The Rolling Stone top 100 Guitarists List

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Link to the list

Eliot Rosewater posted for DUers to note the greatest guitarists. I thought I'd have some fun with that. Two years ago, Rolling Stone assembled a panel of alleged experts and compiled a list of the 100 greatest guitarists. They didn't say "of the Rock era" but it's clearly implied.

My theory is that these lists are designed to cause arguments -- otherwise, who'd talk about them? My mission to those willing to participate:

- Identify the glaring omissions
- Identify those who belong on the list, but are way too high or too low
- Identify those who don't belong on the list


IMHO

Glaring omission: Lowell George of Little Feat (there are many, many others)
Too high/low: Alex Lifeson is down near the bottom of the top 100 - I'd put him closer to the middle
Doesn't belong: John Lennon is a gifted songwriter and the Beatles were a great group - but he has no business in the top 100.

[stonecutter357]

1. Identify the glaring omissions ......

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[Algernon Moncrieff]

6. Yep - agree glaringly omitted

Fun fact - Yes/Asia guitarist Steve Howe is also not on the list

[Iggo]

9. Whoa! What the fuck!

[cemaphonic]

14. That whole genre is hard to fit into lists like this

Malmsteen, Vai, Satriani, Buckethead, and some of the more modern guys like Paul Gilbert are obviously technical wizards. But they also make music that pretty much appeals only to other guitar players. Even with a voting panel of professional guitarists, a Rolling Stone list is going to lean pretty much to the mainstream classic rock side of things.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

23. But couldn't the same be said about some that appeared on the list, like McLaughlin and Fripp?

They are certainly not mainstream, and largely appeal to other musicians and aficionados.

[cemaphonic]

30. Possibly - ultimately, that list is the subjective opinion of a bunch of professional guitarists.

Some of it is timing; those two appeared in the late 60s, just at the right time to be key influences on some of the later musicians on the voting panel. I bet if you assembled a voting panel of rock and metal guitarists who started their careers in the late 90s and later, Vai would be on there for sure, and probably some of the others. It would be kind of interesting to see such a list, and see who drops out, and who appears.

And they're not that obscure. My parents have a large, but not especially exotic collection of classic rock albums they bought when they were young that includes both "Bitches Brew" and "In the Court of the Crimson King."

[stonecutter357]

2. Identify the glaring omissions ......

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[Algernon Moncrieff]

7. Also agree - glaringly omitted

Also note - Steve Vai is not on the list

[CountAllVotes]

3. Glad they included John McLaughlin

The Mahavishnu Orchestra, one one his many successful creations, contained Carlos Santana at one time. I'm not sure if McLaughlin still plays music with Carlos or not these days but he is still touring.

As to your thoughts on John Lennon, I could not disagree more! He was a skilled guitarist and I sure enjoyed many of his instrumentals and the way he could make a guitar wail and screech like no other person could. The song, "I'm Losing You" is one of many fine examples of this refined skill. He was indeed a genius!

[Algernon Moncrieff]

8. I guess I keep wondering where they drew the line with regard to McLaughlin

For example, if they are including him, why not Al DiMeola?

[Iggo]

10. Al DiMeola convinced me to use tiny pointy picks. (n/t)

[louis-t]

4. I didn't make the list....

Again.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. Next year!

Maybe just show up at the R&RHoF ceremony and start jamming.

[Iggo]

11. If their idea of who belongs in the R&RHOF is any indication, this list should be hilariously wrong.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

22. Yes - pretty much it's that

[yuiyoshida]

12. Identify the glaring omissions

Why is it that its ALWAYS ENGLISH AND AMERICAN bands, what happened to other countries? Why don't their musicians count?

Someone once told me, "IF they don't sing in Enlish, the Music MUST SUCK" arrogant much?
give me a break...

AND why does it always have to be MEN?

[cemaphonic]

13. Probably because the voting panel are mostly American and British musicians

That and the global reach of of Anglo-American music. It's just what they're familiar with.

[yuiyoshida]

15. and let me guess...

No women on the panel, therefore, mostly if not all men chosen.

[stonecutter357]

16. +1000

[cemaphonic]

17. There are women on both the voting panel and the list.

I get the point you are making here. I'm an amateur musician with a young daughter who loves music, so I'm always looking out for good female musicians as role models. And lots of genres do have a fair number of prominent and successful women guitarists. Punk, Bluegrass, contemporary metal, etc. And there are plenty of unknown session pros that could play half of that list under the table.

But this list was made by Rolling Stone staff and a bunch of famous blues/rock guitarists from the 50s-90s, so it's going to lean toward famous rock/blues guitarists of that era. And there just aren't that many women in that category.

[yuiyoshida]

18. So WHY IS THAT?

Places like Japan are CHOCK full of female guitarists these days. I guess too many American women were told to SIT DOWN, SHUT UP AND PLAY THAT PIANO!

[cemaphonic]

19. Well, "these days" is part of the answer

The vast majority of the names on that list hit their career peak 30-50 years ago. Female guitarists were pretty few and far between in Japanese music until the late 90s too, from what I can tell.

But yeah, guitar and rock culture has historically been pretty unfriendly to female guitarists too. My guitar teacher is a woman, and she has her share of stories about sales and repair staff at music stores flat out not believing that she was buying/repairing guitars for herself instead of a boyfriend. So only the most dedicated and thick-skinned even pursued it as a serious hobby, let alone attempted a professional career.

Anyway, here's one of my current favorites, Courtney Hartman crosspicking like it's the easiest thing in the world:

Also, Molly Tuttle, who is just flippin' incredible:

[yuiyoshida]

20. Rie a.k.a. Suzaku is one of my friends on twitter these days

[WiffenPoof]

27. My favorite foreign cover.....

...Fripp would be proud.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?=AVGM1Rw33no

[yuiyoshida]

29. link goes no where...

[MrScorpio]

21. Any list of the so-called "best 100 guitarists" without Ernie Isley on it is a bullshit list.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

24. I would also note that George Benson seems to be missing from the list

[MrScorpio]

25. That is another crime.

[Charles Bukowski]

26. Thurston Moore, Kurt Cobain, and Peter Buck

don't even qualify as great guitarists. Top 100 ever? Lulz.

I'd much rather listen to the Beatles and Ramones over Satriani and Vai, but they're both several tiers above John, George, and Tommy Ramone as skilled axemen. That goes for most on this list frankly.

Baby Boomer guitarists are (to put it mildly) generous represented, so where the hell are Steve Howe, Gary Moore, and Roy Buchanan?

[cemaphonic]

31. I think all three are defendable in terms of influence

Which is kind of reflected in the writeups for each entry. It's not just about technical virtuosity.

I follow a bunch of guitar forums, and when beginners are looking for easy songs to learn, "Come As You Are" is almost always among the first suggestions. There's something to be said for simple and accessible, yet catchy and memorable - it's not an easy combination to achieve. I'd rate Cobain a lot higher as a songwriter than guitarist, but I'm not surprised to see him here.

And Peter Buck, along with Johnny Marr are shoe-ins as far as I'm concerned. So many bands from the 80s on have tried to ape their sound it's not even funny.

I'm not sold on Thurston Moore either. He had a pretty unique approach, but a lot of it was taken from his time playing in Glenn Branca's ensembles. Also, not especially influential stylistically, even as popular as Sonic Youth was.

As for the Beatles, I'd agree that John was a solid but not exceptional rhythm player, and doesn't really belong. George Harrison was great though. Cool rockabilly riffs early on, beautiful melodic solos in the last few years of the Beatles, and a really distinctive slide guitar style post-Beatles.

[OnDoutside]

28. Joke list, Rory Gallagher only at no 57

‘How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist in the world? I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher.’
—Jimi Hendrix

‘Rory’s death really upset me. I heard about it just before we went on stage, and it put a damper
on the evening. I can’t say I knew him that well, but I remember meeting him in our offices
once, and we spent an hour talking. He was such a nice guy and a great player.’ —Jimmy Page

‘So these couple of kids come up, who’s me and my mate, and say ‘How do you get your sound
Mr. Gallagher?’ and he sits and tells us. So I owe Rory Gallagher my sound. ‘ —Brian May

‘Rory’s death is a tragic loss of a great musician and a very good friend.’ —Van Morrison

[7wo7rees]

32. OMISSION: STEVE LUKATHER

1,500 guitar tracks - The GO TO session musician from 1980 on...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Lukather

Here's a little something he riffed on his first take for Lionel Ritchie (forwarded to 4:00 mark):

?t=4m7s