Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine ROLLING STONE'S 100 GREATEST GUITARISTS

The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

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
11Kirk Hammett of Metallica
12 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
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 Dick 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 Bod Diddley
38 Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac
39 Brian May of Qeen
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
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
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


thoughts and opinions?

Just a couple of quick thoughts before I get ready to head home.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is a great selection for the top 10. And I'm glad to see David Gilmour get some recognition. But Eddie Van Halen at 70? WTF! And where is hell is Yngwie Malmsteen?!

Is Eddie Van Halen only ranked at 70? Who'd he piss of at RS? I'm no giant VH fan, but he is pretty much credited with inventing (or at least popularizing) the "two-handed tapping" technique without which metal wouldn't really have moved to the next level.

Why would Kurt Cobain rate so high? I think he was a good songwriter, but even a crap guitarist like me can play just about any Nirvana song. And if Johnny Ramone and Greg Ginn could make the list, why not Steve Jones or Bob Mould for that matter?

exactly, even though i think everything fter ODYSSEY sucked.
and wheres
PAUL GILBERT
TONY MACALPINE
VINNIE MOORE

what the fuck is with IKE TURNER, i dont know much about ike and tina, but does ike even play guitar
i wonder if the guitarist from FLOCK OF SEAGULLS is there, seeing his solo on "i ran "stands up against a lot of guitaring <snicker>

Half this list is a joke. Another glaring omission, to me at least, is Randy Rhoads. Rolling Stone just ain't what it used to be.

I have a love/hate relationship with this sort of list. Simultaneously I find myself annoyed that some no-hoper has made the list but delighted that a personal favourite has made it so far up there.

The top ten is fairly predictable stuff. Several other placings annoy me. I've never been a U2 fan and to see The Edge (who I do like his guitar work, it's mostly Bono who I can't stomach) up higher than people like Dave Gilmour, Neil Young, Dick Dale, Frank Zappa and Bo Diddley disturbs me. But hey U2 are trendy.

Glad to see Richard Thompson there. A personal favourite who doesn't make the grade is folky Martin Carthy. I know folk is probably outside the remit of Rolling Stone but he helped kick-start the folk movement in the UK in the 60's played with Bob Dylan, taught Paul Simon quite a few tunes including Scarborough Fair, invented all sorts of useful alternate guitar tunings and is a damn fine guitarist.

No Steve Hackett but Steve Howe

I am glad to see quite a few punk guitartists in there. They often seem to get overlooked in these things but many are expert musicians who just like playing real loud and fast. I have heard it said that Joey Rammone only played up-strokes which is quite a hard thing to do - believe me I've tried!

Where's Segovia? Where's Rak?

It's a freakin popularity contest I tells ya.

I agree that Segovia (greatest classical guitarist in the world) could kick some ass on this list if he was into rock. Also, I guess Bonnie Raitt isn't considered to be rock (if so, she should have been on the list.)

If Joan Jett is listed than Bonnie should be. I think Bonnie would kick Joan's butt in a guitar off.

RHOADS is there, #85

and if joan jett can be there, lita ford should be there

My bad. I must have skimmed over his name a couple of times and just missed it.

And I totally agree about Lita Ford.

wheres
michael schenker
and
uli jon roth