The 100 Greatest Guitarists

[ReCycled]

Well, according to Rolling Stone magazine at least. This is as of 2003 so it's a bit dated but not too much. Some of these guys I've never heard of, some l strongly disagree with  their ranking and some belong where they are. Doesn't matter. It's interesting reading on such a wide variety of genres and history. And technical prowess is not the sole criteria but also influence in the progression of music through the years.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/1
 

[yahoo]

my fav guitarist of all time is David Gilmour.. cool and clean effect and melodic riffs.. hes at the 82 i think. Which I strongly believe he should be  ranked way much higher..

but wtf. "The edge" of U2? give me a break.. hey I love U2 up to the joshua tree album, but I never think that edge was a good guitar player since he is a false guitar player relying more on effect like delays.

Where is Eric Johnson on the list? damn he should be on it.

What about Satriani?

where the hell is steve Vai?

I do know most of the guitarist listed but still I think the list is mostly BS.

[Pr0c3550r]

Some of these guys I've never heard of, some l strongly disagree with  their ranking and some belong where they are.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/1
 

Agreed

[peewee_RotA]

Well, according to Rolling Stone magazine at least. This is as of 2003 so it's a bit dated but not too much. Some of these guys I've never heard of, some l strongly disagree with  their ranking and some belong where they are. Doesn't matter. It's interesting reading on such a wide variety of genres and history. And technical prowess is not the sole criteria but also influence in the progression of music through the years.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/1
 

I'm not sure that I've ever agreed with a Rolling Stone article, this is not going to change it.
Putting Kurt Cobain above George Harrison, Mark Knopfler, Steve Howe, and Neil Young kind of puts me off. In my book, the requirement of being a great guitarists is being able to entertain an audience with only a guitar. (and no, MTV's unplugged doesn't count) It makes me think that this should have been entitled "most popular guitar players"

If you want to talk about talent or significance then you can't ignore people like Tim Reynolds or even the historical influence of Nick Lucas. It's even more insulting that they get left off a list of 100 in a category that contains maybe 50 worthy people. And beyond that members of TOOL and AC/DC get on the list? WTF!!
 

[reaper]

I'd put dimebag at number one, I'm not sure if anybody was even playing at his level.

[ReCycled]

I went through all 100 guys and it's a bit of a strange list. It seems rather biased to "old school" and even prejudiced against "speed" guitarists. I would have thought Satriani, Malmsteen, Buckethead etc would show up. And some guy from the Stooges makes the list. And Cobain is in the top 20? I would have put Jerry Cantrell in his place for grunge influence.
Oh well...
 

[|iR|Focalor]

HA! What the fuck are they smoking that allows them to justify putting Kurt Cobain at #12 whilst leaving Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top off the list completely... whilst including the douchebags from Sonic Youth and Radiohead. stereotypical ethnic ghetto-style individual PLEASE. Also, out of 100 spots, they STILL couldn't seem to leave any room for Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, or Steve Gaines from Lynyrd Skynyrd even though Freebird is one the most popular rock songs of all time... pathetic.

Their problem is obvious...

[paradisel0st]

I'd put dimebag at number one, I'm not sure if anybody was even playing at his level.

While dimebag was an amazing guitarist, there are PLENTY of Guitar players that are technically superior. I can't pay any attention to that list knowing David Gilmour is at 82...give me a break. Garbage.

[reaper]

While dimebag was an amazing guitarist, there are PLENTY of Guitar players that are technically superior. I can't pay any attention to that list knowing David Gilmour is at 82...give me a break. Garbage.

That may be, but it's my opinion.  I would go by more than one thing to rate a guitar player, but how pleasing the guitar is to listen to is high on my list.  That's why I would rate dimebag, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Hendrix so high (I like the sound).  But when I listen to dimebag's solos, I don't hear anyone playing like him.

[quadz]

But when I listen to dimebag's solos, I don't hear anyone playing like him.

Although, by that metric, Larry LaLonde of Primus prolly ought to be #1 on the list. 

[yahoo]

I went through all 100 guys and it's a bit of a strange list. It seems rather biased to "old school" and even prejudiced against "speed" guitarists. I would have thought Satriani, Malmsteen, Buckethead etc would show up. And some guy from the Stooges makes the list. And Cobain is in the top 20? I would have put Jerry Cantrell in his place for grunge influence.
Oh well...
 

Old school my stinky butt. if it was old school they should pay homage to santana. Now Conain? hey I love nirvana but have they ever heard that live nirvana wherein Cobain slipped a lot of his simple guitar riffs?

[peewee_RotA]

they should pay homage to santana.

Wasn't he in the top 20 on this list? 


I would vote Santana higher, though, because he matches my criteria of making amazing songs based on guitar only. Also didn't he perform Satellite with Dave Matthews at one point? Think what you want of DMB, Santana is someone who takes others people's music and makes it better just by showing up.

The Santana/Rob Thomas song is a good example. Matchbox 20 is crappy pop music and with the help of Santana, Rob Thomas actually produced a good song! Now THAT'S worthy of notoriety!

[|iR|Focalor]

The Santana/Rob Thomas song is a good example. Matchbox 20 is crappy pop music and with the help of Santana, Rob Thomas actually produced a good song! Now THAT'S worthy of notoriety!

Nope, Rob Thomas ruined it with his cerebral palsy-ish singing.

[haunted]

Obviously this list blows the big one. ZZ top would probably be my answer if someone were to ask me for my favorite band. Badass music and even more badass beards..not to mention badass music videos....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VU4rRji7nc

A lot of people they have in the top 5/10 are awesome at guitar but it's so hard to rank them or give them a placing on the list in relation to other amazing guitarists... and rolling stone demonstrates that by doing a shitty job. I have to admit I almost stopped looking at the list after I saw a few names but George Harrison finally did the trick.

As for Smooth by Santana... That was a choice by carlos and I think it was a good one (although he will tell you someone came to him in a dream and told him to use him in that song lol..) Rob Thomas sucks, but the song had an alright sound in the long-run and carlos made that $$.

[peewee_RotA]

The Santana/Rob Thomas song is a good example. Matchbox 20 is crappy pop music and with the help of Santana, Rob Thomas actually produced a good song! Now THAT'S worthy of notoriety!

Nope, Rob Thomas ruined it with his cerebral palsy-ish singing.

No question that Rob Thomas sucks, I don't like to listen to the song because of that fact. The song would be a considerably good song with no singing and only the existing guitar track. But also consider that even with the singing it is better than anything matchox 20 ever released.