10 Best Classic Rock Guitarists Of The '70s

Country and rock and roll don't always tend to have the greatest chemistry together. Hell, for some rockstars, the whole reason they plugged in their guitars in the first place was to get away from the style of bluegrass and hee-haw that they had jammed down their throats since their childhood. Though The Allman Brothers were definitely a rock band at the end of the day, the real magic came with what Duane Allman did with the Southern aspects of his sound.

Ever since they burst onto the scene with the live album At Fillmore East, people were certainly paying attention to the amazing guitar fireworks that were going down onstage. Combining elements of bluegrass, country, and old school blues, Duane Allman's leads always felt like different tapestries of sound, almost like he's meticulously selecting every note for the greatest solo possible. Though he could certainly tear through a fast lick, the real beauty came when he pulled out his slide guitar, with some of the most soulful cries ever to come from a six-string.

Someone must have been paying attention too, with Allman contributing to Derek and the Dominoes with blues legend Eric Clapton shortly before his death in a motorcycle accident. Though his time on earth was tragically short, Duane Allman left behind the genesis of what we know now as Southern rock.