I’ll fill this list more as we go, but as a guitar player, I’ve never been one to say X guitar player is better than Y guitar player. I tend to lump them in groups. There’s the pioneers, virtuosos, exceptional, excellent, and those that don’t fit but deserve mentioning.
For me, the pioneer group is reserved for those that moved the needle and changed the way people think about guitar. They may not be the best technically, but changed the way people approach guitar. For me, it starts with Robert Johnson, and includes Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen.
For the virtuoso group, I have Glen Campbell, Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkinson, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Alan Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Uli Jon Roth. These are guys that can play anything pretty much better than anyone else regardless of genre.
Exceptional would be Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy Rhodes, David Gilmour, Mark Knophler, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Alex Lifeson, Buddy Guy, Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, well, this list gets long.
Ones I think don’t quite fit but deserve mentioning is Pete Townshend, Rick Nielsen, Jamie West-Oram, and Angus Young.
This is a starting point and not a complete list. Let me know who I left out, who I have wrong, etc. Let’s have some fun with this.
I know I’m missing a lot here. My hope is y’all can turn me on to someone I haven’t given enough listening to.
For me, the pioneer group is reserved for those that moved the needle and changed the way people think about guitar. They may not be the best technically, but changed the way people approach guitar. For me, it starts with Robert Johnson, and includes Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen.
For the virtuoso group, I have Glen Campbell, Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkinson, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Alan Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Uli Jon Roth. These are guys that can play anything pretty much better than anyone else regardless of genre.
Exceptional would be Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy Rhodes, David Gilmour, Mark Knophler, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Alex Lifeson, Buddy Guy, Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, well, this list gets long.
Ones I think don’t quite fit but deserve mentioning is Pete Townshend, Rick Nielsen, Jamie West-Oram, and Angus Young.
This is a starting point and not a complete list. Let me know who I left out, who I have wrong, etc. Let’s have some fun with this.
I know I’m missing a lot here. My hope is y’all can turn me on to someone I haven’t given enough listening to.
