Some Essential Electric Guitarists

[hard truth]

Thirty Four Essential Electric Guitarists

 

December 2015

Every guitar enthusiast and player should investigate these 34 players that successfully created innovative and effective music, displayed exceptional skill and played with great emotion, intensity and musicality. I excluded steel and bass guitarists and players who are primarily known as accompanists (ie. Steve Cropper), this is a list of the best lead guitar players. The list is roughly chronological and indicates which musical category the player is usually classified under. Do not rely on this list alone for finding good guitarists since for purely subjective reasons I have omitted many players who are also highly skilled and historically important. I also left out many of the most obvious choices (such as Eric Clapton, George Benson, Chet Atkins and Les Paul) because those players don"t need and/or deserve increased recognition as much as the guitarists that I listed.

 

 

1. Charlie Christian (jazz)

2. George Barnes (jazz)

3. T-Bone Walker (blues)

4. Barney Kessel (jazz)

5. BB King (blues)

6. Muddy Waters (blues)

7. Jimmy Bryant (country)

8. Mickey Baker (rock, oldies, blues)

9. Dick Dale (rock, oldies)

10. Wes Montgomery (jazz)

11. Grant Green (jazz)

12. Albert King (blues)

13. Freddie King (blues)

14. Jeff Beck (rock)

15. Jimi Hendrix (rock)

16. Frank Zappa (rock)

17. Jerry Garcia (rock)

18. Jimmy Page (rock)

19. John McLaughlin (jazz)

20. Carlos Santana (rock)

21. Duane Allman (rock)

22. Dickey Betts (rock)

23. Robert Fripp (rock)

24. Steve Hillage (rock)

25. Steve Tibbets (rock, jazz, world)

26. Danny Gatton (rock, country, jazz)

27. John Scofield (jazz)

28. Bill Frisell (jazz)

29. Adrian Belew (rock)

30. Derek Trucks (rock)

31. Jimmy Herring (rock, jazz)

32. Charlie Hunter (jazz)

33. Oz Noy (jazz)

34. Guthrie Govan (rock)

 

From http://www.oranjproductions.com/essentialguitarists.htm

[surfergirl]

I'm going to add 5 names. I could add more, but I'll limit it to 5.

 

1. Orianthi

2. Bonnie Raitt

3. Jennifer Batten

4. St . Vincent

5. June Millington

[KuruPrionz]

All good choices so far.

 

Rory Gallager is deserving, I saw him open for Fleetwood Mac and Deep Purple. He put an old Fender Tweed amp on a folding chair (these were the "old days" of concerts), plugged straight in with a 59 Strat that had been worn down to just a couple places with finish and the rest greasy gray wood. 3 piece band and he ate their lunch, hands down. If I were Richie Blackmore (and Richie is a great player), I would have hidden in the restroom until everybody went away.

 

You have 2 of the 4 "Steves" - add Steve Howe and Steve Morse and you got that one covered.

 

Sister Rosetta Thorp cannot be overlooked, she is iconic.

 

Joni Mitchell played a surprising amount of lead guitar on Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus. She is an incredibly complex and fascinating guitarist overall.

 

Sharon Isbin

 

Liona Boyd

 

Carlos Montoya

 

All three are masters of the nylon string guitar in their own right. It is a form of lead guitar with self accompaniment.

 

Emily Remler is amazing.

 

Glad to see Jeff Beck on there, somehow he gets overlooked and I can't think of anybody more accomplished on electric guitar.

 

Randy California

 

Grady Martin (saw him backing up Willie Nelson, his solos were all iconic).

 

Albert Lee

 

Vince Gill

 

Larry Carlton

 

Jay Graydon

[Sharkman]

I'm glad to see Frank Zappa and Adrian Belew on that list. Yeah, a lot of the songs they wrote are kinda weird, but their guitar playing is absolutely masterful.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I"m familiar with at least 75% of that initial list. I"ll add a few of my own:

 

Steve Vai, if for no other reason than he did a lot of transcription for the guitar work by his predecessors in Zappa"s band.

 

Joe Satriani. A shredder, a rocker, a teacher. His students have included Vai, Hammet, Hunter and others.

 

Ronnie Montrose. The man who occupied the sonic niche Satriani currently does, with a similar taste in science fiction themed compositions. Also launched the career of Sammy Hagar

 

David Gilmour. I don"t know if he ever plays a sour note.

 

Mark Knopfler. See Gilmour, above.

 

Ry Cooder. One of the best slide players out there.

 

Chris Rea: somehow sounds like a cross between Mark Knopfler, Ry Cooder, and Tom Waits

 

Shawn Lane. Not only a shredder"s shredder, he also demonstrated his virtuosity on fretless guitar.

 

Tony Iommi. The father of metal, and one of the great riff masters.

 

Alex Lifeson. Who knows more chords than he does?

 

Eric Johnson. Another extremely tasteful player with a style that few others emulate.

 

Tom Morello. Invented the trick of making his guitar sound like a DJ"s turntable, but also a formidable rhythm player.

 

Bill Kirchen. King of dieselbilly and credited with one of the best Telecaster mods there is.

 

Brian Setzer. Talented guitarist & vocalist, he virtually single handedly revived rockabilly and big band jazz back into cultural relevance.

 

Jennifer Batten. Seemingly more often hired for people"s touring bands than recording albums, she has had to play the music of some of the best, often more frequently than they themselves did. And she never disappoints.

 

Tosin Abasi. Possibly the best djent guitarist of all.

 

Scott Holiday. His band, Rival Sons, plays an array of music in styles ranging from the mid 60"s to the late 90"s rock & roll, and he never seems to be cliche or stylistically off.

 

Peter Wells. The man sho brought slide guitar to punk rock via the Australian band, Rose Tattoo.

 

Neil Young. Classic rocker, country rocker and the 'Godfather of grunge'. Listen to his largely improvised work for the soundtrack for the movie, Dead Man.

 

Alex Skolnick. One of the driving forces in the thrash metal band Testament, he also has a nifty jazz trio that is damn good.

 

Helios Creed. Posessed of possibly the most complex and convoluted signal chains ever. He gets sounds out of his guitar yiu may never have heard before.

 

Buckethead. Incredibly prolific, he has released a few hundred albums ranging from thrash metal to industrial to ambient to jazz fusion to neoclassical to rock. Often works with bass legend, Bill Laswell

 

Nicky Skopelitis. Another guitarist in Laswell"s orbit, he tends towards the fusion/ambient/world side of things.

[Larryz]

Kuru, I'm still looking for Stevie Ray Vaughn? You got most of my adds DannyA! I would not have tossed those first four in the OP.(Clapton, Benson, Atkins and Paul). And, I would add 34 more and include Jerry Reed and George Harrison and Tommy Emmanuel (who also plays electric with his brother who is even better than Tommy LoL!). I know we have had these kind of name all of them threads and the lists seemed endless. Just choose one or two and get started with the investigation as it's subjective depending on who each of us admires. I'm glad Surfer Girl added a few ladies to the list as they are excellent too...Where the hell is Django LoL???

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/lindsey-buckingham-39147/

 

And my favorite: Scotty Moore

[KuruPrionz]

Kuru, I'm still looking for Stevie Ray Vaughn? You got most of my adds DannyA! I would not have tossed those first four in the OP.(Clapton, Benson, Atkins and Paul). And, I would add 34 more and include Jerry Reed and George Harrison and Tommy Emmanuel (who also plays electric with his brother who is even better than Tommy LoL!). I know we have had these kind of name all of them threads and the lists seemed endless. Just choose one or two and get started with the investigation as it's subjective depending on who each of us admires. I'm glad Surfer Girl added a few ladies to the list as they are excellent too...Where the hell is Django LoL???

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/lindsey-buckingham-39147/

 

And my favorite: Scotty Moore

 

Some good choices Larryz. Sorry, there is nothing original or unique about Stevie Ray, he is straight Texas blues plus a Hendrix parrot - same old same old. If David Bowie hadn't put him on China Girl and Let's Dance we might never know of him. Totally with ya on Django.

 

Tommy Tedesco and Glen Campbell - both were in the Wrecking Crew and played on hit after hit. Vincent (Vinnie) Bell, he played on lots of records from the NYC studios and influenced Nat Daniels (Danelectro founder) to make the first electric baritone, 6 string bass, 12 string and sitars (2 models - one with sympathetic strings).

[surfergirl]

I forgot to mention my favorite Guitarist, Gary Clark Jr. I was fortunate to see him at the Republik in Honolulu in 2019.

The problem I have with most of these lists is they are 5 to 10 years old and leave out a generation of Guitarist. A few that come to mind are Jake Kiszka, Yvette Young and Marcus King.

To clarify I'm not demeaning these lists, they just need to be updated.

[Scott Fraser]

In my opinion, music in general, & guitar playing specifically, is not a competition sport. Thus, lists of "the best" strike me as meaningless & wholly subjective. "My Favorite Guitarists" is a much more worthwhile starting point than something which claims to define "The Best Guitarists."

[Larryz]

 

Some good choices Larryz. Sorry, there is nothing original or unique about Stevie Ray, he is straight Texas blues plus a Hendrix parrot - same old same old. If David Bowie hadn't put him on China Girl and Let's Dance we might never know of him.

 

.

 

To each his own as I pointed out these lists are subjective. One man's pearls are another's garbage. SRV did write 18 songs and came out #12 of top 100 of his peers in the Rolling Stone link I posted. I fail to see how we can omit a 5 time Grammy winner. 1985 Best Traditional Blues Album, 1990, 1991 & 1993 Best Contemporary Blues Albums and 1993 Best Rock and Roll Instrumental. I'm not his biggest fan, but I truly admire his contributions and do like his music. There sure are a lot of SRV clones out there covering his tunes. Anyway, he has a sound all his own IMHO and will truly be missed. +1 there is definitely a Jimi connection...

[Shamanczarek]

Hank Marvin - Not a technical player but a huge influence on nearly every 60s British guitarist including David Gilmour, Ritchie Blackmore, Peter Green, Brian May, Tony Iommi, etc. The early Beatles instrumental "Cry for a Shadow" was named after his band The Shadows who backed Cliff Richard from the late 50s and on into the 70s.

 

April Lawton - She was the first female to play lead guitar at an extraordinarily high level of speed and fluidity. The drummer in her band Ramatam was none other than Mitch Mitchell fresh out of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

 

http://www.aprillawton.com/images/April-Bill_King.jpg

[KuruPrionz]

 

Some good choices Larryz. Sorry, there is nothing original or unique about Stevie Ray, he is straight Texas blues plus a Hendrix parrot - same old same old. If David Bowie hadn't put him on China Girl and Let's Dance we might never know of him.

 

.

 

To each his own as I pointed out these lists are subjective. One man's pearls are another's garbage. SRV did write 18 songs and came out #12 of top 100 of his peers in the Rolling Stone link I posted. I fail to see how we can omit a 5 time Grammy winner. 1985 Best Traditional Blues Album, 1990, 1991 & 1993 Best Contemporary Blues Albums and 1993 Best Rock and Roll Instrumental. I'm not his biggest fan, but I truly admire his contributions and do like his music. There sure are a lot of SRV clones out there covering his tunes. Anyway, he has a sound all his own IMHO and will truly be missed. +1 there is definitely a Jimi connection...

 

Well to be honest, I only said anything about Stevie Ray because you mentioned me when you named him.

This is a "favorite" guitarists list and he is not one of my favorites. But that's OK!!!!

I do agree with Surfergirl that this list is old - that's probably because most of us ARE old!!! lol.

 

There was a period of time when I listened to lots of music by all sorts of musicians. Now, I hardly ever listen to anything.

So I haven't got a clue as to what's out there now.

I know my nephew (who is now 27) and I were playing once when he was 13 and he played the complete solo from 21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson. He learned it off YouTube and was still stumbling a bit but I was nowhere near that proficient at his age.

So I am not surprised if amazing things are happening now.

[Dannyalcatraz]

There"s a trio of guitarists mining similar musical veins (and whom I gather don"t particularly care for each other):

 

Dan Auerbach

Jack White

Ben Harper

 

Each has his own strengths and weaknesses.

 

IMHO, White is the most creative & talented. When he"s at his best, the others can"t touch him. However, he"s SO mercurial that he"s virtually guaranteed to release at least one clunker per album.

 

Auerbach is the most consistent of the three. His playing rarely makes my jaw drop, but he almost always gets me in a good mood. Good grooves abound, even when he"s playing outside The Black Keys.

 

Harper is by far the most soulful, emotional singer in this group. When he sings about pain, you feel it.

[Larryz]

@ Kuru, the only reason I had mentioned your name was that you had commented on the OP's listing of Steve Hillage and Steve Tibbets saying he got 2 of the 4 Steves and he should add Steve Howe and Steve Moore and he'd have that one covered. I was thinking to myself what happened to Stevie Ray Vaughn and I'll throw in Steve Winwood and Steve Luthaker for kicks LoL! I also would like to include James Burton and Roy Clark and Roy Buchanan and Glen Campbell and Lyndsey Buckingham and Paul Simon and James Taylor (sneaking in a couple of acoustics) so they don't get left out. Like you, I agree with Surfer Girl that the list(s) should be updated and I really liked her Bonnie Raitt and Orianthi mentions. I too am getting old and don't even recognize the names of your 4 Steves all that well LoL! I don't listen music much either these days and you'll find most of my additions are from the old school. It's OK not to care for certain players. I have never cared for Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, but I recognize that they do have some special talent that others like...just a few of my tidbit comments being thrown in LoL!

[KuruPrionz]

@ Kuru, the only reason I had mentioned your name was that you had commented on the OP's listing of Steve Hillage and Steve Tibbets saying he got 2 of the 4 Steves and he should add Steve Howe and Steve Moore and he'd have that one covered. I was thinking to myself what happened to Stevie Ray Vaughn and I'll throw in Steve Winwood and Steve Luthaker for kicks LoL! I also would like to include James Burton and Roy Clark and Roy Buchanan and Glen Campbell and Lyndsey Buckingham and Paul Simon and James Taylor (sneaking in a couple of acoustics) so they don't get left out. Like you, I agree with Surfer Girl that the list(s) should be updated and I really liked her Bonnie Raitt and Orianthi mentions. I too am getting old and don't even recognize the names of your 4 Steves all that well LoL! I don't listen music much either these days and you'll find most of my additions are from the old school. It's OK not to care for certain players. I have never cared for Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, but I recognize that they do have some special talent that others like...just a few of my tidbit comments being thrown in LoL!

 

 

It's all good, Brother Larryz, we have our favorites and no reason to even try to change minds. Vanilla or Pistachio? Your choice or maybe neither, all good.

 

I get what you are saying about the Steves. You have some other great picks there too. If we all agreed on everything it would be pretty boring, no? I do agree with you and surfergirl on Bonnie Raitt, I saw her many years ago when she was still touring with Freebo and she is a fine slide player and a great singer to boot. Played a mean piano for a song or two as well.

 

Sometimes I am just amazed what players do with guitars. I saw a featured act at an open mic play his guitar left handed and still strung right handed. He was a solid fingerpicker, but his thumb was playing what most players fingers would play and his fingers were playing the thumb parts. I spoke with him afterwards and he was right handed. Makes no sense at all but sounded great.

 

Jeff Healy deserves a spot and watching him is a lesson in what can be done with a Squier Strat - ridiculous and wonderful.

 

If you're tossing in fingerpickers, Joan Baez can hold her own and John Renbourn was transcendent. I did toss in a couple of nylon string players above, I love that sound.

[Winston Psmith]

I'm going to throw one out here that might not make other player's lists . . .

 

Johnny Ramone.

 

A lot of the masters on these lists, and their playing, served to intimidate and discourage some would-be players. Why even bother, if you couldn't just pick up a Guitar and sound like Duane, or Jimi, or Django, or Joni, or the Guitar-Hero-of-the-Moment?

 

Johnny Ramone played the kind of Music that convinced kids who'd never picked up a Guitar that they could, in fact, just pick up any beater and wail away! He played great, simple, heartfelt, primitive Rock Guitar, the kind of Music that we all fell in love with at some point, whether we first heard it from Chuck Berry, or The Beatles, or The Ramones.

 

FWIW, he did make it onto more than one "Greatest . . ." list, if you look him up, but I don't think that really mattered to him. If you never went to a Ramones concert, "controlled chaos" only begins to describe the experience; it felt like Beatlemania on Methamphetamine, songs running into one another at a breakneck pace, a Musical Marathon. What he played wasn't complex, but the stamina required! That in itself deserved respect.

 

It was also just plain fun. Remember, long before we were concerned with Music Theory, with Major & minor Scales, or Key Signatures, we wanted to have fun. Isn't that why we all started in the first place?

[Larryz]

+1 Kuru on Jeff Healy and I think Prince should make the list. He was one hell of a guitar picker.

 

+1 Winston, on making it FUN!

 

[KuruPrionz]

On going over this list again, where is Les Paul?

 

The first guitarist to multi-track, his signature is on the most popular signature model guitar ever made by a long shot and he was an innovator and inventor. By his request, Gibson made low impedance guitar pickups for direct recording.

Plus, he was a hell of a player who gigged weekly into his 90's.

[Larryz]

+1 on Les Paul...the OP disqualified him and 3 others. I put him back in along with Clapton, Benson and Atkins...

[surfergirl]

Slack Key Guitarist Dennis Kamakahi.

 

[wraub]

No Allan Holdsworth?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Miki Berenyi was the lead guitarist/vocalist for Lush, one of the premier Ambient rock groups of the 1990s. Love her textures, sometimes shimmering, sometimes pulsing, always somehow correct.

[Winston Psmith]

Miki Berenyi was the lead guitarist/vocalist for Lush, one of the premier Ambient rock groups of the 1990s. Love her textures, sometimes shimmering, sometimes pulsing, always somehow correct.

 

Much agreed! Listen to the grinding, crashing middle section of "Sweetness & Light", and how the Guitars bring everything back together.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nile Rodgers. The man plays a Hardtail strat ('Hitmaker') and wrote some of the funkiest riffs in funk, pop, hip-hop and new wave*. It has been estimated that he has played Hitmaker on songs totaling $2bn in revenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* for Chic, David Bowie, Daft Punk, Duran Duran, INXS, and more

[Dannyalcatraz]

Michael Hedges. Most people dismiss him because of his early association with Windham Hill. But he"s one of the early giants of the percussive finger tapping style of acoustic guitar practiced by other greats like Kaki King and Andy McKee.* in fact, McKee has said Hedges was the player that got him into guitar, and has covered a number of his songs, including 'Aerial Boundaries'.

 

 

 

* Both of whom are epic guitarists worthy of consideration in their own right.

[Larryz]

+1 on Kaki King...a great female guitarist that should be on the list. Her Proud Papa used to come on this forum and update us on her concerts and achievements.

[hard truth]

My (the OP) list was only electric guitarists and only lead players, which is why many players were not included. Thanks for the many suggestions, they include several players I might have included if they came to mind at the time I made the list.* I don't expect everyone to like every player on my list, but I do think that every electric guitar player should hear all of them at least once.

 

 

*especially Sister Rosetta Thorp, Tom Morello, Tosin Abasi, Nicky Skopelitis

[Larryz]

+1 Hard Truth, I'm guilty of throwing in 4 or 5 acoustic players as I just couldn't pass them by LoL! I think a few other electric players like Brad Paisley, Joe Bonamassa, and Yngwye Malmsteen, etc., may have got passed by too. I'll bet if you named the top 500 electric lead players someone would come up with #501...Your list is a good one and might inspire some players out there to give any players they don't recognize a look-see on YouTube!

[surfergirl]

Chris Perez(Selena). He played lead on one Grammy winning album and won one Grammy.

[KuruPrionz]

My (the OP) list was only electric guitarists and only lead players, which is why many players were not included. Thanks for the many suggestions, they include several players I might have included if they came to mind at the time I made the list.* I don't expect everyone to like every player on my list, but I do think that every electric guitar player should hear all of them at least once.

 

 

*especially Sister Rosetta Thorp, Tom Morello, Tosin Abasi, Nicky Skopelitis

 

I'm glad to see you consider Sister Rosetta Thorp as somebody you simply overlooked.

 

It's easy to do and at the same time, she was a one of a kind phenomenon. She played quite a bit in England, I can only imagine what they thought. That was when there was a growing interest in American Roots music over there and suddenly an authentic force of nature appears in an unexpected form and blows them away. She blew so many gaping holes in so many barriers it was unprecedented in popular music prior to. At the same time, her Gospel slant kept the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover at bay, they probably had no idea what to do with a woman of color playing "Devil Music" in a robust and vigorous fashion while singing Biblical verse!!!