10 greatest slide guitarists and their preferred tuning(s)!

Thank you for reviving this thread because there are some names missing and I dearly wanted to add them! Obviously (from my nickname) I love blues, but my range is by no means limited to that. So the additional names will come from all over the place, just like the musicians. I apologize beforehand for not knowing the preferred tunings.

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Hound Dog Taylor or J.B. Hutto!!! And of course J.B.'s nephew, Lil' Ed Williams.

How about Dave Hole from Australia?? Terrific blues rock player.

Did somebody already mention Jerry Douglas or Mike Auldridge? What about Steve James, Taj Mahal, Terry Garland, Corey Harris and Alvin Youngblood Hart . . . although those last two have moved all over the place stylistically, they're still great slide players. Mary Flowers, can't forget about her!

I was happy to see V.M. Bhatt's name mentioned early on - and I'd like to add to it Debashish Bhattacharya.

It would be impossible for me to pick just 10 best - it all depends on the mood that I'm in. <heh>

I've read through all the postings and no one has mentioned one of the best slide players that ever picked up a guitar which was Rod (the Bottle) Price Who was the only slide player with Foghat I was an avid Foghat Fan and to my knowledge Lonesome Dave never played Slide! Rod did. And he did solo work as well.

Brian Jones.

Not sure why he always gets forgotten but Lowell George is definitely in my Top 5...

1. Duane Allman
2. Lowell George
3. Ry Cooder
4. Sonny landreth
5. Bonnie Raitt

Not sure what tuning he used. Anybody know?

By the way the only reason I didn't include Derek Trucks is because he and Duane Allman are the same person/spirt/soul. He's Duane reincarnated... that's the only explanation for how he was so good at 12 when I first saw him. :D

Sonny Landreth, Derek Trucks, Jr. Brown, Warren Haynes, Reverend Peyton, Leo kotke, Kelly Joe Phelps, Johnny Winter, Ben Harper, Marty muse, Duayne Almond, Lots of old blues and country people + alot of people I dont know much about fer sure.

nobody can sing the blues like blind willie mctell
blind willie johnson is flying past the outer reaches of our solar system

You all need to get hip to Earl Hooker!! Mostly standard tuning. Robert Nighthawk too used mostly standard tuning. Muddy Waters used open G early in his career and mostly standard later on. Elmore James, he used open D and E a lot. Check out these Godfathers of slide!

Well its hard to define "greatest" But one of my fav's is Chris Whitley. Never saw a ton of air play, but I bet you would be suprised at the number of big name guitar players that have got inspiration from his playing. As for tuning? Well he played so many diferent odd ball combos, that there probably not enough room to post them all.

No Joe Bonamassa? How can that be?

No Joe Bonamassa? Seriously guys....how can Bonamassa not even get a mention?

Just registered myself to post :

Nobody mention Chris Rea ! Open E tuning !

Also, Bob Wier of Dead, is nice on slide , no idea about tuning !

My favorite slide player is Roy Rogers, whose playing ranges from straight-up Delta blues to otherworldy sonic excursions. You've got to see him live, but he's got an extensive record catalog. Sonny Landreth is an unusual player in that he's bayou-bred. Not many slide guys from Louisiana...which reminds me, John Mooney, also from Louisiana.

Ellen McIlwaine, without a doubt.

Absolutely amazing artist and never got/gets the recognition she deserved/deserves.

Ellen is one of my favorites as well. Another fabulous slide player that is worth taking a look at is Pura Fe. She is absolutely incredible. Timing, beat, complexity and she makes makes it look easy.

Here are a couple of my favorite videos:

If I was your guitar I'd be the happiest woman alive!

Home

The last time I saw her play, she did both of these songs standing up holding the guitar as you would normally play fingerstyle.

Steve