The Top 100 Guitarists of All Time

Guitarists: Top 100

This list first surfaced on 5/29/10 in a response to a voter-based list released by Gibson.com. Barely two weeks went by when an update became necessary thanks to an LA Times Magazine article listing the 50 greatest guitarists of all time. The DMDB’s revised list of best guitarists was posted on the DMDB Facebook page. In November 2011, Rolling Stone posted a new list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. As such, this post has been revised yet again to reflect the inclusion of that list. 34 lists have been compiled to create this aggregate list. Click on names to see their entries in the Dave’s Music Database Music Makers Encyclopedia. The highlights – selected by browsing best-guitar-solo lists – link to videos. See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories. 1. Jimi Hendrix Highlight: “Machine Gun” 2. Jimmy Page Highlight: “Stairway to Heaven” (with Led Zeppelin) 3. Eric Clapton Highlight: “Crossroads” (with Cream) 4. Stevie Ray Vaughan Highlight: “Texas Flood” 5. Eddie Van Halen Highlight: “Eruption” (with Van Halen) 6. B.B. King Highlight: “The Thrill Is Gone” 7. Jeff Beck Highlight: “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” 8. Angus Young Highlight: “You Shook Me All Night Long” (with AC/DC) 9. Chuck Berry Highlight: “Johnny B. Goode” 10. Duane Allman Highlight: “Dreams” (with the Allman Brothers Band) 11. Steve Vai Highlight: “For the Love of God” 12. David Gilmour Highlight: “Comfortably Numb” (with Pink Floyd) 13. Keith Richards Highlight: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (with the Rolling Stones) 14. Ritchie Blackmore Highlight: “Highway Star” (with Deep Purple) 15. Joe Satriani Highlight: “Surfing with the Alien” 16. Slash Highlight: “November Rain” (with Guns N’ Roses) 17. Randy Rhoads Highlight: “Crazy Train” (with Ozzy Osbourne) 18. Yngwie Malmsteen Highlight: “Black Star” 19. Tony Iommi Highlight: “War Pigs” (with Black Sabbath) 20. George Harrison Highlight: “And Your Bird Can Sing” (with The Beatles) 21. Pete Townshend Highlight: “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (with the Who) 22. Steve Cropper 23. Santana Highlight: “Europa” 24. Frank Zappa Highlight: “Zoot Allures” 25. Brian May Highlight: “Bohemian Rhapsody” (with Queen) 26. Robert Johnson 27. Mark Knopfler Highlight: “Sultans of Swing” (with Dire Straits) 28. Neil Young Highlight: “Cortez the Killer” 29. Kirk Hammett Highlight: “One” (with Metallica) 30. Les Paul 31. Tom Morello Highlight: “Bulls on Parade” (with Rage Against the Machine) 32. The Edge 33. John Frusciante Highlight: “I Could Have Lied” (with Red Hot Chili Peppers) 34. Robert Fripp Highlight: “21st Century Schizoid Man” (with King Crimson) 35. John McLaughlin Highlight: “Dream” (with Mahavishnu Orchestra) 36. Jerry Garcia Highlight: “Truckin’” (with the Grateful Dead) 37. Ry Cooder 38. Chet Atkins 39. Prince 40. John Petrucci Highlight: “Under a Glass Moon” (with Dream Theater) 41. Alex Lifeson Highlight: “Working Man” (with Rush) 42. Steve Morse Highlight: “Punk Sandwich” (with Dixie Dregs) 43. Buddy Guy 44. Peter Green 45. Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott Highlight: “Floods” (with Pantera) 46. Kurt Cobain Highlight: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (with Nirvana) 47. Rory Gallagher 48. Richard Thompson 49. Bo Diddley 50. Django Reinhardt 51. Eric Johnson Highlight: “Cliffs of Dover” 52. Steve Howe Highlight: “Starship Trooper” (with Yes) 53. Scotty Moore 54. Joe Perry Highlight: “Walk This Way” (with Aerosmith) 55. Mick Taylor 56. Billy Gibbons Highlight: “Sharp Dressed Man” (with ZZ Top) 57. Buckethead Highlight: “Nottingham Lace” 58. Albert King 59. Gary Moore Highlight: “Still in Love with You” (with Thin Lizzy) 60. Freddie King 61. Phil Keaggy 62. Jack White 63. James Burton 64. T-Bone Walker 65. Mike Bloomfield 66. Marty Friedman Highlight: “Tornado of Souls (with Megadeth) 67. Wes Montgomery 68. Mick Ronson Highlight: “Moonage Daydream” (with David Bowie) 69. Eddie Hazel Highlight: “Maggot Brain” (with Funkadelic) 70. Michael Schenker Highlight: “Rock Bottom” (with UFO) 71. Dickey Betts Highlight: “Jessica” (with the Allman Brothers Band) 72. Jonny Greenwood Highlight: “Paranoid Android” (with Radiohead) 73. Charlie Christian Highlight: “Solo Flight” (with Benny Goodman) 74. Zakk Wylde Highlight: “No More Tears” (with Ozzy Osbourne) 75. Allan Holdsworth Highlight: “Devil take the Hindmost” 76. Joey Ramone 77. John Fahey 78. Link Wray 79. Johnny Marr 80. Warren Haynes 81. Johnny Winter Highlight: “Highway 61 Revisited” 82. Dick Dale Highlight: “Miserlou” (Dick Dale & the Del-Tones) 83. Glenn Tipton Highlight: “Beyond the Realms of Death” (with Judas Priest) 84. Derek Trucks 85. Roy Buchanan 86. Neal Schon Highlight: “Any Way You Want It” (with Journey) 87. Humbert Sumlin 88. Paul Gilbert Highlight: “Price You Gotta Pay” (with Mr. Big) 89. Adrian Smith Highlight: “Powerslave” (with Iron Maiden) 90. Ace Frehley Highlight: “Shock Me” (with Kiss) 91. Tom Verlaine 92. Leslie West 93. Robin Trower Highlight: “Bridge of Sighs” 94. Mike McCready Highlight: “Alive” (with Pearl Jam) 95. Dave Davies Highlight: “You Really Got Me” (with The Kinks) 96. Danny Gatton 97. Andres Segovia 98. Richie Sambora 99. Ron Asheton 100. Dave Murray Highlight: “2 Minutes to Midnight” (with Iron Maiden) Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories About.com’s 100 Greatest Guitar Solos AssociatedContent.com Top 10 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by Dennis Lindsay (12/29/08) BBC News Zeppelin voted ‘ideal supergroup’ (7/10/05) Roughly 3500 music fans were polled at Planet Rock Radio for best singer, guitarist, bassist, and drummer. The top 10 of each are listed. Buzzle.com Greatest Guitar Players. By Batul Nafisa Baxamusa. (4/13/10) Unranked list of 10 with commentaries. Another 15 with no commentary. Looks like a webzine. Buzzle.com Famous Jazz and Rock Guitarists. By Madhura P. (date?) Commentary on only 5 guitarists (although another 11 are listed) and all from the rock genre, not jazz. Digital Dream Door 100 Greatest Rock Guitarists. Edited by Andreas Haukenes, Jeffrey P., George F., and gminer. (5/11/10) List has no commentaries, but links to Nutsie.com where you can hear songs. Digital Dream Door 100 Greatest Guitarists (All Genres). Edited by George. (2/13/08) This is an all-genre list with no commentaries, but links to Nutsie.com where you can hear songs. List actually includes 200 guitarists. Digital Dream Door’s 100 Greatest Rock Guitar Solos edited by Eric/Lew (5/15/05) EduBook.com The Greatest Guitarists of All Time. By Phil Dotree. (10/24/09) Top 5 ranked list with commentaries. Gibson.com Top 50 Guitarists of All Time. By various writers. (5/28/10) List was compiled by votes over a month’s time. The end result is a ranked list with multiple ties and commentaries written by various writers. As the site indicates, votes came from the Gibson.com readers’ poll as well as Paolo Bassotti, Dave Hunter, Jeff Cease (Black Crowes), James Williamson (Iggy & The Stooges), Steve Mazur (Our Lady Peace), Martin Belmont (Graham Parker & The Rumour), and writers Ellen Barnes, Sean Dooley, Ted Drozdowski, Russell Hall, Arlen Roth, Andrew Vaughan, Aidin Vaziri, Bryan Wawzenek, Michael Wright. Guitar World 30 on 30: The Greatest Guitarists Picked by the Greatest Guitarists. By multiple authors. (3/10) In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Guitar World asked 30 different guitarists to comment on a favorite guitarist of theirs. LA Times‘s The 50 Greatest Guitarists Ever (6/10) Unranked list with no commentary but links to videos. Mojo‘s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (6/96) Link is for a ranked list which includes a recommended song or album and indicates the main guitar used by the guitarist. MusicBanter.com 200 Greatest Guitarists in Rock. By Boo Boo. (6/05) List only. No commentary. Site looks like a fan-based billboard. MusiciansFriend.com The 100 Greatest Guitarists Who Ever Lived. By Adam St. James. (year?) List is identified as being from Guitar.com and says the list is based on votes compiled at Guitar.com. A short bio notes that St. James has been the site’s editor and is an author of several instructional guitar books. MyMusicLists.com Best Guitarists of All Time. (2006) Details of list are unclear. This appears to be a site in which fans can vote on favorites. The list includes 51 ranked guitarists, but does not indicate if ranking actually came from fan votes. There are brief comments from users. PhilBrodieBand.com Greatest Guitarists. (2005) Page offers multiple lists (acoustic, blues, hard rock/heavy metal, jazz, R&B/soul, rock) which are identified as being from DigitalDreamDoor.com, but these same lists do not appear to be on that site. All lists are ranked without commentary. Most are top 100 lists, except for the hard rock/heavy metal and R&B/soul, which are top 30 lists. RateItAll.com Best Guitarists of All Time. (Originated 1/19/04) This ranked list appears to be generated by voter ratings and reviews. Clicking on a guitarist’s name takes one to a page with voters’ comments. List is apparently ongoing with more comments and ratings being added. RateYourMusic.com 25 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. By Fatman (10/12/06) Site allows users to generate lists. This ranked list offers brief commentaries. Rolling Stone‘s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. (2003?) This ranked list, with commentary, is difficult to navigate on the Rolling Stone site since each guitarist has a separate page. To just see the list, check out TheInsider.com. Piero Scarufi, Greatest Rock Guitarists of All Times (1999) This is a list only with no commentary. For no explained reason, there are 53 guitarists in ranked list followed by another 100 names in no perceivable order. Squidoo.com The Top 100 Guitarists of All Time. (year?) Ranked list with no commentary. List appears to have been generated by original author and then others could vote on it. Author and date not identified. Time Magazine The 10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players. By Josh Tyrangiel (year?) Short list with only one-sentence commentaries. The-Top-Tens.com Greatest Guitarists Ever. (year?) This top 100 ranked list offers brief comments from site visitors. List appears to be voter-generated. TopTenz.net Top 10 Greatest Guitar Players. By Clarence F. (2008?) Top 10 ranked list with commentaries and video for each guitarist. Total Guitarist Magazine The Top 100 Guitarists. (8/3/02) Top 100 ranked list with no commentary. Voted on by Total Guitar readers. First posted 11/23/2011; last updated 1/25/2022.