Guitar Center: Top 5 Blues Guitarists

On October 27 Guitar Center announced the names of the Top 5 Blues guitarists in the country, who will compete in front of a live audience and a panel of judges at the upcoming King of the Blues Grand Finals on November 12th @ the House of Blues Sunset in Hollywood, CA. Tickets for this very special event are just $20, and are available at Ticketmaster.com or the HOB box office.

The five Grand Finalists headed to Los Angeles on November 12 are Roosevelt Collier (Kissimmee, FL), Joshua Gooch (San Diego, CA), Kirby Kelley (N. Dallas, TX), Dan Peters (Morton Grove, IL) and Graham Whitford (NYC).

In addition to showcasing these aspiring guitarists as they compete for the King of the Blues crown and $25,000 cash, the Grand Finals will also feature performances by renowned blues guitarist and Gibson artist Joe Bonamassa, who was featured last week on "World Café," distributed by NPR. Check out the "World Café" interview and performance with Joe Bonamassa here.

Also performing at the event is Grammy Award winning producer and guitarist Pete Anderson, who’s band will also back the 5 finalists. Anderson has worked with artists ranging from Roy Orbison to Dwight Yoakam to the Meat Puppets, and has released several solo records. Additionally the event will be hosted by world renowned blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Like Guitar Center’s other talent search competitions – the legendary Drum-Off (now in its 21st year), and the recently launched On-Stage, King of the Blues is part of Guitar Center’s ongoing mission to provide emerging artists and musicians with career-altering opportunities and vehicles to achieve success.

Comments

[Lord_Doku]

Yay, another list to make fun of

[Zeppelin Addict]

^^ im with you on that one

this is great that their doing this though.. blues is so overlooked along with its talents and they deserve more credit then 2 jonas brothers and paris hilton in a silly hat (the hat obviously offering more credability..) COMBINED

[askikr91]

How about we get a list of the REAL top 5 blues guitarists out there? At least an honorable mention towards Buckethead.

[deafening]

i hate all this focus on WHOS THE BEST!?!?!!?

[POWERMETAL!]

how about a list of top 5 retail stores that REALLY suck...
hmm GC!? yeah.

[EREV777]

gee 25k but no one is the best. and uhmm GC is awesome

[Allumik]

deafening wrote:

i hate all this focus on WHOS THE BEST!?!?!!?

very good point.
blues isnt being the fastest, most tricky guitar player. its more of an expressing yourself, and you cant rate that.(in my opinion)

[Nameless742]

deafening wrote:

i hate all this focus on WHOS THE BEST!?!?!!?

You're right, the internet is always argueing about who is best.
At least it's blues, I love metal and stuff, but people often focus on SPEED and TECHNICAL PROWESS and not expression. Only one must exist to make a hair-raising solo. The rest are just nice.

[guusw]

totally agree with the above,

Though I kinda miss buddy whittington :

[kerokero]

askikr91 wrote:

How about we get a list of the REAL top 5 blues guitarists out there? At least an honorable mention towards Buckethead.

lol.

Kudos to this event. THe blues def. needs more publicity out there.

[flemflames]

Allumik wrote:
very good point.
blues isnt being the fastest, most tricky guitar player. its more of an expressing yourself, and you cant rate that.(in my opinion)

it's a fact!

[lank81]

Blue is definitely about expressing yourself but everyone has a favorite blues guitarist. Mine is Buddy Guy. Something about his stuff just speaks to me. Now, I'm sure it's totally subjective but these 5 which were chosen by the panel is probably due to their ability to speak to them. Might be a crock of shit too but at least it's an idea .

[firebird103]

askikr91 wrote:

How about we get a list of the REAL top 5 blues guitarists out there? At least an honorable mention towards Buckethead.

well buckethead does play about every genre, and he plays them all extremely well... wouldn't it be something to see him do an entire album of blues.

[Gigglebooster]

Population override is pretty much a whole blues album from him. I could trip a few hits of cid and listen to that album on repeat the whole day. Too many humans is on that album to if you've heard that one.

[Nilpferdkoenig]

flemflames wrote:

Allumik wrote:
very good point.
blues isnt being the fastest, most tricky guitar player. its more of an expressing yourself, and you cant rate that.(in my opinion)
it's a fact!

It really isn't.

Listen to five blues solos.

Tell me which one you like most.

Problem solved.

[Turkeyburger]

Allumik wrote:

deafening wrote:

i hate all this focus on WHOS THE BEST!?!?!!?
very good point.
blues isnt being the fastest, most tricky guitar player. its more of an expressing yourself, and you cant rate that.(in my opinion)

Yeah, but it's easy to tell who sucks, anyway.

[TheGreifer]

I think some of you are confused regarding the context of this list. Guitar Center has a contest where people auditioned in front of judges for this blues competition. The winner gets money and a recording contract. So, despite the misleading name in the article, the claim isn't exactly "These are the best blues guitarists" it is "These are the best that auditioned." Your favorite blues guitarists(Buckethead?) probably wouldn't make the list since most contestants are "undiscovered" and seeking a recording contract.

[RockUAway]

Lameeeee.

[Radical Bob]

I don't see what's wrong with a little healthy competition as long as it gives the world another great blues guitarist. Like someone said above, as long as the judges aren't looking only for technical prowess and who can hit the most notes in 16 bars then I'm sure the winner will be as 'expressive' as everyone seems to hope.

[gwitersnamps]

Additionally the event will be hosted by world renowned blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

He's a blues guitarist?

[giiii]

askikr91 :
How about we get a list of the REAL top 5 blues guitarists out there? At least an honorable mention towards Buckethead.

wut

[TSmitty6]

dude my friend won the northwest division again this year. he flew to Chicago 2 weeks ago where the hometown guy beat him, or the guy from Illinois i see above. when i watched him win districts, the judges were...ok at best. what were there credits besides wearing hawaiian shirts and being over 50? i dont know. and the crowd is a big deal. clearly he had no crowd in Chicago, being from Seattle. in fact ive seen it before where a person sucks, and they have a ton of firends that just cheer as loud as possible.

in other words, its pretty ****ing stupid. i think my fried will win it next year tho... as long as he stops playing his strats in a gibson sponsored contest. few years ago tho he won a 2500$ gibson SG.

[Capt_Clarkson]

YEY Kenny Wayne Shepherd

[indyrock91]

I'm tired of the Buckethead fanboys. Yes he's a very good guitarist, but come on he isn't the greatest. Eric Clapton is a blues guitarist not Buckethead

[CranberryJuice]

At least this is more of a competition, rather than some guy putting his list on the internet.

Still, people are gonna hate it, but at least "Tops 10"s are moving in the right direction.

[kill it]

blues guitar fans should really check out melvin taylor. he's signed so shouldn't be in this competition. he's not very well known but incredible.

[Roan_Minstrel]

indyrock91 wrote:

I'm tired of the Buckethead fanboys. Yes he's a very good guitarist, but come on he isn't the greatest. Eric Clapton is a blues guitarist not Buckethead

Amen. Playing in a blues key doesn't relly make it blues. There needs to be some sort of emotion in it

[Zappanator]

It's not who's the best player, but who can fully express what they're trying to get across most easily. That's what I think at least, you could never rate any guitarist as the best.

[COBHC_Erick429]

lol dudes last name is Gooch

[Vedicardi]

SRV will come from the grave and win

[Let It Be0o0]

Vedicardi wrote:

SRV will come from the grave and win

+1

[fretman5000]

kudos. im not really into blues but im all for it and it needs more credibility. im gettin sick of all the screamo and death metal garbage these days. and yes GC is an awesome store, theyre the best chain of musical instrument stores in the world. no ones the best, thats why everyone has a different opinion on whos the best. if someone was the best, everyone would know it, but competitions r fun so right on. $25000

[Gilpet]

Jack White

[thedarkblues06]

Let It Be0o0 wrote:

Vedicardi wrote:

SRV will come from the grave and win

+1

+100000. 'Nuff said.

[pacsabbath25]

Roan_Minstrel wrote:

indyrock91 wrote:

I'm tired of the Buckethead fanboys. Yes he's a very good guitarist, but come on he isn't the greatest. Eric Clapton is a blues guitarist not Buckethead

Amen. Playing in a blues key doesn't relly make it blues. There needs to be some sort of emotion in it

i think he does have emotion you just are not seeing it in his face because he has a mask on.

[queenslander47]

Joshua Gooch (San Diego, CA)

bet he cops it for that name. haha gooch

[jethro bob]

askikr91 wrote:

How about we get a list of the REAL top 5 blues guitarists out there? At least an honorable mention towards Buckethead.

FAILS!!!!!

[SGstriker]

COBHC_Erick429 wrote:

lol dudes last name is Gooch

I was waiting to see if someone would comment on this. lol.

And yes to the person somewhere above me in the comments, Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a blues guitarist you buffoon...

[pwninator123]

Roan_Minstrel wrote:

indyrock91 wrote:

I'm tired of the Buckethead fanboys. Yes he's a very good guitarist, but come on he isn't the greatest. Eric Clapton is a blues guitarist not Buckethead
Amen. Playing in a blues key doesn't relly make it blues. There needs to be some sort of emotion in it

listen to the Coma and Electric Tears albums, and tell me they don't reduce you to tears, I know the latter did.

[joshw17]

I try to like Guitar Center but EVERY DAMN TIME I go there with ONE SINGLE ITEM in mind, they always give me the "Oh man, we're fresh out of that 20 dollar pedal, but we've got this other one that you can milk so more sounds out of..." And it alway turns out to be three times as expensive. I'm like "It's an effing Distortion pedal for chrissakes, each one of these has ONE volume knob and ONE tone knob and you're telling me that one is worth forty dollars more? I'm not a studio musician, dude; I just want some crunch!"

Commision, commision, commision... that's what they're all about.

[Gigglebooster]

Yeah indyrock91, you're retarded. Either you haven't listened to much buckethead or just plain can't hear emotion in music because he plays with as much soul as anyone. I could literally fill a post with songs where he bleeds emotion, too many humans or pretty much any song from colma would be a good start though. And I do consider him one of the greatest guitarists of all time, who else has as much mastery of nearly every genre of music, while at the same time being absolutly technically flawless?

[axeslash]

askikr91 wrote:

How about we get a list of the REAL top 5 blues guitarists out there? At least an honorable mention towards Buckethead.

Best article comment ever.

[indyrock91]

I never said he doesn't show emotion Gigglebooster.. I just said he isn't a blues guitarist. Blues is more than raw emotion. If you actually read my post you would have known that

[xHellbound]

This makes me want to play some Dethblues!

[indyrock91]

if you want blues listen to the album Slowhand. That is blues.

[Ndelle94]

Yeah Kenny!

[nightraven]

checked

gwitersnamps wrote:

Additionally the event will be hosted by world renowned blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

He's a blues guitarist?

agreed. his playing being almost identical to SRV's bugs me every time i listen to him..

[Bostonrocks]

Nightraven: I always he was more hendrix then SRV

[SpiritThief]

Blues is metal

[Four Symbols]

Allumik wrote:

deafening wrote:

i hate all this focus on WHOS THE BEST!?!?!!?
very good point.
blues isnt being the fastest, most tricky guitar player. its more of an expressing yourself, and you cant rate that.(in my opinion)

Couldn't have explained it better.

[RockDragon]

Joshua Gooch; pmsl.

Seriously though, it's more the best 5 guitarists that entered the competition, I bet none of em can hold a candle to the greats.

[partyon]

hmmm.To be completely honest,I think most of the best blues players are either already dead or about to die...