Top 25 Favorite Guitarists countdown thread! (Top 2 featured!!)

[Elite]

Sent a list I’ll probably regret later. What can I say, it’s definitely not a ‘greatest ever’, but more a ‘current favourites’ and ‘past influences’. I wonder what metrics others used to compile theirs? I expect the majority of my list to not make the countdown, maybe even including 3 out of my top 5.

[pg1067]

Geography is complicated.  For example, Marty Friedman was born in Washington DC, but he's lived in Japan for over two decades now.  Is he American or Japanese?  Van Halen is consider an iconic example of an American band, but Eddie and Alex were born and raised in the Netherlands for the first decade of their lives, so is Eddie American or Dutch?

I'd say it's not all that important, but unless Friedman has renounced his U.S. citizenship and become a citizen of Japan, he's American.  If he's become a Japanese citizen, I'd call him American Japanese.  Likewise, EVH was (and AVH is) a naturalized U.S. citizen.  Also, everything of any importance was done after they moved to the U.S. and became U.S. citizens.  You could, if you wanted, refer to them as Dutch American.

The same issue applies with Ritchie Blackmore, by the way.  He's lived in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, but I don't think anyone would call him an American guitarist.

[Stadler]

Geography is complicated.  For example, Marty Friedman was born in Washington DC, but he's lived in Japan for over two decades now.  Is he American or Japanese?  Van Halen is consider an iconic example of an American band, but Eddie and Alex were born and raised in the Netherlands for the first decade of their lives, so is Eddie American or Dutch?

I'd say it's not all that important, but unless Friedman has renounced his U.S. citizenship and become a citizen of Japan, he's American.  If he's become a Japanese citizen, I'd call him American Japanese.  Likewise, EVH was (and AVH is) a naturalized U.S. citizen.  Also, everything of any importance was done after they moved to the U.S. and became U.S. citizens.  You could, if you wanted, refer to them as Dutch American.

The same issue applies with Ritchie Blackmore, by the way.  He's lived in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, but I don't think anyone would call him an American guitarist.

Did I mention that at one point he lived about 10 minutes from the house I lived in until I graduated from college?   

[Glasser]

My list is in. I know I missed a few but my top 10 is definitive. 

[TAC]

Geography is complicated.  For example, Marty Friedman was born in Washington DC, but he's lived in Japan for over two decades now.  Is he American or Japanese?  Van Halen is consider an iconic example of an American band, but Eddie and Alex were born and raised in the Netherlands for the first decade of their lives, so is Eddie American or Dutch?

I'd say it's not all that important, but unless Friedman has renounced his U.S. citizenship and become a citizen of Japan, he's American.  If he's become a Japanese citizen, I'd call him American Japanese.  Likewise, EVH was (and AVH is) a naturalized U.S. citizen.  Also, everything of any importance was done after they moved to the U.S. and became U.S. citizens.  You could, if you wanted, refer to them as Dutch American.

The same issue applies with Ritchie Blackmore, by the way.  He's lived in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, but I don't think anyone would call him an American guitarist.

Did I mention that at one point he lived about 10 minutes from the house I lived in until I graduated from college?   

You also failed to mention the restraining order he took out on you.

[Stadler]

Geography is complicated.  For example, Marty Friedman was born in Washington DC, but he's lived in Japan for over two decades now.  Is he American or Japanese?  Van Halen is consider an iconic example of an American band, but Eddie and Alex were born and raised in the Netherlands for the first decade of their lives, so is Eddie American or Dutch?

I'd say it's not all that important, but unless Friedman has renounced his U.S. citizenship and become a citizen of Japan, he's American.  If he's become a Japanese citizen, I'd call him American Japanese.  Likewise, EVH was (and AVH is) a naturalized U.S. citizen.  Also, everything of any importance was done after they moved to the U.S. and became U.S. citizens.  You could, if you wanted, refer to them as Dutch American.

The same issue applies with Ritchie Blackmore, by the way.  He's lived in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, but I don't think anyone would call him an American guitarist.

Did I mention that at one point he lived about 10 minutes from the house I lived in until I graduated from college?   

You also failed to mention the restraining order he took out on you.

I felt it was a trivial detail.   

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I wonder what metrics others used to compile theirs?

As analytical as I'd like to be about it, it's mostly just an intuition.  Some combination of how much time I've spent listening to them, how much I notice their playing, how memorable I find their parts, the influence they've had on me as a player, how much I like their tone(s), and many other things. 

[Elite]

But that’s an interesting point. Some of us are guitarists, we probably listen for other stuff, and/or make our lists in different ways. There’s a lot of good guitarists who I actually like that didn’t make my list, partly because I didn’t think of them when making this one, or because their ‘guitar playing’ isn’t what defines them to me, if that makes sense. Anyway, the final list is going to be wild!


—

Here’s my country distribution.

Usa 13
England 8
Netherlands 1
Australia 1
Sweden 1
Israel 1

[Kwyjibo]

My metric is how much the actual playing has moved me.  From the first day that I started listening to music the guitar was the instrument that fascinated me the most. I spent hours and hours listening to the guitar parts in certain songs that spoke to me in some ways. That's probably the reason why my favorite players are all from past decades, although most are still active. I discovered them in my formative years.

[Elite]

I'm also willing to bet that my list will be the one with the least guitarists that are generally considered rock and/or metal. That's not a statistic I aimed for when compiling my list, but it's a coincidental result of me making this list based on two distinct parts in my musical history.

[Awaken]

My metric is how much the actual playing has moved me.  From the first day that I started listening to music the guitar was the instrument that fascinated me the most. I spent hours and hours listening to the guitar parts in certain songs that spoke to me in some ways. That's probably the reason why my favorite players are all from past decades, although most are still active. I discovered them in my formative years.

Perfectly stated, this was the approach I took as well.

[KevShmev]

34 lists now, 301 guitarists listed.

And now it is clear why threads on the 80s do so well here.   Seemingly every guitarist from the 80s has been listed on at least one list.  Meanwhile, I can think of several notable guitarists who made their bones in the late 60's/early 70s who have yet to get listed on even one list.

[ReaperKK]

It'll be interesting to see what the full list will look like at the end.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

And now it is clear why threads on the 80s do so well here.   Seemingly every guitarist from the 80s has been listed on at least one list.

It really shouldn't be surprising, given that DT formed and released their first album in the 80s, and especially for the first couple albums sounded a fair amount like a number of other 80s bands. 

[HOF]

34 lists now, 301 guitarists listed.

And now it is clear why threads on the 80s do so well here.   Seemingly every guitarist from the 80s has been listed on at least one list.  Meanwhile, I can think of several notable guitarists who made their bones in the late 60's/early 70s who have yet to get listed on even one list.

Going by when they first became somewhat “known” (as opposed to just when they debuted), my list looks something like this:

70s: 7
80s: 7
90s: 7
00s: 2
10s: 2

Kind of surprised how balanced it is among the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

That's quite difficult to quantify in many cases, so I just consider first major release.  Oddly I have more that started in the 60s than in the 70s, and an abundance from the 80s, but I do have some from each decade starting with the 60s.  Definitely more evenly distributed than my vocalist list or favorite bands list would be. 

[lonestar]

ok...this is basically done from first major release as well.

60's- 5
70's- 5
80's- 3
90's- 2
00's- 2
10's- 7
20's- 1

Now this is very interesting...in the 90s and 00s I was drunk and not exploring any new music, basically buried in 6 or 7 bands. In '11 I got sober and found DTF, and my favorite players explode.

[HOF]

That's quite difficult to quantify in many cases, so I just consider first major release.  Oddly I have more that started in the 60s than in the 70s, and an abundance from the 80s, but I do have some from each decade starting with the 60s.  Definitely more evenly distributed than my vocalist list or favorite bands list would be.

Yeah, it more or less lines up with major releases.

[Stadler]

'50s - 1*
'60s - 9
'70s - 8
'80s - 7**




* - His first recordings were in the '50s, but he came to fame in the '60s. He was considered "discovered" in the '50s.
** - I have two guys whose first recordings (one as bass player, one as a guitar player in a group) were in the '70s, but their main gig - and when they were considered "discovered" - was in the '80s.

[Glasser]

34 lists now, 301 guitarists listed.

And now it is clear why threads on the 80s do so well here.   Seemingly every guitarist from the 80s has been listed on at least one list.  Meanwhile, I can think of several notable guitarists who made their bones in the late 60's/early 70s who have yet to get listed on even one list.

Well, its more preference on my end. I could make a list of amazing guitarists that I don't listen to but my list represents players who pump my nads.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

20's- 1

I feel a little uneasy about some of my players from the 10s making an all-time list, but at least I've had over half a decade to be pretty confident about them.  But someone from the last few years really makes me curious.  How much material have they released, and how can you be sure they're not just a novelty?  I'm always interested in the reasoning behind decisions I can't bring myself to choose. 

[HOF]

One of mine that I listed from the 70s probably wasn’t well known outside of his home country until the 90s, but he had a long career before then so it doesn’t seem right to say he’s from the 90s.

[TAC]

I'm all 70's & 80's with one 90's guy.

[Glasser]

I'm all 70's & 80's with one 90's guy.

My list is all 60's and 70's.

[KevShmev]

Somewhere, Steven Wilson is reading this thread and muttering to himself, "See, I told everyone the electric guitar was a thing of the past..."  

[Elite]

Steven Wilson wishes he’d be on my list

[coz]

301 different names?!  Up to 276 won't even be mentioned.  I'm curious though, if we're going to have like an 80 way tie for 25th.

I also just noticed one guy was ranked in the same place on both my singer and guitarist lists.

[HOF]

He wouldn’t have made my top 25, but I forgot to put Steven Wilson on my long list before I narrowed it down. I do think he’s a creative soloist.

[pg1067]

Going by when they first became somewhat “known” (as opposed to just when they debuted), my list looks something like this:

70s: 7
80s: 7
90s: 7
00s: 2
10s: 2

I think I have one from the '90s, one from the '10s, and the rest are split almost evenly (12-11) between the '70s and '80s (although you could make an argument that two of my '80s guys should count for the '90s).

[KevShmev]

34 lists now, 301 guitarists listed.

And now it is clear why threads on the 80s do so well here.   Seemingly every guitarist from the 80s has been listed on at least one list.  Meanwhile, I can think of several notable guitarists who made their bones in the late 60's/early 70s who have yet to get listed on even one list.

With hours to go, I will unpack this a little by mentioning two.

Ted Nugent - I am not surprised to see him not get mentioned on any lists, but I do think he qualifies as a notable guitarist from the early classic rock days.

Joe Walsh - this one stuns me.  He barely missed my top 25, and I thought for sure he'd squeeze on to a few lists, on the strength alone of the Hotel California (which he shares with Don Felder). Not that his greatness is summed up in one solo, but that has long been considered one of the most iconic solos in the history of rock, and combining that with his body of work, he is one of the greats.

I will leave that for discussion as I leave for the evening (for a while at least).

[The Realm]

Ted Nugent and Joe Walsh - if I had to submit a top 100 neither still would have made it. Just not my thing and zero influence on me.

[Adami]

I very much considered Joe Walsh but he just didn’t quite make my cut.

[HOF]

I though Ted Nugent was really cool growing up but mostly because of Damn Yankees. I never really cared for his solo stuff. Then I learned more about his whole womanizing schtick and then I realized how dumb his political schtick was, so now I don’t consider him my favorite anything. But that second Damn Yankees album is pretty good.

[TAC]

I though Ted Nugent was really cool growing up but mostly because of Damn Yankees. I never really cared for his solo stuff. Then I learned more about his whole womanizing schtick and then I realized how dumb his political schtick was, so now I don’t consider him my favorite anything. But that second Damn Yankees album is pretty good.

Not sure I made it past their first album.

His 70's stuff is pretty smoking though, especially the live stuff, which gave his songs more bite than they had in the studio.

I thought of him, but never actually considered him for my countdown. I didn't even think of Joe Walsh.

[Elite]

I'm not putting guitarists on my lists based on the strength of just one solo. Eagles isn't exactly my thing, so Joe Walsh was never really an option.