Last Monday, the 27th, Brian May revealed on The Howard Stern Show that he considers Kurt Cobain , from Nirvana , to be one of the best guitarists in history.
“I think no guitarist should feel like they have something to prove. It’s not a competition. Kurt Cobain is a great example. There’s not much technical stuff there, and he didn’t try that hard to be technical, and yet he leaves us a legacy of some of the best guitar music of all time. So it’s not about technique. It’s about what you put into the music and what you feel and how that feeling is conveyed in your guitar playing,” said the Queen (transcription via Loudwire ).
Brian also gave honorable mentions to Eric Clapton , Jeff Beck , Steve Vai , Eddie Van Halen , Jimi Hendrix , and Nuno Bettencourt .
The conversation began when May was asked about being chosen by Total Guitar as the greatest guitarist of all time. “The good thing about playing guitar is that everyone is different. You can’t really rank people. Of course, I have my favorites too. But the fact that people put me in that position makes me smile. It’s a lovely feeling. I’m not in the first million guitarists in the world; I know that. There are people I hear every day who do things I could never do.”
Check out the excerpt from the interview below:
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