Duane Allman

Duane Allman compressed one of the most influential careers in American guitar into just four years before his death in 1971. His slide work on a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall — particularly on the Allman Brothers Band's At Fillmore East and Derek and the Dominos' Layla — defined Southern rock and set a benchmark for slide guitar that has never been surpassed. He used a Coricidin bottle as a slide, a technique that produced a tone so smooth and vocal that it sounded more like a horn than a guitar. Eric Clapton considered him the finest guitarist he had ever heard.