Downing, KK

JEFF HANNEMAN & KERRY KING

Together they set the bar for speed and brutality in riffing. King’s dissonant, chaotic solos match Slayer’s songs perfectly.

NUNO BETTENCOURT

While others imitated Eddie, Nuno took his ideas to new places. His devastating syncopation gave Extreme funk where their peers had none.

ACE FREHLEY

Every American rocker’s childhood hero, Ace gave Kiss an endless supply of repurposed Chuck Berry licks. And he could FLY.

WES BORLAND

One of the few truly innovative postKorn nu metallers, his Limp Bizkit work used tapping, whammy and 7-strings creatively.

GEORGE LYNCH

The Dokken man mastered playing ‘wrong’ notes the right way in a metal context. His sideways vibrato was much imitated.

DEVIN TOWNSEND

With one of the most devoted fanbases on earth, few musicians have produced a back catalogue so varied, creative or extreme.

MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT & FREDRIK ÅKESSON

It’s rare to find chops and melody together in such abundance as on Opeth’s albums. Their tone and vibrato are killer.

JIM ROOT & MICK THOMSON

Nu metal albums used computer editing to place every note millisecond perfect, but the Slipknot pair have the tightness to reproduce it live.

MUNKY & HEAD

The first band to realise 7-string guitars’ metal potential, Korn ushered in the sound of the 90s.

BRENT HINDS & BILL KELLIHER

As well as making terrifying rhythms sound easy, the Mastodon duo bring classic rock tone and licks to metal.

FREDRIK THORDENDAL & MÅRTEN HAGSTRÖM

The djent innovators revolutionised ideas of how heavy it’s possible to be, with rhythms so complex many fans still don’t understand them.