The most influential acoustic guitarist of thier generation.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by Heroditus

But "influential" has nothing to do with skill. How many thousands of kids picked up a guitar because they saw John Lennon playing one (and the girls that screamed when he did)? That's influence!

If that's the case, then would you say that Roy Rogers had the same effect on kids buying guitars during the 50's? Would you call Roy Rogers one of the most influential acoustic guitarists for his generation? I've heard plenty of stories of kids during that era wanting a guitar because that cowboy in the movies played one. While there's absolutely no comparison when it comes to songwriting skills or musical influence between the two, it seems to me that the criteria for being influential might have more to do with playing rather than with how many cash registers were playing the ching ching song. Then again, that's just me.

[posternutbag]

Dave Matthews and John Mayer.

But really, I think for my generation (that is the forgotten generation that lies between true Gen Xers and true Millennials) the most influential force in acoustic music was MTV Unplugged. My friends would come over to watch; we would tape it (yes, tape it) and watch over and over.

Eric Clapton Unplugged, 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged, Nirvana Unplugged and Alice in Chains Unplugged probably had more influence on me musically than anything else.

[Greg Rappleye]

For a time--Mason Williams.



Greg Rappleye

[Inyo]

Deleted by author.

[Pitar]

Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen separately and as a duo.
America's sound, particularly Dan Peek.
Mason Proffit influenced many country and alt country players. I'd go so far as to say the Talbot brothers introduced alt country.
Cat Stevens was mostly a strummer. See the link below for one of the most prolific side-men who ever touched a guitar and you'll understand where your named influences got their chops.

http://sophiemadeleineharris.blogspo...vy-graham.html


BTW, much of the music George played in the Beatles were written/arranged by Lennon.

[FrankHudson]

If we're talking the post WWII generation (so I'm going to say career roughly 45-70), steel-string acoustic guitar, and influential and I want to reduce it to "10 of the most" influential for brevity's sake and trying to reduce the impact of my personal favorites or influences and simply talk impact, in rough historical order:

1. Merle Travis. Helped popularize Travis picking, finger picking, and melody playing on guitar in general. As another thread points out here, he got his technique from somewhere, but we're talking influence, not patent rights.

2. Josh White. I'm taking this on faith, as he's a bit before my time, but my understanding is that when other acoustic guitar bluesmen (many who recorded before WWII, outside my self-imposed period) were still unknown to a broad (white) market, he was making cross-over waves. And blues and the Afro-American songster tradition is a big thing for this generation's acoustic guitar players.

3. Pete Seeger. Yes, known more a banjo player, but he and the Weavers kicked off the folk scare in the US and almost always played guitar in concert. No Pete Seeger, no Joan Baez for one example.

4. Lonnie Donegan. Skiffle. Essentially the UK's different but just as impactful folk scare instigator. No Lonnie Donegan, maybe no Beatles?

5. Joan Baez. Could say "Kingston Trio" too, but I'll go with Joan in that she helps break Bob Dylan to larger audiences and made every record company want to sign their own "Joan Baez" for a time, just like every company wanted their own Kingston Trio, and I'd rather listen to Baez and the other female guitarist/singers than the Kingston Trio today. Without Joan Baez no Joni Mitchell.

6. Bob Dylan. Revolutionary break in idea of what song lyrics could do even before he plugged in. Launched a zillion singer songwriters many of whom played acoustic guitar.

7. Davey Graham. DADGAD instigator. Adventurous melodic solo acoustic guitar in the UK. I have no idea if he know that #8 was doing something like the same thing at the same time in the US.

8. John Fahey. Like Graham, by personal force of will made solo, steel-string acoustic guitar a thing in the US. And he checks off other boxes of influence too. One of a small group of underappreciated guys who resurrected pre-WWII blues recordings and the people who made them. Artist forms indie label? Fahey was doing that in the Fifties. No John Fahey, no Leo Kottke and several others.

9. Beatles. After Feb 64 thousands of guitars were desired and many were sold to meet those desires. Some of those guitars didn't plug in, so their impact on steel-string acoustic guitar is "collateral damage", but what damage! And in a couple of years they were mixing in acoustic guitar with their plugged in stuff too.

10 Joni Mitchell. Yes Fahey and Graham had demonstrated open tunings, but not as accompaniment to singers primarily. Kind of just past my deadline because she didn't really hit until the 70s, but how she used acoustic guitar in the singer-songwriter context is just such a strong influence I decided to bend.

Once more I find that I've left off Woody Guthrie, who was still active early in the time period though falling victim to his life and illness rapidly in the fifties. The idea that Rev Gary Davis should get in here has merit too: he gave lessons to many. John Hurt also was a influence to many in this time period. Dave Ray and John Koener were the entry point to a lot of white kids getting into acoustic blues. Leo Kottke is at the end of this period but I could have shoe-horned him in without bending as much as I did for Mitchell. I sure love Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, and they influenced many. At the beginning of the period, maybe I should have picked a representative of singing cowboys, even those for whom guitar was a prop. Hank Williams too convinced many to start strumming.

[posternutbag]

Originally Posted by Inyo

The most influential acoustic guitar player of any specific generation was Django Reinhardt during his Quintette du Hot Club de France days.

I am a huge Django Reinhardt fan, and he spawned an entire genre of music that is dedicated to emulating him, but to me, he is a little like the guitar equivalent of Art Tatum.

Both were such titanic forces on their instruments that their influence is limited to imitators and admirers. It is really hard to build off of what Django and Tatum did. In fact, so much so, that jazz really went in a different direction.

I would say that Thelonius Monk and Charlie Christian (even though he played electric) had much greater influnce over the direction of Jazz/popular music simply because there was no where to go beyond Tatum and Django. They were it. They took melody based improvisation as far as it could go. Jazz had to develop in another direction.

[Silly Moustache]

for me it was seeing Tom Rush.

Certainly Davey Graham changed the British folk scene ... for the better.

Most inspirational? Lonnie Donegan, (the first 45 I bought was by hime - 1959),and Bert Weedon - "Play In A Day" instruction book from 1957 - still in print!

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

If that's the case, then would you say that Roy Rogers had the same effect on kids buying guitars during the 50's? Would you call Roy Rogers one of the most influential acoustic guitarists for his generation? I've heard plenty of stories of kids during that era wanting a guitar because that cowboy in the movies played one. While there's absolutely no comparison when it comes to songwriting skills or musical influence between the two, it seems to me that the criteria for being influential might have more to do with playing rather than with how many cash registers were playing the ching ching song. Then again, that's just me.

Yeah, it kind of depends on what you mean by impact. It's not just "cash registers" ringing when a kid in his formative years takes up acoustic guitar instead of accordion or fluegelhorn. Yes, somebody in Chicago got the revenue from a department store guitar, and somebody looked good on a album cover with a high end Martin. But some of those kids may become the guitar players that you or I would want to learn licks from.

Ideally the "impact" calculation might be number of players influenced combined with depth of influence (could the influenced even recognizably exist without the influencer) combined with some unique innovation they brought to steel string acoustic guitar.

It'd be purer if we didn't have to consider the falsity of showbiz imagery, but when you talk influence instead of merit you probably have to take that kind of influence into account.

[posternutbag]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

If we're talking the post WWII generation (so I'm going to say career roughly 45-70), steel-string acoustic guitar, and influential and I want to reduce it to "10 of the most" influential for brevity's sake and trying to reduce the impact of my personal favorites or influences and simply talk impact, in rough historical order:

... stuff

But "Post WWII" is either arbitrary, or worse intentional. I mean, probably the two most influential acoustic guitar players of the twentieth century (with apologies to Andres Segovia) were Robert Johnson and Maybelle Carter. People really underestimate the impact Maybelle Carter had on guitar playing, the original lead guitarist.

[Nailpicker]

I've gotta admit, I just don't get the point, or the value of these kind of threads.

[docwatsonfan]

The most influential acoustic guitarist of thier generation.

Taylor Swift

[will-go]

Sam Hopkins. Neil Young.

[scuzbucket]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

If that's the case, then would you say that Roy Rogers had the same effect on kids buying guitars during the 50's? Would you call Roy Rogers one of the most influential acoustic guitarists for his generation? I've heard plenty of stories of kids during that era wanting a guitar because that cowboy in the movies played one. While there's absolutely no comparison when it comes to songwriting skills or musical influence between the two, it seems to me that the criteria for being influential might have more to do with playing rather than with how many cash registers were playing the ching ching song. Then again, that's just me.

Neil Young is hardly a technical master and not any more technical than John Lennon, but to say that he isn't an influential guitarist would just be silly. Influence isn't about technical brilliance. It's about what came after.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by scuzbucket

Neil Young is hardly a technical master and not any more technical than John Lennon, but to say that he isn't an influential guitarist would just be silly. Influence isn't about technical brilliance. It's about what came after.

Exactly.
With world-wide album sales at 2,303,500,000 it's also silly to deny the influence of The Beatles.
How many of those album buyers felt inspired to learn/play guitar?