Rolling Stone's List of Best Guitarists / myLot

Austin, Texas

March 17, 2017 8:38pm CST

Rolling Stone Magazine likes to publish all kinds of lists, but since my hubby likes to play guitar if I find a list labeled “100 Best Guitarists”, picked by the “experts”, I have to peek. Went through the entire list and there were so many names I did not even recognize. Below are the names I did recognize and I agree with the ranking. However, there were only two ladies on the list and I sort of think that blond chick who played with Michael Jackson should at least be given honorable mention. Have to say “blond chick” because I don't know her name. Also, John Mayer is not on the list. But it's a forgivable sin because the list is dated 2015. 96. Bruce Springsteen 93. Paul Simon 89. Bonnie Raitt 80. Buddy Holly 77. Willie Nelson 75. Joni Mitchell 73. Kurt Cobain 65. Slash 55. John Lennon 49. Muddy Waters 44. Mark Knopfler 35. John Lee Hooker 34. Curtis Mayfield 33. Prince 27. Bo Diddley 22. Frank Zappa 21. Chet Atkins 20. Carlos Santana 18. Les Paul 17. Neil Young 12. Stevie Ray Vaughan 11. George Harrison 8. Eddie Van Halen 7. Chuck Berry 6. B.B. King 5. Jeff Beck 4. Keith Richards 3. Jimmy Page 2. Eric Clapton 1. Jimi Hendrix Don't agree with Jimi Hendrix being given first place? I do. He deserves Number One, if for no other reason than his version of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

100 Greatest Guitarists

www.rollingstone.com

Find out who our panel of top guitarists and other experts picked

5 people like this

5 responses

Anne Marie Guyer

@LeaPea2417 (40052)

• Toccoa, Georgia

18 Mar 17

The best one that I don't see in the top 20, who should be in the top 5 or number one is Alex Lifeson.

2 people like this

Four Walls

@FourWalls (86778)

• United States

18 Mar 17

Lifeson was #98 on the list. He was also one of the judges for the list.

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cmoneyspinner

@cmoneyspinner (9218)

• Austin, Texas

18 Mar 17

@FourWalls - Guess he wanted to be humble.

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Anna

@LadyDuck (502653)

• Italy

18 Mar 17

In my opinion Kimi Hendrix is overrated, he was good, but I prefer Eric Clapton.

1 person likes this

cmoneyspinner

@cmoneyspinner (9218)

• Austin, Texas

18 Mar 17

The irony is that Eric Clapton gave place to Jimi Hendrix and thought he was the better musician. I think Eric Clapton is very humble with respect to his own ability. My husband came across a very old TV show and video taped it to show it to me. He laughs and says to me: “I'll bet you don't know who that guy is.” I looked and looked at this skinny young kid holding a guitar standing next to Johnny Cash and I'm like: “Is that Eric Clapton?” He's like: “Yeah! That's a young Eric Clapton and he was invited to play with Johnny Cash!” WHOA! Talk about a moment in music history!

1 person likes this

Anna

@LadyDuck (502653)

• Italy

18 Mar 17

@cmoneyspinner Humble people are usually a lot better of those considered the best.

1 person likes this

Four Walls

@FourWalls (86778)

• United States

18 Mar 17

I don't take ANYTHING from Rolling Stone seriously. I'll tell you why, too: in the 80s they gave every Warren Zevon album high marks...even to the point of saying Stand in the Fire was the best live album ever and the album of the year for 1980. So the "best albums of all time" list comes out and where is Zevon? NOWHERE. Worse, albums that they badmouthed when they came out were now in the list. How'd that happen? Simple: putting an album that sold 12 million copies will sell more magazines than an album they claimed was better but only sold 130,000 copies. As for the list, there's one country player on it -- Chet Atkins. You could dig Jerry Reed up and his corpse could outplay half the people on the list, but he's not mentioned. And no Django = no credibility to me. And no, I'm not a Hendrix fan. I understand that he did "new things" but it wasn't -- and still isn't -- my cup of tea.

1 person likes this

cmoneyspinner

@cmoneyspinner (9218)

• Austin, Texas

18 Mar 17

I knew you'd say that! Just kidding.