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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Sat 6 December 2025 16:30, UK <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no one doubting Keith Richards<\/a> as one of the reigning kings of all rock and roll guitar. <\/p>\n The entire mindset of what a riff should be was defined by him the minute he wrote \u2018Satisfaction\u2019, 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s spell to keep him upright.\u00a0<\/p>\n If we\u2019re 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 \u2018Midnight Rambler<\/a>\u2018 off of Let It Bleed was a blues opera, as he called it, there were also tunes like \u2018You Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want\u2019 that kept the same attitude with a more pop-friendly melody.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s mission to turn the guitar inside out whenever they played.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n