Best acoustic guitarist

These immediately spring to mind, but please add to my list.

I love Hacketts acoustic playing, especially on 'Can utility..' and 'Suppers Ready' and the intro to 'Blood on the rooftops' Howes playing on '..and you & I' is also classic.

Hackett just something about his acoustic playing that is just amazing.  Especially in Supper's Ready" and "Blood on the Rooftops"

70sSoundquality wrote: howe is the only real guitarist here

sounds like somebody just wants to get a rise out of the other members
here...

To me Howe and Hackett are incredible in their own ways, not one is
better than the other. I do prefer Hackett though

among this list; Steve Hackett and Steve Howe are the best. They are both classically trained and have some amazing moments:

Hackett: Entangled, The Musical Box, Horizons, Blood on The Rooftops, After The Ordeal

Howe: And You and I, Roundabout, Clap, Mood For a Day.

(Dave Gilmour's only really great acoustic guitar work is in "dogs" , but thats a different matter.

Another great not included on this list is Ian Anderson. In my opinion, Tull's best stuff revolves around his acoustic rythems (thick as a brick).

Overall though, Jimmy Page is by FAR the best acoustic guitarist:

Moments: Battle of Evermore, Babe i'm Gonna Leave You, Going To California, White Summer/ Black Mountain Side (which i can play, yeah for me!), Stairway to Heaven: just to name a  few.

sorry I didnt mean to offend, but Seriously, Howe is the only guitarist listed here who is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS on top of his game. NEVER NEVER NEVER mediocre. Alex Lifeson's intro to La villa is just a lot of fast scales, that has nothing to do with inventing an actual style or technique of playing. These other guitarists are great, but hardly take the guitar as far as Howe does.

In acoustic my personal favourite would be Ian Anderson, also as far as prog goes.

But overall it would be presumptious to say that the best acoustic guitarist would be a rock guitarist, even prog-guitarist.

Why is Greg Lake even there? - surely not on the back off "Still..You turn me on" or something similar. Its a good song but its not exactly "Clap" is it?? Ace bass player and singer but its the first time I've ever seen him in an acoustic guitarists poll!!!

And what about John McLaughin? Have you hear Acoustic supertrio, live at San Francisco, with Al di Meola and Paco de Lucía? If you don't, try to, it's worthfull.

Edited by mirco

Where have you been... Greg Lake has played some amazing acoustic guitar pieces... for instance "From the Beginning", "Lucky Man", "The Sage", "SYTMO", "Cest la Vie", Watching Over You", "I Believe in Father Christmas", Affairs of the Heart", ... just to name a few. Actually I think Greg Lake can go up against anyone on acoustic...

The sound on this is crappy.. but its beautiful anyway....

http://home.earthlink.net/~muchmusic/much250.wmv

Just started listening to King Crimson lately and Robert Fripp sounds pretty handy but he's only been mentioned a couple of times.

Alex Lifeson's intro to La Villa Strangiato on Hemispheres is great, whether it's only scales or not, however take the same piece on Exit Stage Left..... what's THAT all about? Just as well he redeems himself later in the song during the main guitar solo.