paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

Glad to see you included Carlos Santana. His control of the strings will amaze you. Check out his best, "Bella" and I will need to say no more.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Some obvious omissions -- Roy Clark was the best Country strummer yet Willy made the list, Glen Campbell was pretty good also.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Sorry Brian, but your title should read, "The 43 greatest ROCK guitarists of all time, ranked".
Mark

Bison Bud

Wow, I'd have to disagree with much of this listing, especially some of the rankings. Not sure what criteria they used here, but it doesn't seem to have a lot to do with actual technical ability in playing the guitar. More probably popularity as guitar playing musicians instead and even that is pretty objective. However, they did list some of my favorites such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, & Eddie Van Halen. Now those guys can play! Personally, I'd have to rank Lee Ritnour, primarily a studio and jazz guitarist, as one of the top 3 of all time, at least before his hand was crushed. He did rehabilitate and continue to play, but never quite the same, still better than Joni Mitchell ever was! I also think that Gary Richrath, guitarist for REO Speedwagon, should have at least made the list. I saw them live once years ago and was totally blown away by his guitar work. I swear the man actually made the guitar speak actual words. Anyway, I guess this whole thing is pretty subjective and it was interesting to check out the list. Thanks for sharing!

Rascal gene

What about Leo Kottke?

Rascal gene

What about Leo Kottke ?

Mi630

A greatest guitar players list that doesn’t have Joe Bonamassa on it isn’t worth the paper it is written on.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Before I look at the list, I know two things: I won't recognize many of the names; I'll wonder why someone wasn't listed higher up.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I would have ranked David Gilmor greater than #25.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

It looks to me like Rock and Blues, but then we're missing Robert Johnson.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Neil Young? Not even in the top 1000.

Bayou

Some of these people were in great bands, or were great singers, or great song writers, were very well known, but were very ordinary guitarists. There are MANY guitarists out there who are much more skilled than many on this list. Clark, Kotke, Pass, Campbell, Ritenour, Montgomery, Di Meola come quickly to mind.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

I agree. Frankly, I was disappointed in that list. Glen Campbell surely should have been included and ranked near the top of the list along with Roy Clark and what about Django Reinhardt?

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

I agree.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

How the hell did they leave out Steve Howe of YES??? He won Guitar Player's Guitarist of the Year award five times in a row, and they had to disqualify him from the running just to give someone else a chance! Listen to any YES album recorded from 1970 to 1977 and I think you'll understand.

Steve was at least as good live as he was in studio, as were the rest of the band. Fifty years after Close to the Edge was released, people are still discovering it for the first time and marveling at the musicianship on it. It is an extremely complex, dense, roller-coaster ride from start to finish. Listen with headphones in a dark room. It's been hailed as one of the top five progressive rock albums of all time, by some of the best authorities in the recording industry and many music professors.

I'd probably not rank these guitarists, anyway, because that would just be someone's personal taste. Besides, it's really just a popularity contest. There are hundreds of thousands of competent guitarists who never get their work recorded, or get to play in a stadium.

Then there are the bass guitar players who support the rest of bands. I'd love to see a list of them! I'd start with Chris Squire, Jaco Pastorius, Ron Carter, Tal Wilkenfeld, Kinga Głyk, Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Charles Mingus, Les Claypool, John Paul Jones, Rhonda Smith, John Entwistle... Any and all of these can play or have played bass as a lead instrument. There are dozens more great bassists.