101 Essential albums for guitarists.

how bout Crosby Stills Nash and Young 4 way street, I know I've learned alot from that one. Hendrix Live at Berkeley or Electric Ladyland aswell.

Zappa hmm.
But unless you've already got a grasp on things like playing 5-tuples in 16/7 time signatures it's going to be darn near impossible to LEARN from his music.

I guess if by "Essential" one means something to learn/copy your right, however I'd like to think music that inspires and challenges us to be better, is as essential as cool licks and repeatable riffs. Otherwise we'd all just bang away at Louie,Louie Wild Thing, and You Really got Me.

Zappa hmm.
But unless you've already got a grasp on things like playing 5-tuples in 16/7 time signatures it's going to be darn near impossible to LEARN from his music.

I guess if by "Essential" one means something to learn/copy your right, however I'd like to think music that inspires and challenges us to be better, is as essential as cool licks and repeatable riffs. Otherwise we'd all just bang away at Louie,Louie Wild Thing, and You Really got Me.

By the same token, we're not listing Bach and Brahams here either.

I've taken "Essential" in this context to means somethig like "the codex from which we gather our common vocabulary as guitarists."

Zappa isn't that any more than Bach is.

That doesn't mean that Zappa or Bach aren't great. But they don't immediately form the shared musical education of guitarists.

"Essential" can of course have other meanings. But as it expands beyond where I was thinking it is, it starts to inculde Bach and old monks singing Gregorian chant. And I'm not sure that's the intent of the thread.

I know we're getting off the thread but I find this far more interesting than listing our favorite album.
I was about to concede your point when I rememberd a documentary wherein BB King, Joe Satriani, Robert Cray and more were discussing guitar and John Coltrane was brought up by more than one guitarist.
You mentioned common vacabulary, I would argue that music is our common vocabulary and perhaps Bach and Brahms do belong here.
One of the first songs I learned was In The Hall of the Mountain King. And if you've heard Walter Trout soloing you get a good deal of classical licks.(As I'm writing this AC/DC's "let there be rock" came on and I can't name the song but Angus's solo goes in to some classical song as well)
In fact I'd say that any musician, any instrument should own Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, Heck I'd say everyone who even listens to music should own it.

Whom ever you draw inspiration from is deemed essential. So, anyone is game. It comes down to personal taste (as is with all of these types of subjects discussed here of this forum). My 101 might match up with yours here and there, but not the whole list.

Then again, remember, it's about the music, not how difficult it is to play it.

I've taken "Essential" in this context to means somethig like "the codex from which we gather our common vocabulary as guitarists."

far too limiting ... and stilted

I've taken "Essential" in this context to means somethig like "the codex from which we gather our common vocabulary as guitarists."

far too limiting ... and stilted
In the context of this discussion, what do you take the term to mean?

I've taken "Essential" in this context to means somethig like "the codex from which we gather our common vocabulary as guitarists."

far too limiting ... and stilted
In the context of this discussion, what do you take the term to mean?

Guitarists can and have learned from many sources. Many of the most respected musicians who also happen to play guitar cite their essential influences as composers, horn-players and other non-guitarists. Restricting the essentials to guitar players -- especially where those guitarists have taken inspiration from outside this instrument -- is too limiting. A little more concretely: Two guitarists may have developed their styles from someone whose work is as seminal as Coltrane's, yet may have taken their respective styles in vastly different directions. Listen to them, if they are worth the time; but be sure to listen to Coltrane as well.

You seem to have a preference for jazz. This should be especially obvious in that context. Parker, Evans, Miles and many other non-guitarist jazz musicians often get the inspirational tip-o-the-hat from jazz guitarists.

far too limiting ... and stilted
In the context of this discussion, what do you take the term to mean?

Guitarists can and have learned from many sources. Many of the most respected musicians who also happen to play guitar cite their essential influences as composers, horn-players and other non-guitarists. Restricting the essentials to guitar players -- especially where those guitarists have taken inspiration from outside this instrument -- is too limiting. A little more concretely: Two guitarists may have developed their styles from someone whose work is as seminal as Coltrane's, yet may have taken their respective styles in vastly different directions. Listen to them, if they are worth the time; but be sure to listen to Coltrane as well.

You seem to have a preference for jazz. This should be especially obvious in that context. Parker, Evans, Miles and many other non-guitarist jazz musicians often get the inspirational tip-o-the-hat from jazz guitarists.

True, and those artists are important for jazz musicians on any instrument, they aren't important to me as a guitar player and not important to me as a sax player.

Moreover, the whole first 4 pages of discussion of this thread is about guitar players.

I'm not saying that as general musicians or musicians in specific genres we aren't influenced by those who aren't guitarists.

Rather, I'm trying to find a way of understanding how the term "essential" applies to this discussion.

I'm not disagreeing with you that those other artists and composers aren't important or that they shouldn't be in any musician's library. I'm just trying to get a sense of what the criteria is for inclussion in this discussion.

True, and those artists are important for jazz musicians on any instrument, they aren't important to me as a guitar player and not important to me as a sax player.

Moreover, the whole first 4 pages of discussion of this thread is about guitar players.

I'm not saying that as general musicians or musicians in specific genres we aren't influenced by those who aren't guitarists.

Rather, I'm trying to find a way of understanding how the term "essential" applies to this discussion.

Sometimes, we have to look beyond the original question and give a bit more.

Unless they look to other sources of inspiration, most, even "excellent" guitar players will end up sounding similar to other guitar players. It's a good goal for newbies wanting becoming somewhat proficient on the instrument; but as a musician and advanced instrumentalist, this should be too limiting. There are lots of new, impressionable players here. I'm not one of them, and have already been long exposed to 99% of the topical material in the forum. So a small an maybe different contribution I can make is this: Help the few -- and it will only be a few -- who will become true creative musicians to understand that the guitar is a great weapon-of-choice, and it can be used in many other than the traditional methods and styles. One of the easiest ways to approach this is looking outside the instrument for creative ideas. Some lucky and talented (sometimes clueless!) very few can do this without that help. From my POV, creativity is an essential, and it can be fostered at any stage learning. Anybody can provide a list of cool guitar albums that showcase the greatest chops and playing known to this day. That often gets players learning those riffs, progressions and styles. Let's give learners something to wake 'em up and think "How could I play that great music on my instrument."

I took the word essential to mean any music that you think a guitarist "should" listen to. So it's subject to interpretation. Guitar playing can go in many different directions, so to me the question is about showing the many different forms of guitar playing that you think someone should be familiar with. That can come from all genres of music and include the great acoustic players, great songwriters, great electric players, great jazz players, etc....whoever you think should be listened to.

anything by the mars volta
bob dylan's two cover albums ("good as i been to you" & "world gone wrong") both have some amazing folk flatpicking
leo kottke "one guitar, no vocals"

Alice in Chains - Facelift
Black Sabbath - (Everything up until 1979)
Dinosaur Jr. - Where You Been?
Doobie Brothers
The Doors - (All albums but especially The Doors & Strange Days)
Dream Theater - Train of Thought & Octavarium
Elliott Smith - (All albums but especially his later work)
Estas' Tonne' - Dragon of Delight Volume II
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters & In Your Honor
Fu Manchu - California Crossing
Grateful Dead - (Any album you can name)
Iced Earth - Horror Show
Jimi Hendrix - (Everything)
King Crimson - Lark's Tongue in Aspic
Kyuss - (Everything)
Led Zeppelin - (All albums but not a big fan of In Through the Out Door)
Lou Reed - Transformer
The Mars Volta - (Everything!!!)
Mountain - Best of Mountain
Nick Drake - (All three albums)
Pink Floyd - (Everything with Gilmour
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldier
Rage Against the Machine - (Everything)
Radiohead - OK Computer
Steve Vai - Real Illusions: Real Reflections
SRV - (Everything)
Stratovarius - Episode
Sublime - (Everything)
Tool - (Everything)
Tom Petty
The Velvet Underground - (Everything)
The White Stripes - Elephant
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force

Hmmm....did you just list everything you had in your iTunes library?

No, I left out about 3,000 songs. But I did just do a quick look through of my library.

I know I missed plenty of great ones, and maybe put in a few people would disagree with, but I was just looking for albums that have influenced the way I play and/or used guitar in ways that have never been done before.