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100 Greatest Guitarists

TurtleDude said:
its hard to say -Claption might be technically a hair better than Page but Page certainly wrote better music

Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Martin Barre, Lesley West, Duane Allman, Jorma Kaukonen. Stephen Stills, Joe Walsh, Steve Winwood, Ike Turner, Adrian Belew, Johnny Ramone, Jerry Garcia, Robin Trower, Dickie Betts, Warren Hayes,

when you get to that level it comes down to your own personal tastes and bias.
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It really does.

Agree Martin Barre is underrated. But I've always felt that Clapton was overrated, though part of that for me is the lack of bulk comprising his body of work. As this story mentioned, I've always thought he stopped being awesome at one point and from there on out was just another guitarist.
 
Serenity said:
George was a good guitarist overall, absolutely, but to be ranked better than SRV or Gilmour is just nuts.
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Ditto John Lennon ranked higher than Albert Collins. Excuse me?!
 
One of my favorites near the top, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, BB King. But they left out John Mayer, who is certainly better than some of the pop guitarists on the list.
 
Where's Terry Kath, Lead Guitarist, Chicago?

Hendrix said he was better than him. Judge for yourself.

 
In defense of Lennon and Harrison, this is a list voted on by guitarists to nominate those who influenced them the most. The Beatles will be a part of history 500 years from now because of their unbelievable catalog off mostly guitar driven music. The 12 string came into the rock mainstream because of George, John takes credit for the first use of feedback (I Feel Fine), George bringing Sitar into rock, and Helter Skelter is one of the very best hard rock songs in history. Hendrix learned the entire Sgt. Peppers album as soon as it came out and played it live three days after it's release as a tribute....talk about influences! Their chords were pretty crazy for back then but they obviously worked and their acoustic songs aren't bad either. And truth be told, Paul may have been a better guitarist than both. He was definitely a better overall musician imo, but they needed a bass player in their younger years. These guys didn't nominate Steve Vai or Joe Satriani because most folks don't get off on technical playing alone, they like when the guitar drives an excellent song.

My personal favorite is EVH because he's not only an excellent guitarist but they made great music as a band and had enormous success with two lead singers. VH broke the Guiness World Record for the most money for a single performance at the US festival in '83, and this was in the middle of becoming the guitarist of the year in most major publications for about 10 years straight, some longer.

Honorable Mentions: Steve Vai, Ted Nugent, and Tom Scholz.
 
I dont think their 'list' has much credibility if they put Springsteen, Simon, Cobain, and others on it. Seems more of a popularity contest akin to the Best Dressed category in your high school year book. Great innovative artists...but not guitarists.
 
radcen said:
Some of these rankings always intrigue me. For example: I am a huge Beatles fan, but I've never thought that George Harrison was anywhere in the Top 25. He was ok, but he wasn't great.
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Agree. I always nit-pic the ordering a little, but I like seeing some of the unknown guys I liked get props and everyone I think should be in there, is, even if I would quibble about the order.
 
VanceMack said:
I dont think their 'list' has much credibility if they put Springsteen, Simon, Cobain, and others on it. Seems more of a popularity contest akin to the Best Dressed category in your high school year book. Great innovative artists...but not guitarists.
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No, not really. It's other guitarists listing who influenced them. You can be technically great, but boring as hell, or the other way 'round.
 
radcen said:
It really does.

Agree Martin Barre is underrated. But I've always felt that Clapton was overrated, though part of that for me is the lack of bulk comprising his body of work. As this story mentioned, I've always thought he stopped being awesome at one point and from there on out was just another guitarist.
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that's a fair point which is why I think Page is so good as is Garcia. They wrote lots of really good music.


Dave Mason is probably forgotten by many and Steve Winwood (better known for his vocals and Keyboards) are not on that list and they have an argument of being better than most on it. Leo Kotke is another guy so many great guitarists praised as being one of the best ever
 
VanceMack said:
I dont think their 'list' has much credibility if they put Springsteen, Simon, Cobain, and others on it. Seems more of a popularity contest akin to the Best Dressed category in your high school year book. Great innovative artists...but not guitarists.
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agree with all that.
 
JC Callender said:
In defense of Lennon and Harrison, this is a list voted on by guitarists to nominate those who influenced them the most. The Beatles will be a part of history 500 years from now because of their unbelievable catalog off mostly guitar driven music. The 12 string came into the rock mainstream because of George, John takes credit for the first use of feedback (I Feel Fine), George bringing Sitar into rock, and Helter Skelter is one of the very best hard rock songs in history. Hendrix learned the entire Sgt. Peppers album as soon as it came out and played it live three days after it's release as a tribute....talk about influences! Their chords were pretty crazy for back then but they obviously worked and their acoustic songs aren't bad either. And truth be told, Paul may have been a better guitarist than both. He was definitely a better overall musician imo, but they needed a bass player in their younger years. These guys didn't nominate Steve Vai or Joe Satriani because most folks don't get off on technical playing alone, they like when the guitar drives an excellent song.

My personal favorite is EVH because he's not only an excellent guitarist but they made great music as a band and had enormous success with two lead singers. VH broke the Guiness World Record for the most money for a single performance at the US festival in '83, and this was in the middle of becoming the guitarist of the year in most major publications for about 10 years straight, some longer.

Honorable Mentions: Steve Vai, Ted Nugent, and Tom Scholz.
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Well stated. FWIW, I saw EVH 5 times. When he wasn't too wasted, he was like the personification of rock and roll guitar. The 2nd show of Fair Warning tour was the best I saw him play (went both nights that year).
 
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I tried several times to scroll through the list, but I kept being booted. Was Jonny Lang on it?
 
Porkuloss said:
Well stated. FWIW, I saw EVH 5 times. When he wasn't too wasted, he was like the personification of rock and roll guitar. The 2nd show of Fair Warning tour was the best I way him play (went both nights that year).
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I would've loved to have seen that show. This is my favorite live footage of them (only 3 songs), which some feel is the Holy Grail of VH live performances. Nice to see Dave kept it together to sing most of the lyrics:



As much as I love VH, I've only seen them once, in 1986, Sammy's first year. I was a little too young to see them with Dave, although I fell in love with VH when Diver Down came out. I could've seen them with Dave this last tour but as much as I love the old Dave, the new Dave bums me out live even though he sang great on their last album.
 
Props...they got the Three Kings all in the top 20...but I would have put Freddie King ahead of Albert. Dood...wailed.
 
JC Callender said:
I would've loved to have seen that show. This is my favorite live footage of them (only 3 songs), which some feel is the Holy Grail of VH live performances. Nice to see Dave kept it together to sing most of the lyrics:



As much as I love VH, I've only seen them once, in 1986, Sammy's first year. I was a little too young to see them with Dave, although I fell in love with VH when Diver Down came out. I could've seen them with Dave this last tour but as much as I love the old Dave, the new Dave bums me out live even though he sang great on their last album.
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Thanks!

I first saw them on the VH II tour and the last show I saw was 5150. I went every time they came though the greater DC area back then.
 
nota bene said:
I tried several times to scroll through the list, but I kept being booted. Was Jonny Lang on it?
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I didnt see Lang on it or really any of the current (I wouldnt say modern) artists. People like Mayal, and Joe B, and Robert Cray, Susan Tedeschi...none of them.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Well at least Eric Clapton is in the top 10 which gives the list some authenticity. But to leave Glen Campbell, Mason Wiliams, and Roy Clark off the list altogether does make me wonder.
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Those guys you listed are all good, but the list was compiled by rock guys who tend to be more influenced by blues than jazz or country.
 
VanceMack said:
I dont think their 'list' has much credibility if they put Springsteen, Simon, Cobain, and others on it. Seems more of a popularity contest akin to the Best Dressed category in your high school year book. Great innovative artists...but not guitarists.
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You know how a dog tilts its head when it sees or hears something out of place? I did that when I saw Simon's name.
 
nota bene said:
I tried several times to scroll through the list, but I kept being booted. Was Jonny Lang on it?
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No, Lang (great - saw him last year on a Hendrix tribute tour) was not on there. I think he's way too young to have influenced any of the guys on the judges list.
 
radcen said:
You know how a dog tilts its head when it sees or hears something out of place? I did that when I saw Simon's name.
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Yep. Simon...and John Lennon. Harrison had skills...I could see why he made the list...but not Lennon.
 
radcen said:
You know how a dog tilts its head when it sees or hears something out of place? I did that when I saw Simon's name.
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There are a few other weird, imo, choices, but I think Simon made it higher than they did. However, if he really played the guitar on some of that older S&G stuff, I'd reconsider. Always assume that was session dudes.
 
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