Opinions on the 50 Greatest Guitarists
Part I
Forget actors; guitarists are the ones with true style and swagger. Since Hollywood has forgotten what glamour looks like and is now more interested in producing entitled brats, the guitar world is one of the few remaining places to find the people with the right mix of ability and confidence that attracts men and women alike.
In contrast to actors and singers, guitarists rarely try to make themselves significant by hijacking talk shows to make clichéd political rants. (Because singers win fame, wealth, and attention for producing sounds out of their faces, it’s hard to get them to shut up.) Maybe guitarists know that, just by playing, they are significant: making art that people love is a greater contribution to society than repeating opinions that would embarrass an undergraduate.
No instrument has an allure like the guitar, and no instrument has had the same impact on popular music. With that in mind, I’d like to look at this list of the 50 “greatest” guitarists of all time. I’ll give my opinion of each player on the list, and then, after part two, share my thoughts about guitar playing in general and what such lists reveal.
Who is on your “greatest guitarists” list, and why? Tell me in the comments!
A note on grammar: yes, I know that band names are collective nouns and should therefore function grammatically as a singular. I do care about these things, but I’ll treat band names as grammatical plurals in this post because it’s closer to how most people talk and doesn’t sacrifice any clarity. Besides, if you read Latin poets you’ll find they sometimes use plural verbs for collective nouns. If it’s good enough for Ovid, it’s good enough for me.
50. Robert Fripp
Fripp is somewhat unusual. I love his work in King Crimson, and he’s never stopped evolving and exploring. He developed a new standard tuning for guitar, apparently because it makes playing some chords and scales easier. (I experimented with it for a while but was too lazy to explore all its possibilities and went back to the familiar old standard tuning.) He’s also known for his innovative use of guitar effects, or, as he calls it, “frippertronics,” and he played guitar on David Bowie’s song “Heroes”. Anyone unfamiliar with his music should start with King Crimson’s song “21st Century Schizoid Man,” and then their release Red, which was one of Kurt Cobain’s favourite albums.
49. John McLaughlin
He was an obscure session player when he joined Miles Davis’s band. Having played on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, he formed The Mahavishnu Orchestra, a jazz fusion band influenced by Indian music. As a teenage metalhead, I was too juvenile to appreciate Miles Davis, but the first two Mahavishnu Orchestra albums – The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire – showed me that other genres featured guitar playing with an intensity and interest to match that of the metal bands I liked. (I also admired — and still admire — his nylon-string playing on the album he recorded with Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola, Friday Night in San Fransisco.) McLaughlin’s playing is so rich and varied (and fast) that it’s hard to comprehend the size of his achievement.
48. Steve Morse
Known for being the erstwhile guitarist for Deep Purple, I think his best work was in the band Dixie Dregs: check out Morse’s excellent picking technique on their song “Bloodsucking Leeches”.
47. Peter Green
Peter Green really deserves more attention. Few people play with so much soul, and he remains a great example of a musician who serves the song rather than his own ego: young guitarists, take note. Listen to the depth of feeling he expresses in Fleetwood Mac’s “Need Your Love So Bad” and the live version of “Jumpin’ At Shadows”.
46. Robin Trower
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with any of his work, so I’ll say nothing.
45. Tom Morello
I really like the groovy riffs and unusual solos in Rage Against The Machine, whose first album has achieved the status of a masterpiece for those who grew up in the ‘90s. I’m not familiar with Morello’s playing in Audioslave or his solo stuff.
44. Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert is a great communicator and the man behind the funniest guitar instructional videos ever made. He started his career as a shredder in the band Racer-X before moving on to Mr. Big, where he was joined by the equally talented Billy Sheehan on bass. He’s now known for his instrumental guitar albums, but I prefer his earlier solo albums on which he sings his own cheeky lyrics. (A good example is his song “Girlfriend’s Birthday”). Technically brilliant, he’s inspired a legion of imitators, none of whom can copy his beautiful wide vibrato and his unmatched rhythmic sense. He’s possibly the only guitarist who can solo over one chord for five minutes and not lose your attention.
43. Malcolm Young
For a long time, I resisted AC/DC because of their association with a particular Australian character (the bogan) that I tend to avoid, but eventually I capitulated; their songs were too groovy. Mocked for only knowing “three chords” by guitarists who haven’t produced so much as a full sentence on an internet forum, Malcolm Young is the main factor in his band’s sound and popularity, and proof that the best rhythm players know not only when to play, but also when to leave space.
42. George Harrison
The Beatles are so popular that their wives are more famous than most musicians. I thought the man who wrote “Here Comes the Sun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” would be higher on the list. His solo on “Something,” a perfect example of tasteful, understated playing, would be enough to justify his inclusion in any guitarist’s pantheon.
41. Michael Schenker
He was only 16 when he joined The Scorpions, but all his playing has an infectious, youthful energy. Check out his playing on UFO’s albums Lights Out and Phenomenon, and don’t miss the song “Rock Bottom”.
40. Duane Allman
The tracks on the famous Allman Brothers album Live At Fillmore East are long, yet Duane Allman could make a raging cyclops halt and pay attention. With Eric Clapton, he wrote one of the most famous rock songs of all time, “Layla”. (That they wrote their parts separately explains the sudden key-change in that song.) He remains the king of slide guitar, whose only rival is Derek Trucks.
39. Paul Kossoff
I’ve only heard his excellent solo on Free’s “All Right Now,” so other than that, I’ll say nothing.
38. Keith Richards
For whatever reason, The Rolling Stones aren’t for me. Their popularity suggests that I’m missing something, so I’ll say nothing.
37. Billy Gibbons
My favourite ZZ Top moment is their cameo in Back to the Future III, which shows you how much I know about their music, so I’ll say nothing.
36. Joe Bonamassa
I haven’t heard much of his work, so I’ll say nothing.
35. Mick Taylor
For whatever reason, The Rolling Stones still aren’t for me. Their popularity suggests that I’m missing something, so I’ll say nothing.
34. Dave Mustaine
A founding member of Metallica and Megadeth, Mustaine is one of the most influential metal guitarists ever. His riffs are quite intricate and technical, requiring a lot of discipline, but they still manage to groove. Mustaine’s playing is a bit like a martial art: a combination of dexterity and aggression. (He has black belts in taekwondo and karate, and, aged 61, earned a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.) Although he has a knack for hiring great lead players, he’s a fine soloist himself. Megadeth’s Rust in Peace, with Marty Friedman on lead guitar, remains (according to many) the band’s best work and one of the best metal albums to date.
33. James Hetfield
Atomic clocks are less precise than Hetfield’s rhythm playing. His ability to downpick at high tempos while singing is nothing short of superhuman. Less often noted but just as impressive is his songwriting ability, which is the main reason for Metallica’s success. (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer are often described as the “Big Four” of thrash metal, but in terms of popularity, there’s Metallica, and then the other three.) He deserves more credit for the Rush-inspired clean sections and odd-time signatures in songs like “Master of Puppets,” as well as for his tasteful guitar solos. One should also note that for a while, like the Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, he reached the apex of manliness by sporting a mean horseshoe moustache.
32. Pete Townshend
As an undergraduate, I was at a small gathering where the brilliant literary critic James Wood read his essay about Keith Moon. We all got to meet the distinguished writer. Instead of taking the chance to ask him about literature or music, I mumbled something about Greek tragedy and then went to the university bar. It was a great opportunity, and I wasted it. I hope I’m less stupid now, but I still don’t know much about The Who.
31. Kirk Hammett
Metallica’s lead guitarist is unfairly ridiculed for his supposed over-reliance on the pentatonic scale and the wah pedal. I’d like to hear his detractors come up with anything as good as the solos in “One” or the glorious ending to “Fade to Black”.
30. Chuck Berry
Often credited with inventing Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry might be indirectly responsible for half the names on this list, not only for his playing but also his showmanship. Berry’s work is so pervasive and influential it’s hard to remember what popular music was like before his advent, but the great scene in the first Back to the Future film gives you a pretty good idea of how exciting his music must have been to those who heard it first. In 1979, however, Chuck Berry played at the White House, confirming the institutionalisation of a once-rebellious musical genre.
29. Steve Howe
Steve Howe started his career in the band Tomorrow, whose B-Side “Claramount Lake” has a good guitar solo, but only a small hint of what he would later accomplish. In Yes, Howe was an inventive player in a band full of innovators, playing electric, acoustic, and classical guitars, and combining his eclectic influences in a way that can still be heard in contemporary bands like Polyphia.
Unfortunately, Yes’s most popular track, “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” doesn’t give you an accurate idea of how good and creative the band was in its prime. Start with the track “Roundabout,” and then listen to the albums The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge, knowing that the longer tracks are well worth your time and attention.
28. Rory Gallagher
Rory Gallagher is maybe the most underappreciated guitarists on this list. I can never understand anything he sings, but his playing has an enviable clarity and an emotional force that can be recognised by a boulder.
He should be commended for playing in Northern Ireland during the ‘70s. He recorded his most famous album, Irish Tour ‘74, while staying at the Europa hotel in Belfast, known as “the most bombed hotel in Europe”. Some anonymous YouTuber has called this video “Best live performance Rory Gallagher,” and you’ll find it hard to disagree, unless you know about this version of “Bullfrog Blues”.
27. Zakk Wylde
He looks like he can bend a steel beam using only his thumb and pinky, and his music sounds like that too. Famous for his fast, aggressive picking technique, Wylde has an even more aggressive vibrato. The second is harder to control than the first. (Believe me, I’ve tried.) If you like metal, start with the first album he recorded with Ozzy Osbourne, No More Tears, and move on to some of the Black Label Society albums such as The Blessed Hellride.
26. Frank Zappa
It’s hard to appraise someone who wrote and produced so much. Was Frank Zappa a guitarist, or a composer who happened to play guitar? And if he was a guitarist, what did he play? Blues? Jazz? Rock? Pop? Fusion? The answer is that Zappa was a genre in himself. His most accessible album is probably Hot Rats, but nothing he did could be considered “easy listening,” proving that one can be completely uncomprimising and still gain a large, receptive fanbase.
He had a reputation for being a martinet, but, as he often reminded his bandmates, when an audience is paying to see you, even your sub-par performances must be a lot better than the local pub’s open-mic night. I’ve performed at a lot of open-mic nights, but I never came close to playing anything as good as this live version of “Muffin Man,” featuring an introductory solo by Adrian Belew, who could be on this list himself.
If I was the talent spotter for Decca and I passed on the Beatles I'd deny that I did.
And to think that a record label that first looked at the Beatles didn't take them on because they felt that "guitar music was on the way out."