Ritchie Blackmore(Deep Purple)- The Speed King of the 70's

I have read many blogs where people have admired about Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour etc but I have searched about Ritchie Blackmore and I found few people who actually wrote or admired his guitar skills elaborately. I thought to write about his specialities and contributions that he made in the rock history.

He has been majorly famous for his riff in the song Smoke On the Water but do you guys actually know what wonders he has created in other songs??? Ee was considered as the "speed king" during the 70's era. His solo's in the songs like highway star, Speed King, Space Truckin, Strange Kind of Woman, Lazy, Child In Time, Mistreated are completely different from each other. He was versatile only in one genre i.e Hard Rock and I somehow feel he has been the best hard rock guitarist.

I can surely say he was not so good in other genres and he was not so versatile, but in the hard rock genre he was the most versatile guitarist. You can learn a variety of solo's and riff's and he was truly an icon during the 70's. Apart from his famous riff of Smoke on the water, you can also try the riff of Space Truckin which I feel has the real feeling of Hard Rock.

From slow to fast, From clean to distortion, if you are a hard rock guitarist then you must cover Ritchie Blackmore.

Greatest Rock Guitarists

I Had Really A Tough Time On This One ...... There Are So Many Great Guitarists In The History Of Rock, And Picking Up Just The Better Ones Is a Much Difficult Job ....

**I Was Having a lot of trouble in finalizing a Top 5 List, And So I Have Given Some Guitarists The Same Spot Too.. But That Should Not Be Considered As If They Were Same In Their Skills And Ability ... It Was Just To Put Them In This List, Because They Deserve It .... So, Here Are The Top 5 ( In No Particular Order Though )



1. Jimi Hendrix :-
Undoubtedly , The Best Now And Forever . He Gave The World The Meaning Of Being a Rock Guitar Player . The Most Unique, Most Original And Innovative Guitar Player . His Solos Were Not Very Exceptional , Compared To Today's List Of Guitarists , But They Were Definitely Original. He Must Be Regarded As the Creator, the Inventor Of Today's Type Of Riffs And Solos . I Am Speechless To Describe Him Further .







2. Eric Clapton :-
A Very Exquisite Guitar Player. His Riffs And Solos Are So Much Expressive That You Feel His Emotions Into His Guitar. I Would Regard Him as The Best Living Legend In Rock. His Compositions Like Layla And Tears In Heaven Are So Much Beautiful And Emotional That Its Quite Impossible To Even Play These With Such a Feel And Expressions as Mr. Eric Clapton ...







3. Jimmy Page :-
A Complete Rockstar ! The Most Versatile Of The Lot . He Has Given So Deep And Soft Riffs Like "Stairway To Heaven " and Then You Hear The Hard Riffs AS in "When The Levee Breaks" And "Kashmir " . His Solos Are Also So Very Impressive and he is also Regarded As The Beginning Of The Era Of Hard Rock( Even Metal ) Music...










4. Stevie Ray Vaughan/ Steve Vai :-
Stevie Ray Vaughan Revived The Blues Genre OF The 80's .. His Songs were So Inspiring And So Magical That You Cant Omit Him From Any Such Rankings...
Steve Vai, The "Talking Guitarist " As I Call Him As Proved His Skills And Originality In Various Songs And His Live Performances At The G3 jams Were a Joy To Watch.. He Has Always Done Different Great Things With His Band And The Tremolo Has Been His Speciality ...




5. Ritchie Blackmore/David Gilmour :-
This Rank Was The Most Confusing Since There Are So Many Guitar Players Left... But Somehow I Made Up My Mind And Chose the above two...
"Smoke On The Water", "Highway Star" , "Space Truckin " And Lots More ! The List Is So Amazing That Its Difficult To Forget This Guitarist ... Blackmore Was Such An Extremely Talented Guitar Player That His Riff In Smoke On The Water Has Become The Best Guitar Riff In History , And So Does It Truly Deserve To Be ...

David Gilmour , What Can I Say About Him ! Such Beautiful Solos That You Feel That He Wants to Say Something To You via his Guitar . His Solo In Comfortably Numb And Also Time, Are Perfect Examples Of What I am Talking About... Definitely Deserves The Top 5 in any List...

Some Honourable Mentions :-

Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Brian May , Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Slash, BucketHead, Keith Richards, Eric Johnson And Kirk Hammett