The latest issue of Rolling Stone updates the rag’s “The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time” list of 2003 with a new crop of six-string deities. They didn’t rank ‘em, but they did prominently feature three: John Mayer, Derek Trucks, and John Frusciante. And like good little apostles, all three have divine praise for Jimi:
John Mayer: As for Hendrix, all guitar players feel that way: “I’m not him” … The songs on Axis are an extension of beautiful guitar playing. You can almost hear Hendrix looking at the guitar as he plays, going, “I wonder what that does?” There is an element of discovery. Are You Experienced? is like a rough draft. Axis sounds like the colors on the cover.Derek Trucks: I almost feel like pedals are a cop-out. I hate to say it’s always that way. Guys like Hendrix use them as their voice. But I’ve never had the urge.
John Frusciante: I’m an Electric Ladyland guy. His music always sounds perfect to me, because he’s bending sound, taking care of music in every dimension. Where most people think of it in two dimensions, he’s thinking of it in four. I don’t think there’s a better guitar player in history. He’s not something that can be improved on. And there’s the spirit that goes into it. He creates a place where you can be high and hang out and lose yourself. He’s bringing out aspects of sound we didn’t know were there. I feel there are people moving ahead on that front, but they’re not so much guitar players — like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. They continue the work of Jimi Hendrix started, but not on guitar.
The rest of RS‘s picks come with cute descriptors. Jack’s is the best.
The Avant Romantic: Nels Cline (Wilco)
Blues-Rock Warrior: Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule)
Skynyrd Art-Theorists: Jim James & Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket)
Prog-Metal King: Adam Jones (Tool)
Van Halen Meets Bootsy: Kaki King
Four-Armed Monster: Mike McCready & Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam)
Iron Man Of Hip-Hop Guitar: Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)
Space Guitar Heroes: Chuck Garvey & Al Schnier (moe.)
The Extremist: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta)
Dark Side Of The Moon Explorers: Ed O’Brien & Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
Stoner Metal Ruler: Matt Pike (Sleep and High On Fire)
The Crawling King Snake: Jack White (The White Stripes and The Raconteurs)
We’ll accept any additions you’d like to make to the new council of Mt. Olympus, as long as it’s not Chris Funk. His chops are lacking, and we have video proof.
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Has Everyone who calls themselves a rocker been living under a rock? Theres about 2 people at any site who even mentions ALEX LIFESON of RUSH!!! WoW! i am ashamed to know that people can go on with thier lives without every hearing Alex Lifeson.
I understand that influence plays a huge part in this list, but there are some skills that are so great i don’t understand how you can pass them up.
Alex Lifeson!!! from RUSH!
RUSH!!!
you have got to be kidding me! this man is a guitar god! One needs only to listen to one song to understand his ability and subliminal arts.
“La Villa Strangiato”
I just can’t get over there being no Alex Lifeson ranked in the top 30 let alone not at all. clearly one of the greatest and talented guitarists of all time. lucky enough to play alongside one of the greatest and talented drummers of all time Neil Pert. surrounded a full 360 degrees by percussion instruments.
I easily could have put Alex Lifeson in the top 5 just because of his abilities. There were only 3 band members and Rush sounded like they had six! just shows how talented they all were.
“Working Man” , “Spirit of Radio” , “The Trees”
I don’t see how the Angel like Picking of Lifeson could ever be overlooked by so called experts. Its truly a shame there was no Alex Lifeson.
Also, Where Is Steve Vai and Joe Satriani … c’mon. Listen to
“Always with me, Always with you”
by Satriani This song speaks without the use of words.
Wheres SLASH !!!???
speaking of influential. Would he not rank in the top 10 of All Time recognized Guitarists? i think he must at least make the list.
I think some of the editors were quite bias towards a few guitarists.
i sooo agree wid u evryone elses lists r jst terrible. 1st of all john mayer is 1 of tha biggest douchebags in the world & 2nd of all eddie blows away any little douchie person who mite b good but not a god. he can blow away any little douche like billy courgan or freakin john mayer
What about Jesse Guitar Taylor? He wasnt just born with that name.
rediculous list IMHO!!! … bloody guts of the sinners, where the hell are Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Mors, Herman Li, Sam Tortman, Roger Waters, David Gilmour and many many others .. ?????? maybe i’m blind, but if these guys aren’t included .. THIS WORLD IF FREAKING GONE NUTS!!!
Where are the soloists: Joe Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Buckethead, George Lynch, Mick Thompson
Nicke Andersson
That Chet Atkins is not on the list invalidates the whole list .. As much as I like Joan Jett, she would be the first to state how ridiculous it is that she is listed as greater than Chet. So would George Harrison and Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – they would laugh at the notion. Although I am not a huge fan of most of Chet’s music (I prefer the anti-Chet pickins from the likes of Hank Williams or Kid Congo) – well, I am not a fan of opera, but I know that Pavorotti is a greater vocalist than Britney Spears.
Seems like this list might have been put together by people for retarded idiots that dont know anything about playing guitar. How Cobain, Garcia, Ramonne, etc be higher on a list than masters like Paco de Lucia, Steve Howe, Eddie Van Halen, etc is amazing to me. Agree that Alex Lifeson should also be on the list- one could easily argue that he can be in the top ten given his body of work, so it amazes me that he is not even on the list of Top 100- total joke. Andy Summers is another great guitarist who is highly underrated who deserves to be on here. Another reason to just ignore this pathetic magazine
Alex Lifeson from rush he is amazing
Davy Knowles. Check him out. blows your mind
This is a joke. Listen to live Phish plus their through-composed masterpieces like You Enjoy Myself and Divided Sky and you will see that Trey Anastasio is one of the greatest of all time. And I am not just saying that. He can improvise like none other and is amazing and through-composing. He is also incredibley well-rounded with different styles, Phish has played everything from prog rock to jazz and latin-style to classical. This list sucks. Rolling Stone probably hesitated to even make this list because until the 2000s pop scene, they have been completely biased towards other forms of music, considering a ton of hippies write for them. They gave a Jonas Brothers album a higher rating than Nirvana’s Nevermind. Seriously? The only legitimate picks on here are Derek Trucks, John Frusciante, Chuck Garvey, Al Schnier, Tom Morrelo, Warren Haynes and Adam Jones. John Mayer is a great guitarist, with alot of potential for blues and rock. But he denies his own talent and plays sell out pop music, so he looses my respect. Jack White, hell no.
All in all, these guitarists should be on there: Trey Anastasio, Jake Cinninger & Brendan Bayliss (Umphrey’s McGee), Jimmy Herring (Widespread Panic), and possibly Claudio Sanchez and Travis Stever of Coheed & Cambria.
what about dwayne allman or eric clapton
It breaks my heart that I haven’t found anyone up above who mentioned Wes Montgomery. Kurt Cobaine and Joan Jett over Wes, really!?!
That and people are picking Vai, Buckethead, Satriani, Malmsteen over Wes, wow, just wow…
Here’s a little secret few know: John McLaughlin could substitute for ANYONE on the list, were he called on to do so. But almost all on the list would be in way over their heads were they called to to do so for him. Listen to The Inner Mounting Flame and see. (I know, most people have never heard of him, let alone heard him play.)
Miles Davis said his playing was “far in.”
JAKE CINNINGER= best guitar on this earth. should deffinately be on the list along with Jimmy Herring and Trey Anastasio
Chet Adkins should be on there for sure. Maybe not my cup of tea but man he could play! Buck Dharma is and I suppose always be vastly under rated but is one the top 5 guitar players of all time. This list sucks for the most part..just familiar names… to bad these guys don’t listen to music..it would help if your gonna make a list like this.
Bias indeed, joan jett, kurt cobain john mayer,prince..bottom of barrel players!!!! rory gallagher ,jimi hendrix , robin trower, jeff beck . page,to many more to mention! the key to a great musican is being able to trans-port his heart and emoitions thu the fingers, key 2 is the person being able to decode his message, think of it this way you are the receiver, they are transmitters..for me at age 14 or so.. Jimi Hendrix was the sound for me.. not foxy lady purple haze , but vodoo chlid,little wing ..fire…if 6 was 9..who ever your like..more power to you..enjoy the sounds.Joe Mozingo…NC,
My favorite of all time is the Great Legendary Maestro Alex Gregory, inventor of the 7 string electric guitar and fastest shredder on the planet! He must be recognized for all of his contributions to the world of guitar.
My favorite of all time is the Great Legendary Maestro Alex Gregory, inventor of the 7 string electric guitar and fastest shredder on the planet! He must be recognized for all of his contributions to the world of guitar.
These are in no particular order. I don?t think there is a best overall guitarist because they all play different styles. If there was someone who mastered every style of guitar playing then they could be called the best but as it stands there is only people who are the best at there style of playing. People who should be in the top 20 are people like:
Satriani
Vai
Malmsteen
Van Halen
Nuno Bettencourt
Tommy Emmanuel
Jimi Hendrix
Robert Johnson
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Ry Cooder
Randy Rhoads
Paul Gilbert
Petrucci
Clapton
Jeff Beck
Gary Moore
Frank Zappa
David Gilmour
Mark Knopfler
Angus Young
Polls or votes are just opinions on a persons preference to music. People will say Slash is the best because they like Guns ?N? Roses or Hendrix because they don?t really have a clue. Hendrix was the best but many guitarists have far surpassed him. I think of the guitarists above as some of the best in the world, especially people like Satriani and Vai, there both advanced virtuoso rock instrumentalists and Satriani taught Vai and Kirk Hammet.
where’s johnny marr?
where’s JOHNNY MARR?
Adam Jones: Prog-Metal king?!?!?!?!? Bull s**t. John Petrucci is the Prog-Metal king. What has Adam Jones done to give him that crown?? don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guitarist, just not as good as John Petrucci
With the endless list of potential “greatest Evers” that everyone has compiled, not one person has set forth any discernible criteria for what exactly makes them so great. It stands to reason you are not going to give credit to Chet atkins if you hate country and such. Relax, go listen to your favorite guitarist, and feel good that you know something that someone else doesn’t. On that note I am going to shuffle Eddie Hazel, Jimi, Pink Floyd, and SRV on my IPOD…for no reason at all:)
Mike Einziger from Incubus.?yup he should be there.
i found this site when googling for similar stuff
http://www.guitargod.in
What about Django Reinhardt? Eric Johnson? Lenny Breau?
Intergalactic Guitar Prophet Matt Belamy
Psychedelic Desert Master Josh Homme
Muddy Blues Rider Dan Auerback
Savage Garage Symbol Peter Hayes