Who is the best contemporary blues guitarist still playing (alive) today?

I think Buddy Guy is the best contemporary blues guitarist still playing today. I don't think most would consider Warren Hayes a bluesman, but wow! Can he play the blues!

Clapton, John Mayer, me.

B.B.King!!!

i think robert magnante.

BB King and believe it or not Eric Clapton is right up there with him. Clapton is a rocker, but his talent transcends just one genre. He can play anything.

if you just ask (blues)-musicians they have only one name : Junior Watson.
B.B.King is still the Great BB King but he's 82 and his guitar play is not that good anymore but still amazing.
Eric Clapton is god
Dave Specter is an excellent guitar player
Duke Robillard is for me in the top 5
and a guy from sweden Sven Zetterberg he's fantastic
and one more you never heard of but he was nominated already 4 times for the best traditional blues guitar player in europe: Andreas Arlt, his band is called BB and the Blues Shacks

and there are some yougsters like Nick Moss, Dave Gross and JW Jones,Scotti Blinn.

Buddy Guy.No explanation needed.

Buddy Guy. Hasn't lost a step. Still scorches.

buddy guy,and i saw him back in 69 and he was makin` the hair raize on the back of your neck then. he `s still doin` it.....

B.B. King is great not just as a guitarist but as an entertainer, an example of a different kind of show that you don't see any more--the kind of show younger musicians don't put on. If you have the option of seeing B.B. or Buddy or Eric Clapton, choose B.B. He plays great music, he tells stories and jokes, and he gets the crowd involved. He doesn't just want to show you how good of a guitar player he is, he wants you to have a good time at his concert and tell all your friends so you'll come back next time he's in town and bring them with you. He appreciates his fans, he cares so much about them and he tries so hard every night to make the show good for them. That whole idea is old-fashioned and wonderful.

Buddy Guy is great too, see him next. Eric Clapton is fine but his playing has always been unexciting to me. He hits all the notes, but that's all he's doing. The closest he gets to trying to entertain the crowd is making lame "oh" faces when he bends the strings.

Even if you're just talking guitar skill, though, B.B. is in his own class. He doesn't play fast, flashy runs, but every note he hits is beautiful and inspired and carefully considered, and nobody has a guitar sound quite like his. Listening to him play, especially live, and ESPECIALLY when he's really on fire, is magical. I don't get that from Buddy or Eric.

Buddy Guy is the best still alive. That is just my opinion because I like his style. Everyone hears something different when they listen so any answer you get will just be their opinion. In my opinion Peter Green the founder of Fleetwood Mac could have been one of the greatest if not for the LSD. You can feel the pain in his playing. He is still alive and has recorded here and there when he has someone to guide him. Huge waste of talent.

Buddy Guy & Eric Clapton

I would also go along with Eric Clapton. But if Mike Bloomfield, Duane Allman, or Stevie Ray Vaughn were still around, Clapton would have some serious competition.

I would have to go with Buddy Guy. He is amazing. I think Clapton is right there.

BB King. Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton are also very, very good, and Buddy Guy plays with more energy than BB King, but for sheer mastery of the instrument, BB King can't be beat.

I like Albert King better then B.B, but Buddy Guy , Jimmy Vaughn, W.C. Clark, and a guy from Indiana named Jimmie Davis are all very EXCELLENT, I personally think Eric Clapton is WAY over-rated.

THE STILL TODAY IS B.B.KING.





FATIMA

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by contemporary, but I agree with the majority-Buddy Guy is the best electric player, alive and active. I give a nod to Hubert Sumlin as well-The best player Howlin' Wolf ever had. It makes me glad to see his comback, and him getting the long overdue recognition while he's still alive to enjoy it.

Edit:

To Robert B. Badd-Albert King was a master, but he's been dead for fifteen years.

Edit #2

To I'm A Witch-You've been here two weeks and you're already rude and insulting? First of all, there are many musicians on this forum. Secondly, you don't need to be a musician to have good ears, or an opinion. Third, we are polite adults in the blues forum. Finally, since you've thrown down the gauntlet, you may want to check your ears-Chuck Berry is an icon, a great songwriter, a father of rock & roll, and one of the inventors of rock & roll guitar, but the average guitar player learns most Chuck Berry licks in the first year. I'm a marginal guitar player, and I can play most of his tunes without thinking.

ether Chuck Berry or Bill Dirst
Clapton is over rated Chuck would blow him off the stage with out even trying (their must not be any real musicians on here today any one done the same blues fest cricut as him?)

Ian Moore

B.B. King

Odetta...she was considered folk. I don't know why though.

eric clapton. none better. can play blues or anything he wants to god has layed his hand on slow hand.

Bob Weir