The L.A. Times recently published a list of the 50 greatest guitarists to ever play the instrument. If you have read music-related magazines, in print or online, for any amount of time, you have probably seen a few lists of this sort published and discussed. These types of lists are really a no-win situation, as music and guitar playing are subjective, not competitive, so it is really just one persons’ opinion going against another.
There are always hard feeling about who was left out and who was included, too, for the exact same reason. That being said, the list in the L.A. Times, while far from perfect, does a better job than most at picking the most influential and proficient players of our favorite instrument. Read the list here.
Before you get all excited about the order, please notice it is alphabetical. Reading the list made me thing about who do I really like and who do I think has been important, historically or musically, to this game we all love to play. We all carry a list like this one in our hearts somewhere. We here at Gear-Vault would like to hear yours. We think it will make for an interesting discussion and allow us to get to know all of you a bit better.
To keep things manageable, make your list a Top 10 rather than 50 and post it as a comment on this article. Should be interesting. Anyway, here is mine, in random order:
- Danny Gatton
- Chuck Berry
- Chet Atkins
- Charlie Christian
- Brian Setzer
- Django Reinhardt
- Eddie Van Halen
- Tommy Emmanuel
- Les Paul
- Freddy King
Your turn. Discuss.
Also, be sure to read our Hendrix vs SRV debate.
Heres my list in no particular order, man it’s tough to narrow it down to just 10, I think top 10 by genre would be easier!
Jimi Hendrix
Johnny Smith
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Andres Segovia
Randy Rhoads
B.B. King
Joni Mitchell
Ben Monder
Jimmy Page
Lenny Breau
I’m leaving out about 500 great players, but at least for today, that’s my top 10. Ask me tomorrow and I’m sure it would change!
My Top 10 Greatest Guitarist (in no particular order) would be:
* BB King
* Eric Clapton
* Billy Gibbons
* Chuck Berry
* Les Paul
* Dickey Betts
* Charlie Christian
* Hughie Thomasson
* Chet Atkins
* Larry Carlton
This is my top list (as others has said) “in no particular order”, since I can only list 10 at this time ‘bam’:
Django Reinhart
Les Paul
Charlie Christian
Jimi Hendrix
Wes Montgomery
Andres Segovia
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Jeff Beck
Al Di Meola
I am leaving out at least 70 more GREAT guitarist I would love to add, but, rules are rules!
I made my above list before reading the LA Times List, man, am I ever glad I did!!!
How about adding to your list:
Jerry Reed
I thought about Jerry Reed but decided to go with Chet… but maybe I should have picked Jerry since he WROTE so many great guitar things (ala “The Claw”, “Jerry’s Breakdown”, etc.) but then again he was a student of Chet so I went with the master (not that Jerry wasn’t a master in his own way!)
It is tough to pick my top ten as there are so many great guitar players. My picks are: Jimi Hendrix, Billy Gibbons, Eddie Van Halen, Tommy Emmanuel, Joe Satriani,Jimmy Page, Joe Bonnamassa, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin.
Keep in mind im only 18 years old. So i didn’t live through the 80’s. so dont grind my balls.
In no particular order.
1.Hendrix
2.Zappa
3.Jeff Beck
4.Satriani
5.Vai
6.Mark Morton
7.Jim Root
8.Buddy Guy
9.Jerry Cantrel
10.Rob Flynn
Can’t grind your ball, its a good list. Glad to see Jerry Cantrel get some recognition.
In revisting this blog I noticed that I only posted nine names on my original list, posted above. Since I can add one more, I’ll add a personal favorite:
Gabor Szabo
A lot of times under-rated, but a Great Guitarist all the same.
Hendrix
Trower
Jeff Beck
M. Schenker
Scott Henderson
Steve Morse
Chet Atkins
Leo Kottke
Eric Johnson
Eric Gales
10 already?!! Arrrgghh!!!
The Ultimate List: Greatest Guitarists Of All Time
I think my project turned out very well, added some nice pieces of art to it too.. Let me know what you think of the list. It contains 227 Guitar Players, there is no ranking, they are sorted by year of birth and decade.
http://www.insanemom.net/the-best-guitar-players-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time/
Nuno Bettencourt
Zakk Wylde
Steve Vai
Eric Sardinas
Jimi Hendrix
Jerry Cantrell
Chet Atkins
Andy Griffith (Yes, of the old TV show-he’s AWESOME, I’m serious)
Ed Roland
Randy Rhoads
Danny Gatton
Mark Knopfler
Kirk Hammett
Duane Allman
Jimi Hendrix
Jerry Garcia
Robert Johnson
Willie Nelson
John Denver
Jimmy Page