-A with the beginning of Round 2, I am going to begin Round 3 by extending a big "THANK YOU!!" to everyone who's participated to this point!! You guys have all been great, and many insightful opinions have been expressed and responded to. If this has been one of the hottest blogs on the boards lately, you guys have yourselves to thank- you've all made this a very interesting read for guitar fans out there, most of all myself, and have made it also a very inviting forum for discussion. I would also like to welcome warmly any who haven't participated in previous rounds- this vote is open to all, so please feel free to place your votes and comments even if you have not done so previously!
-Now, things tightened up considerably in Round 2 compared with Round 1 overall, and while some were runaways, others were pretty close and were only decided in the concluding days of the vote. So here, folks, are the results. As with the last round, the winners are in bold typeface, and the losers are crossed out (seedings in parenthesis, votes received in square brackets). Any "upsets"? Not according to the seedings, as all the higher seeded players won their respective matchups, but again, I'll let you guys decide...
Eric Clapton(1)[45] vs. Buddy Guy(17)[8] -Eric has popular music credentials like few others, and the profile to match. A lotta love expressed for Buddy out there, but not enough to carry him through to Round 3... Eric himself faces perhaps his biggest challenge in Round 3...
Jimi Hendrix(2)[52] vs. Slash(18)[1] -Slash squeaked by Johnny Winter in Round 1, but ran square into a brick wall called Jimi Hendrix in Round 2...
Stevie Ray Vaughan(3)[44] vs. Robert Johnson(19)[9] -Robert Johnson's rather surprising run comes to an end having faced a latter day blues guitar legend...
Carlos Santana(4)[32] vs. Chuck Berry(20)[21] -A great deal of respect out there for ol' Chuck over the course of this, but there is also a great deal for Santana, himself having become something of an elder statesman...
Edward Van Halen(5)[41] vs. Randy Rhoads(12)[12] -As I have previously said, Randy made quite a splash over the short time that he was in the spotlight. Who knows what might have been had he been around longer?
Jimmy Page(6)[39] vs. Pete Townsend(22)[14] -Gotta love Pete, as big a rock & roll icon as they come. But being primarily a rhythm player probably cost him this one against someone who was one of the first to take virtuoso lead playing to mainstream pop...
David Gilmour(7)[30] vs. Jeff Beck(10)[23] -Jeff's incredibly ecclectic career and reletively low public profile probably put him at a disadvantage here against someone that for many has come to actually define classic rock lead playing...
Duane Allman(8)[30] vs. BB King(9)[23] -BB is the reigning "king" of the blues (perhaps!), but Duane Allman continues to have a very devoted following, in spite of the tragic brevity of his career...
And so there were eight! Interestingly, seen like this, there haven't been any upsets at all- all the pairings for this round could have been set from the original vote- but now here's where the real fun begins...
Eric Clapton(1) vs. Duane Allman(8)
Jimi Hendrix(2) vs. David Gilmour(7)
Stevie Ray Vaughan(3) vs. Jimmy Page(6)
Carlos Santana(4) vs. Edward Van Halen(5)
-Thanks again, folks, for making this thing such a blast for everyone! Let's see if the seedings hold up here...
-Voting for Round 3 of "The "Greatest" Guitarist In History?" will conclude midnight EDT, Thursday, June 26th.