(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Sat 6 December 2025 16:30, UK
There’s no one doubting Keith Richards as one of the reigning kings of all rock and roll guitar.
The entire mindset of what a riff should be was defined by him the minute he wrote ‘Satisfaction’, and even if not every song was a winner, you have to admire the craftsmanship of someone constantly in search for that one lost chord that everyone avoids. He has earned his place on the Mount Olympus of rock and roll, but Richards has always maintained that there was no shame in being second best, either.
Because as much as people loved to hear him pluck whatever tune was in his head on his trademark Telecaster, there was a lot more to him than a bunch of open chords. His forefathers were all the kings of blues rock, and there was no way that he would still be standing on that stage without Muddy Waters, BB King, and, given his physical state, probably some magical witch’s spell to keep him upright.
If we’re judging him purely on the music, though, a lot of what he was great at was about taking the basis of blues and making something entirely new. A lot of what turned up on Sticky Fingers was indebted to the blues, but whereas a song like ‘Midnight Rambler‘ off of Let It Bleed was a blues opera, as he called it, there were also tunes like ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ that kept the same attitude with a more pop-friendly melody.
That was what sold, but Richards was the last one to focus on the money first. He was the definition of a lonesome musical troubadour, and some of the best artists that he ever saw were the ones who looked at their tunes as an ever-evolving craft. Some were the consummate songwriters like Tom Waits, but there were also the technicians who made it their life’s mission to turn the guitar inside out whenever they played.
And while Richards was a firm admirer of all things blues, he felt that no one could compare to what Jose Feliciano could do. Although many artists have found ways to twist the guitar into their own voice, no one has better mastered the art of acoustic guitar than Feliciano, and even when put up against the greatest guitarists of all time, Richards was convinced that no one could outdo what the guitar legend could do.
He had his own classic licks under his belt, but the sound of Keef was no match for Feliciano’s hand, with the Rolling Stones guitarist saying, “I’ve never met him. He’s a far better guitar player than me. No, I mean technically, classically. I ain’t trained that way. I force the thing to do as it’s told.” But that’s not to see that one technique is right or wrong when it comes to getting the right sound out of the guitar.
Never in a million years would anyone think that Richards could make the guitar sing like Feliciano could, but that was never his forte. Like many guitar aficionados that came after him, like Kurt Cobain, Richards was happy to wing it whenever he played and get the kind of sounds out of his instrument that he always wanted to hear, whether it was the laid-back groove of ‘Honky Tonk Women’ or that chilling opening that kicks off ‘Gimme Shelter’.
The classical approach to the instrument was far from the worst thing in the world, but not every rock guitarist grows up to be on the same level as Yngwie Malmsteen. Most people are happy to have their own voice on guitar, and even if it means making a few strange turns along the way, it’s always worth it to be original rather than making sure everything sounds perfectly clean.
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