The #7 Guitarist of the Rock Era: John McLaughlin

Most of The Top 100 Guitarists* are easy to pin down as to their style.  Not so for this great at #7:

#7:  John McLaughlin, Graham Bond Organization, Session Musician,  Mahavishnu Orchestra, Solo

50 years as an active guitarist

John McLaughlin was born January 4, 1942 in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.  He has played many styles of music, including jazz and rock, and is one of the groundbreaking fusion artists by mixing in his interest in Indian classical music.

McLaughlin studied violin and piano as a child, then took up guitar at age 11.  He played flamenco and studied the style of jazz great Django Reinhardt.  John moved to London in the early 1960's, playing with Alexis Korner, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organization and Brian Auger.  

In 1969, McLaughlin moved to the United States to play in Tony Williams' group Lifetime.  There is a recording from this period (March 25, 1969) from the Record Plant in New York City that contains a session in which McLaughlin jammed with Jimi Hendrix for six hours, from 2 until 8 in the morning.


McLaughlin taught guitar during this period, with Jimmy Page among his pupils.

McLaughlin played on the albums In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, On the Corner, Big Fun and A Tribute to Jack Johnson by Miles Davis.  John's playing gained a reputation and he became much in demand as a session guitarist, playing for the Rolling Stones, Joe Farrell, Miroslav Vitour, Larry Coryell and others.

McLaughlin recorded the album Devotion in 1970 that featured organist Larry Young, Billy Rich on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. The album My Goal's Beyond consisted of acoustic works, Side A being a fusion blend of jazz and Indian Classical music while Side B featured melodic acoustic playing by McLaughlin. Beginning with this album, McLaughlin adopted the name Mahavishnu, reflecting his dedication to Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy.

                                     "Lila's Dance"


McLaughlin's band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, included keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Rick Laird, Jerry Goodman on violin and drummer Billy Cobham.  The Orchestra fused electric jazz and rock with Eastern and Indian influences and featured fast solos and exotic music scales from McLaughlin.  Because of personality clashes, the group split after two years and three albums.  

In 1973, McLaughlin worked with Carlos Santana, also a disciple of Chinmoy, on the album Love Devotion Surrender.  

McLaughlin then reformed the group with Narada Michael Walden on drums, Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, bassist Ralphe Armstrong and Gaylor Moran on keyboards and vocals.  This incarnation recorded Apocalypse with the London Symphony Orchestra and Visions of the Emerald Beyond.  Another album, Inner Worlds, was recorded by McLaughlin, Walden, Armstrong, and Stu Goldberg on keyboards and synthesizer.

McLaughlin then concentrated on acoustic guitar with the Indian classical music-based Shakti.  The group included Lakshminarayanan L. Shankar on violin, Zakir Hussain on tabla, Thetakudi Harihari Vinayakram on ghatam and Ramnad Raghavan on mridangam.  Shakti recorded the albums A Handful of Beauty in 1975, Shakti in 1976 and Natural Elements in 1977.  

McLaughlin played a custom-built steel string acoustic guitar that featured two tiers of strings over the soundhole:  a conventional six-string and seven strings strung underneath at a 45-degree angle.  Each tier could be independently tuned, much like on a sitar.  The scalloped fretboard enabled McLaughlin to bend strings much farther than a conventional guitar, and John had the fretboard scalloped on his Gibson Byrdland electric.

In 1979, John formed the funk fusion act Trio of Doom, with Tony Williams playing drums and Jaco Pastorius on bass.  The trio did not stay together long, but they performed at the Havana Jam Festival in 1979 and recorded those songs at Columbia Studios in New York City.  McLaughlin also recorded the album Johnny McLaughlin:  Electric Guitarist in 1979.

McLaughlin and the One Truth Band recorded Electric Dreams, then John toured with Christian Escoude as a duo. McLaughlin then recorded two albums with Fuse One, in 1980 and 1982.  In 1986, John composed The Mediterranean Concerto, and played the world premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  The concerto was recorded in 1988 with the London Symphony Orchestra.

In the late 1980's and early 90's, McLaughlin recorded and performed with bassist Kai Eckhardt and percussionist Trilok Gurtu.  John resumed acoustic guitar, and the group released the albums Live at the Royal Festival Hall and Que Alegria.  McLaughlin then toured with The Heart of Things and in 1993, released the album Time Remembered:  John McLaughlin Plays Bill Evans.

In 2003, McLaughlin recorded a ballet score, Thieves and Poets and a triple DVD instructional video called This is the Way I Do It.  In 2006, John released the jazz fusion album Industrial Zen.  In 2007, McLaughlin toured with the jazz fusion quartet, the 4th Dimension.  John released another instructional DVD, The Gateway to Rhythm, featuring Indian percussionist and Remember Shakti bandmate Selva Ganesh Vinayakram.  In July of 2007, McLaughlin performed at the Crossroads Guitar Festival.

In 2008, McLaughlin released the album Floating Point and another DVD, Meeting of the Minds.  He toured later in the year with Chick Corea and others under the name Five Peace Band.  McLaughlin played with Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 2010.  

McLaughlin played the Gibson EDS-1275 doubleneck between 1971 and 1973.  John played the Double Rainbow doubleneck from Rex Bogue, then was fascinated by the Abraham Wechter-built acoustic "Shakti guitar", a customized Gibson J-200.  John currently plays Godin electric/Midi guitars, chiefly the Freeway.  He has also used the Abe Wechter "Notre Dame", Johnny Smith guitars from Gibson, a Paul Reed-Smith, a black Les Paul Custom, a white Fender Stratocaster and Gibson 345.


John used the MesaBoogie amps in the 1970's.  He used Sony M7 Pre-Amp for several years, then switched to a MesaBoogie Pre-Amp (V-Twin) and he likes the warmth and the upper register of the Seymour-Duncan Twin Tube Classic.


For effects, McLaughlin prefers the Seymour-Duncan Twin Tube Classic Pedal, the MXR Carbon Copy Delay, the Dunlop DC Brick and the Boss BCB-60 Pedalboard.


McLaughlin has been an important guitarist in his fusion of jazz and rock.  He is a master of the guitar, whether playing beautiful acoustic music, avant-jazz funk, indo-jazz fusion or rock.  John is an intense, spiritual performer, a virtuoso of the guitar.  He uses odd time signatures, blistering, fast, ascending runs, razor-sharp rhythmic patterns and elusive melodies and harmonies.    

McLaughlin's influence has reached far and wide, being cited by Eric Johnson, Al di Meola and Greg Ginn of Black Flag. Pat Metheny observed that "McLaughlin has changed the evolution of the guitar." Chick Corea said "...what John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one ever heard an electric guitar played like that before, and it certainly inspired me. Frank Zappa said "A person would be a moron not to appreciate McLaughlin's technique."  In 2010, Jeff Beck called McLaughlin "the best guitarist alive".

Guitar Player magazine called McLaughlin's signature sound one of "The 50 Greatest Tones of All-Time".

John has contributed much to not only guitar but music in general.  His fusion of rock and jazz is a marvel to behold.  But his sense of spirituality has led him to constantly improve, to search, to innovate.  As such, he is one of the most versatile guitarists to ever pick up the instrument.  He is magnificent.  John McLaughlin Ranks #7 for the Rock Era*...