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Great guitar instrumentals

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I idly put a playlist together of great guitar instrumentals. As we have to have rules for these things they are:

1. Must be melodic

2. Meaningless shredding is not allowed

3. Only one piece per artist

4. All genres positively encouraged

However I have quickly realised I have major artists missing (no Bert, no John Mc, no RT) and no recent entries – are instrumentals even a thing any more?

Pitch in and I will add (if I like it…)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5NcIuc5NwObbguM9TWsYlB?si=03353bee202148af

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Comments

  1. You’ve got John Mayall and the Bluebreakers twice. That’s breaking your own rules. Rule 3, to be precise. Or do you get preferential treatment? Or is it simply corruption – did you bribe yourself? What’s going on exactly?

    For Jeff Beck I’d have probably chosen ‘Cos We’ve Ended As Lovers’
    For Rainbow I absolutely, definitely, incontrovertibly would have chosen ‘Weiss Heim’

    I’d add:
    Cloud – Little Axe
    Manoir de Mes Reves – Django Reinhardt
    Cloudy Day – J.J. Cale
    Meet Martin Riggs – Eric Clapton
    White – Frank Ocean (feat. John Meyer)
    and my personal favourite:
    The Three of Us – Ben Harper

    • Well The Supernatural is really Peter Green hence apparent duplication. I thought about CWEAL for JB. Could have gone either way TBH. Changed just to keep you happy Gal.

      • Rainbow, though, stays as SIS. It inspired my school band to do a heavy rock version of “Apache” which was quite magnificent but sadly never recorded so you will all have to imagine.

    • Because Twang failed to adhere to Rule 3 you assume you can do the same? Perhaps you think it’s time Rule 3 was scrapped altogether? Perhaps you’d like to abolish the monarchy, get rid of the House of Lords and tear up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while we’re at it?

        • Cheers, JW

          Apart from the name, didn’t know squat about OR until I heard that. Given his love of breathing new life into old songs, his TIGTWOF is obviously another of his many heartfelt tips of the hat to those on whose shoulders he stands

    • Mmm it’s tricky this. I think I’m coming round to the idea that the player is the thing, so the fact that both were in the same band doesn’t matter, it’s the play which is the thing. I think.

    • I came here to suggest Martin Taylor’s Kwame. Here he is explaining how to play it, sadly I think I would need 12 hands and six brains (and a book of matches). Skip to 3:28 for the whole thing.

  23. You are all mad.
    Mark Knopflers Hoing Home theme from Local Hero must surely be included.
    Also I know it us overly familiar but Samba Pa Ti by Santana is about as melodic as you can get

  32. I also have a long playlist of guitar instrumentals – here’s 12 of ’em which I don’t think have been mentioned above (apologies if I’ve missed them):

    1. Amber Rose Guitar Duo – Step Inside Love (under-rated song I think)
    2. Arlen Roth – She Said, She Said
    3. Steve Hackett with Genesis – Horizons
    4. Gordon Giltrap – Summer Holiday
    5. Bill Nelson – Pink Buddah Blues (ignore the muttering!)
    6. Charlie Byrd Trio – Jive at Five
    7. Nguyên Lê – I Feel Good
    8. Elmore James – Pickin The Blues (or the Grinderswitch version)
    9. Chris Spedding – The Train and The River (a brave attempt at the Jimmy Giuffre / Jim Hall original)
    10. John Barry Seven with Vic Flick – Hit & Miss
    11. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Lenny
    12. Sonny Landreth – Firebird Blues.

    • As this enjoyable thread is still going I’ll add a few more to the playlist, if I may:

      1. Amos Garrett – Sleepwalk
      2. Djelimady Tounkara – Djely Blues
      3. Steve Dawson – Lighthouse Avenue
      4. Freddie King – The Stumble
      5. Eric Johnson – Song for George
      6. Pat Metheny – Ferry cross the Mersey
      7. Harry Manx – Blueswalk
      8. Danny Gatton – Blues Newburg
      9. Jimi Hendrix – Born under a bad sign
      10. Oupa Makhubela – Township Dance
      11. Les Primitifs Du Futur – Blues, Amour et bottleneck
      12. Herb Ellis & Charlie Byrd – Things ain’t what they used to be

  37. Happy Turtle Song — Hot Tuna
    The Lonely Bull — The Dream Syndicate
    She Moved Through The Fair — Davy Graham
    I Heard It Through The Grapevine — Bill Frisell
    Fireworks (Still Life No. 5) — Chris Stamey

  38. Zappa Watermelons in Easter Hay
    Santana but Neal Schon is the main player – Song of The wind
    Lobby Lloyd. G.O. D. Guitar overdrive
    Leo Kottke jesu joy of Man’s Desiring …
    Duane Allman Little Martha

  40. Great list @Twang and humbled that The Feedback File is in such exalted company. Here’s a few for consideration (I’m sure there is one acclaimed session guy in here that will definitely make your list – if it hasn’t already)

  55. Great thread with some fine pieces of work.

    I would have liked to post some good quality Django Rheinhart video but it’s few and far between. Bireli Lagrene’s Gypsy Project makes a good fist of keeping The Hot Club de Paris sound alive.

    Here’s a version of ‘Hungaria’

  56. A few suggestions…

    Blue Oyster Cult – Buck’s Boogie. Lively but certainly not shredding

    Mogwai – Ceiling Granny. Plenty to choose from but this is my favourite

    Gary Moore – The Loner. There are some fairly faint vocals but no-one would deny that it’s an instrumental, shirley? He does widdle a bit but there’s a proper hummable tune in there

  59. Late to the party (again) but here’s a couple from me…..

    Adrian Legg / Mrs Crowes Blues Waltz (very surprised no Adrian Legg mentioned so far)

    Sleep-Eazy’s / Blue Nocturne (a Joe Bonamassa side project).

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