Neil Young - Guitarist

onhwy614, 03-22-2018 7:58pm    Don’t take those Rolling Stone rankings seriously. Neil Young is a fine musician, but he’s only a great guitarist in the sense that Mick Jagger or James Brown are great vocalists.

Exactly.

I play guitar. #17 is laughable. #100 would have been laughable. Maybe top 100 in songwriting, but probably not top 10,000 in guitar playing.

I don't play anything but vinyl so am in no position to even understand much less critique technical aspects of musicianship. But being almost 62, Neil Young was certainly a major influence in shaping my listening preferences early on. With over 4K LP's in my collection, he probably has the most repeat runs in one iteration or another. I only recently discovered "Psychedelic Pill", done in 2012 I believe, and I keep playing it over and over. Fabulous example of his talents IMHO. As for his political rants, we are on opposite sides, generally, of the spectrum, but I'm not about to let that spoil the enjoyment I derive from his music. 

The Neil Young model boasts 100% THD ;-)

Good one! But in our perverted little world musicians are perfect and can only make music, even if they don’t use high end cables and NOS tubes.

Whether it's a recorded concert on PBS, or Live Rust, or seeing him live I am always struck by the passion he shows when he's really into it. He literally dances with his guitar at times, it is an extension of who he is at that moment. There have been occasions where Cortez the Killer and especially Like a Hurricane found me totally absorbed and in awe of how he emotes through the instrument. That's what I'm after in the musical experience. I couldn't care less where he ranks as a technical player.