Best Guitarists of All Time

prince underated as a guitaist but he can kick some ass on it

No one has ever topped jimi's brilliance and no one ever will, in three mind blowing albums he's shown the world he's Unbelievable

best ever

one word describes Jimi

GOD!

jimmy page is the best guitarist I have ever seen. he makes playing a guitar look like childs play

my inspiration... the best

Jimmy Page is by far the greatest, and that's it!

he is clearly the greatest

solos

The greatest!

just listen and watch the SACRED FIRE dvd. The song WINGS OF GRACE is a treat.

this dude kicks ass

He just has the most amazing sound to this day... A true musician... Love you Carlos

synyster gates is GOD!

Listen to MIA and Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold, and bow down to the ability to make something sound so beautiful, while still being hardcore

He is one of the best sweep pickers around and proably one of the best people that can make up solos on the spot.

In my opinion, Matt is the best live guitarist of the new millenium.

He turns your brains into s***

EASILY THE BEST, have you seen his hands on the opening electric of New Born?

not only the best but the most unique as well

Eddie Van Halen is the best. period. no one rocks like him

The best ever, listen to eruption

he's really good.

Comfortably Numb, all I have to say.

not about speed in my opinion. he truly can make a guitar sing.

number one

hands down the greatest

there is no question... eric is god!

What he brought to hard rock was amazing, amazing!

okay, man, he kicked ass when he was alive. had he lived, he would have been the greatest of them all

would have been the greatest, hands down.

I think anybody who actually knows guitar and not just the blues would have to agree

If you want to pay your respects spell his last name correctly. It's Vaughan. The only reason he is this far down the list is because most of you don't like the blues or don't listen to the blues. It's high time you figure out who he is.

Stevie was second to none. Struck down before his time. R. I. P. Love you and miss you.

frusciante play the guitar with soul and great taste...
and awesome character.

his live performances especially at slane castle are mystical. he makes the guitar scream like a human

BECAUSE HE IS GOD!

While he is definitely a talented CLASSIC guitarist, this pompous, drunken, one trick pony needs to sober up and appreciate the misguided fans that fawn over his mediocrity. Admittedly the "master" of the speed thing (in his day), he needs to abandon the Spandex and big hair...

QuikTimz

Hands down the best player

Are you kidding me?! Jimmy Page?!?!?! Yngwie plays better than him with his teeth.

Since When? 1974.. Crankin' out killer riffs. Love Geddy, Love Peart, but Alex is up there with the best!

I agree that Lifeson is
very much overlooked by
mainstream rock journals,
ie, Rolling Stone. Lifeson
is a technical guru. Just
listen to Tom Sawyer and
Digital Man! H

Alex doesn't get the recognition he deserves only because he plays with Neil and Geddy... If he was in Zeppelin, he'd be as popular as Page

The complete performer

Rory avoided the limelight when he was alive and so consequently he is often over looked these days. The guy was simply a genius.

Rory is the best live player the world will ever see. It defined his philosophy, and he always played with an emotion that can't be defined. His work on slide, especially, remains the standard by which others are compared.

HE IS GOD!

Angus Young is the definition of what a hard rock guitarist should be

Not only can he shred, he can do it while running around like a six-year-old on crack! He deserves to be #25, at least.

between him and yngwie for me... they aren't as popular as page but much more talented guitarists... the majority of people on earth are insanely narrow-minded.

THE BEST

he should be no 1. Name one other guitarist who can play 2 guitars at once, and a guitar and piano at the same time?

Best Guitaring in the universe.. nuff said

he is a legend! new york groove, into the void, into the night etc.

The guy's awesome. Hands down unbelievable solos. Imagine KISS without him? A bass player who all that thinks about is money, a rythm guitarist/singer that does what the bassist says, and a God awful drummer. Ace made the band!

Ace is the absolute best ever! Shock Me, the best solo ever! You idiots have no idea who this master of the ax should be! Besides the overdoses and drunkness, he is the#1 guitarist of all time! Think about that! Not even on the top 100 of Rolling Stone magazines' guitarists! They are compleye idiots! He rocks and will always be "Space Ace" eventhough out of KISs! Think about that losers!

Satch would shred the face of anyone else on this list

Everyone knows that this is the best guitarist in the world! He teached kirk hammet, to play guitar!

Hello? Who gave Vai his first lessons? Who can hang technically with any musician on the planet?

One of the most technically proficient and, in my opinion, greatest pioneers of the last 50 years.

Phil's talents from the 60's as a Christian musician (at a time when it was considered less than stellar to be Christian) paved and revolutionized to ability to use the guitar as a message of Christianity. He has shown as much creativity and innovation as the likes of Page, Clapton, and others form that era. His ONLY downside is that his brand of music never got the acclaim it deserved - being a evangelical Christian manages to turn off many. You Tube shows plenty examples of his prowess and only begins to scratch the surface.

I have not seen anybody else do the things that this guy can do on the guitar. His performances are amazing. He would easily be in the top 5 on anybody's list of guitarists once you've seen him. He just has not had the exposure of the mainstream secular commercial artists.

HE GETS NO CREDIT... LIKE ALL THE SONGS PPL LISTEN 2 DONT HAVE HIM ROCKIN OUT ON THE GUITAR.. but if you take time to actually look some stuff up you might give this guy some more respect!

Please take a look at the song Radio Friendly Unit Shifter in the In Utero album. I've never heard anything like that.

Greatest ever.

In terms of technical ability Petrucci is unrivaled. Only Satriani compares. Everyone else is a joke.

Best thing since sliced cheese.

George Harrison at only age 14 would stay up playing his guitar until he got all of the chords exactly right and his fingers were bleeding! And One of The Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick says that in early 1966 when The Beatles were recording John's song I'm Only Sleeping, George Harrison played backwards guitar the most difficult way possible even though he could have taken an easy way,and it took him 6 hours just to do the guitar overdubs! He then made it doubly difficult by adding even more distorted gitars and Geoff says this was all George's idea and that he did all of the playing!

lucyinthesky

Hes absolutely the best no one can compare to what he did on the guitar. he could play anything better then anyone.

he was able to play any stylie guitar that was there in his time Lennon lerned a lot from harrison

Laiho, not only a guitarist, but a master.

Vocalist, Songwriter, Lead Guitar, what more can you ask from one man?

Other than his amazing songwriting, his true mastery of the guitar shines in live performances.

ZOMG guyz Laiho should be top! I just saw bodom's live in stockhol again.. just listen to his solos! needled 24/7!
m/. (^. ^). m/ cmon.. you can't honestly tell me avenged sevelfolds guitarist is anywhere near laiho's level.. and that guy is in the 18th place.. wtf?.. and how is prince the greatest guitarist.. OMG.. VOTE LAIHO and set things right!

I have been playing guitar for 20 years... nobody comes closer to mastering the instrument than this guy

he is the best for me from the philippines

Dude Steve Vai is so flipin' amazing at guitar. Have you heard For The Love Of God?

he has a very stunning techniques.. haha..

he is better than 99. 9 when he is break dancing and doing a nunchuk show at the same time as me melts your face with his monsterly freak hands... Perod

technically superior to anyone else. emotions galore.

everyone is like page or jimi is the best no they only wrote good music. that means they are good music writes not guitarists. you have to be able to play everything to be the best and herman can do that way better then anyone else can.

Wow! I've never seen someone play as fast as Herman Li, totally deserve first place!

Tibrown

he is the sweeping master]

he's the best

Still a genius

Genius

A god. Greatest guitarist the worlds ever seen. He makes Rage against the machine what it is.

Without Richie Bon Jovi wouldn't exist the way they do. His solo albums are ace, he can sing too. "Father Time" is awesome.

He's The Best

richie is the best guitarist in the world

very underrated listen to little boy blue from thinder seven CD awesome. He drifted into classical acoustic after triumph and was still solid!

Mark owns all. Listen to Alter Bridge

Mark is amazing. Listen to Alter Bridge. He has great technique. His dvd is awesome

After he left Creed, he got to truly show his amazing talent on Alter Bridge's 'Blackbird' album with lots of technical guitar work.

B_Hammock

I was at Crossroads -a man amongst boys -Beck blew everyone else away -better tnan Hendrix at this point -among professional musicians -the top players, its well known that Jeff Beck is the best living electric guitarist.

Obviously, you haven't heard Jeff Beck play guitar. He was by far the best at the last "Crossroads Guitar Festival". If you ever heard him play, you would agree that he should be #1.

Tone Speed and technique Of god WHY IS HE NOT NUMBER 1

He is THE master of both heavy and acoustic guitar riffs and one hell of a singer/songwriter to boot!

Should be in top 10!

has a trademark sound. should be ranked way higher

truly one of the best, should be in at least the top 20, I mean c'mon, it's Jerry Cantrell!

Everyone is crazy if RT is not in your top five. Take a listen and you will understand.

is there anyone else?

who alive can play like TE?

he went from sweet melody to flame in an instant. Had he not left UFO or been an alcoholic he would be a household name like Van Halen.

He was pure genius when he played lead in UFO. Then he went solo and spent some time in the Scorpions before forming MSG. His flying V will melt your face!

if there are any guitar gods on earth its him and tom morello

He has classic guitar riffs of all time! Have you heard the song "War Pigs? "

sweetness

b. b. king is one of the best because nobody sounds like him