The 100 Most Influential Guitar Heroes

We look beyond just the ‘usual supects’ who top polls, and bring you the guitarists who really made a difference, plus some relatively new kids on the six-string block. Including…

Afew months ago, our sister mag Total Guitar ran a reader vote to ascertain the Greatest Guitarist Of All Time. It’s a heady task, and one we’d wager most selfrespecting music and/or guitar magazines and websites have had a stab at (we certainly have here at Classic Rock over the years in one format or another). Coming in at top of the shop for TG was none other than the Queen maestro Brian May. A superb choice, and certainly not one we have any truck with. But their list got us to thinking…

Rock’n’roll is littered with amazing, fascinating, genre-defying men and women who have picked up an instrument with six strings and reinvented the course of musical history. Players who have not only played and written the most amazing riffs, songs and solos, but who have used the guitar to create new sounds, or even invented new ways to play or tune it. What of those guitarists who have inspired and continue to inspire? Those who don’t always get the kudos they deserve? And thus the idea of this issue’s rundown was born.

So how did we do it? Well, first of all we took a look at many different ‘Best Guitarist’ lists and realised that the same half-a-dozen names always occupied the top spots. Deservedly. You can’t deny the power and influence of Page, Hendrix, EVH, Beck, BB, Clapton or May (who rightly made the Top 10 of every ‘greatest guitarist’ list you could think of, from Rolling Stone to Guitar World and beyond), and they’re included here, but they’re not our focus. We wanted to celebrate those who don’t usually make the top spots. The players who have influenced and continue to influence the course of rock’n’roll.

So, in consultation with the Classic Rock writers and experts from Total Guitar, Guitar World, Guitarist and Guitar Player magazines, we put together our list of influential players.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but the funny thing about guitar playing is that you can’t really rate it,” Dr May told TG. So this issue we haven’t. We’re just celebrating it!