As we wind our way down to the final three, I find myself looking back on how this list has changed over the years.  There are certainly a few guys that would have been on this list years ago but due to changing tastes and the “broadening of the palette” (so to speak), some did not make the cut.  I’m such a guitar fanatic that I probably could have made this a Top 50 Favorite Guitarists easily but I had to draw the line somewhere.

As for the remaining three, the top two have remained consistent for many years but number three has gained the most traction out of them all.

3.  Michael Schenker

Michael Schenker is an absolute monster player.  It’s a damn shame that it took me until the past twenty years to fully realize the man’s talents but I’ve only got myself to blame.  I had a Michael Schenker Group (MSG) live album and had heard a couple of live UFO tunes (his main band in the ’70s) but I turned a bit of a blind “ear” to the poppier leanings of the McCauley Schenker Group and the relative hair band-iness of his work in Contraband.  But it was his return to UFO in the mid-90s that pretty much sealed the deal for me and made me go back and reexamine that band’s seminal work and to revisit his first few albums with MSG, which left me kicking myself for not picking up the material sooner.  In my opinion, there are three keys to Schenker’s playing (ranked in order):  1)  Tone-  Schenker’s guitar tone is fantastic and one of my favorites from any guitarist, especially with the half cocked wah wah pedal; 2) Melody-  there is so much beauty to go with that classic tone, whether it be electric or acoustic; and 3) Riffs- whether it be UFO, MSG, Scorpions the man has written a boatload of classics that have influenced many a player.  After having periodic difficulties with alcohol, Schenker has cleaned up his act over the past few years and is back stronger than ever.

Choice cuts:  “Lights Out”, “Doctor Doctor”, “Rock Bottom”, “On And On”, “Attack Of The Mad Axeman”, “Another Piece of Meat”, “Venus”, “Armed And Ready”

2.  Stevie Ray Vaughan

Watching a Stevie Ray Vaughan performance is like a cross between watching someone playing as if his life depended on it and someone wrestling with an alligator.  Put a guitar in his hands and you watch a man come to life-  SRV emitted a certain fearlessness and reckless abandon that could be intoxicating to watch, especially in his early years and even much later as he conquered the substances that were slowly dragging him into mediocrity.  The man was born to play and lived and breathed the guitar; hell, the guitar always seemed to be a part of him.  Too many of Vaughan’s naysayers complain that he’s a Hendrix copycat or Albert King wannabee, but I see him as the perfect blend of multiple influences and then some.  And if he were alive today, who knows exactly how he would sound or what he would be playing.  With a base built around the blues, Vaughan wasn’t afraid to venture out into jazzier headspace at times or even in roadhouse rock territory throughout his brief career.  Stevie Ray Vaughan was all feel and he was starting to reach new heights after kicking a nasty alcohol habit until a tragic helicopter accident killed him at the young age of 35.  Often imitated but never duplicated.

Choice cuts:  “Pride And Joy”, “Scuttle Buttin'”, “Couldn’t Stand The Weather”, “Texas Flood”, “Crossfire”, “Riviera Paradise”, “Rude Mood”, “Love Me Darlin'”