5 Guitar Album Picks
5 Guitar Album Picks
The best guitar music has great feel, musicality and striking tonality. Here are a few of my favourite guitar-orientated albums.
The guitar is more than just playing fast. Excessive showboating is largely boring for most listeners. You can watch plenty of show-offs shredding the fretboard on social media. That’s not really music, it’s more akin to doing weights at the gym. The best guitarists are those that care about musicality and feel, like an artform.
I’ve picked out a few albums that illustrates my favourite guitar music. And I suspect that the following artists might also appeal to non-musicians.
Daryl Shawn, Still Here (2022)
Daryl Shawn plays a nylon string, Spanish guitar, that gives the sound a tighter, classical tint with Bluegrass overtones. I came across Daryl via Twitter a few years back. He’d post short, impromptu gigs on an iPhone, doing all kinds of tricks like attaching a Dollar bill to the strings for interesting percussive effects or playing the strings with sticks. It’s worth checking out his YouTube channel if you like to watch.
Listen: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp
Andy Summers, Harmonics of the Night (2021)
The two guitarists who’ve had the biggest influence on my own playing are George Harrison and Andy Summers. People will be familiar with Andy Summers as a member of The Police. I’ve since discovered his solo guitar albums which showcase an amazing ear for ambience, melodic improvisation and sense of timing. It’s often what you don’t play that really matters in musical performance, creating a sense of anticipation.
Listen: Spotify, Apple Music
Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Enfant Terrible (2014)
I’m a big fan of psychedelic rock, I favour that fuzzy, discordant sound that is less about perfection and more about feel. Enfant Terrible is a swinging and gently aggressive Jazz/Grunge album by Norwegian guitar virtuoso Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen. The band have echoes of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Listen: Spotify, Apple Music
Bill Orcutt, Odds Against Tomorrow (2019)
Compelling, expressive improvised guitar from Bill Orcutt and absolutely nothing else, no backing track, no production. I love how you can hear every nuance in the performance, the string buzz, the bursts of arpeggios and natural harmonics. The best players find their own paths, picking up influences along the way, depending on what music surrounds you. Bill Orcutt was inspired by Muddy Waters. This album is in the spirit of a lifetime of improvised learning, with pleasing results.
Listen: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp
Chuck Berry, In London (1965)
A lesser known gem, recorded during the mid-1960s, at the dawn of a new era in Blues-based rock, pioneered by guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Chuck Berry was a massive influence on all of them, having ground-breaking success during the 50s Rock and Roll boom. Once again, this artist is completely self-taught and never knowingly fused Blues with Country. He just played the music that felt natural and of course, made money. Chuck Berry never suffered fools, ruthlessly navigating his way in a cut-throat business, with the odds more stacked against black musicians.
Listen: Spotify, Apple Music