Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

Robert Fripp at 42?!?!?

Not even a mention of Terje Rypdal, Allan Holdsworth, Bill Frisell Django Reinhardt, Luiz Bonfa, Don Ross, Fred Frith, David Tronzo, Peter Finger, or Reeves Gabrals?!?!

I feel faint...

*I should say that John Williams warrents mention for his interpretations of Turu Takemitsu

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

Welcome to crazy land.

someone more crass than myself has evidently swiped my password and username.

I trust that Bonnie Raitt's people have already drafted the memo.

Well, it was posted Aug 27, 2003 12:00 AM.

Quite possibly - worst list EVER!

That EVH, a man who, like it or not, changed the field is rated as lowly as he is is absurd.

I wrote a few entries for this list—like, I had to say that Kim Thayil was rilly, rilly great—and found the list frustrating, but only briefly. who cares?

Sonic Youth & Radiohead get shared mentions, Television doesn't, Pete Townshend at 50, randy rhoads at the bottom of the list, no Deniz Tek, Eric Clapton ahead of Jeff Beck and all those bluesmen, yet not B.B. King, etc.

another possible fun project: compile VH1's version of this list.

but also suprised Television didn't get the dual mention.

ILM hasn't made its list yet!

27 Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits

36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's

Uh-oh.

This would be a very interesting list! We should consider this ... hmmm ... (at a time when we're not burned out on lists and polls).

Phelps Collins; Albert Hammond Jr. & Nick Valensi of the Strokes*; East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys; King Sunny Ade; Brian Robertson & Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy; Dennis Coffey & Wah Wah Watson of the Funk Brothers; Jorge Ben; Nancy Wilson of Heart; Johnny "Guitar" Watson; Albert King; Dr. Know of Bad Brains; Kerry King of Slayer; Taj Mahal; Caetano Veloso; Nile Rodgers; Curtis Mayfield; Carlos Alomar (post-Ronson Bowie); Ernest Ranglin (reggae pioneer/session player for the Congos, Jimmy Cliff & the Gladiators); Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers/Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" session fame; Ernie Isley

*I kinda forgot they only had one album out around this point but whatever

86. Flamenco guitarists

I know Peter Green was on the list but the fact that Clapton is ranked higher than him is criminal. Fuck, the fact that Clapton is ranked higher than Chuck Berry is truly fucked.

Downbeat would probably mention most of them.

Also maybe I'm not thinking hard enough but most of the Clapton-on-guitar songs I can think of are pretty unspectacular ("Sunshine of Your Love"; "White Room"; "After Midnight"; "Let it Rain"; most of that Bluesbreakers stuff that once you've seen Albert King in 'Wattstax' seems pretty standard). The only one that comes to mind as particularly good is "Layla," and that was mostly Allman.

Hurting OTM - Corgan wuz robbed.

Joan Jett anywhere in the top 100?!?!?! Or the top 1000, for that matter. Of course, everyone knows she is a better guitarist than Bert Jansch, Angus Young or Kevin Shields (give me a break...)

I am a huge Beatles fan (100 + bootlegs and counting) but George Harrison (bless him) shouldn't be anywhere near the top 100 guitarists.

And I love Nirvana. Kurt was extraordinary, but no way should he be in here. And to see Kurt at 12 when D Boon is languishing at 89 is ridiculous.

Kirt Hammett anywhere in the top 100! Give me a frigging break!

EDDIE COCHRAN IS 89! That is fucking ridiculous; the guy should be top 20 - his ability was incredible, his style superb, and he influenced so may others who came after him.

Can't we just forget this and try again? This is so fucked up it just isn't worth commenting on.

(not that I'm arguing they should be omitted, I just don't think RS was using that criteria)

Michael Karoli?
Manuel Gottsching?
Richard Pinhas?

Ignore me, I'd have Daniel S. Fichelscher in my Top 10

I assume Rolling Stone have never heard Vini Reilly because they've never heard of him?

ffs Hank Marvin's not even on it!

We have learned precisely nothing; every list like this is just quibble bait: who is not included and should have been, who is included and should not have been, who is ranked too low and who is ranked too high.

When clearly the only consensus answer is Nile Muthaflippin Rodgers

An impressively naked at attempt at going viral, generating contempt from dinosaurs and getting the younger artists on the list to post your link on social media.

I saw it via Bob Mould sharing it with a “Thanks!” (guess he’s younger than some of the others… lol)

Once your list is in the hundreds, it's no longer a list of the 250 best guitarists, it's just a list of "guitarists."

it's fine. it's rolling stone. it's whatever. of course john lennon is a better guitarist than grant green. just go with it. they could have (and have) fucked this up way worse

It’s lamentable they omitted Dj Khaled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QvgFbjAC7U

I call rockism on the heaviness over tastiness criteria which points to the fundamental folly of these RS lists - the need to serve and maintain the rock canon you've built your brand on and the need be more inclusive and eclectic (and they have reallt tried in this case) are pretty much impossible to reconcile as far as I can tell - and triangulation never satisfies anyone

khaled has the heaviness down at least

The Bonamassa forums will be going apeshit over this list and that is a good thing.

PS Where the fuck is Buck Dharma?

The "when a great band has two guitarists, they share an entry" thing is particularly annoying when you get to bands like AC/DC, where Angus and Malcolm Young were doing entirely different things — that was the whole point — or the Slayer blurb where they talk about Kerry King's solos but don't talk at all about Jeff Hanneman, who wrote all the songs. But hey, Keiji Haino!

Clapton's on the list (#35). Does Corgan have noxious ideological leanings, or is he just a fruitcake? (I honestly don't know.)

― Chavez video on MTV, July 1995 (morrisp)

Yeah I know Clapton is on there but on the previous list they had him at #2. I’m gonna assume the downfall is more on the falling off grace factor than his actual guitar playing.

Corgan in recent years did a guest appearance on infowars and used the following terms: “culture war,” “fake news,” “globalists,” “Maoists,” “purity tests,” “left-leaning groupthink,” “protected minority groups,” “mass hypnosis,” and “social justice warriors.”

I’m not sure if he kept saying dumb shit because I frankly haven’t cared for any of his music post 2000s but there were some massive red flags just going by that interview.

https://pitchfork.com/news/64926-billy-corgan-compares-social-justice-warriors-to-the-kkk/

Hmm… well in that case, maybe at least they coulda given him the “duo” treatment with Iha.

(honestly, Billy & Chamberlin should be a “duo”…. but I guess Jimmy’s not a guitarist)

corgan is as bad as clapton politically but his classic style is still way less unfashionable than clapton's which makes all the difference. if they were going all in on the social justice bit a lot of other people wouldn't be where they are on the list (did dimebag always play that guitar? why wasn't he shot sooner?)

fucking bullshit list but who can be surprised

I get ranking their choices gets more attention - even negative attention is good from a business perspective, I guess - but the discourse devolves into "who's better/worse." I would've left them unranked and probably arranged them chronologically - at least you get a sense of where they fit in the historical flow of popular music. It makes more sense to have someone like Charlie Christian and Robert Johnson at the front of an article before working your way to everyone they influenced.

Without singling anyone out, instead of being taken aback at seeing so-and-so at #whatever ("above the other guitarist? really???"), if you see that same name in some chronological arrangement, possibly among their contemporaries in a similar genre, I think you may be more likely to re-think what they've done or what influence they may have had.

I really thought Mac demarco would be on this list when I saw Snail Mail lady right at the top. Distinctive, imitates to death by millions of bedroom boys, semi-virtuosic.

Also no John Dwyer. Whose wrote more banging riffs than him?!

*imitated

This list is demonstrably close to perfect. For example: Rowland S Howard is the midpoint between Lynryd Skynryd and Girlschool, and there he is, right at 112 right between them. He's my favorite rock guitarist, but I wouldn't want him higher! That would be like Rowland S Howard playing Coachella. And Robert Quine and Lindsay Buckingham are the next layer out. Last slot is Andy Summers, which is correct for a really innovative minimalist who still wrote that song "Mother". You wear that kind of anchor forever. Good job!

I like birdistheword’s idea

I finally glanced at the list. I found this amusing typo in the Paul Simon blurb.

He has continued absorbing new influences, as on “Dazzling Blue,” off his most recent album, So Beautiful or So What

I will have to try reading the list later. My phone was overheating from loading all the JavaScript and ads.

Don't bother. Guitarists are #3 on my list of things I don't think should ever be listed and/or ranked

(Slightly below "songs" and "bands" but slightly above "albums.")

I guess everyone could write their own personal list of omissions, mine would probably include: Billy Zoom (X), Andy Powell/Ted Turner (Wishbone Ash), Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, Zoot Horn Rollo/Antennae Jimmy Semens (Capt. Beefheart & the Magic Band), Steve Bartek (Oingo Boingo), Julia Shapiro/Lydia Lund (Chastity Belt), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Brian Hageman/Hugh Swarts/Mark Davies (Thinking Fellers Union Local 282).. I could go on.

Where's Troye Sivan?

overpraised etc

As a result of all the discussions around this ranking on various forums, I've finally delved into Lenny Breau, Danny Gatton and Rory Gallagher, so for that I'm happy that it exists.

Gatton, yes, a fine musician and local semi-hero who died tragically. I think about him with some frequency, partly because he was sad and talented, and partly because he tended not to use effects pedals.

Pretty sure it was he who put an electric fan between his amp and a mic because it sounded interesting, though, and that's the kind of detail that I just find charming. Like, should I use a Boss flanger to enhance my sound? Nope. That's cheating. But a box fan from Sears? Sure.

Finding it odd how low the MC5 guys are . Would have thought they would have more respect still. Assuming this was averaged out from several people's lists I'd still think they'd be better recognised

Courtney Barnett a better guitarist than Andy Summers? I know these lists are designed to rile us up but can't they at least pretend it's serious?

St. Vincent better than David Gilmour etc.

I love Barnett but was surprised to see her on the list

St Vincent is really good, and she hasn't yet made a career out of playing the same solo for 50 years.

Yeah, it’s too bad Floyd only has one song.

I didn't say one song, I said the same solo. He recycles it quite often.

You would too if that solo RULED.

This solo rules:

https://wp.me/pzXeC-hNX

er, this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55H6ZsR3SdY

Hell yeah Tanya Tucker

Kerry King 27 places HIGHER than Steve Vai and higher too than Billy Gibbons
omg please go fuck yourselves

also i love Joan Jett but no way i’m placing her higher than Lita Ford

these lists are designed to drive me insane

no Steve Stevens?! cmon

xp I'm surprised McCartney wasn't able to recruit David Gilmour on a tour or more - they're good friends and he's played on a decent amount of records (Run Devil Run in particular).

Mary Timony made the list , and Bratmobile's Erin Smith too!

I love Barnett but was surprised to see her on the list

^^I take this back, watching the below set! (I saw her with this band that same year, and it was terrific… but I don’t remember her playing like this. It’s unreal!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti8-z_ORI5U