Define the word "god." Simple. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, a god is "any of various beings conceived of as supernatural and immortal." Now define a "guitar god." One may stumble on this task and think of a guitar god as being dressed in gold with a golden guitar no one may touch. That is not my idea of a guitar god or goddess. My idea is a person who has his or her own style of guitar playing and breaks the rules to create his or her own.
Having their own style of guitar playing definitely brings into mind as to who is a guitar god/goddess. Think of rock musicians and how they play their guitars. I may see them "jamming" on the guitars, twirling their hair around to the heavy rock. I never imagined a rock musician to be able to play with grace, until I saw Liz Phair play on her guitar. She plays rock music, and some songs fit into the category where headbanging could take place, but, alas, watch her play as her fingers strum on the strings like a ballerina waltzing across the stage. I do not know what her secret is, but I have yet to see another rock musician play as gracefully as she does.
While Liz Phair gracefully rocks to her songs, think of someone who broke a rule. There are plenty of defiant musicians around, but I cannot think of anyone who broke a barrier in the industry to incorporate it into her own, other than Bonnie Raitt. Ms. Raitt grew up listening to the blues and mixed its style into rock and roll. What fascinates me about Ms. Raitt is that she was the first white female to play the blues, while the blues has been stereotyped as "black folks' music." Ms. Raitt's music was not accepted at the time she started her career in the 1970's, but she is now considered one of the "greatest guitar players of all time." I believe she is a great player when I have not seen another female musician conquer the style of slide guitar like Bonnie Raitt.
Since Bonnie Raitt was able to incorporate the blues with rock and roll, there is one musician who has created a different sound in the rock and roll world. I am speaking of Jimi Hendrix. Most musicians and music listeners know the significat role Mr. Hendrix has had in the music history. "He could make his guitar sing," my mother claimed, when I asked about his guitar playing. Yes, he could make the guitar sing; think of him playing the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock in 1969. Mr. Hendrix created sounds no one has ever heard before and to this day, not many of these sounds have been duplicated. Jimi Hendrix remains a big influence for today's musicians, because of his ability to create wonderful sounds from the electric guitar.
A guitar god or goddess is someone who is untouchable, no one is able to duplicate their style of guitar playing or duplicate the sounds they have created. There are many guitar players in this world, but not many achieve the mark as "a god." Since we do have these idols to look up to, they have taught us not to be afraid to break the rules and create our own. I have seen some influences these gods have made on today's musicians, such as Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, where Mr. Campbell can make his guitar sing; and Sheryl Crow incorporating many different music styles into rock and roll. For everything that happens and exists, there will always be a supernatural talent, even it it comes in a form of a rock musician with a guitar.