Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time

smoking_kills

For you reading pleasure and no doubt very long discussion!

100. Kim Thayil - Soundgarden
99. Greg Ginn - Black Flag
98. Leigh Stephens - Blue Cheer
97. Robert Randolph
96. Angus Young - AC/DC
95. Kevin Shields - My Bloody Valentine
94. Bert Jansch
93. Wayne Kramer - MC5
92. Fred 'Sonic' Smith - MC5
91. Robby Krieger - The Doors
90. Glen Buxton - Alice Cooper
89. D. Boon - The Minutemen
88. Dave Davies - The Kinks
87. Joan Jett
86. Tony Iommi - Black Sabbath
85. Randy Rhoads
84. Eddie Cochran
83. Neil Young
82. David Gilmour - Pink Floyd
81. Derek Trucks
80. Robert Quine - The Voidoids
79. Cliff Gallup - The Blue Cops
78. Robbie Robertson - The Band
77. Henry Vestine - Canned Heat
76. Ali Farka Toure
75. Adam Jones - Tool
74. Johnny Winter
73. Trey Anastasio - Phish
72. Joni Mitchell
71. Lightnin' Hopkins
70. Eddie Van Halen
69. Steve Howe - Yes
68. Jerry Miller - Moby Grape
67. Link Wray
66. Vernon Reid - Living Colour
65. Hubert Sumlin
64. Mick Ronson
63. Danny Gatton
62. Zoot Horn Rollo - The Magic Band
61. Ike Turner
60. Ed O'Brien - Radiohead
59. Jonny Greenwood - Radiohead
58. Dickey Betts - The Allman Brothers Band
57. Roy Buchanan
56. Tom Verlaine - Television
55. Ritchie Blackmore - Deep Purple
54. Jorma Kaukonen - Jefferson Airplane
53. Mickey Baker
52. Lou Reed
51. Paul Kossoff - Free
50. Pete Townshend
49. John McLaughlin
48. Joe Perry - Aerosmith
47. T-Bone Walker
46. Les Paul
45. Frank Zappa
44. Scotty Moore
43. Eddie Hazel - Funkodelic
42. Robert Fripp - King Crimson
41. Clarence White - The Byrds
40. John Fogerty - Creedence Clearwater Revival
39. Brian May - Queen
38. Peter Green - Fleetwood Mac
37. Bo Diddley
36. Steve Cropper - Booker T. and the MG's
35. John Fahey
34. Thurston Moore - Sonic Youth
33. Lee Ranaldo - Sonic Youth
32. John Cipollina - Quicksilver Messenger Service
31. Dick Dale
30. Buddy Guy
29. Ron Asheston - The Stooges
28. Stephen Stills
27. Mark Knopfler - Dire Straits
26. Tom Morello - Rage Against the Machine / Audioslave
25. Freddy King
24. The Edge - U2
23. Warren Haynes
22. Mike Bloomfield
21. George Harrison
20. James Burton
19. Richard Thompson
18. John Frusciante - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
17. Jack White - The White Stripes
16. Johnny Ramone - The Ramones
15. Carlos Santana
14. Jeff Beck
13. Jerry Garcia - The Grateful Dead
12. Kurt Cobain - Nirvana
11. Kirk Hammett - Metallica
10. Keith Richards - The Rolling Stones
9. Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin
8. Ry Cooder
7. Stevie Ray Vaughan
6. Chuck Berry
5. Robert Johnson
4. Eric Clapton
3. B.B. King
2. Duane Allman - The Allman Brothers Band
1. Jimi Hendrix

I'll stick my 2pence worth in first,

Firstly these lists are allways subjective,
more an opinion than fact seeing as everyone (like albums) have their favourites.. This one however has some glaring omissions...and some seriously misplaced greats!

Seeing as there is no right or wrong way to play the guitar you really have to base any list on their sphere of infulence, both among other guitarists and the kids at home listening to their stuff and saying "i wanna do that" so out they go, grab a guitar and tear into it.....Also on their soloing and song writing abilities, again not the technicial side of it!!

.Angus youngis at 96/ Tony Iommi at 86, to make matters worse Eddie Van Halen at 70. now that in itself might be ok(it's not but lets pretend) until u see all these guys get beat by Ike turner at
61, yes ike turner(tina's ex husband)??????That has me stumped...(and thats only 1 gripe i have with the listthe others will have to wait..lol))
Someone at rolling stone, needs to be dropped on his/her head from a great great height.

anyway heres my top 10

10. Chuck Berry
9. Angus Young
8 Slash
7. BB King
6. Kirk Hammett
5. Jeff beck
4. Stevie Ray Vaughan
3. Eric Clapton
2. Jimmy Page
1. Jimmy Hendrix

Bard

Bit of a high placing for Hammett at no. 11, isn't it, in fairness...?

smoking_kills

Not at all, the guy invented metal soloing,
deserves to be there for the "one" solo alone!

Giblet

Why, because it's shit.

Lists are rubbish, don't bother with them.

smoking_kills

well my point is how can u place Ry Cooder and Duane Allman above him, dont make sence???????

James Hunt

Originally posted by Giblet
Lists are rubbish, don't bother with them.

I agree 100% - but while we are here.....

The usual suspects are all there, its just the positions that are causing grief - Hendrix,Page,Clapton etc...

Some ommissions that are puzzling though - no Billy Corgan. Considering his band and himself in particular did so much much to promote guitar music in the ninties that seems a little strange.
Kim Thayil but no Billy Corgan - thats not right.
Daivid Gilmour at 82 behind Ike Turner....
no Satriani or Vai or Malmsteen

Doctor J

Originally posted by smoking_kills
Not at all, the guy invented metal soloing,
deserves to be there for the "one" solo alone!

Perhaps you should listen to Dave Mustaine's solos on the No Life Til Leather demo.

Hammett just copied Dave on Kill 'em All. Besides, metal was around a long, long time before Metallica, check out

Black Sabbath
Zep
Deep Purple
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
Venom
to name but a few

Listen to every Judas Priest album up to 1983 and then tell me where Hammett got his chops from.

Doctor J

Oh yes, that list?

Piece of ****. going on those results, you have to die young to be a good guitarist.

Oeneus

It's interesting to see Les Paul finally get mentioned in these damn things.

I can't really make sense of Randy Rhodes being beaten by The Edge.

Not sure about the lack of Slash, Vai, Satriani, or even Santana

dragon_ninja82

Originally posted by Oeneus


Not sure about the lack of Slash, Vai, Satriani, or even Santana

Santana is at num 15

Oeneus

Hehe. I'll just go and sit in the corner for a while.:p

smoking_kills

Perhaps you should listen to Dave Mustaine's solos on the No Life Til Leather demo.

Hammett just copied Dave on Kill 'em All. Besides, metal was around a long, long time before Metallica, check out

Black Sabbath
Zep
Deep Purple
Judas Priest
Iron Maiden
Venom
to name but a few

Listen to every Judas Priest album up to 1983 and then tell me where Hammett got his chops fr

Ok i'll have to agree with that...but Hammett brought it to the masses..

Dont think i saw Billy Gibbons on there either!!

mike65

.but Hammett brought it to the masses..

:eek: er check out any Deep Purple live album (millions of copies sold in the 70s) and see that Hammett was a late starter!

Anyway wheres John McLaughlin or Alan Holdsworth?
Maybe jazz influences count against...good to see Jeff Beck in the Top 20.

Mike.

ferdi

18. John Frusciante - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
17. Jack White - The White Stripes

39. Brian May - Queen
21. The Edge - U2



hahahahaha:rolleyes:

NeMiSiS

Viciously hungover..but anyways.
Yeh no mention of Slash ye'd think he didnt exsist these days . As for Hammett hmmm.. I dig the guy he always did the job like writes solo's that 'fit' but 11's a bit high allright,and to say he invented metal soloing ye deserve a slap for that.

One of the better one of these lists I read was in Mojo magazine a couple of years back,Slash didnt feature in that come to think of it.., but it was still good,went into what gear they used ,'finest moment' as in best solo etc. Who cares about Rolling Stones opinion these days anyways ? Used to be good now its just bland,**** sake did the last one not have Jessica Simpson on it or something ?

Ah ye could go on for days about who should have but who didnt feature,must noticably of course would be myself .. wheh wheh wheh ..

Jimi always tops these yokes and deservedly in my opinion.

Hahahaha just noticed Jack White,the list has no credibility,delete the thread.

Tom

pebble

No JJ Cale?
No Joe Walsh?
No Rocky George?
No Big Jim Martin?
No Lenny Kravitz?
No David Bowie?
No Peter Frampton?
No Dave Mustaine?

Oh well, you can have it all

Still, as far as lists go, I suppose its not as odd as some I've seen, and its as reletive as any other.
Although I would have personally put Mark Knopfler higher myself, and Dave Guilmore.

quank

17. Jack White - The White Stripes


THAT, i don't understand...... i'm so underuberknowledgedified:ninja:

ShriekingSheet

OH MY FRIGGING GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok most people on that list except for the rididculous inclusions of Jack "the power chord" White and the god damn edge! can be lumped into more or less 1960 through to 1979 and since then guitar heroes have been sparce and today pretty much extinct!

but in 1989-1996 and a little after the last great guitar hero pulled of the side-stage mistique perfectly and was undoubtedly tallented enough to be included in any such list...

JOHN F***ING SQUIRE!!!!!!!!!!

my blood boils not seeing him there in at least the top 30!

tell me he's there and im just not seeing him!

niallith

haha donno how they lefy out mustaine and choose that white stripes guy over him ??? strange indeed...

Giblet

Originally posted by ShriekingSheet

JOHN F***ING SQUIRE!!!!!!!!!!

my blood boils not seeing him there in at least the top 30!

tell me he's there and im just not seeing him!

Jimmy Page is already on the list, why would they put someone trying to BE Jimmy Page?

smoking_kills

Yeah that was me with the hammett comment, ok was in bad taste..lmao, anyway i just knew this would give ye lot a good laugh..

The only thing they got right was jimmy H at No 1.

Quatre Mains

- I think its fairly safe to say we're all agreed that the list is sh*te and is based in current trends rather than genuine merit. The fact that the whole metal/shred generation is virtually omitted is a big mistake - as a previous post said, no Malmsteen, Vai or Satriani - 3 of the most influential guitarists thru the late 80s early 90s whether you like it or not...

Monster riffers like Angus and Iommi lie at the bottom of the list while upstarts Frusciante and Morello are near the top.

No Andy Summers or even more glaringly no Johnny Marr while Radiohead's rythym guitarist makes it to the top 60?

Who the **** reads Rolling Stone anyway - its ****e, even the fact that it publishes polls like this shows it up for what it is, Smash Hits for grown ups

Neil

Frank Grimes

No Rory Gallagher?
And Jack White and Kurt Cobain above Frank Zappa?
Thing about these lists is that (I've found anyway), it's the usual suspects in the top 10 and then some newer and popular artists thrown in between 11 and 20.

Giblet

Originally posted by brocklanders
no Malmsteen, Vai or Satriani - 3 of the most influential guitarists thru the late 80s early 90s whether you like it or not...

That BS for a start, the group they have influenced have been very small, compared to say Slash and Kurt Cobain.

Doesn't mean that Slash and Kurt are better, but way more influential.

NeMiSiS

Satriani would easily along with Vai be the most technically proficient guitar players in history,they know their guitars inside out its because of their 'skill' people seem to think they play souless ****e.

Any person that takes the time and the energy to learn guitar to that evel should be appreciated.

Tom

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by Giblet
Doesn't mean that Slash and Kurt are better, but way more influential.

That might be true, but the poll wasn't for the 100 most influential guitarists.

Giblet

But I wasn't taking about the poll!

alb

Probably better to look at polls in Guitar magazines rather than ones in general music magazines as they're usually done by people who play guitar a lot and obviosuly appreciate a good guitar player rather than the guitar player of a popular band (e.g. Jack white, Kurt Cobain).

Buddy Guy is the best guitarist I've ever seen live, it's good to see him fairly high in there though.

Pencapchew

Hmmm....not really a valid point there alb as total guitar had Kurt Cobain at number 14 in their poll.

http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/general/top100.html

frood4t2

Originally posted by ShriekingSheet
OH MY FRIGGING GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


JOHN F***ING SQUIRE!!!!!!!!!!

Rolling Stone is primarily for an American audience. The Stone Roses never caught on in America (luckily I did, though.) If they had, I imagine Squire would be on there. Same with Johnny Marr.

The summary of Jack White at no. 17 suggests that you have to see the White Stripes live to understand. I'd really like to... cuz right now that's just insane.

Blisterman

Nobody mentioned Dave Navarro from Jane's addiction.
He is the kng at overdubbing. Just because has him playing 8 guitars at once.

alb

Originally posted by Pencapchew
Hmmm....not really a valid point there alb as total guitar had Kurt Cobain at number 14 in their poll.

http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/general/top100.html

Good point, Cobain might be on there but it in my opinion it's a much better list.

ll=llannah

much better. much better.

Oriel

Brian May only 39? Pfft that's a joke...