1. Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix revolutionized guitar playing and rock music – building a
rainbow bridge between blues, rock and roll and the psychedelic
experiments of the mid-’60s. Never has a guitar player appeared so “at
one” with his instrument – his live shows were more out-of-body
experiences than performances.
2. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
Rock’s sorcerer supreme, Jimmy Page took the blues, rockabilly and
folk and fired it out of a cannon with the release of Led Zeppelin’s
eponymous debut in 1969. Years of teeth-cutting in London studios and a
short, but eventful, tenure in the Yardbirds only served to sharpen
Page’s incomparable skills.
3. Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones)
The undisputed musical leader of The Rolling Stones, Richards is the
best rhythm guitarist in history. He’s the rajah of the riff, the
overlord of opening tuning and the sultan of “Satisfaction.” Taking cues
from Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed, Richards’ genius lies in
simplifying a guitar phrase until it’s down to the absolute essentials.
4. Eric Clapton (Cream, Derek and the Dominos)
Forget about his far-reaching solo work for a minute. Forget Cream.
Forget the Yardbirds. Forget Derek and the Dominos. Forget the beer
commercial and “Tears in Heaven.” Forget everything. The main reason
kids should still be spray painting “Clapton is God” on city walls is
because of that solo on The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” All
that came after that was just gravy.
5. Chuck Berry
What’s the old cliché? Before Jimi went to the moon, Chuck built the
rocket. Well, that’s why Berry is in the pantheon of great guitarists.
His brilliant synthesis of blues and hillbilly guitar created the
language of rock and roll.
6. Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group)
Only the rarest of musicians are capable of celebrating a milestone like a 65th birthday by making one of the their best albums and, sure enough, Beck’s beautifully orchestrated 2010 release Emotion & Commotion recalls the passion and scope of his pivotal 1970s masterpieces
7. Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)
For countless guitarists around the world, history can easily be
divided into two distinct eras: pre-Van Halen and post-Van Halen. And it
all started with an explosive instrumental track, “Eruption,” from
the group’s debut album Van Halen.That track alone signaled a seismic shift in the way the instrument
would forever be played.
8. Chet Atkins
One of the founding members and architects of the Nashville Sound,
Chet Atkins was unquestionably the greatest and most renowned guitarist
country music has ever known.
9. Robert Johnson
No guitarist has had a greater impact on modern blues and rock guitar
than Robert Johnson. A haunted figure, Johnson led a life shrouded in mystery, with
some insisting only a pact with the Devil could account for the
seemingly sudden burst of guitar skills that took hold in him in his
early 20s.
10. Pete Townshend (The Who)
The guitar, as an instrument, has never sounded as angry as when played by Pete Townshend. Punk was
born from this. Heavy metal. Hard rock, in all its various forms, can be
traced back to the London kid with the big nose windmilling like his
life depended on it. The genius of Townshend, though, is that this is
just one facet of his playing.
11. George Harrison (The Beatles)
If judged solely by the number of people who picked up a guitar for
the first time because of his music, George Harrison is the most
influential guitarist of all time.
12. Stevie Ray Vaughan
If you ever had the chance to witness Stevie Ray Vaughan perform,
you, too, understand that he didn’t just “play” the guitar – he
channeled music from the depths of his soul and through his body and
guitar, which were connected as one.
13. Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs)
Blending technical prowess with old-timey aesthetics, White
unleashes scorching runs that should melt his plastic guitar. He’s
equally outstanding as a songwriter, providing an unbeatable framework for his tortured solos. this junk collector is the guitar hero for the 21st century. – Bryan Wawzenek
14. Prince
Often overlooked as one of the all-time great guitarists, Prince is a
tremendous player with a chameleon-like ability to color any song with
dazzling fretwork and a prodigious fusion of funk, blues, R&B, jazz
and rock.
15. Steve Cropper (Booker T. & The MGs)
As the six-string voice of Memphis’ Stax Records, Cropper is a man of
a thousand riffs. Today Cropper’s sinuous and sinewy licks remain deeply embedded in
the American soul and subconscious. – Ted Drozdowski
16. Mike Bloomfield (Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bob Dylan)
Bloomfield was a very powerful and influential player who possessed
incredible fire and intelligence in his playing. His work with The Paul
Butterfield Blues Band and then with Bob Dylan really helped shape the
lead blues guitar movement of the ’60s.
17. B.B. King
He’s become an institution and beacon for every guitarist who was
raised on the blues – including Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and his
sometime-collaborator Eric Clapton.
18. Wes Montgomery
This thumb-picking master of the Gibson L-5CES from Indianapolis
changed the sound of jazz guitar melody from bebop’s single-note lines
to elegant gliding octave and block chords that rang like gentle,
breathy sighs even during his most ferocious playing.
19. Mick Ronson (David Bowie, Ian Hunter)
One of rock’s most versatile sidemen, Mick Ronson was the six-string
engine behind seminal albums by Lou Reed, Ian Hunter, and, of course,
David Bowie.
20. Django Reinhardt
Pioneer of the gypsy jazz genre, Reinhardt mesmerized 1930s Parisian
audiences – and later distracted them from World War II – with his
percussive, swinging approach to the guitar.
21. Johnny Marr (The Smiths)
An innovative post-punk guitarist, Marr's groundbreaking work with one of the most
significant bands of the '80s, The Smiths, marks him out as a
great.
22. Les Paul
The architect and grandfather of rock and roll, Lester William
Polfuss (a.k.a. Les Paul) was a unique figure in the history of 20th
Century music. He revolutionized the way we record
music and the way we play it, pioneering such developments as the
solid-body electric guitar. Beyond that, he was an almost terrifyingly
brilliant player.
23. The Edge (U2)
U2's guitarist has created a sound that is distinctly his own – no
small feat when you consider he's had to do it in the course of three
decades while working shoulder-to-shoulder with one of the biggest
personalities in rock, Bono.
24. Ron Asheton (The Stooges)
His
caveman riffs and hallucinogenic roaring predated punk by nearly a
decade, giving his followers a wall of mud to grab from. Asheton reduced rock and roll to its primal elements
long before sex found a pistol or anyone changed their surname to Ramone. It was so dumb, it was genius.
25. Angus Young (AC/DC)
The AC/DC guitarist is responsible for some of rock
and roll's most familiar riffs from the past four decades. The fact that he's done it all in an English schoolboy uniform makes it
all that much sweeter.
26. Neil Young
Another one of those players who isn't that technically proficient
but still manages to make the heart thump by channeling every one of his
emotions into a massive guitar blowout.
27. Danny Gatton
Gatton is one of the most eclectic and far-reaching guitarists who ever lived – an innovator in rockabilly, country and jazz.
28. Ed O'Brien and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
Radiohead's dynamic duo were the only guitarists to receive votes as a
pair in this poll, let alone the only two-member entry on this list.
That fact speaks to the inseparable nature of these two musicians, known
as much for their abusive guitar playing as they are for ambient
approaches to Radiohead's ethereal material.
29. Duane Allman (The Allman Brothers, Derek and the Dominos)
Though he died young – in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24 –
Duane Allman made terrific use of the time he did have on earth,
co-founding The Allman Brothers Band and establishing himself as a
preeminent session guitarist.
30. Roy Buchanan
This Arkansas native was a blend of transcendent technician and
hillbilly. Buchanan's interest in steel guitar led him to develop a
singular vocabulary of sleight-of-hand volume effects, radical
string-bending, artificial harmonics and other tics that he wove into
one of the most soulful and dynamic guitar tones ever developed.
31. Bo Diddley
Psychedelia begins with big, bad Bo. Using his guitar like
a drum, Mississippian Elias McDaniel wedded the clave rhythm and the
street corner hambone to invent a fundamental element of rock and roll.
32. Ry Cooder
The slide guitar master, composer and producer is universally
acclaimed in musical circles as one of the greats, not just for his
playing but his eclectic musical knowledge.
33. Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley)
One of the most influential guitarists in history, Scotty Moore
backed Elvis Presley through the ’50s and early ’60s, playing on such
seminal rock and roll tunes as “That’s All Right,” “Hound Dog,”
“Heartbreak Hotel” and “Jailhouse Rock.”
34. Slash (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver)
More than 20 years after Guns N’ Roses first b*tchslapped the sugary
Sunset Strip metal scene of the mid-to-late ’80s, history now holds
Slash as the single most influential guitarist to emerge from that
highly competitive guitar-hero era.
35. Buddy Guy
It’s hard to find a Chicago blues player with more originality and
expression in his playing. Guy is a true innovator with his double-stop
style, and an all-time great bender.
36. (tie) Charlie Christian
Modern electric lead guitar starts with this Texas native’s ’30s and
’40s recordings, which elevated the instrument from a jazz time-keeper
to a formidable voice equal to that of horn players like Lester Young.
36. (tie) Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
I don’t think Tom Petty would argue with this: The band should be called Tom Petty and Mike Campbell and
the Heartbreakers. As a co-writer, a co-producer and a phenomenally
melodic guitarist, Campbell has as big a claim on that band as anyone.
38. Lou Reed (Velvet Underground)
Though it would be a stretch to call Lou Reed a six-string virtuoso,
few guitarists have proven as adept at capturing the essence of rock and
roll.
39. Frank Zappa
You might not have expected the man who titled his songs “But Who Was
Fulcanelli?” and “Theme from the 3rd Movement of Sinister Footwear” to
take his job all that seriously. But with Zappa, the absurdity was just a
front for his unflinching dedication to his craft.
40. Steve Jones (Sex Pistols)
Steve Jones exploded on the scene in the mid-’70s – a one-man Les Paul blitzkrieg. His staggering work on Never Mind the Bollocks – the Sex Pistols’ only album – alone puts Jones in the elite class.
41. David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
Sure,
Pink Floyd began as a psychedelic rock band, but there are few riffers
with a purer approach to blues than Gilmour, whose stunning Gold Top
essay in “Comfortably Numb” is one of the greatest solos of the modern
era.
42. (tie) Richard Thompson
The
British folk legend has been lauded critically and received numerous
industry awards but remains a commercial mystery. One of the great
guitar stylists, Thompson easily sits at the English head table
alongside Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
42. (tie) John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
He
was just 18 when he was drafted to replace his personal idol Hillel
Slovak, who died of a drug overdose, in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But
Frusciante didn’t come onboard just to recreate the stuttering punk-funk
riffs of the past. He brought melody and depth to the band’s defining
multi-platinum releases, 1989’s Mother’s Milk and 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik. And each time he circled back to the group between his various solo flights, the results were always inspirational.
42. (tie) Rory Gallagher (Taste, solo)
The
late Irish guitarist may not be a household name, but his incredible
ability to master the American blues put him in the company of all the
greats, from Muddy Waters and Jerry Lee Lewis to Jeff Beck and Jimmy
Page.
42. (tie) Clarence White (The Kentucky Colonels, The Byrds)
A
flatpicking and electric giant in equal parts, Clarence White died
tragically young, hit by a drunk driver in 1973. Like Charlie Christian,
Wes Montgomery, Robert Johnson, Eddie Lang, Duane Allman and Jimi
Hendrix, White died long before his full impact on the guitar could ever
be measured.
42. (tie) Hubert Sumlin (Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters)
One
of the most revered Les Paul wranglers in electric blues, this shy
78-year-old invented some of the genre’s greatest riffs under the wing
of his mentor Howlin’ Wolf.
47. (tie) Andrés Segovia
Andrés
Segovia, El Maestro, the self-taught peerless master of the Spanish
classical guitar, singlehandedly made the guitar respectable.
Pre-Segovia it was a seedy bar instrument.
47. (tie) Robert Fripp (King Crimson)
With
a Gibson Les Paul “Black Beauty” under his arm, this Dorset, England,
native burned his name into the history of art rock as the leader of
King Crimson in 1969 and then pioneered ambient music with Brian Eno.
49. (tie) Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
The Nirvana frontman recoiled against technical proficiency but
there’s a good reason why people are still trying to emulate the dirty,
pummeling riffs of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” nearly two decades after
Cobain first played them.
49. (tie) Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow)
One
of rock’s great riff-masters, Blackmore has always danced to a
different muse. Pulling largely from medieval and classical influences
while his competitors drew almost exclusively from blues, Blackmore
created a musical vocabulary that influenced generations of shredders.
List from :
www.gibson.com
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