Rolling Stone's top 100 greatest guitar players

[Cail]

There's so much wrong with this list, I don't even know where to start...

1Jimi 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 Queen
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 (1997)
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

[dANdeLION]

Wow. I think they got like five right. I'm amazed those guys even know who Peter Green is; I guess they Googled him.

[aTOMiC]

Wow. Sounds like the First 100 people who are known to have at one time played a guitar that they could think of (in no particular order). Yikes.
Kind of hurt I'm not on the list.

[dANdeLION]

Imagine the feelings of Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Billy Gibbons, Alex Lifeson, Joe Perry, Elliot Easton, Rick Neilson, Trevor Raben, Joe Pass, Otis Rush, Roy Clark, Chet Adkins, Peter Frampton, Al DeMiola, Uli Roth, Michael Shenker, Slash......argh, Cail's right. Where do you start?

[Zarathustra]

I'd start with Eddie Van Halen being #70!!! Yes, there are better guitarists. and I know that some think his style is gimmicky, but do they really think Stephen Stills is better than the guy who revolutionized electric guitar for the next two decades?

[dlbpharmd]

No Eric Johnson?
Kurt Cobain at #12?

This list is deeply flawed.

[Cail]

All I can say is Kurt Cobain on the list at all, much less at #12.

Dave Gilmour at #82?!?

Joni f'n Mitchell? Who the Hell thinks of her as a great guitarist?

Kirk Hammett ahead of Jeff Beck?

No George Lynch, Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Lindsey Buckingham, Joe Walsh, Buck Dharma, or Joe Satriani.

Jimmy Page #9?!?

[dlbpharmd]

I'm not the guitarist that you guys are, so speaking strictly on what I like - there's no way Hendrix, BB King and Chuck Berry should be in the top 10.

[Cail]

I agree about that as well. Ry Cooder is a brave pick, but that's about the only one I come close to agreeing with.

[Zarathustra]

Have you noticed that some guys have a " . . . of band x" next to their name, like we're too ignorant to know who these guys are? But then others are just assumed to be famous enough to have no band ID next to them.

[dlbpharmd]

I noticed that but I'm thankful as most of these guys I've never heard of (band either, for that matter.)

I'm impressed by the inclusion of Clarence White at #41 - I thought only Tony Rice fans knew who he was.

[Relayer]

These lists are always very subjective (understandably) but worse, are driven by too many other factors - who pays for publicity, lack of knowledge about guitar playing, automatic reactions... Kurt Cobain might be one of the most influential guitarists, but IMHO he can barely play.

Have you noticed that some guys have a " . . . of band x" next to their name, like we're too ignorant to know who these guys are? But then others are just assumed to be famous enough to have no band ID next to them.

In Warren Haynes' case, there'd be an entire paragraph next to his name

There are so many great guitarists that never make these lists... like the jamband and prog guys that most people have never heard of. How about Michael Kang, Jimmy Herring, Steve Kimock, Jake Cinninger, Steve Hackett, Alan Morse, Roine Stolt, John Petrucci... Oh, right. They don't make enough money for the record companies. And why does Jerry Garcia always make the lists (as he should) but Bob Weir doesn't?

Kind of hurt I'm not on the list.

Me too. I need to talk to my publicist

[dANdeLION]

...Steve Hackett, Alan Morse, Roine Stolt, John Petrucci... Oh, right. They don't make enough money for the record companies.

Hell, Neal Morse should have made that list!

[Relayer]

...Steve Hackett, Alan Morse, Roine Stolt, John Petrucci... Oh, right. They don't make enough money for the record companies.

Hell, Neal Morse should have made that list!

Yea, he's not a bad guitarist either. I like the album credits to Beware of Darkness where it says something like:

Neil Morse: ... Acoustic Guitar (the easy parts)
Alan Morse: Guitars (the actually good parts)

[Zarathustra]

Don't forget Steve Morse.

[Lord Mhoram]

Gilmour's placement is a sin. The Edge is horribly overrated. I really like Nirvana, but Cobain was not really primarily a guitarist - and he was a sloppy one at that. Dave Davies is also way underrated on this list. That said, Hendrix deserves the number one slot, and Jack White also deserves to be as high as he is. That man is a true virtuoso.

[Cail]

I don't think Hendrix deserves the top spot, but in any poll, he's going to get it, so it's not worth arguing about anymore.

I've heard nothing from the White Stripes to suggest that the band or any member of the band, or anything they've ever done, belongs on any "top 100 greatest" list.

Dave Davies should have been much, much higher.

[Lord Mhoram]

*shrug* Agree to disagree. I think the White Stripes consistently produce very high-quality rock music, and that Jack White is one of the premire songwriters of this generation of rock musicians.

[Zarathustra]

Hendrix certainly represents a milestone for guitar playing, but I wouldn't put him in the top 5.

[Trapper]

That is a joke.

Like Malik said, EVH at #70?! Steve Morse?

I don't like Vai that much but he should be on there if only for "For The Love of God".

Satriani should be on there.

Eric Johnson should be on there for "ah via musicom" (if only the 1st 4 tracks)

Dave Navarro should definitely be on there for killing off blatant cock-rock.

Al Di Meola for "They love me from 15 feet away"

John Squires of the Stone Roses.

Chris Cheney from The Living End.

Whassisname from Concrete Blonde, even... James Mankey, thassit.

The list goes on...