Top Ten Guitarists
Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage. On songs like "Machine Gun" or "Voodoo Chile," h Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage.
Eric Clapton Eric Clapton is basically the only guitar player who influenced me – even though I don't sound like him. There was a basic simplicity to his playing, his style, his vibe and his sound.
According to Eddie Van Halen, as a teen, he would often practice while walking around at home with his guitar strapped on or sitting in his room for hours with the door locked. Eddie Van Halen acknowledged the importance of super group Cream's "I'm So Glad" on Goodbye Cream to be mind-blowing.
One of the rarest of these is the early jam session featuring Jimmy Page and Stones guitarist Keith Richards covering Robert Johnson's "Little Queen of Spades ...
Jeff Beck has the combination of brilliant technique with personality. It's like he's saying, "I'm Jeff Beck. I'm right here. And you can't ignore me." Even in the Yardbirds, he had a tone that was melodic but in-your-face – bright, urgent and edgy, but sweet at the same time. You could tell he was a serious player, and he was going for it.
In 2010, Gibson Guitar Corporation ranked Slash as number 34 on their "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time", while their readers landed him number 9 on Gibson's "Top 25 Guitarists of All Time". In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N' Roses' classic line-up.
Stevie Ray Vaughan In the early eighties, MTV was on the rise, and blues guitar was miles away from music's mainstream. But Texas' Stevie Ray Vaughan demanded your attention.
As a producer and songwriter, Pink Floyd 's David Gilmour is drawn to floating, dreamy textures, but when he picks up his black Stratocaster to play a solo, an entirely different sensibility ta
Keith Richards I remember being in junior high school, hearing "Satisfaction" and being freaked out by what it did to me. It's a combination of the riff and the chords moving underneath it.
When I saw Chuck Berry in "Jazz on a Summer's Day" as a teenager, what struck me was how he was playing against the grain with a bunch of jazz guys. They were brilliant – guys like Jo Jones on drum When I saw Chuck Berry in "Jazz on a Summer's Day" as a teenager, what struck me was how he was playing against the grain with a bunch of jazz guys.
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists.
Blackmore originally planned to make a solo album, but instead in 1975 formed his own band, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, later shortened to Rainbow. Featuring vocalist Ronnie James Dio and his blues rock backing band Elf as studio musicians, this first line-up never performed live.
Probably the only guitarist to get a degree in astrophysics, Queen 's lead guitarist (and frequent songwriter) is a brainy adventurer who's always seeking new effects.
Passion and Warfare won Vai a number of awards such as Guitar World and Guitar Player's "Best Album" and "Best Rock Guitarist" awards. Passion and Warfare has been cited as one of the most pertinent instrumental albums released.
On any given night, at least half the parking lots in America have a car with the windows down, the speakers cranked and a couple of dudes sitting on the trunk playing air guitar to Kirk Hammett solos. Hammett is so steeped in metal history that he reportedly paid for his first guitar at fifteen with ten dollars and a copy of Kiss' Dressed to Kill.
Carlos Santana audio (help · info) (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American jazz.
The late Prince Rogers Nelson was more than just “a pop star”, he was a genius guitarist. He incorporated funk, shredding, R&B licks and magical technique into a unique sound that knew few barriers
Pete Townshend doesn't play many solos, which might be why so many people don’t realize just how good he really is. But he's so important to rock – he’s a visionary musician who really lit the whole thing up. His rhythm-guitar playing is extremely exciting and aggressive – he's a savage player, in a way.
Satriani has mastered this art (witness "always with me, always with you). His non-inclusion in the top ten is a travesty that robs this list of any legitimacy. - BadLlama. It's a list of best guitarists. So Mr. Joe Satriani should be within top 5. I mean he is a virtuoso and has mastered most of the techniques involving guitar playing.
Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (/ ˈ ɪ ŋ v eɪ ˈ m ɑː l m s t iː n /; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck; 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist and bandleader. Malmsteen first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal playing style in heavy metal, and has released 20 studio albums in a career spanning almost 40 years.
Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American guitarist, session musician, and co-founder and leader of the Allman Brothers Band until his death following a motorcycle crash in 1971, at the age of 24. The Allman Brothers Band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969.
Tony Iommi’s Guitars and Gear. Tony Iommi was born on 19 February 1948 in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. He is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in heavy metal music. He was ranked number one on Guitar World’s “100 Greatest ...
George Harrison and I were once in a car and the Beatles song "You Can't Do That" came on, with that great riff in the beginning on the 12-string. He goes, "I came up with tha George Harrison and I were once in a car and the Beatles song "You Can't Do That" came on, with that great riff in the beginning on the 12-string.
Randy Rhoads' career was far too short – he died in a plane accident in 1982, at the age of 25 – but his precise, architectural, hyperspeed solos on Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" helped set the template for metal-guitar soloing for years to follow.
In 2007, Morello was a featured guitarist in the Mortal Kombat: Armageddon official soundtrack, playing guitar for the Armory stage's battle music. On February 23, 2010 Cypress Hill released the second single, "Rise Up", from their album Rise Up featuring Morello on guitar.
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an African, American blues singer-songwriter and musician. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generations of musicians.
Mark Knopfler Mark Knopfler's first big guitar-hero moment – the fleet, gloriously melodic solo on Dire Straits' 1978 hit "Sultans of Swing" – came at a time when punk seemed to be rendering the idea of a guitar hero obsolete.
After being fired from his band Black Sabbath, English heavy metal vocalist Ozzy Osbourne began his solo career in 1979. His initial band comprised himself, guitarist Randy Rhoads (formerly of Quiet Riot), bassist Bob Daisley (formerly of Rainbow) and drummer Lee Kerslake (formerly of Uriah Heep).
John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American virtuoso guitarist, composer and producer. He is best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. With his former bandmate Mike Portnoy, he produced all Dream Theater albums from 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory to 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings.
Angus Young. Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian guitarist, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter and sole constant original member of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC.
Dave Mustaine. David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actor and author. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, lead singer, and primary songwriter of the American thrash metal band Megadeth, and the original lead guitarist of the American thrash metal band Metallica.
As an instrumentalist, Buckethead has received critical acclaim for his electric guitar playing, and is considered one of today's most innovative guitarists. He has been voted number 8 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 10 Fastest Guitar Shredders of All Time" as well as being included in Guitar World ' s lists of the "25 all-time weirdest guitarists" and the "50 fastest guitarists of all time".
Darrell Lance Abbott (August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004), also known as Dimebag Darrell and Diamond Darrell, was an American musician and songwriter who was a co-founder of Pantera alongside his brother Vinnie Paul, and founder of Damageplan.
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 1952 – 6 February 2011) was an Irish rock guitarist. Beginning in the 1960s, Moore played with Phil Lynott and Brian Downey during his teenage years, leading him to memberships of the Irish bands Skid Row and Thin Lizzy, and British band Colosseum II.
Zakk Wylde’s Guitars and Gear Zakk Wylde is best known as the former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, founder of the heavy metal band Black Label Society, and as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor.
"Grunge" was always a lousy, limited way to describe the music Kurt Cobain made with Nirvana and, in particular, his discipline and ambition as a guitarist. His cannonballs of fuzz and feed
Frank Zappa "When I was learning how to play guitar, I was obsessed with that album," Phish's Trey Anastasio said in 2005 of Frank Zappa's 1981 collection of intricate and blistering solos, Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar.
John Frusciante The Red Hot Chili Peppers always knew how to rock a party; it took John Frusciante to turn them into an arena-packing band with a sound they could call their own.
Even if he had never progressed beyond the brain-rattling riffing of "2112" and "Xanadu," Rush 's guitarist would have left his mark on Metallica and other like-minded metal
Les Paul is best known as the genius who invented the solid-body guitar that bears his name. But he was just as imaginative as a player. "He made the very best guitar sounds of the 1950s," said Brian Wilson.
By the turn of the century, new-metal grinders and post-grunge plodders had given loud guitars a bad reputation. Then Jack White hit the reset button. With each savage riff, he reconnected hard roc
Marty Friedman at Gods of Metal in 2009 Marty Friedman in Tokyo Martin Adam "Marty" Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for heavy metal band Megadeth which spanned nearly the full decade of the 1990s.
Bonamassa produced podcasts between January and July 2015 with another guitar aficionado, Matt Abramovitz. The episodes are about "the life and lore of the guitar", with Bonamassa and Abramovitz going in depth about their favorite guitars, guitarists and occasionally non-guitarists associated with the blues and rock genres.
Joseph Anthony Pereira (born September 10, 1950), better known by his stage name Joe Perry, is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the American rock band Aerosmith. He was ranked 84th in Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Brian Elwin Haner Jr. (born July 7, 1981), better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American musician, best known for being the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the band Avenged Sevenfold.
John Clayton Mayer (/ ˈ m eɪ. ər /; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but disenrolled and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with Clay Cook.
Buddy Guy. George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues and has influenced eminent guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica.
Jason Eli Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American heavy metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman.
In Cleveland power trio the James Gang, Joe Walsh combined Who -style fury with Yardbirds -style technical fireworks and R&B crunch, notably on 1970's "Funk #49."
Gilbert left Racer X in 1988, but reformed it after the 1996 breakup of Mr. Big. Paul contacted the members of Racer X, and all agreed to return with the exception of Bruce Bouillet, who could barely play guitar at the time due to a severe bout of carpal tunnel syndrome.