should mention... John Cale and Steve Albini. Both fronted great bands (Velvet Underground and Big Black respectively) after their "main bands" they go on and do the production for some of the best albums ever. Cale producing for Patti Smith, the Stooges, Modern Lovers among others, while at the same time having a great solo career. Albini producing for the Jesus Lizard, Nirvana, Slint, PJ Harvey, Pixies, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and an estimated 1,500 other albums.

 

[randomic]

Well, I'd say Steve Vai, for being the most incredible guitarist to have ever lived, technically speaking.

I'd say it's a close call between Vai, Hendrix and Angus Young. Although in terms of the soul of the music, Vai is left in the dust by the other two. I can't think about it for too long though, it's a debate with no real answer and I'd rather my head didn't asplode.

 

[randomic]

Are we forgetting the recently late Mr. Gibson? You know, the man who invented multi-track recording. RIP

 

[Dapsen]

That guy... Yeah, him.

I don't really know, but I would like to mention a quite talented person I found on the Youtubes: Heykelsey [http://www.youtube.com/user/HeyKelsey]

 

[SeksEin]

Everyone from Dream Theater. Yes, even LaBrie. Not sure why many people dislike him.

Edit:

Ryan Martinie is the best bass player I've ever seen.

Spoiler

Now, this isn't actually him playing but he wrote the music.This one actually is him, and he's a hell of a performer.

How could I have forgotten about Martinie?! He was one of my inspirations to become a bassist.

 

[octafish]

Well, I'd say Steve Vai Django Reinhardt, for being the most incredible guitarist to have ever lived, technically speaking.

Fixed that for you.

Are we talking musicians or composers or improvisers here? Dr John for all three by the way. Jeff Beck is pretty amazing with guitar, but like Vai, falls into that boring self indulgent weedly weedly crap too often (not as much as Vai though). Too often great technical musicians are pretty souless. The most soulfull I can think of? Fela Kuti.

So there you go, my three, all modern, are, Django Reinhardt, Dr John, and Fela Kuti.

 

[clipse15]

I'm going to mix it up a little bit and add the a couple of hip hop/rap artists into the mix.
Andre 3000 and The RZA are extremely talented musicians