The 50 Greatest Guitarists, Who's Missing? 

Who got left off? Segovia, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul are some more that come to mind.

In regards to Robert Fripp, he created a tuning system he calls "New Standard Tuning" or NST which is fifths except for what would be the high e in standard tuning as the string would keep breaking. He was also a pioneer of guitar effects, especially delay, developing something he likes to call "frippertronics" which utilizes tape delays to get some real cool sounds. He is known not just for his work in King Crimson but also as a contributor to other musicians as well. For example, he was the one who did the spectral guitar work for the song "Heroes" by David Bowie. I would highly recommend listening to more of King Crimson's music though I am biased since they are my favorite band. I would specifically recommend the songs "Starless", "The Night's Watch", either "Sartori in Tangier" or "Requiem", "Frame by Frame", "Fracture", and "Lark's Tongue in Aspic". "Sartori in Tangier" and "Requiem" are both instrumental songs that exemplify both the NST and frippertronics work. "Frame by Frame" shows some more of the complicated time signature stuff and just sounds great with the dual guitars working off one another. "Lark's Tongue in Aspic" is another instrumental song that is just a really fun with a lot of cool sounds going on. "Starless" and "The Night's Watch" are both just good songs of theirs that I like. "Fracture" and it's sequal "FraKctured" are a showcase of just how technically skilled of a guitarist Fripp is. They're probably a couple of the hardest songs you could play as while they don't feature a wide range of techniques, the amount of control and stamina needed to perform the songs is just absurd.

Did they miss Eric Johnson???? I’m shocked by this because he’s a tone genius that inspired the likes of Bonamassa and Andy Timmons (who should also be here)

This should be called 50 Greatest 'Rock/Metal' Guitarists. There are countless great masters in Jazz, Acoustic, Latin... etc.

The lack of Frusciante is mind blowing to me, he was writing riffs and solos like Under the Bridge, Give it Away, and If You Have to Ask at 18 years old. Then went on to write and re-define the peppers with every album he did. His guitar playing hits right in the soul. That's not even mentioning his stunning solo career. No doubt in my mind he will go down as an all time great in 20 or so years.

I am honestly stunned how Guthrie Govan is never on these lists. He can literally imitate all of these guy's playing and you wouldn't even notice

Kind of a crime to not have Chet Atkins on the list. The guy was absolutely amazing.

Gary Moore is got to be the most underrated guitarist. I never heard a guitar actually cry until I heard Gary Moore play “Still got the blues”. His guitar playing moved me like no other … such emotion and feeling in every note.

Pantera recommendations from a longtime fan: For Riffs: -Cowboys from Hell -Regular People (Conceit) -Shedding Skin -Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath) -Revolution is My Name For Solos: -Psycho Holiday -This Love -I'm Broken -Floods -The Great Southern Trendkill Note: I intentionally picked songs throughout their discography with a lot of variety that showcases why Dimebag is so beloved and was honestly ahead of his time. It'd be cool to see a video of you deep diving Pantera, lots to unpack and digest musically 🤘🏼

Since you love B.B. King and Mark Knopfler, you really need to check out Peter Green. King said Green was the only player who gave him "the cold sweats." Check out the live "Jumping at Shadows" for dramatic, melodic blues, live "Rattlesnake Shake" for hard riffing, "Albatross" for sweet melody and tone. Took over from Clapton in Bluesbreakers, influenced Knopfler and Santana.

Allan Holdsworth for his alien compositions and mind blowing legato, Shawn Lane because buckethead thought he was playing with 8 fingers, Frank Gambale for taking sweep and economy picking to unseen levels, Scott Henderson for never overplaying and being in Tribal Tech.

To be honest... I dont know how Jerry Garcia is not on this list... and alot of other lists. Im not a Dead Head. I have only been listening to their music for a little while now. But his understanding of tone and just overall playing skill is amazing!

Hendrix claimed that Terry Kath of Chicago was a better guitarist, and he's not even on this list. Another criminally underrated guitarist.

Timestamps: 50. Robert Fripp: 0:11 49. John Mclaughlin: 0:26 48. Steve Morse: 0:39 47. Peter Green: 0:59 46. Robin Trower: 1:18 45. Tom Morello: 1:42 44. Paul Gilbert: 2:08 43. Malcolm Young: 2:31 42. George Harrison: 2:54 41. Michael Schenker: 3:32 Merch Plug: 3:57 40. Duane Allman: 4:24 39. Paul Kossoff: 4:44 38. Keith Richards: 4:56 37. Billy Gibbons: 5:21 36. Joe Bonamassa: 5:43 35. Mick Taylor: 6:24 34. Dave Mustaine: 6:42 33. James Hetfield: 6:55 32. Pete Townshend: 7:01 31. Kirk Hammett: 7:21 30. Chuck Berry: 7:39 29. Steve Howe: 7:54 28. Rory Gallagher: 8:06 27. Zakk Wylde: 8:38 26. Frank Zappa: 8:52 25. Yngwie Malmsteen: 9:31 24. John Petrucci: 9:37 23. Prince: 9:44 22. Synester Gates: 10:07 21. Carlos Santana: 10:13 20. Angus Young: 10:45 19. Dimebag Darrell: 10:56 18. B.B. King: 11:12 17. Mark Knopfler: 11:33 16. Randy Rhoads: 11:46 15. Gary Moore: 11:59 14. Tony Iommi: 12:19 13. Joe Satriani: 12:27 12. Jeff Beck: 12:36 11. Steve Vai: 13:01 10. Ritchie Blacmore: 13:15 9. Slash: 13:31 8. Alex Lifeson: 13:56 7. Brian May: 14:13 6. Stevie Ray Vaughan: 14:29 5. Eric Clapton: 15:02 4. David Gilmour: 15:26 3. Eddie Van Halen: 15:37 2. Jimmy Page: 16:08 1. Jimi Hendrix: 16:35 Final Thoughts: 17:37

Pantera- Floods. This song has one of the greatest solos and outros by Dime. It doesn't matter how many times I listen to it, but when it hits that 3m52sec mark, I can just feel every ounce of emotion Dime put into every note. It's somewhat bittersweet though, since it brings me back in time to the moment I got the news about his tragic passing. Certain songs took on a different feel and impact ever since then.

I honestly cant believe Chuck Schuldiner wasnt on this list. Easily one of the most powerful, skilled and uniquely talented guitar players who ever lived. I know Death Metal isnt for everyone but some of the Instrumental work on Death’s albums are second to none. Totally under appreciated!!

I'd say Terry Kath deserves some recognition. The solos he did for Chicago in their heyday are absolutely wild!

Crazy to see how underrated Johnny Marr is, definitely should have been on this list

On Gary Moore - turn the volume full, close your eyes, open your mind and listen to Parisienne Walkways live at Montreaux 2010. He's like a kid in the garage playing with his guitar and amps - for me, it's a joy. I think that he might be playing the Gibson he bought from Peter Green and subsequently sold to Kirk Hammet?? (Others will know better than I).

I'll add the following guitar players who are/were great, in no particular order. John Cipollina, Terry Kath, Lindsey Buckingham, Mike Bloomfield, Roy Buchanan, Alvin Lee, Leslie West, Johnny Winter, Ronnie Montrose, Bill Nelson, Phil Manzanera, Phil Miller. Martin Barre, Al Di Meola, Philip Catherine, Larry Coryell, Allan Holdsworth, Peter Frampton, Pat Metheny, Steve Hackett, Frank Marino, Andy Powell, Jan Akkerman, Frank Gambale, John Tropea, Max Sunyer, Gary Boyle, Dickie Betts, Toy Caldwell, Gary Rossington, Eric Johnson, Derek Trucks, Robben Ford, Harvey Mandel, Larry Carlton, Grant Green, Bill Connors, Pat Martino, Jim Hall, George Benson, Kim Simmonds, Andrew Latimer, Gary Green, Gabor Szabo, Lee Ritenour, Jukka Tolonen, Steve Hillage, Georg Wadenius, Bill Frisell, Danny Kirwan, John Etheridge, Joop Van Niemwegen. Ollie Halsall, Scott Henderson, Jimmy Herring, John Abercrombie, Mario Millo, Luis Salinas, Lino Brotto, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, Tommy Emmanuel, Joe Pass, Chet Atkins, Bireli Lagrene. Sylvain Luc, Randy Bachman, Stephen Stills, Jim McCarthy, Terje Rypdal, Volker Kriegel, Wayne Krantz, Kerry Livgren, Don Felder, James Young, Ted Turner, Richard Thompson, Robbie Krieger, Randy California, Joscho Stephan, Paco De Lucìa, Ted Nugent, Joe Walsh, Guthrie Govan, John Petrucci, Buddy Guy, Kenny Burrell, Atilla Zoller, Rik Emmett, Django Reinhardt, Tommy Bolin, among many others

EVH’s rhythm playing is absolutely unreal! The fair warning album still blows me away! One of the best!

the fact that John Frusciante isn't on this list is just crazy

Mick Taylor is an astounding player. His work elevated the Stones to the best recordings in their extensive catalogue and having a world class player opposite him, Keith Richards himself was elevated.

This video really explain why I never have 'click' with samurai guitarist' work

Lack of Joe Walsh on this list is heart breaking.

Steve Morse is best known for Deep Purple but his work with the Dixie Dregs is what is really worth checking out.

In the 80's, Steve Morse opened for Passion, Grace, and Fire (Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía). He's an incredible musician and Deep Purple is a massive, massive step down for him.

Kevin shields really should be on this. He may not be a huge shredder, but he's arguably one of the most revolutionary and unique guitarists of the past few decades. I mean, his playing literally defined a genre

Glen Campbell. One of the members of the wrecking crew and he could be a great vocalist at the same time playing some amazing guitar stuff.

Django, Roy Clark, Jerry Garcia would definitely be on my list... Cool video that obviously can inspire endless debate over such a subjective topic... thanks for posting !

Gary Moore played in lots of genres. Prog-rock[Colosseum II], in Thin Lizzy on more than one occasion. He was never a blues player as such until he thought he'd do a one-off blues lp. He was always more a hard rock guitarist. He and everyone else were shocked that it sold so well around the world. Then of course his record company just wanted the blues. He was also in BBM, with Jack Bruce[from Cream] & Ginger Baker[Cream.] Probably the greatest British guitarist ever, along with Jeff Beck.

Brian patrick carroll AKA Buckethead should be on every top guitar list imo !

I've got to say, as a King Crimson fan, I think that Fripp should be way up there his innovation and mastery of the guitar are insane, all you really need to see to get an appreciation is fracture, I've tried to learn that song and... well let's just say I very quickly found out why it's called fracture. Also, there was defiantly a strong bias towards the previous generations of music in this list, I think if it took more of a look at the the current landscape of music we would be finding names like Kevin Schylds, and Mike Kinsella for the influence that they have played in the current landscape of both popular and independent music.

I'd definitely go in depth into Fripp's catalog, be it stuff he did with Bowie, solo stuff, or Crimson in general he has some really odd phrases and sounds throughout his discography and it is very worth checking out!

Not gonna lie, I had a moment of panic that Mark Knopfler wouldn’t be on this list - he’s extremely well regarded, but is still underrated IMO. Is he the most pioneering and influential rock guitarist? Nope. Is he one of the most gifted, tasteful players, one of rock’s greatest songwriters, and someone who seamlessly marries his guitar playing to his voice and lyrics? Absolutely.

You might want to check out Roy Buchanan. I suggest his album that's what I am here for. Great blues guitarist. Does a very good cover of. Hey Joe. Also check out frank Marino.

I'm 38 and been a Pantera fan since I was 11. From the second era of the band go check 'The Sleep' solo, 'Floods' and '10's' solos also, 'Domination', 'Cemetery Gates', 'Five Minutes Alone', 'Walk', 'Heresy'... Their discography is full of beafitul and jawdropping stuff. Dimebag was a unique specimen.

a few more...Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Lindsey Buckingham, and Mike Campbell. All amazing at playing the perfect part for the song.

Roy Buchanan to me is the most underrated guitar player of all-time.

Missing the Mozart of Rock: Kanami Tōno Lead guitarist/songwriter/composer of BandMaid

Steve Howe was/is in Yes. Please listen to their album Close to the edge. Amazing mind boggling stuff!! Takes a few listens to really enjoy but when you get it, man, you're in for a treat. Progressive rock at its absolute peak!

Johnny Marr is criminally underrated.

Each one to his own, but I personally would not consider Gary Moore to be just "too impressive but not much raw emotion" category like Joe Bonamassa. His solos, even with all the fast stuff, were always emotionally intense, and his leads on songs such as Spanish Guitar, Parisienne Walkways, Still Got the Blues, and I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know never failed to make me feel something. Not to mention Gary was not just a mere blues player - the man also played jazz fusion, hard rock and heavy metal during his long career as a guitarist, and he did them all good. IMO Gary is one of the greatest ever to have picked up the instrument - RIP 🙏🙏

Guthrie Govan or Paco de Lucia are unreal. These lists should be renamed "most popular" or "most hits written". Very few guitarists on these lists are really top 50.

It’s a shame that Roy Buchanan sometimes get skipped on lists. David Gilmour says he was somewhat inspired by him, he has a stack of his records at his house. Buchanan was a pioneer and it’s amazing reading what he manages to do without any effects pedals on his guitar. Beck wrote a song dedicated to Buchanan.. “ Ended as lovers” or something. Buchanans music is sometimes hard to enjoy, he wasn’t an excellent song write but an amazing guitarist. They made a documentary on him in the 70’s called the greatest unknown guitarist in the world. His best work is shitty bootlegs unfortunately, but he has some televised performances. I wouldn’t say he’s number one on the list, but definitely should be in any top 50 based on technical skill.

David Gilmour is my number one for me. Quality over quantity. One of my musical heroes.

I LOVE that you mentioned Vince Gill. It's crazy how good he is at guitar....I was surprised the first time I saw him shred that Tele.

Steve Morse won best overall guitarist 6 years in a row in the 80s in guitar player magazine

Ritchie Blackmore has had a much bigger impact on rock and metal guitarists than people seem to know about. Metal guitar owes its speed, flamboyance and classical phrasing more to Ritchie than it does to Tony Iommi.

Alvin Lee, Chet Atkins, Charlie Christian, Albert King, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, Marcel Dadi, Django Reinhardt, Robert Johnson... And maybe Steve Cropper also deserves a mention.

Mike Oldfield definitely belongs to this list. One of the most recognizable guitar tones, and pretty good at both the acoustic and the electric. He's well known as a multi instrumental composer, but at least HALF of his greatest moments in his discography are him with the guitar

Dude... As a Deep purple fan you should know who Steve Morse is. (plus he played with Kansas for a while) Even with all that, my all timer is still Ritchie Blackmore.

Maybe a guy to look at alongside VH would be Nuno Bettencourt. They're cut from a very similar cloth; the lead playing is what draws most eyes, but when they step back to do rhythm while the singer grabs the attention, they're both doing some really interesting and fun stuff.

I recommend giving Rush another try. I only recently got into them as I got older. I know a list of 50 might not be big enough but I would have liked to see Iron Maiden's Dave Murray or Adrian Smith on a list. Those 2 had (still have) a big influence on me.

Hendrix was one of those guitarists I was so scared to listen to for ages for fear of him "not living up to the hype" I'm in my 30's now and been playing guitar since I was about 14, favourite guitarist as a kid was always David Gilmour (my absolute inspiration to pick up a guitar), as well as lesser picks like R.E.M's Peter Buck and guys like John Mayer. I only last year actually got around to listening to Hendrix, and good God... he's better than the hype he gets. Never been more thrilled to be so surprised by someone. He just sounds timeless, everything just sounds... like, I dunno. Words can't describe the musical soundscape he makes.

Beato did a video where he went through time of the greatest guitarists and Hendrix was the turning point. Everything before him was mostly very clean tones, but Jimi brought the noise! Everyone else could make the guitar sing, weep and cry, but Jimi made the guitar scream as well as everything else everyone else did before him. Some will argue Jeff Beck did it first, but Jimi brought it to the masses.

I'm shocked Robby Krieger isn't on this list. His training in flamenco and his use of slides in so many iconic Doors songs shouldn't be forgotten. He's an underrated guitarist in my opinion.

Elliott Randall, Jeff baxter, gary green, rick derringer, ted Greene, ed bickert, Larry Carlton, lenny breau, wes montgomery, danny kirwin, mick abrahams, mick ronson, Jesse ed davis, david Lindley, denny dias, Michael bloomfield, dom troiano, randy california, martin bore, Jonny winter,

Schenker became a guitar hero while he was in the English hard rock band UFO. Check out their great album Force It.

I know there’s a lot of guitarists out there, a LOT… but Joe Walsh man. No denying he’s brilliant

Pantera’s Cemetary Gates ….. the pinch harmonics are just unreal

Loved your commentary ,thank you. FYI Peter Green wrote 'black magic woman' and played lead on the original recording- fantastic. Tommy Bolin for my top 10

John Frusciante and John Mayer are definitely contenders for this list.

Jerry Garcia should be up there, he inspired an entire genre of music.

I think i agree with you on most everything except Prince. He was pretty bad ass, not too many platers can shred in a soulful way. Prince could always pull that off especially with his genius songwriting and recording styles. Way too many hits to deny.

For Gary moore/thin lizzy, personally love Empty rooms, Parisienne walkways, Still got the blues, out in the fields, Chinatown, dancing in the moonlight

Regarding Gary Moore: Check out the Live in London 1992 performance of "Seperate Ways" (especially the intro)! One of my all time favourite guitar performances... The combination of tasteful blues bends and extremely fast and energetic runs is so mind-blowing to me (also BB King shows up in the same concert and they play some songs together...)

Paco de Lucia is missing, "Entre dos aguas" is the best spanish guitar song in history. Also check out "Gary Moore - I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" live at avo session. Man that solo is pure heaven and purest emotion combined with his unique modern blues approach! The one and only Gary Moore, nobody can touch him... Don't miss it, what a sound! RIP Legend

Allan Holdsworth, John Scofield, Al Dimeola, Frank Gambale, Django, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Shawn Lane, Segovia, Derek Bailey, David Torn,

I would definitely recommend looking into Robert Fripp further. Even if you don't like his work with King Crimson, he did a ton of great work for people like Brian Eno and David Bowie.

I'm honestly surprised George Harrison was so low on the list, I'd have thought he'd be put in the Top 10 or at least Top 15. He was the first guitarist (alongside EVH) that I really looked up to and he played a massive part in my guitar playing, his parts served the songs beautifully and I don't think some Beatles songs would've been as memorable without them. As for Pantera songs to check out, I'll recommend Cowboys From Hell, Cemetery Gates, Domination, Five Minutes Alone, Walk, Floods, Psycho Holiday and This Love

Yes. Robert Fripp is a character, but also is a guitar player deserving to be much higher than #50.

I am not a fan of country but you are right with Vince Gill and Chet Atkins. One that i have not seen mentioned who is an all time favorite of mine is Roy Clark!! And with many different instruments!!!!

Mike Campbell left off every list known to man. TPATH's are so underrated its unreal

Michael Schenker at 41 is all I needed to hear. He was Randy Rhoads’ guitar hero. He turned down Ozzy, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, etc. He started with the Scorpions and was 16 on their first album. He then went to UFO and then went on to various Solo or collaboration efforts. His older brother Rudi Schenker has been with the Scorpions all along. He went back and played on the Scorpioms “Lovedrive” album, which was a commercial breakthrough for them. After the Scorpions recorded their “Blackout” album the ~producer asked Michael Schenker to come in a fix the guitar work on the album, which he did. He is still putting out albums and touring at 67yo. ru-vid.comUgkxPZWqu0RwlpRsURAnW6nuo1KCunKDfnFK

The five years the Stones had with Mick Taylor are their greatest years by far and Mick was largely responsible for that.

Sammy G, I'm not the biggest ZZ Top Fan either, however an early southern blues song that Gibbons himself wrote and sung is a hidden gem, "Old Man" You should give it a good hear.

Robert Johnson at least deserves a mention

The fact that Dave Mustaine is on the list, but Marty Friedman is not just triggers me so much.

Trey Anastasio- Dude has been rocking for decades, has written a metric shit ton of music in a wide variety of styles, can shred with the best, or can play something simple and beautiful that will rip your heart out.

Huge Pantera fan, Songs I think outline Dimebag's progession are (Starting with the cowboys era) 1. Cowboys From Hell* 2. Cemetery Gates* 3. Mouth For War 4. Walk* 5. Im Broken* 6. Shedding Skin 7. Suicide Note Pt 1 & 2 8. War Nerve 9. Floods* 10. Revolution is my Name 11. I'll cast a shadow (So sad if you look at this as their final song as Pantera because they really did cast a shadow) the story of Pantera is both electrifying and absolutely heartbreaking. Dimebag was a phenomenal guitarist, at 15 or so he'd enter guitar competitions, win all the prizes and theyd have to ask him to stop entering because he was too good. (They asked him to be a judge instead)

This goes to show how underrated Nuno Bettencourt is

Townshend influenced the way every 70's-80's punk guitarrist wanted to play. His stuff live is amazing as well. Listen to The Who Live at Leeds, the rawest guitar player out there.

Rory Gallagher is criminally underrated. My personal favourite, but has to be in Top10 no matter what..

Thank you for having Lifeson in the top 10. Rush shaped 50 years of my playing and musical love.

Buckethead definitely belongs somewhere on this list. In fact, I think he made it on a different top 50 list. His work is astonishing

One of the greatest melodic improvisers of all time... Jerry Garcia 💀⚡🙏🥲

Steve Rothery, Mick Ronson,, Peter Frampton, and Steve Hackett should have both been somewhere on the list. Gilmour, Lifeson, and Rothery are the Holy Trinity of guitar for me

Jason Becker should be on this list as well as Guthrie Govan, Alan Holdsworth, Eric Johnson, Tony Mcalpine and so many others

Dimebag Darrel and Zakk Wylde are two innovative musicians who injected a lot of country and groove into their brand of heavy metal and created what is known as Groove Metal or Southern Metal. As for recommendations I'd say Cemetery Gates, Walk, Hollow and Cowboys From Hell are good starters for Pantera especially the solos. I think you'd enjoy them.

Johnny Marr would definitely be in my top tier. If I'm ever in need of some inspiration, he's it. Johnny is melody.

I feel like Prince could've easily cracked top 20 at least, especially considering his live performances.

Hi SG. Really liked the idea of you looking through someone else's list rather than doing one of your own (though I would like to see that one as well). Some great thought out opinions and rationale in your comments. My list wold be completely different, although I would similarly put Hendrix as number 1 for all the reasons you stated. Some omissions for me, but that's more about personal taste rather than who is better/ best. I think that you might like the guitar playing of Peter Green - the songs Albatross, Green Manalishi, Oh Well and Man Of The World and also that of Paul Kossof who was the guitarist in Free. Both of these guys had an incredible 'feel' in how they play, especially in their unique vibrato's. Check them out and see what you think!

Jeff , keeps getting better and better .

You hit the nail on the head with Slash. He’s great at what he does. The older I’ve gotten the more of an Izzy Stradlin fan I’ve become. As far as raw talent and writing abilities he’s the reason that band blew up in my opinion.

Can we just have one "greatest guitarist" list with Terry Kath on it

For Kossoff try Mr Big or Crossroads from the live album. If you get into him listen for the notes he doesn't play. Also check out Steve Marriott playing Five Long Years on youtube.

In terms of chops.. Danny Gatton could play circles around anyone on these lists. He wasn’t called “The Humbler” for no reason

The list needs Johnny Marr and Thurston Moore. Johnny influenced so much music, is a great songwriter and has some of the most tasty riffs I've heard, he is the one who inspired me to want to be a guitarist. Thurston Moore is the father of noise when we talk about guitar, he even created his own tuning and revolutionized the pedal game (as well as being a big influence on Kurt Cobain and all things noise). Edit: As someone else said, Johnny Greenwood. Although I view him the same sorta way as Sammy described Pete Townshend. And in a very different light, John Fahey guys...

Gary Moore was a hard rock guy who was a member of Thin Lizzy and also released a bunch of hard rock solo albums. He also played rock jazz with the band Colosseum II. After Ozzy left Sabbath, he wanted Moore in his band. That didn't work out, and then Rhoads got the gig. Moore's older material, before he released those blues album, were much more interesting.