The 100 Most Influential Guitarists Of All Time
Afew weeks back, TG conducted a poll on guitarworld.com to get your views on the most influential guitarists of all time. Now, admittedly, it’s a tricky question to answer. Let’s face it, influence is a difficult quality to assess – but you didn’t disappoint! In just a few short days of our poll being public, over 25,000 votes were cast.
Over the next 30 or so pages we run you through the results. Alongside the poll listings you’ll find new interviews with a raft of star guitarists who explain the impact and inspiration these trailblazers had on their own playing. Jon Gomm, Eric Gales, Kirk Hammett and many more are featured.
We also acknowledge the lasting influence of innovators in gear design – greats such as Leo Fender, Les Paul and many more who have shaped the way we play.
Finally, make sure you’ve got your guitar to hand. We’ve produced 12 tab lessons on the styles of some of those great players for you follow. It all starts over the page…
30 Joni Mitchell
By Jon Gomm
36 Gary Moore By Joe Bonamassa
40 James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett
By Mark Tremonti
CONTENTS
46 Gear Gurus TG’s pick of the most influential gear designers
49 Gear Mods Get more from your electric guitar
50 Tony Iommi By Mikael Åkerfeldt
54 Jimmy Page
By Nita Strauss
56 Eric Clapton
By Scott Holiday
60 Eddie Van Halen
By Paul Gilbert and Wolfgang Van Halen
64 Jimi Hendrix
By Eric Gales and Kirk Hammett
100 JOHN MCGEOCH
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, McGeoch, from Greenock in Scotland, shaped the sound of post-punk guitar in two of the key groups of that era, Magazine and Siouxsie And The Banshees. “He was into sound in an almost abstract way,” Siouxsie said, and this unconventional approach made McGeoch hugely influential for generations of alternative rock players, from Johnny Marr, The Edge and The Cure’s Robert Smith to John Frusciante and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien. James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers hailed McGeoch as “a genius”. What he created, Bradfield said, was “a new version of rock ’n’ roll.”
99 WAYNE KRAMER
Playing lead in the MC5, Kramer’s ferocious energy was closer to punk than classic rock, years before punk was born.
98 JOHN SQUIRE
On The Stone Roses’ 1989 self-titled debut, Squire’s jangly tones and arpeggios over Madchester drum beats sounded truly unique.
97 GREG GINN
In the early ’80s, Black Flag defined American hardcore punk, and Ginn’s brutalist guita
