Top Ten Guitarists of all Time
He may have spent much of his Guns n' Roses prime shirtless, drunk and surrounded by snakes, but Slash brought good taste and restraint back to hard-rock guitar.
He played arguably the greatest power-ballad guitar solo in history ("Purple Rain"), and his solo on an all-star performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" during George Harrison's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2004 had jaws on the floor.
Though the guitarists named above are absolutely brilliant I do not understand how anyone doesn't hear the stuff this guy plays. He is GOD! Buckethead is probably better than any of the ones who have been listed above and will probably be the best that ever lived.
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.
Listening to what Jimmy Page does on guitar can transport you. ... 100 Greatest Guitarists. ... • The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time: Led Zeppelin. Back to Top.
100 Greatest Guitarists. ... • Keith Richards in 1981: ... the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time.
It's like there was a vocalist singing, but there was a guitarist making all of the notes. I saw him last year at a casino in San Diego, and the guitar was the voice. You didn't miss the singer, because the guitar was so lyrical.
B.B. King B.B.'s influences were set at an early stage. Being from Indianola, Mississippi, he goes back far enough to remember the sound of field hollers and the cornerstone blues figures, like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson.
But Gilmour was also adept at droning avant-garde improv, as seen in Floyd's Live at Pompeii days, and could be an unexpectedly funky rhythm guitarist, from the slinky riff to "Have a Cigar" to the Chic-like flourishes on "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2." His pioneering use of echo and other effects – initially inspired by original Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett – culminated with his precision use of delay on "Run Like Hell," which directly anticipates the Edge's signature sound.
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.
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.
Best known for the gargantuan riff at the heart of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Ritchie Blackmore helped define heavy-metal guitar by mixing intricate classical composition with raw-knuckled blues rock.
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.
Mexican-born Carlos Santana had just finished high school in San Francisco, in 1965, when the city's music scene exploded, exposing him to a wealth of revelations – electric blues, African rhythms and modern jazz; guitar mentors such as Jerry Garcia and Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green – that became key strands in the Latin-rhythm psychedelia of his namesake band.
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.
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 m Pete Townshend doesn't play many solos, which might be why so many people don’t realize just how good he really is.
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 Follow @RollingStone 100 Greatest Guitarists
If the late Duane Allman had done nothing but session work, he would still be on this list. His contributions on lead and slide guitar to dozens of records as fine and as varied as Wilson Pickett&apo If the late Duane Allman had done nothing but session work, he would still be on this list.
While others were spinning solo stairways to the stars, the left-handed Iommi went in the opposite direction. Black Sabbath took rock's simplicity and simplified it even further. The occasional minor chord and a low, rumbling tone added to a guitar sound dripping menace and foreboding.
As Guitar World's 30th anniversary celebration continues, 30 of the greatest living guitarists tell us who they would pick as the greatest guitarists of all time.
Tom Morello In the early days of Rage Against the Machine, Morello watched local California metal guitarists play "as fast as Yngwie Malmsteen" and realized, "That wasn't a race I wanted to run." So he began to experiment with the toggle switch on his guitar to produce an effect like a DJ scratching a record.
Johnson is the undisputed king of the Mississippi Delta blues singers and one of the most original and influential voices in American music. He was a virtuoso player whose spiritual descendants inclu Johnson is the undisputed king of the Mississippi Delta blues singers and one of the most original and influential voices in American music.
Joe Satriani has to make the top ten! Not only is Joe the best technically skilled guitarist ever, but he is the best period. He owns the guitar like no other, just listen to Surfing With the Alien and you will understand.I have listened to a lot of guitarists, and all I can say is that none of them even come close to the Sat.
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.
The approach that Angus Young and his rhythm-guitar-playing brother, Malcolm, developed in AC/DC's early years – high-speed pentatonic runs over thunderous power-chord licks – became a hard-rock tradition, and millions of guitarists the world over have his "Back in Black" and "Highway to Hell" licks imprinted on their brains.
(example: Malmsteen's "Blue", a bluesy number with no blues chord progressions). How the Malmsteen is all the way down here and slash is at No2 is beyond me. Malmsteen is 10 times the Guitarist slash is. Hi is a pioneer of shred and for me one of the most technically gifted rock guitarists of all time.
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,"
Dimebag Darrell One of modern metal's key figures, Dimebag Darrell founded Pantera with his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott – forging a style that combined brutally precise, punk-honed grooves with splatter-paint melodic runs.
Gary Moore is one of the most underrated guitarist of all time. In my opinion he is the best guitarist of all time, he can play everything. This guy was my inspiration to become a guitarist his solo work got to me in a way no other guitarist did.
Kurt Cobain "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 feedback bonfires on 1991's Nevermind announced the death of 1980s stadium guitar rock.
View all comments about Dave Mustaine in our top ten list of Best Guitarists Ever or add a new comment about Dave Mustaine
Buddy Guy got used to people calling his guitar style a bunch of noise – from his family back in rural Louisiana, who chased him out of the house for making a racket, to Chess Records heads Phil and Leonard Chess, who, he says, "wouldn't let me get loose like I wanted" on sessions with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter.
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.
There is no other answer. Only Randy Rhoads. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. End of discussion.M+1. Randy's guitar playing and his song writing are legendary. He was and still is recognized as one of the best all time.M. Rhoads was by far the best guitarist Ozzy had.M+1. Its between Randy and Jake.
100 Greatest Guitarists. ... Alex Lifeson reserves his most daring playing for his solos ... the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time.
View all comments about John Petrucci in our top ten list of Best Guitarists Ever or add a new comment about John Petrucci . John Petrucci. Found on metalinsider.net Info John Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist, composer and producer. He is best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Compared to his level of skill, John Petrucci is relatively unknown in ...
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.
Jack White 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.
Peter Green In late 1966, Peter Green had the job of replacing Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Mayall told his producer, "He might not be better [than Clapton] now.
For more than 40 years, Joe Perry's monstrous, blues-on-steroids riffs have been Aerosmith's bedrock. And his solos, jutting out from "Walk This Way" or slashing boldly through the high-gloss production of later hits like "Janie's Got a Gun" and "Cryin'," have a caffeinated energy that's every bit Tyler's match.
"It seems a waste to me to work and work for years," Rory Gallagher told Rolling Stone in 1972, "and just turn into some sort of personality." Instead, the Irish guitarist, then
Django Reinhardt Perhaps the first major European jazz musician who took the form forward in leaps and bounds, Reinhardt's original style has become a musical tradition within French gypsy culture. He famously played all guitar solos with two fingers after a fire accident injured the other two fingers on his hand.
John Mayer is the best guitarist on this list. He does not get the respect as a guitarist that he deserves. The baby boomer generation needs to get off this Clapton, Hendrix, Angus Young, Slash thing and give credit where it is do.
Zakk Wylde: these are the 10 guitarists that blew ... these are the 10 guitarists that blew my mind. ... He’s one of the greatest country guitarists of all time ...
There were precedents for the palm-muted, ultra-percussive chug James Hetfield gave Metallica ( Judas Priest , Motörhead ), but he made it the gold standard of Eighties metal. He's never
Neil Young If I was ever going to teach a master class to young guitarists, the first thing I would play them is the first minute of Neil Young's original "Down by the River" solo. It's one note, but it's so melodic, and it just snarls with attitude and anger.
Jerry was the sun of the Grateful Dead – the music they played was like planets orbiting around him. He wasn't a superficial guy at all. It was a lot of fun to play with him, because he was very accommodating. He'd go up and down; I'd go left and right. And I could tell he enjoyed it, because the Dead always invited me back.
Muddy Waters Muddy was there at the beginning, in the Delta, actually sitting at the feet of Charley Patton and Son House. He was a kid when those guys were in their prime.
Eddie still has it. I saw Van Halen on their reunion tour two years ago, and the second he came out, I felt that same thing I did when I was a kid. When you see a master, you know it.
But Texas' Stevie Ray Vaughan demanded your attention. He had absorbed the styles of just about every great blues guitarist – plus Jimi Hendrix and a lot of jazz and rockabilly – and his monster tone, casual virtuosity and impeccable sense of swing could make a blues shuffle like "Pride and Joy" hit as hard as metal.