The 50 Greatest Guitarists, Who's Missing?

who would you say are the 50 greatest guitarists of all time well I pulled up the first Google search result for this query and today I'm going to be giving you my opinions for better for worse off the top of my head about each one of these musicians starting with number 50 Robert Fripp King Crimson and if I'm correct you also came up with a weird way of tuning your guitar in like fifths or something I don't have much of an opinion here I've listened to very little King Crimson I don't know is this someone I need to get more familiar with number 49 John McLaughlin honestly I'm not the biggest fan um he's an extraordinary talent but not for me I heard enough long extended jazz fusion guitar solos in music school to last me a lifetime number 48 Steve Morris oh man I'm not gonna go and look these guys up so you're gonna see some embarrassing holes in my uh musical knowledge or some deep purple or was it yes I think he isn't Ernie Ball signature guitar um this is all I know story to the Steve Morris fans 47 Peter Green pretty sure he was in Fleetwood Mac at some point and I also think that Kirk Hammett owns a Les Paul that he used to own or something like that I suspect I'd recognize songs that he played on and it would be an oh that's Peter Green type of thing but if you asked me to name one off the top my head I would not be able to do that oh here we go Robin Trower I'm a fan when I worked at the music store one of the guys there lent me the bridge of size album which is just good British rock and roll um I remember sitting with my guitar learning his licks and quite enjoying those songs though I haven't listened to that album for quite some time despite the fact that he's ranked the 46 greatest guitarists of all time by this list I feel like he's maybe underappreciated moving on Tom Morello I've talked about Tom Morello before and I love everything he did with Rage Against the Machine and I quite enjoyed the Audio Slave songs but I find that the guitar solos he did with that band just really really don't work for me and I know a lot of people disagree with me on this because one time I challenged myself in a video to redo the Like a Stone solo which is one that I really don't like and uh yeah there were some rather colorful comments on that video number 44 Paul Gilbert he's an absolute freak of nature uh he took the shred guitar thing to a whole other level and I've actually done a number of his exercises to try to up my playing but uh I'm very much not the target market for the music that he makes and if it's not clear at this point it will become quite clear throughout this video that instrumental guitar music for the most part is not my thing on the flip side Malcolm Young this is one of my guys I've been an AC DC fan for years says riffs were some of the first things I ever learned on guitar and as I've gotten older I've really come to appreciate just how tight and groovy his playing is I love the role that Malcolm played yeah Angus is a star but Malcolm was the glue that held everything together and now whenever I put on AC DC songs I really find that my ear gravitates towards the parts that he played 42 George Harrison The Beatles are one of if not my favorite band and I love that you can hear his progression from an amateur to amazing songwriter throughout their career he knew he wasn't the best guitarist out there I mean in the get back documentary at one point he mentions that there are things that the Beatles should just get Eric Clapton to do because George couldn't do it but whatever limitations George had are kind of what made him great he had to play from the heart and come up with things that were simple yet beautiful he wouldn't go on elongated impressive guitar solos but the things that he did come up with are things that only a true artist ever would play number 41 Michael Schenker uh one of my guitar store buddies once gave me a burnt Michael Shanker group DVD that just said MSG on it I don't think that I ever watched it however whenever I hear about the MSG seasoning or see Madison Square Garden abbreviated I think of the Michael Shanker group I have no other opinions beside that and that's not even really an opinion all right 10 down and I'm going to take a quick second here to let you know that I've got some new merch available over my merch store shop Samurai guitarist.com the anime guitar playing Samurai is one of my favorite designs I've done it's the 90s cartoon I always wish existed there's a variety of sizes styles and colors as well as a number of other designs at shop Samurai guitarist.com picking up some of that sweet sweet Sammy G merch is not only a great way to look good but also it really supports what I do here so check that out I've got some links in the description anyways let's get back to it number 40 on our list is Dwayne Allman he's like the Jimi Hendrix of slide he made the thing absolutely sing and for me it's always a treat to hear him play he inspired so many great players and at some point in my life if I ever find time I would like to buy an SG tune it to open e and learn as much as I possibly can from him 39 Paul kossoff I've heard the name I think he was big in the 70s I don't know like there's a lot of guitar players out there like you can't possibly be familiar with all them and Paul kosov is one of them that I'm not familiar with number 38 Keith Richards maybe the greatest riff maker of all time I mean think of how many Timeless pieces of music came out of that guy's fingers I'm a Stones fan and one of the things I particularly enjoy is listening to the interplay between what him and Ron Wood would do I remember being a kid watching Rolling Stones footage and just thinking like Keith Richards is the coolest guy in the world that's one of the reasons why I want to play guitar moving on Billy Gibbons you know I don't have a good reason for it but I was never really a big ZZ Top fan however Samurai Jenny is quite a big fan and as an extension our two-year-old has come to listen to them quite a bit and is always asking for us to put on ZZ so since then I've come to quite enjoy them and I feel like Billy Gibbons is perfect at what he does number 36 Joe Bonamassa you know I've gone through phases of really enjoying him I've seen him in concert which was an absolute delay I've got nothing but respect for what he does and I actually played one of his songs in my final Music School recital but there's something about him that's not quite for me it's almost like he's too good the raw gritty beautiful emotion in the Blues is something that draws me in and with Joe it's almost like he's too perfect which is a testament to him as a guitar player he's objectively amazing but for me after the initial awe wore off I don't find myself seeking how to stuff all that much number 35 Mick Taylor really he's ranked higher than Keith Richards I quite enjoy the stone stuff uh he played on but I would not have expected him on this list maybe he had more influence than he's given credit for I don't know maybe it's a shame he's kind of an afterthought when it comes to talking about the Rolling Stones next up is Dave Mustaine I'm not a metal guy by any means I don't think I can name a single Megadeth song I do enjoy some early Metallica stuff though I'm not sure when he left so yeah not much of an opinion here 33 James Hetfield seems good at what he does I see the last response number 32 Pete Townsend from the who one of the game changers as far as rock and roll songwriting goes and he's definitely one of my favorite songwriters uh his guitar playing serve the songs perfectly and it might be might be down by semantics here but I think of him more as a great artist and songwriter more than a great guitarist number 31 Kirk Hammett I feel like the only reason Pete Townsend is where he is on this list is because the writers realize that they had three Metallica guitarists in a row and wanted to break it up uh Kirk does his job well but I don't know I've never listened to one of the solos and felt like I had a desire to learn it number 30 Chuck Berry Pioneer one of the most important figures in rock and roll one of the most influential people ever to touch the instrument it's just a dang shame that you gotta bring up the weird and downright ugly personal stuff whenever you talk about them 29 Steve Howe was he in yes or was Steve Morrison yes with Steve Howe and Deep Purple or was he in Kansas or something oh man guitar Steves are occupying the same space in my mind oh yeah Irish Wonder Rory Gallagher so Samurai dad actually showed me Rory Gallagher when I was quite Young I feel like maybe they even met a bunch of times when my dad was working at a radio station he used to play Rory Gallagher quite a lot and as a result Rory had a strangely large fandom in my hometown uh this might be a false memory I will have to consult with my dad but uh yeah big fan of Rory brilliant Blues Man next up is Zack Wilde he's great I saw him with Ozzy the night before my grade 11 biology exam instead of studying not really my jam but he's just so good at what he does and in certain doses I can thoroughly enjoy Frank Zappa uh one of the most brilliant rock and roll musicians ever one of the few guys that I would put in that genius category with him the ability to make extraordinarily unique weird and complex music digestible through his sense of humor and social commentary is something that I will always appreciate with Frank and he also put out so much music as a guitarist he's kind of like a weird kid who sat in the corner of the classroom doing things by himself and then he turned around with his art project and you're like oh wow that's actually awesome I've tried to learn some Zappa solos and really struggle with it because he just like thinks and phrases music in such a unique and cool way 25 Yngwie Malmsteen absolutely jaw dropping for 30 seconds but that's about all I can handle 24 John Petrucci I couldn't name you a Dream Theater song there have been times where people tried to show me stuff but yeah it's just not for me next up is Prince I love Prince as musician performance songwriter his guitar at work is super funky and this might be a bit of a controversial opinion but uh yeah I'm not the biggest fan of the solos his records are some of my favorites and this may be sacrilege but I could do without the 10 minute Purple Rain solos if I saw him in concert that probably would have been where I would have gotten a beer number 22 Sinister Gates I feel like I've heard this name but uh yeah that's about all I got 21 Carlos Santana what an interesting career this guy's had he was a guitar God back in the 60s and 70s and those funky Jazzy Latin infused guitar Jam outs are actually an example of like elongated guitar work that I do enjoy but then he came back 30 years later with the guy from Matchbox 20 and a bunch of pop stars and suddenly he was a household name again I've had to learn a bunch of these songs from pop Geeks that I've played on and while it's not like super complicated or anything it's played extremely Tastefully with an Immaculate Touch number 20 Angus Young like I said I love AC DC he is the perfect ball of lead guitar Fury iconic and awesome are two words that come to mind number 19 Dimebag Daryl people love them I don't know much or anything of Pantera so I don't have an opinion here but if you leave me a comment and tell me which Pantera songs I should check out I will do that because I feel like this is a band I need to know more about number 18 BB King he's one of those guys he plays one note and you instantly know it's him I saw him live once and I can tell you he made the guitar absolutely sang everyone who plays the blues has tried to sound like BB King whether they know it or not when I say some guitarists aren't really my thing BB is the opposite of this he is very much my thing 17 Mark Knopfler he's one of my top fives for sure the Dire Straits are one of my favorite bands I've learned a ton of his licks and often find myself thinking what would Mark Knopfler do when I'm trying to come up with my own guitar parts 16. Randy Rhodes an undisputable guitar God and though I'm not the biggest Aussie fan and metal isn't really my thing I can always find time for Randy I feel like he was A Step Above his colleagues 15 Gary Moore he's a blues guy I should probably know more about but I don't I haven't heard a ton of his stuff um but what I have heard I kind of felt similar to how I feel about Joe Bonamassa obviously an incredible talent but kind of getting away from some of the things that Drew me into the blues 14 Tony iomi had a huge impact on the landscape of guitar I like Black Sabbath and I feel like he deserves to be this high up on the list number 13 Joe Satriani I have so much respect for what he can do and him as a musician but I'll be honest I never need to listen to a Joe Satriani album Jeff Beck okay so as far as guys go that make predominantly guitar instrumental stuff Jeff Beck is the guy that I do love listening to he's got an instantly identifiable sound from picking with his fingers to using the whammy bar in place of Ben's and vibrato his phrasing is super cool he is the guitar player who's grown out of guitar instrumental musics guitar player Steve Vai same opinion here as Joe Satriani so I will say I was recently hanging out with a guy who did a session with Steve and uh by all accounts he is a genuinely amazing dude and every bit the musician that you think he is and more alright we're in the top 10 here Richie Blackmore Deep Purple I believe um not really a huge fan or anything but if he improvised some of those iconic solos like the one on Smoke on the Water then uh yeah wow he's got every right to be as high up on this list as he is number nine slash I grew up worshiping slash and Guns and Roses so I'm pretty biased here uh he does what he does and he does it incredibly well I feel like he's the greatest rock star of all time nobody was cooler in the late 80s and early 90s AS Slash but uh yeah nothing but love for me however if someone were to say that they weren't a slash fan I can understand why Alex leifson I'm kind of meh on Rush I've listened to monster catalog I can appreciate it but being Canadian I feel like I should like them more than I do very important in the history of guitar truly one of the greats but yeah Rush never really hooked me in number seven Brian May Queen's amazing Brian is one of the many pieces of Brilliance in that group uh seeing them live at the peak of their career would have been one of those things that if I could pick any concert to see that might be it though I will say there are probably bigger Queen fans out there than I am number six SRV Stevie Ray Vaughan he's my guy of all guitars I've ever listened to his music has probably resonated with me deepest borrowing Texas flood from my guitar teacher when I was like 15 or 16 was one of those things that changed my life forever even some 20 years later like the last couple months I've been learning every note off of that album just because it brings me joy uh I've had to make an effort at times to remind myself that I should find my own voice on the instrument and not just spend all my time trying to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan number five Eric Clapton uh one of the greats with such an amazing career that span like six decades he's made so much incredible music in that time that you just gotta respect them I can find a lot of stuff of his that I really enjoy even though there is a decent amount of fluff in the catalog and some of the stuff on the personal side I don't agree with but uh yeah undeniably one of the greatest to ever pick up the instrument number four David Gilmore one of the few that I would happily listen to play a 20 minute long guitar solo I think but love for me uh his phrasing in touch As Good As It Gets number three Eddie Van Halen So I was never a Van Halen fan per se I don't think I've ever learned any of the songs and certainly I've never learned any of the solos but he completely reshaped the landscape and was an absolute Game Changer everyone knows how great of a solo a study was but his rhythm playing is like deeply underappreciated it's just so groovy and feels so good um of all the musicians whose music I haven't really dissected I feel like Eddie would be the guy I would love to find time to really study number two Jimmy Page Led Zeppelin occupies a similar space in my life as Guns and Roses I grew up learning Jimmy's riffs he's one of the reasons I do what I do uh I love them love Jimmy's work on the records though sometimes his live stuff was a bit sloppy but I mean that's also kind of the excitement and charm but having said that like I would probably flip him and Eddie around this list but uh yeah it's it's a toss-up between the two and who can see this one coming topping the list is Jimi Hendrix you'd have a hard time convincing me that there's any greater guitar player than Hendrix he was the Pioneer everyone who came after Jimmy has been influenced by him whether you know it or not in the chronology of guitar it would make sense to view time as before Hendrix and after Hendrix like he was that important and I'm not going to get into it as why he was the greatest guitarist like that discussion has been done to death instead I'm just going to tell you why I like him so much first of all he wrote some of my favorite songs from driving Rock to beautiful ballads it's like you can hear that he put every ounce of his heart into everything he played or saying like it sounds like pure emotion held bare for the world to hear I also think it's so cool to hear all these things that he came up with pop up in every generation of guitarists that followed like so many guitarists I've spent years studying him and uh the deeper I go the more I know I am so ladies and gentlemen those are the 50 greatest guitar players according to the first Google search result on that topic uh I'm not gonna get into who I thought should have been higher or lower but I do have some thoughts here there are definitely some glaring emissions that showcase the bias at a rock leaning website where a list was voted on by viewers would have it's an egregious sin to leave other early Jazz guys who had a massive influence on Rock like Wes Montgomery Charlie Christian's coming to mind and blues Man like Robert Johnson uh Muddy Waters Buddy Guy these guys essentially carved out the music that everyone on this list is playing so to not have them yeah that's a shame also who's the most recent guy here is it Joe Bonamassa John Mayer John for Shanti Tom Delong inspired an entire generation of guitarists to basically pick up the instrument I get you gotta let some time pass to see what kind of influence these guys really do have but uh I don't know I think this list was being voted on by a certain age demographic and there's no jazz or country guitarist on this list which are two places that the guitar still plays a predominant role like I'm definitely putting Chet Atkins and Vince Gill on my list and perhaps the most glaring emission and I'm not even a big fan but you gotta put Kurt Cobain on this list like I was expecting to see him in the top 10 and the fact that he's not even on here is a bit of a head scratcher anyways let me know in the comments who you think should have made the cut or any other strong opinions you might have on this list or for that matter opinions on my opinions on the list and remember check out some of that Sammy G merch over at shop Samurai guitarist.com picking up a t-shirt or hoodie or something goes a long way in supporting what I do thank you all for watching check out another video like this one hit that link up there an extra big thank you to everyone who supports my channel through patreon if you're new here hit that button subscribe and stay tuned for a wide range of musical content until next time look after yourselves look after each other look after the planet I'm Samurai guitarist and I'll see you again soon [Music]

Channel: samuraiguitarist

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Length: 19min 39sec (1179 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 07 2022