Nothing astounds, perplexes and fills me with envy like Nic Jones' Canadee-i-o. If anyone could ever teach me to play that song that well I would ask no more of life. Another brillian bit of Jones fretwork is his accompaniment to June Tabor's singig of Bonny May from the Airs and Graces LP. I do also love yet another track from the Martin Simpson/June Tabor collaboration, that being Admiral Benbow. Martin Carthy's Siege of Delhi is pretty darn thrilling throughout, as is his work on The Bedmaking on Crown of Horn. I quite like Sultans of Swing as well as Mark Knopfler's end credits for Local Hero. How is it that no one has yet mentioned And Your Bird Can Sing? And for bass lines, what about the Beatles' Rain? And back to back briliance of Colin Moulding's bass lines on Mayor of Simpleton and King for a Day from the XTC album Oranges and Lemons.Actually it's diggicult to come up with a favorite bass line from the XTC catalog, so much of Moulding's work is so good. To my ears, Ry Cooder has never sounded better than on the Jazz and Get Rhythm albums - again, hard to single out a best riff or even track. And then there's Richard Thompson who I always enjoy most when he's not trying so damned hard. The opening riff on Hand of Kindness, the brief, chunky solo on Wall of Death, that's economy and clarity to me. Charlie Christian on Breakast Feud, Django on, well, anything. Man, the more I think about it the more I realize how many really wonderful guitar players there are and have been in the world. Thanks to all of them for enriching my life — but especially Nic and Martin.