Damn, man. I love Gibsons.
First up, as a jazz fanatic, I have to show some Wes Montgomery. He is arguably the father of modern jazz guitar, changing everyone's conception of what the instrument could do. And he played Gibsons.
Next up, ask any professional jazz guitarist about the most stunning virtuosos in the history of the instrument, and very quickly, they will probably name Joe Pass. Here he is playing a standard that everyone knows, "Summertime." On, of course, a Gibson because Joe Pass favored Gibsons.
I could keep going with jazz, but let's mix things up a bit. When people think of country guitar, they generally think of the Telecaster, which is based on the solid body design of, um... Les Paul. Bloody genius, that guy was. He was also a virtuoso. And he could do jazz, country, or whatever he wanted. And yes, there is overlap! Here's Les himself, with Mary Ford.
Now, you wanna see what happens when someone starts messing around with that design? Danny Gatton. He was one of those guys with a solid claim to the title of greatest-guitarist-ever. He mostly played a Tele, but here he is with a Les Paul. You can't see it very well here, but that gizmo hooked up to it? That's an effects box he made. He called it "the magic dingus box." Why? I think the real question is, "why not?"
OK, something modern. In my opinion, there isn't a better working band today than the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Derek Trucks always plays a Gibson SG. Here they are, playing "Anyday," with Derek showing how far beyond Duane his playing really is. Is that heretical? Probably. I don't care. Everything about this band is perfect.
But wait! Bluegrass! The best mandolins around are Gibsons. Period. There is plenty of competition among guitars, although Martins are most famous in bluegrass, but mandolins? Gibsons. Period. I could put up a bunch of mandolin players, but why bother with a long list? Just go with the best. Here's Chris Thile, along with Michael Daves on guitar.
