Favorite Guitar Instrumental Albums

[zebra]

What are your favorite instrumental guitar albums?

There's a certain thing about a lot of instrumental albums put out by guitarists...I don't know how to describe it, but adjectives like "narcissistic" and "overbearing" come to mind.  Even guitarists who have a good sense of texture and atmosphere when playing with their band slip into it when they do solo albums. 

I'm not so much into "guitar albums" as I am just not hearing vocals.  I'm tired of hearing vocals.
However, I've been having trouble finding stuff that fits my moods. 

Incidentally, Modern Jazz is usually a dead end for me, because I really hate the tones most jazz guitarists have used since the 80s or so (think Mike Stern).    It all just sounds like children's breakfast cereal (over-processed garbage).  Wayne Krantz being a big exception.  I do enjoy older guitar jazz, but it fails to go beyond a single "mood."

Please share some of your favorites, so I can get some new ideas! 

Here are some of my personal favorites:

- Paul Gilbert:  Fuzz Universe (favorite album for the last month or so)
- Eric Clapton:  The Rush Soundtrack (searing, but still atmoshpheric; bluesy, but not cliched)
- Chet Atkins/Les Paul:  Chester & Lester
- Wayne Krantz:  Greenwich Mean (the spirit of improvisation)
- Mastadon: Crack the Skye (I've never listened to the version with vocals.  I hate most metal vocals.)
- Martin Simpson:  Cool & Unusual
- Jeff Beck:  Blow by Blow (for whatever reason, this album clicked with me, but "Wired" didn't.  Go figure.)
- The Smiths:  Instruments (a "special mention" selection - not an actual album, but a collection that floats around youtube that was together by a fan)

 

[Axkoa]

A metal album I really enjoy both with and without vocals is The Ocean - Pelagial. It's a bit heavier at times than the Mastodon album you listed but there are some really catchy guitar parts both distorted and clean.

Here is a pretty cool song from the instrumental album:

[youtube]q-m3g1_oUQE[/youtube]

And here is the whole instrumental album:

[youtube]9L7YSrQmVDw[/youtube]

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Leo Kottke - 6 & 12 String Guitar
Tommy Emmanuel - Only
Joe Satriani - Strange Beautiful Music

 

[Cagey]

I'm with you re: lyrics. I say: keep yer whining and crying to yourself, fer crissakes! Frank says...

That said, I like to listen to these guys...

Joe Satriani - Anything he does. Can't go wrong. "Surfing w/ the Alien" and "Flying in a Blue Dream" are my favorites.
Eric Johnson - "Ah Via Musicom"
Al Dimeola - "Elegant Gypsy"
Jeff Beck - "Blow by Blow"

 

[Logrinn]

I'm with you re: lyrics. I say: keep yer whining and crying to yourself, fer crissakes! Frank says...

I hear you. But that said ... I tend not to listen that much to guitar instrumental songs/albums. I find they get boring pretty quick.
What I do listen to, is "ordinary" songs - with - vocals. And obviously - cool guitar parts.
But the thing with me is that I don't listen to - or hear- the lyrics. I hear the melody from the singer, but the lyrics are totally uninteresting. I tend to filter out the words. Which is why I've never understood people raving about artists like Bob Dylan. That's completely uninteresting to me, since the melodies are pretty nonexistent.
So with "ordinary" songs I like those with great melodies and dynamics. Dynamics are really important to me. It can be the dynamics in volume, speed and so on. But also the dynamics between the vocal- and the guitarpart/solo.
So, for example, when Brian May goes into his solo on Brighton Rock, it sounds so good because there's been vocals before it. There's an "ordinary" song with verses and choruses leading up to it.
Now if this had been a "guitar"-song on a guitaralbum there wouldn't have been these other parts setting off the cool guitar part.
It's a bit like movies I guess. If you have an action movie filled with action and special effects the whole movie through, it gets a bit boring in the end.
But if, on the other hand, the movie is a bit slower, more low key, and suddenly - BAAM! - you have some action and special effects - then it's stands out and it becomes something I tend to like more.

But - hey - that's just me ...

 

[zebra]

@ Logrinn:  Yes, I agree with you completely, especially with regards to the vocal melody being predominant over the words, and what you said about dynamics, with regards to comparing songs to movies. 

 

[AutoBat]

I always enjoyed Steve Vai - Passion & Warfare.

 

[Cagey]

What I do listen to, is "ordinary" songs - with - vocals. And obviously - cool guitar parts.
But the thing with me is that I don't listen to - or hear- the lyrics. I hear the melody from the singer, but the lyrics are totally uninteresting. I tend to filter out the words. Which is why I've never understood people raving about artists like Bob Dylan. That's completely uninteresting to me, since the melodies are pretty nonexistent.

I'd go along with that 100%. If I had to listen to nothing but instrumental work, my choices of music would be severely limited for the type of thing I like to listen to. But, generally speaking, lyrics are lost on me.

Mmmm... Brighton Rock...​

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

    Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien".  Great straightforward rock and great tone as well.  Even my wife enjoys this album (and she thinks all guitar solos sound the same).  My favorite instrumental guitar song is "Sleepwalk" by Santo and Johnny.
    I argue with my friends a lot about that very thing with Bob Dylan.  His melodies and musical abilities don't interest me enough  to get into his work.  I have a feeling I would enjoy covers of his work, more than his original recordings.

 

[Tonar8352]

Danny Gatton 88 Elmira Street and any thing else he recorded.
The David Grisman Quartet's first album with Tony Rice at his smoking prime.
Ted Green Solo Guitar.
Bola Sete  Tour de Fource. Looks like a wrestling match between a man and a guitar.
Any thing Django Reinhardt.
Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant Flying High.
And anyone of the greats you have all mentioned along with any other great guitar playing in any style.

 

[pabloman]

With lyrics you have to think and then feel. With instruments you just feel.

 

[Logrinn]

My previous rant aside ... A rather new talent I've come across and that I enjoy very much, is Nick Johnston.
His playing, although of the virtuosity kind, is quite different from the likes of Vai and Satriani.

Here, have a listen to your non average shredding  - In a locked room on the moon:

[youtube]rbDg9bvssVw[/youtube]

or the very bluesy Even if it takes a lifetime:

[youtube]4QQnFYici4Q[/youtube]

 

[stratamania]

Steve Morse, lots of instrumental stuff.

Al Di Meola

Yngwie Malmsteen Rising Force album.

Uli Jon Roth, various tracks.

Robben Ford

Larry Carlton

Danny Gatton

Brent Mason

Eric Johnson

Vai and Satriani also I like a lot of their output.

 

[mrpinter]

Here are a couple instrumental albums by guitarists that I really like:

Brad Rabuchin - When Smart Dogs Go Bad

Shane Theriot - The Grease Factor, and Dirty Power

 

[TBurst Std]

Some great mentions. For myself, add Jeff Beck - Beck-Ola

 

[AutoBat]

I can't believe I forgot about him, but Buckethead is a great instrumentalist. He has 264 studio albums.
I like his 9th album Electric Tears the most (and no I haven't listened to a vast majority of his output).

Here's Padmasana from that album:
[youtube]lCwY4_0W1YI[/youtube]

 

[TBurst Std]

How about any surf rock? Dick Dale, the Ventures, etc. 2 more recent groups I listen to are Jetpack and the Blue Hawaiians.

 

[TroubledTreble]

Many greats mentioned here..

A few more:
Tuck Andress - Reckless Precision
Leo Kottke - One Guitar No Vocals
Chet Atkins - Almost Alone
Tom Verlaine - Warm and Cool
Duane Eddy - Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel
"Twang" - tribute to Hank Marvin

 

[line6man]

A few of my favorites:

-Passion and Warfare (Vai)
-Surfing With The Alien (Satch)
-Edge of Insanity (Tony MacAlpine)
-Time Odyssey (Vinnie Moore)
-Rising Force (Yngwie)

 

[musicispeace]

Have to confess to two, one being an Andres Segovia album I heard as a kid and couldn't tell you which one it was. As a barely functional family we used to watch him perform on television occasionally and it left an impression on me about the guitar. For contemporary (ish) I think Jeff Beck There and Back comes to mind for me. I played that record a lot and saw him perform live while touring it.