Here we go again: Rolling Stone announces 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time list.

[bluesbassman]

This list usually brings out some heated debate. I'll start with Chuck Berry. While he was certainly a pioneer in rock, and a master showman, his technique was pretty sloppy and one dimensional. Top 100? Maybe. Top 10? No way.

Here's the top ten.
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Eric Clapton
3. Jimmy Page
4. Keith Richards
5. Jeff Beck
6. B.B. King
7. Chuck Berry
8. Eddie Van Halen
9. Duane Allman
10. Pete Townshend

Complete list here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123

[mokawanis]

1. I hope Richard Thompson made the list n/t

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. He did...#69. n/t

[ClusterFreak]

3. I was just about to start a thread about this...

...you beat me to it! :hippie:

The first thing that struck me was where they put Rush virtuoso guitarist Alex Lifeson...at number 98. Talk about :wtf: How Rolling Stone had him barely crack the list is mind boggling. The perfomance he (and Geddy and Neil for that matter) give on La Villa Strangiato alone is enough to put him in the top half of the top 5 at least. Check out this live performance from 1979: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78D00dYOBrM


Meanwhile, John Lennon is at 55. Now...the Beatles and Lennon have no bigger fan than me...however....Lennon, by his own admission, was not a great guitarist by any stretch. Not only that, he was by trade a rhythm player, not a lead. He played lead occasionally - as he did most notably perhaps on Get Back - but I would have to say he doesn't belong anywhere on this list. He was a brilliant melodist and lyricist of course...not someone who belongs on a list of the best 100 rock guitarists ever.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. Looks like they're making amends for their legendary snub of Joe Walsh.

A few years ago, another "greatest guitarists" article (Hendrix was on the cover), and Walsh didn't make the list. He was pretty vocal about it, too.

I saw Chuck Berry in 1971 at the Boston Music Hall (opening act for the Flo & Eddie version of Frank Zappa's band). My brother got us there late...I only saw the last song...but it was "Johnny B. Goode," and I've gotta tell you...I've never seen THAT version of Chuck Berry before or after that night. He really DID play the guitar like he was ringing a bell...he did the splits, he did the duck walk, and he just fucking SCREAMED on guitar.

I saw him in the mid-70s on a double bill with Little Richard and he should have been fucking ASHAMED of himself. A horrifically out-of-tune "Roll Over Beethoven" (both his vocals AND his guitar), "School Days" (which I've always considered to be one of his lesser hits) and a 15 minute, sloppy "My Ding A Ling." That was IT, a 20 minute set. Then Little Richard came out and blew the roof off the place, playing every one of his signature hits and working the crowd like a master showman. He had the full pompadour and wore that jumpsuit covered in mirrors. One woman wanted to take his picture and he posed for her and gave her that smile, asking "Am I beautiful enough for you?"

:rofl:

There are a few things that have contributed to Berry's bad attitude (and resulting sloppy performances), starting with his time behind bars. I saw an interview with Carl Perkins once in which he said that he asked Chuck, point blank, "What happened?" He had "The Great 28"...that phenomenal string of hits...and it ground to a halt. Berry replied "If I don't tell you, can we still be friends?"

Some say that keyboard player Johnny Johnson played a SIGNIFICANTLY larger role in Berry's career than was ever acknowledged, and if you look at the timeline, the party was over right around the time that Johnson left his band.

:toast:

54 Joe Walsh

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123/joe-walsh-19691231

In Cleveland power trio the James Gang, Joe Walsh combined Who-style fury with Yardbirds-style technical fireworks and R&B crunch, notably on 1970's "Funk #49." The humor in Walsh's bluesy facility came out in the talk-box flight on his '73 solo hit "Rocky Mountain Way." But it was when he joined the Eagles in 1975 that he truly lodged himself on classic-rock radio. Walsh brought a hard-rock edge to the Eagles' easygoing pop songs, creating a series of indestructible licks in the process: See his staccato-snarl riff in "Life in the Fast Lane" and his elegant aggression in the dueling-guitars section of "Hotel California." Walsh influenced the Who's 1971 classic, Who's Next, although he didn't play a note on it: He gave Pete Townshend, as a gift, the 1959 Gretsch Chet Atkins guitar that Townshend played all over that album. Townshend later repaid the favor while talking to Rolling Stone in 1975: "Joe Walsh is a fluid and intelligent player. There're not many like that around."

Key Tracks: "Rocky Mountain Way," "Funk #49"

[Tom Ripley]

6. I find Berry's "I don't give a fuck" attitude to be very endearing

after all, He IS Chuck Berry.
Complaining about his output after the golden age is like asking Mark Twain, "What's wrong with you, man? Why don't you write another The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Don't you give a damn?"

Johnson played a huge role in Berry's career.

[6000eliot]

15. And, he likes to watch the ladies pooping,

so there's that.

[Tom Ripley]

17. Granted that is much freakier than sharks and hotel rooms

but then again, he is the King of Rockandroll

[Tom Ripley]

5. And it is ALWAYS the usual suspects

[Bennyboy]

7. What a JOKE...

Seriously Garcia is in the 70's? Trey isn't even mentioned? BB Higher than Freddie or Albert?

[bluesbassman]

8. Rory Gallagher at #57,and Johnnie Winter at #63!

No knock on George Harrison, but they have him at at 11?, edging out SRV?

I'd love to see how the scoring model was set up for this.

[Bennyboy]

10. Yeah.

Always a weird thing these lists...

[Release The Hounds]

9. No Kirk Hammett?

[madrchsod]

11. well that list is a joke

[Dennis Donovan]

36. Agreed...

[limpyhobbler]

12. Chuck Berry has to be on there

because he was so influential upon the following generation of guitar players, including the big names like the Stones and the Beatles. I don't think it would be cool to have Keith Richards in the top 10 without Chuck Berry since so much of what Keith Richards did was copied from Chuck Berry.

[Tom Ripley]

16. Agreed. Keith also simplifies the voicings when he plays Berry songs

[michreject]

13. That list is a joke

Neil young at 17 while Dicky Betts at 61.

Ron Ashton at 60?????????????

No Alvin Lee. WTF.

[Tom Ripley]

18. Ron Ashton belongs on there, but so does James Williamson

who is actually a better guitar player.
I find it ludicrous that Joe Perry is on that list, but Wagner and Hunter are not. Especially since Dick and Steve played LOTS of Perry's parts on the first few Aerosmith records.

[LynneSin]

14. Sorry, this list is crap for putting Jimmy Page at #3 - you know he is without a doubt #1

nuff said!

[EastTennesseeDem]

19. John Lennon > Jack White

Neil Young > Carlos Santana
Pete Townshend > Stevie Ray Vaughan
All of them > Robert Johnson

Look, I love all those musicians, but really?

[CJCRANE]

20. Move over, Rover...

[Richardo]

21. Too bad they stopped recording music in 1977

:eyes:

[av8rdave]

22. What a lousy list!

Alex Lifeson not in the top 20? Tommy Emmanuel not even on the list? SRV not #1?

And Curt Cobain? Please! Nirvana was incredible, but Cobain was no guitar virtuoso.

RS, go back and get it right!

[NoGOPZone]

23. Page third? Third best Yardbirds guitarist is more like it.

Glad to see Rolling Stone finally got around to acknowledging Albert King, who I think was left out last time. Where is John Cippolina?

[DFW]

24. To leave off Leo Kottke is like starting an airplane with no left wing

What Clapton and Hendrix are to the electric guitar, Kottke is to the acoustic 12 string.

I was glad to see Kottke's mentor and sponsor, John Fahey, on the list, but a list of
100 great guitarists without Leo Kottke is inaccurate. Hell, a list of the top ten
greatest guitarists without Kottke is inaccurate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQhGEo8X-8I&feature=related

and one of the same tunes after he abandoned finger picks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKSSN_KfJ60

[flvegan]

25. Tom Morello at #40? No Angus Young? Are they high?

[av8rdave]

32. I thought I saw Angus on the list

I wish there was a way to just look at the list in a simple list format.

I would certainly rate Angus as the number one guitarist of all time who wears shorts.

[Ohio Joe]

26. Zappa at 22?

Fools.

[ornotna]

27. Johnny Ramone is at 28

:rofl:

And Alvin Lee or Peter Haycock not on the list. :banghead:

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. Richard Thompson should be higher than #69...

but then Johnny Marr should he higher than #51, too. Chuck Berry belongs in the top ten, no question. Massively influential. But then if we're talking about not only technical skill but also influence Muddy Waters and Albert King belong in the top ten, too. And how is Keith Richards at #4?

[ElboRuum]

29. Rolling Stone, for me at least...

Stopped being authoritative in the field of music quite some time ago. I wouldn't give a squirt of piss what they think about anything musically related even if I had a bladder so full it hurt.

[Tom Ripley]

30. I agree. I would like to see a "ride a dead horse" race between Jan Wenner and Lorne Michaels

Wait a minute...I have been seeing that race for a long time. A very long time.

[Mudoria]

31. David Gilmour rates lower than Keith Richards?????

[digonswine]

33. OHH! Buddy at 23!

[blue neen]

34. Nancy Wilson should be on that list.

Nancy, :yourock:

[Kat45]

35. Interesting that a lot of musicians/guitarists were the ones who voted on these.

I didn't look at the whole list yet because I don't have the time right now to click on each one individually. (Why can't they just give us a list?) At least I'm not totally cringing at the top 10 like I often do, but I would put Jeff Beck higher than he is.