Peter Buck named his favourite guitarist of all time: “He just plays perfectly”
When people talk about their favourite guitarists, it’s usually the lead players, such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, who are pushed towards the top, with their ability to produce gut-busting solos of extreme virtuosity being their main selling points.
Unfortunately, this often means that rhythm guitarists ironically get relegated to playing second fiddle, despite the fact that in a large number of instances, they play an equally important role to those in the lead role, even though they’re not furiously hammering out incomprehensible strings of notes.
Behind many great lead guitarists, there’s often a stellar rhythm player whose input is unfortunately not noticed in the same way, and it’s a crying shame, because much like the plight faced by many other instrumentalists, they’ve plenty to offer besides bedazzling listeners with something showy.
On top of this, it must be noted that plenty of other acts don’t even see the need for a lead guitarist and will rely purely on someone who can play a solid rhythmic riff to express what they feel is necessary in a musical sense, only occasionally throwing in small frills to keep those inclined to pay attention to showboating happy.
One band that never realistically needed to have a dedicated lead player, largely based on the strength of the songwriting that went into their material, was REM, and their sole guitarist, Peter Buck, is no slouch when it comes to musicianship. While he, vocalist Michael Stipe, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry are all credited with having contributed to the writing process on all of their records until 1997, when Berry departed, there’s plenty that Buck had to give to the group and their creative process.
As the member who was often credited with having driven the band towards new sonic territories, it should come as no surprise that he also possesses a wide-reaching taste, and that his personal favourite guitarist is someone whose subtlety has always shone above his flashiness. There may not necessarily be too many instances where he has chosen to emulate the style of this particular player, but as far as rhythm players go, there aren’t many better.
As many other guitarists have done in the past, Buck has previously been quoted as saying that Stax Records’ in-house musician Steve Cropper ranks as “probably my favourite guitarist of all time”. Having been a long-time member of Booker T and the MGs, as well as a session player for the likes of Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, Cropper is best known for his smoothness and simplicity, and while there are occasional lead parts in his work, his parts still work exceptionally when stripped down to the bare bones.
“You can’t think of a time when he really ripped off a hot solo, but he just plays perfectly,” Buck expressed, praising the genius of Cropper’s guitar playing. Often leaning into syncopated guitar strokes and soulful slides, there was nothing that he wasn’t capable of doing.
For someone like Buck, whose musical interests straddled multiple genres and saw him adopt multiple styles, it’s easy to understand why someone as versatile yet understated as Cropper would be the most important and influential player in his life, and despite there being no overt overlap in his output, this is a love that remains intact to this day.
