Best Guitarist Ever named by Rolling Stone

[entropy13]

The panel of experts recruited to vote for their favorite guitar players included musicians such as Lenny Kravitz, Eddie Van Halen (who was voted No. 8), Brian May and Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys, along with a selection of Rolling Stone's senior writers and editors.

The experts also weighed in on their favorites, with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready calling Eddie Van Halen "a master of riffs" and Joe Perry praising Jimmy Page's "vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do."

The full list will be featured in a special issue with four special covers of Van Halen, Clapton, Hendrix and Page, and will be on newsstands and online at www.rollingstone.com on Friday.




Full article here (http://tinyurl.com/6vars3n).

[Frick]

Hendrix is no. 1 on their list.

1. Jimi Hendrix

2. Eric Clapton

3. Jimmy Page

4. Keith Richards

5. Jeff Beck

6. B.B. King

7. Chuck Berry

8. Eddie Van Halen

9. Duane Allman

10. Pete Townshend

[erocker]

Mark Knopfler should be on that list.

[JC316]

How is Slash not on that list?

[twilyth]

putting a '/' on the list would have crashed their computers.

[Damn_Smooth]

How is Slash not on that list?

Maybe the absolute crap he has released since leaving Guns n' Roses has knocked him down a peg or two.

[JC316]

Maybe the absolute crap he has released since leaving Guns n' Roses has knocked him down a peg or two.

Thats a good point, but still, he was one of the best.

[Damn_Smooth]

Thats a good point, but still, he was one of the best.

That he was. It's a shame how that all turned out.

[theJesus]

How am I not on that list?

http://encarte.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jesus-rocks-c10298700.jpeg

[Damn_Smooth]

How am I not on that list?

http://encarte.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/jesus-rocks-c10298700.jpeg

You need to release an album more than once every 2000 years to make the list.

[etrigan420]

Replace Keith Richards with SRV and I find that list perfectly acceptable.

[Reventon]

Umm, they already released a "100 Greatest Guitarists" list like 3 years ago, I don't think much should have changed since then. Maybe they revised it? The last one was kind of biased on some occasions.

Edit: Yeah they definitely revised it. I remember people like Alex Lifeson and Dimebag not even being on the first list.

Edit: It was 2003, and it was an editors pick of best guitarists. This list is comprised of multiple professional musician's opinions. Let me see if I can find the original.

[Reventon]

2003 List, composed by David Fricke, for comparison

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 Bo 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
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

How is Slash not on that list?

Slash is on the list, you must have gone through the whole thing, he is #65.

[SK-1]

Trey 76 Zappa 45?

[Reventon]

Trey 76 Zappa 45?

That's the old list an editor made up in 2003, not the new one.

[Wile E]

Fuck Rolling Stone.

Their opinions stopped being relevant when they started sucking the cocks of the major record labels.

[WhiteLotus]

Jimi Hendrix the number 1?

Really?

Come on.. no one else wants to contest that?

[Triprift]

David Gilmour should be in the top 10.

[theJesus]

What about Steve Vai? Where is he at?

[MoonPig]

David Gilmour - 14th? No.

The Edge infront of Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, Eddie Hazel (Who's 83 for some fucking reason), Slash (65? Why?)...

Special mention, why is John Frusciante 72? He's better than that. Hell, he's better than that faggot Edge.

[Reventon]

Jimi Hendrix the number 1?

Really?

Come on.. no one else wants to contest that?

He's good, he's not number. So yes I agree with you.

David Gilmour - 14th? No.

The Edge infront of Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, Eddie Hazel (Who's 83 for some fucking reason), Slash (65? Why?)...

Special mention, why is John Frusciante 72? He's better than that. Hell, he's better than that faggot Edge.

Edge is overrated.

[Wile E]

The Edge would be nothing if not for delay pedals.

And no, Hendrix should not be #1. He was actually pretty sloppy at times. He just had amazing stage presence. I think Clapton and SRV are both better, tbh.

[WhiteLotus]

In my opinion all he did was turn the volume way up. Not much technical skill.

In MY humble opinion.

[theJesus]

You know what? Fuck the guitar solos.

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[Frick]

I had to look up who the Edge was. Not a big fan, no.

And I think Hendrix was skilled and did a lot of exciting things, but I'm not a big fan. It's just not my thing really.

On the 2003 list Kirk Hammet should not be #11 imo.

[1Kurgan1]

Always amazes me how Satriani isn't up there on those lists, or isn't even on some of them.... he helped create 2 of the other top 100 guitarists of all time, yet not even on the list? Just sad, I love listening to his music.

[Wile E]

Always amazes me how Satriani isn't up there on those lists, or isn't even on some of them.... he helped create 2 of the other top 100 guitarists of all time, yet not even on the list? Just sad, I love listening to his music.

Sat's music is too mechanical and soulless. Being able to shred fast does not a good guitarist make.

[Frick]

Sat's music is too mechanical and soulless. Being able to shred fast does not a good guitarist make.

the reason i'm not a fan of malmsteen and is a big fan of jack white and brian may. well may can be pretty technical to but still.

[Reventon]

Sat's music is too mechanical and soulless. Being able to shred fast does not a good guitarist make.

At times, I would agree with you. However, he has songs that are more emotional, a good example being "Always With Me Always With You". His prestige is more in his unique style. I am a Satch fan myself, and I believe he should at least be in the 90s.

[Wile E]

At times, I would agree with you. However, he has songs that are more emotional, a good example being "Always With Me Always With You". His prestige is more in his unique style. I am a Satch fan myself, and I believe he should at least be in the 90s.

I disagree. That song is as soulless as all of his other songs.

[Reventon]

Compared to other guitarists maybe but compared to his own work no.

[Wile E]

Compared to other guitarists maybe but compared to his own work no.

Compared to his other work really doesn't say much. lol.

[Reventon]

Eh, I guess you're right. I still admire his music though.

[Screaming Beaver]

These lists are never going to make everyone happy. Jimi Hendrix as #1 though... no. I'd pick Eric Clapton before him...

[Wile E]

These lists are never going to make everyone happy. Jimi Hendrix as #1 though... no. I'd pick Eric Clapton before him...

Agreed:

http://www.generalnonsense.net/showpost.php?p=166799&postcount=22

[Reventon]

These lists are never going to make everyone happy. Jimi Hendrix as #1 though... no. I'd pick Eric Clapton before him...

Well yeah, everyone has different opinions. Some fucking retard ass white kid who has only ever heard rock songs from guitar hero probably thinks Herman Li is the best guitarist ever, people who actually know music will say otherwise.

[Screaming Beaver]

Well yeah, everyone has different opinions. Some fucking retard ass white kid who has only ever heard rock songs from guitar hero probably thinks Herman Li is the best guitarist ever, people who actually know music will say otherwise.

DragonForce? Ugh. Anyone who thinks that needs to listen to some classic rock. Throw out Jimmy Page, Pete Townshed, Johnny Ramone, see if any of them stick.

I suppose we should be thankful they'd listen to someone who actually plays the guitar though, not just auto-tuned hip hop and your Rebecca Blacks and Lady Gagas.

[1Kurgan1]

I disagree. That song is as soulless as all of his other songs.

Thats all opinion, I'm not talking about the fastest Satch songs out there, he has a lot of records out, and some of the slower stuff is what amazes me. I feel lots of emotion in that music, I have a hard time listening to pure instrumentals simply because I just get bored. But listening to his work just amazes me everytime. You can say his music is souless, but a good 90% or more of his music is just instrumentals, where as most people on that list have a vocalist as well.

79VZR1iBEg0
I just can't garee with your opinion with songs like this out there. This song just makes me think, about many things, more than any words a vocalist could add to it.

bhtEkz9a2Ew
And while one of his more famous songs with a much faster pace. I still feel a ton of soul/emotion in this, and you can see it. I think the editing on the video does a good job of showing the energy and excitement of it, and you can tell the crowd feels it as well. Seeing live performances I feel really lets you see that emotion and soul of the song/artist, which is why I used 2 live videos.

[FordGT90Concept]

Hmm...
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draHDUd8amQ
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C9ZRS0F5t34
...yeah...how do you quantify "best?" Fastest? Most difficult? Whole package? Eh?

[paulieg]

Just a couple of names that I think should be on the list somewhere...maybe in the bottom 50. Chris DeGarmo and Marty Friedman. It's funny though, DeGarmo is out of the music business altogether, and is a commercial airline pilot for American Airlines...but he was still really good. I also think that Morello from Rage/Audioslave is very underrated.

[1Kurgan1]

Morellos on that older list at #26, so he's pretty far up there.

[Wile E]

Thats all opinion, I'm not talking about the fastest Satch songs out there, he has a lot of records out, and some of the slower stuff is what amazes me. I feel lots of emotion in that music, I have a hard time listening to pure instrumentals simply because I just get bored. But listening to his work just amazes me everytime. You can say his music is souless, but a good 90% or more of his music is just instrumentals, where as most people on that list have a vocalist as well.

79VZR1iBEg0
I just can't garee with your opinion with songs like this out there. This song just makes me think, about many things, more than any words a vocalist could add to it.

bhtEkz9a2Ew
And while one of his more famous songs with a much faster pace. I still feel a ton of soul/emotion in this, and you can see it. I think the editing on the video does a good job of showing the energy and excitement of it, and you can tell the crowd feels it as well. Seeing live performances I feel really lets you see that emotion and soul of the song/artist, which is why I used 2 live videos.
Compared to what ford posted, still soulless.

When he has this much soul and feeling, get back to me:

tWLw7nozO_U

[1Kurgan1]

Once again, Vaughans adding in vocals, that help convey the mood instead of putting out the sound to decipher yourself. And, it's a completely different play style, you basically seem to think that the blues sounding music = soul. Finding meaning in a song with no words, finding a lot of meaning in a song like that, I feel gives the song soul, and many Satch songs I have that feeling about. That song Crying I feel has a ton of soul, if you don't once again, that just falls on your opinion.

[Frick]

Agreein with Wile E here. Most of his stuff feels .. shallow somehow. I mean he is good, but it feels like he's not there really. I don't know. It feels like he's in it for the chicks or something, and that he has more skill than talent, like he looked at a guitarist one day and thought "I wanna be that too!" and worked from there while not being an actual artist (as opposed to the guys in Ford's videos (well I'm not a big fan of Santana either but whatevs)) or having any talent to build on. IMO of course.

[Magibeg]

Agreein with Wile E here. Most of his stuff feels .. shallow somehow. I mean he is good, but it feels like he's not there really. I don't know. It feels like he's in it for the chicks or something, and that he has more skill than talent, like he looked at a guitarist one day and thought "I wanna be that too!" and worked from there while not being an actual artist (as opposed to the guys in Ford's videos (well I'm not a big fan of Santana either but whatevs)) or having any talent to build on. IMO of course.

To be honest out of the guitar players listed so far i'd argue satch is far and away the 'greatest' guitar player in terms of being able to play the guitar.

I don't find his stuff souless at all. I've seen him live multiple times and he truly is pouring everything he has into his music. How do you measure the soul of music anyway?

One of the things i'd argue which makes him incredible, a lot of those other guitar players i can emulate pretty well.... to play like satch is incredibly hard. Can't even do it a little.

[1Kurgan1]

To be honest out of the guitar players listed so far i'd argue satch is far and away the 'greatest' guitar player in terms of being able to play the guitar.

I don't find his stuff souless at all. I've seen him live multiple times and he truly is pouring everything he has into his music. How do you measure the soul of music anyway?

One of the things i'd argue which makes him incredible, a lot of those other guitar players i can emulate pretty well.... to play like satch is incredibly hard. Can't even do it a little.

Seems for people here to see or feel "soul" it can't be fast, and if is blues, it has that stereotypical soul to it (because it looks like they are having aneurysms when they play it means soul).

It feels like he's in it for the chicks or something, and that he has more skill than talent, like he looked at a guitarist one day and thought "I wanna be that too!" and worked from there while not being an actual artist (as opposed to the guys in Ford's videos (well I'm not a big fan of Santana either but whatevs)) or having any talent to build on. IMO of course.

I can see some people maybe not feeling the music, feeling the emotion, but honestly, saying that is just absurd.

[Brandenburg]

Jimi Hendrix the number 1?

Really?

Come on.. no one else wants to contest that?

I Do .. he was innovative but there has been ALOT of innovative guitarist since him


jimi is not my favorite but does make in on the top 20 favorite guitarist of mine

[Brandenburg]

ill post this then.. to me this has alot of soul to it
PKYBJTut-Cc

The guitar is a true extension of his body and of his mind IMO.. A truely beautiful piece..

[Magibeg]

ill post this then.. to me this has alot of soul to it
PKYBJTut-Cc

The guitar is a true extension of his body and of his mind IMO.. A truely beautiful piece..

That guy is definitely very talented. It's always hard to pick the 'greatest' of anything because it's all based on what people prefer or how different aspects get weighted.

I mean how do you weight guys like michael angelo batio

rutyA12z3Ok

He is by all means an incredibly talented guitar player. He could easily be considered 'great' if that was the kind of music you're into. Who is to say he 'feels' his music less than anyone else?

Or what about someone like buckethead? (sorry about the somewhat bad quality)

wMYnl22cqGU

I would say hands down he's a muchhhhhhh better guitar player than slash. The argument could even be made that if he so desired buckethead could play stylistically similar to slash if he wanted to.... but slash could not play like buckethead (he wouldn't have the speed and precision). So who would be greater between guys like that?


Next thread we should debate which painting is the greatest in the world, because just like there, there is no real answer.

All i can tell you is wile e is wrong ;) j/k j/k (toast)

[1Kurgan1]

Batio is insane, some of his stuff does sound amazing, but mostly I just like his speed.

[Reventon]

His sweep picking is annoying as fuck. Sweep picking, in general, is annoying as fuck.

[BumbleBee]

:o

NB_GGdXCVB0

[Wile E]

Once again, Vaughans adding in vocals, that help convey the mood instead of putting out the sound to decipher yourself. And, it's a completely different play style, you basically seem to think that the blues sounding music = soul. Finding meaning in a song with no words, finding a lot of meaning in a song like that, I feel gives the song soul, and many Satch songs I have that feeling about. That song Crying I feel has a ton of soul, if you don't once again, that just falls on your opinion.

I somehow missed this. Listen to, and find a video of SRV playing Little Wing. Lyrics have nothing to do with it.

And it's not just the blues. The guitar playing in Call of Ktulu and Orion both put Sat to shame in terms of soul and feel.

Sorry, I just don't think Sat has anything going for him other than technical ability.

[Reventon]

I somehow missed this. Listen to, and find a video of SRV playing Little Wing. Lyrics have nothing to do with it.

And it's not just the blues. The guitar playing in Call of Ktulu and Orion both put Sat to shame in terms of soul and feel.

Sorry, I just don't think Sat has anything going for him other than technical ability.

Lol, the most impressive part of Orion is the bass, by far.

[Magibeg]

I somehow missed this. Listen to, and find a video of SRV playing Little Wing. Lyrics have nothing to do with it.

And it's not just the blues. The guitar playing in Call of Ktulu and Orion both put Sat to shame in terms of soul and feel.

Sorry, I just don't think Sat has anything going for him other than technical ability.

I find that interesting. Most of my guitarist friends consider Kirk Hammett to be a no talent hack with no accuracy. His studio musicians are wayyyy better than he is.

546KjKMB9kw

[Reventon]

Kirk Hammett blows. James is better than he is. And Dave Mustaine is better than both of them.

[Wile E]

I find that interesting. Most of my guitarist friends consider Kirk Hammett to be a no talent hack with no accuracy. His studio musicians are wayyyy better than he is.

546KjKMB9kw

Yeah, which really points out how sad it is that some of his music ends up better than Sat's overall.

[Magibeg]

Yeah, which really points out how sad it is that some of his music ends up better than Sat's overall.

That sounds more like a troll than anything. Not sure if you just hate how good satriani is or if you just want to bug me :P

[Wile E]

I hate how his music sucks. His guitar playing talent is thru the roof. Unfortunately, this has not yet resulted in any good music.

[Magibeg]

I hate how his music sucks. His guitar playing talent is thru the roof. Unfortunately, this has not yet resulted in any good music.

It's unfortunate you feel that way.... although that's personal opinion.

[Brandenburg]

I hate how his music sucks. His guitar playing talent is thru the roof. Unfortunately, this has not yet resulted in any good music.


I dont alot of his stuff but the album 'Surfing With The Alien' had several kool songs on it
in any case, he is better than Hammet by a wide margin.. even though some of his solo's on Kill em all,ride the lighting and master of puppets were decent...

METALLICA hasn't been relevant since the black album IMO.. some would say Masters.. but there are some good songs on IJFA and the black album

[Wile E]

Justice was good. Black was just OK. A bit too selloutish at times. Load had some good tracks as well, but also selloutish. Reload and St Anger were total garbage. Death Magnetic is great musically, but James's voice is shot.

[Reventon]

Anything but Kill Em All and Ride the Lightning is garbage. And Death Magnetic was fucking awful.

[Wile E]

Anything but Kill Em All and Ride the Lightning is garbage. And Death Magnetic was fucking awful.

Bullshit, everybody always says Lightning, but Puppets was by far one of their most talented albums. Easily outdoing lightning on most tracks. Kill Em All doesn't even rate compared to those two albums.

And Justice was fucking awesome, minus the fact that they hazed Newsted by essentially muting him in the mix.

As far as Death Magnetic, the music is awesome, the singing is awful. Would've been better as a pure instrumental album.

[Brandenburg]

Bullshit, everybody always says Lightning, but Puppets was by far one of their most talented albums. Easily outdoing lightning on most tracks. Kill Em All doesn't even rate compared to those two albums.

And Justice was fucking awesome, minus the fact that they hazed Newsted by essentially muting him in the mix.

As far as Death Magnetic, the music is awesome, the singing is awful. Would've been better as a pure instrumental album.

Kill em all is my favorite album by far and is the one I have learned the most songs from/listened too.. followed by master.. didn't really care for lighting or IJFA

[Reventon]

Every time I hear Master I want to rip my fucking eyes out. Nothing compares to songs like Whiplash, The Four Horsemen, and Hit the Lights.

[Wile E]

Every time I hear Master I want to rip my fucking eyes out. Nothing compares to songs like Whiplash, The Four Horsemen, and Hit the Lights.

Orion, Disposable Hereos, Master of Puppets and Damage Inc. sure as fuck do.

[Reventon]

Orion is far better than any other song on Master.

[mlee49]

Shut up FFDP


Dimebag Darrell is one of my top five all time guitarists.

Heres why:

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[Reventon]

Shut up FFDP

No, blow me. I haven't listened to them in forever.

Also Dimebag is a boss.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I agree with the top three other then I would flip 2 and 3.

[m1dg3t]

LOL Rolling Stone is paid to make their list's. Friggin' hipster, hot topic poser's. BOOOOO Rolling Stone!

[Frick]

How do you measure the soul of music anyway?


Exactly. Some people like to listen to jazz and latin dance stuff but I usually find it tedious. Tastes and thoughts.

[m1dg3t]

Yes, music is a subjective experience and i, for one, love many "genres". I just can not limit myself.