Top 100 Guitarist of All Time

that top ten is pretty solid. Short of moving a few people. That is a pretty darn nice list.

Good list, of course I disagree with the order of some people listed.

They left out the best of all: Luther Perkins

Depends on what they mean by a guitarist... technique? Live performances? Songwriting? Introducing new concepts to the art? Some are way, way overrated, some way, way underrrated. Some aren't even on the list, some shouldn't be on it at all. That's the nice thing about these lists, whether sports, music, flim (or as you might say, film), or what have you. Always good for debate and discussion.

According to Rolling Stone Magazine, 1 Jimi Hendrix 2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band 3 B.B. King 4 Eric Clapton 5 Robert Johnson 6 Chuck Berry 7 Stevie Ray Vaughan 8 Ry Cooder 9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin 10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones 11 Kirk Hammett of Metallica 12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana I hope these are in no particular order 13 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead 14 Jeff Beck 15 Carlos Santana 16 Johnny Ramone of the Ramones 17 Jack White of the White Stripes 18 John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers 19 Richard Thompson 20 James Burton 21 George Harrison 22 Mike Bloomfield 23 Warren Haynes 24 The Edge of U2 25 Freddy King 26 Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave 27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits 28 Stephen Stills 29 Ron Asheton of the Stooges 30 Buddy Guy 31 penis Dale 32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service 33 & 34 Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth 35 John Fahey 36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's 37 Bo Diddley 38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac 39 Brian May of Queen 40 John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival 41 Clarence White of the Byrds 42 Robert Fripp of King Crimson 43 Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic 44 Scotty Moore 45 Frank Zappa 46 Les Paul 47 T-Bone Walker 48 Joe Perry of Aerosmith 49 John McLaughlin 50 Pete Townshend 51 Paul Kossoff of Free 52 Lou Reed 53 Mickey Baker 54 Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane 55 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple 56 Tom Verlaine of Television 57 Roy Buchanan 58 Dickey Betts 59 & 60 Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien of Radiohead 61 Ike Turner Wha?? I didn't even know he played. 62 Zoot Horn Rollo of the Magic Band 63 Danny Gatton 64 Mick Ronson 65 Hubert Sumlin 66 Vernon Reid of Living Colour 67 Link Wray 68 Jerry Miller of Moby Grape 69 Steve Howe of Yes 70 Eddie Van Halen 71 Lightnin' Hopkins 72 Joni Mitchell 73 Trey Anastasio of Phish 74 Johnny Winter 75 Adam Jones of Tool 76 Ali Farka Toure 77 Henry Vestine of Canned Heat 78 Robbie Robertson of the Band 79 Cliff Gallup of the Blue Caps (1997) 80 Robert Quine of the Voidoids 81 Derek Trucks 82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd 83 Neil Young All three chords!! 84 Eddie Cochran 85 Randy Rhoads 86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath 87 Joan Jett 88 Dave Davies of the Kinks 89 D. Boon of the Minutemen 90 Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper 91 Robby Krieger of the Doors 92 & 93 Fred "Sonic" Smith, Wayne Kramer of the MC5 94 Bert Jansch 95 Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine 96 Angus Young of AC/DC 97 Robert Randolph 98 Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer 99 Greg Ginn of Black Flag 100 Kim Thayil of Soundgarden WHERE THE HELL IS ROBERT JOHNSON??

Allman is number TWO? No way - Clapton and Page totally kick his ass. Nice to see my old college friend Robert Fripp on this list, as well as other "obscure" artists. :thumbsup:

Where are these guys?

Steve Vai
Joe Satriani
Eric Johnson
Pat Matheny
Even Alex Lifeson from Rush ought to be on there.


Their Top 10 is okay, but they left out a LOT of great, influential guitarists while including some over-rated pop stars.

Duane Allman better than SRV? I THINK NOT.

If the name was changed to Most Influential Guitarists, then I'd agree with most of the list.

Duane Allman and Joni Mitchell are on this, but not Messrs. Moginie and Rotsey of the Oils... this list gets funnier and funnier the more I look at it!

Depends on what they mean by a guitarist... technique? Live performances? Songwriting? Introducing new concepts to the art? Exactly. Some are way, way overrated, some way, way underrrated. Some aren't even on the list, some shouldn't be on it at all. That's the nice thing about these lists, whether sports, music, flim (or as you might say, film), or what have you. Always good for debate and discussion. Agreed. So, let's discuss. If there are people who should be on the list but aren't, who are they? And, if they go on the list, who should come off? And the criteria - what should it be? I happen to think that technique should weigh in most heavily. If we're talking about guitarist, what makes a person a guitarist? I think it's the ability to play the instrument. If that's not first on the list, then there are other factors (already mentioned) which must be taken into account and then we're moving a little bit away from guitarist. For instance, if songwriting has too much weight, then we're talking about songwriters. Live performances? That's a pretty good one but I'd like to see the hands of all those who were polled who'd seen Robert Johnson on stage. Sure, showmanship on the stage should count but...is he more showman than guitarist? So, when I think "guitarist," I think of how well he/she can play the instrument and how capable they are of getting the guitar to voice what they're feeling, what they're trying to express. So, with all that being said, how many classical guitarists were on the list? I didn't see Andres Segovia. He's got to knock someone off the list. Johnny McLaughlin made it but where's Wes Montgomery? And to me, the most glaring omission would be Al DiMeola. Incredible.

I was thinking of those guys but didn't want to make my first post any longer than it already was. How about Steve Vai and Al DiMeola together?
Joe Walsh? Peter Frampton? No Robin Trower?

Points well taken, Sparks. But RS sticks to its stock and trade for the most part, going with the rock and blues genres. A more challenging prospect for them would have been to come up with top 100 (or whatever number) in each category - technique, performance, etc. Oh... a prediction: Shelfie will not post on this thread once he sees Peter Frampton isn't on the list. Or the guys from Stryper.

I was thinking of those guys but didn't want to make my first post any longer than it already was. How about Steve Vai and Al DiMeola together?
Joe Walsh? Peter Frampton? No Robin Trower?
Even Django Reinhardt (sp?). That guy is just flat out great.