Greatest Guitar Band

Undertaker4(is that the name of your band or your profession?),your premise is not necessarily true. Yes
Jimi might be the greatest guitarist, but the thread was the greatest guitar BAND. Which in this case neither band
struck a chord(pun intended) with me. Jimi's bands showcased
his guitar licks but the rest of his band members either
were not equal to the task or not allowed to stretch their
talents. I appreciated his guitar playing( I saw him several times), and his concerts were frenetic but
they were never musically satisfying. At least he could play
his music in concert unlike most other bands like Jefferson
Airplane or the Rolling Stones or the Doors. Those were the
worst concerts of major artists I saw. The best guitar
player I personally saw with a superb guitar band as backup,
easily Muddy Waters, every note was played as if God made his fingers move. Second best, the Yarbirds with both JBeck and JPage as colead guitarists with CDreja on bass. They too
could play the music.

I won't argue regarding Muddy Waters (his later lineup with Johnny Winter smoked as well, what a band). I had the fortune of seeing Albert King live before he died, he was awesome (when asked about Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh said Albert King "would blow him off the stage with one note"). Still unclear on the "Guitar Band" label; is it a band that features guitar, but is good all around? Or that has the most quality people playing fretted instruments? With regard to the Yardbirds, they were very good, no doubt. Led Zep I was mostly YB material, some of which hadn't made it to record yet (dazed and confused, etc., maybe called "I'm Confused"?) Personally, as far as guitarists go, I preferred the pre "For Your Love" YB's w/Clapton. Page has never really done it for me as far as his lead playing; he either sounds lost or like he's trying to play as fast as possible. Beck was the better player, IMO. I still say that Hendrix is head and shoulders above any of them, Noel Redding was definitely no slouch on bass, and Mitchell was excellent as well. Right now, I've been listening to more of the Band of Gypsies, which probably is the more solid rhythm section. As far as live performances, I was too young to see JHE or Yardbirds (both broke up when I was about 2), so I'll take your word for it. I still enjoy JHE recordings much more than the Yardbirds (live or studio). Opinions vary. However, due to your posts, I will (asap) go back and review my Yardbird recordings and get back to you.

They are not the typical guitar band, but my favorite guitar band is the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. In particular playing Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite on the Delose label. Stop laughing if you have never heard them before, give it a try and I am sure that you will not regret it, IMO. GREAT sound stage and timbre is as close to perfect as it can get. Enjoy!

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" from the album "One More From The Road" has got to be up there! Van Halen, who's gonna argue with Eddie Van Halen! I also like queen, what a unique guitar sound they had, you could tell it was Queen just from the sound of the guitar!

S##t, what about the session players on any Steely Dan
album!