“Only one”: Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes names the best modern guitarist
The music of hard rock pioneers Deep Purple has been terrorising guitar shop employees for decades, speaking to their all-encompassing influence on the world of rock and roll. While the guitar riffs of Ritchie Blackmore often dominate the conversation surrounding Deep Purple, the basslines of Glenn Hughes were just as essential to the band’s distinctive sound. Regardless, with over five decades of experience under his belt, it is fair to say that Hughes knows his way around the world of rock and roll.
Since the dawn of popular music, there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the greatest guitarist to ever grace the airwaves. In the early years, the world of blues produced a wealth of incredible players before the rock ‘n’ roll revolution introduced us to figures like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and, later, icons like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. In all honesty, it’s difficult to say for sure who the greatest guitarist of all time is because all of those players operated within various different styles, techniques and eras. There is also a misconception that guitar greatness is directly correlated with technical prowess.
While technical ability on the six-string is a prerequisite for most great guitar players, the likes of Kurt Cobain, Joe Strummer and Sterling Morrison changed the way many people played the instrument, but they were worlds away from the abilities of figures like Jimmy Page. As with virtually every aspect of music, art and creativity, greatness comes from the emotions you are able to drum up in audiences, which brings us back to the world of blues.
Blues was the spark which originally birthed rock and roll, so it makes sense that many of the great rock bands throughout history – including Deep Purple – always maintained close ties with the genre. You only need to listen to the hard rock stylings of Deep Purple to hear the clear influence of blues rock on the band, particularly within Hughes’ basslines. As such, the bassist has always been open to discussing the best blues rock musicians in the game.
During a recent interview with Guitar Interactive, Hughes reflected on the state of rock music, listing Joe Bonamassa as “In my opinion, the greatest rock blues guitar player alive today.”
Explaining this choice, the bassist argued, “You know, you gotta remember, [Eric] Clapton back in his youth was incredible. You know, we got to be clear about Clapton being blues rock king in the late ‘60s. As you know, we have to doff our cap to that. But since you’ve got both Vai and Satriani in their world, and Eric Johnson.”
As Hughes says, the field of blues rock guitar is a crowded space, but one name always rises above the rest. “In general,” he said, “when you think blues rock, you think of only one. You think of only one, and it’s Joe [Bonamassa],” adding, “For me, music is one thing, but personality is another thing. When you’re working with – and I’ve worked with some guitar players that are not so nice – but Joseph is a genuinely good, kind man.”
Bonamassa completely reinvigorated the world of blues rock upon his rise to prominence during the early 2000s. Throughout his many solo albums and his work with the hard rock outfit Black Country Communion, Bonamassa has repeatedly affirmed himself as a modern guitar master, able to stand up against any of the great guitarists who have illustrated the pages of rock history.
