James Burton Rank Among Guitarists?

[1015elvis]

Simple question: Where would you rank James Burton against other guitarists? I'd put him in the top 30, maybe 20. Rolling Stone had him at 24th.

[r&b]

top 20 for me. The problem is there are and have been so many great guitarists in rock and roll. If RS would have done this when James joined Elvis in 1969, he maybe would have polled higher. I think his best work by far is with Ricky Nelson. I dont think he really shone with Elvis, there are hardly any guitar solos in their studio work together, and the stage work seemed to all have the same riffs. He was better than that.

[brian]

Simple question: Where would you rank James Burton against other guitarists? I'd put him in the top 30, maybe 20. Rolling Stone had him at 24th.

It's all subjective. James Burton is a well known sideman. He's more well known than a lot of other sidemen in music history. He's in the rock & roll hall of fame. He was the most well known member of the band that Elvis had in the seventies. He made his name primarily off his work with Ricky Nelson that's why he's known as such an influential and innovative guitarist. That's a great achievement. It's hard to say that he's top ten. He'd probably be in the top 50. There are many great studio musicians that aren't on those lists because they don't have much name recognition. I don't know that James Burton is a better guitar player than Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell etc. that's hard to say. Rolling Stone magazine rated him above Eric Clapton and Chet Atkins. That's pretty good. On these lists they take influence and the quality of the records that you played on into account when forming these lists. It's not just your skill as a guitar player. Joni Mitchell made the top ten and I didn't know she was that highly regarded as a guitarist. If your a huge fan of Ricky Nelson's early records and of early rock & roll you may prefer Burton's playing over others because you liked the records he played on and that style more. For those people James Burton may be in the top ten.