Best blues guitarist, Clapton or Green

So many of you guys are so lucky to have seen so many great performers. I wish I could say the same. I didn't really get into blues until the past 5 years or so and I'll always kick myself for not going to see SRV when he was here in Cedar Rapids, IA in 88 or 89 when I was a senior in H.S. My dad has always liked good guitar music(Roy Clark,Carl Perkins,Buchanan,Gatton, etc.) so I got to thank him for opening my eyes. My favorites are SRV, Buchanan(The Messiah Will Come Again makes my hair stand on end and gives me goosebumps thinking about it), Danny Gatton, Ronnie Earl, BB, Kenny Wayne,and Clapton. I saw Clapton a couple of years ago when he toured with the orchestra and it was incredible! Saw K.W.S a month ago and he was also amazing. Going to see him in 2 weeks and can't wait. Keep on posting more names so I have more to check out. Brent

Eric Clapton was definitely God of Guitar in his early days. By far the best guitarist in this group as far as ROCK (which is influenced by the Blues)- I do not think he ever called himself a Blues guitarist. Which is the better Blues, will leave that up to you guys who know more about blues than I do. New here & just thought would add some comments to your great topic. Clapton was in for the music from the beginning & walked out of the Yardbirds just before they became big as he thought they were in for money & going commercial. Eric went for the music & did become rich w/ CREAM. He was friends w/ Jimi Hendrix & jammed w/ Hendrix. Have not heard any of that myself- would be interested. After his recovery from cocaine & heroin addiction (they had to buy some heroin to get cocaine from their dealer), it seems to me that he never played as well as he did w/ CREAM. Listen to CREAM - WHEELS Of FIRE & you will know why he is God of Guitar ! Great is an overused word- does apply to CREAM- I never tire of CREAM ! PS Agree w/ Madisonears comments about Eric & Cream. Johnny Winter was another great.

Green and Clapton were the first white Blues guitarists who broke into the scene and made a big contribution to the music of Blues in terms of popularizing it-- especially Clapton. But, although they are technically great, their phrasing and conveying raw emotions may not be up to par with the old legends. I think, beside the scale (pentatonic) and beat, Blues is all about raw emotions. I have not heard any white guitarists, including SRV, who can pour them out like black counterparts. Dynamics, vibrato, and delicate timing are critically different between them -- what a generalization. If you don't want to go back to Muddy Waters or T-Bone, you may want to try Red House by Hendrix. It differs greatly from Clapton's or SRV's.

Have you seen the srv tribute dvd? Nuff said

Great question! Haven't thought of Blues guitarists in a "best of" sense, but Clapton isn't really a "blues" guitarist in the truest sense. Hendrix was the best rock guitar player, bar none, but also wasn't strictly a blues player (though his blues was excellent -- his Blues CD is outstanding). SRV was a tremendous player and was true to the blues, and sounded like he could do anything on the guitar. I don't know if any other guitarist has ever done as much as SRV in the past 20 years in terms of revolutionizing guitar "tone". Two guitarists who, if I were "cuttin' heads" and did NOT want to go up against: (1) Albert King; and (2) Ry Cooder.