Great Guitarists

Rolling Stone has compiled a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and The Edge has placed a very respectable 24th on the list. Jimi Hendrix was deemed the greatest of all.

58 thoughts on “Great Guitarists

  1. I can’t believe THESE people beat the edge:

    Kurt Cobain – he is not a great guitarist! in fact, Bono is better

    Jack White – the White Stripes?! they are greenhorns

    Jeff Beck – same complaint as Kurt Cobain

    Kirk Hammett of Metallica – nooooo, plus they are anti-MP3

    The rest I either haven’t heard of or I agree with.

  2. I can’t believe THESE people beat the edge:

    Kurt Cobain – he is not a great guitarist! in fact, Bono is better

    Jack White – the White Stripes?! they are greenhorns

    Jeff Beck – same complaint as Kurt Cobain

    Kirk Hammett of Metallica – nooooo, plus they are anti-MP3

    The rest I either haven’t heard of or I agree with.

  3. Have to agree with Bad, I had a similar reaction to those who ranked ahead of Edge, he should have been up there around Keith Richards & Jimmy Page. If it was a list of most CREATIVE guitarists Edge would be near the top with Hendrix. Would have like to seen Jonny Greenwood & Ed O’Brien of Radiohead rank higher as well. Well…if the next album is the guitar masterpiece that Bono is hinting at maybe Edge will get more attention.

  4. Have to agree with Bad, I had a similar reaction to those who ranked ahead of Edge, he should have been up there around Keith Richards & Jimmy Page. If it was a list of most CREATIVE guitarists Edge would be near the top with Hendrix. Would have like to seen Jonny Greenwood & Ed O’Brien of Radiohead rank higher as well. Well…if the next album is the guitar masterpiece that Bono is hinting at maybe Edge will get more attention.

  5. Edge is in the right location, probably top 20 would be appropriate. They did not say “Rock” guitarists so the list is a little quirky. No Steve Miller?
    Townsend, Eddie V, Carlo and Les Paul ALL should eb in the top 20.
    Agree with Fireman, if it was for creativity, Edge is 100% in the top 10!

  6. Edge is in the right location, probably top 20 would be appropriate. They did not say “Rock” guitarists so the list is a little quirky. No Steve Miller?
    Townsend, Eddie V, Carlo and Les Paul ALL should eb in the top 20.
    Agree with Fireman, if it was for creativity, Edge is 100% in the top 10!

  7. Rolling Stone for children anyway. What do you expect?

    I hope Edge drops the minimalist playing ont he next CD…

  8. Rolling Stone for children anyway. What do you expect?

    I hope Edge drops the minimalist playing ont he next CD…

  9. I agree with Fan since ’80. It makes me wonder what the criteria was and who was making the decisions.

  10. I agree with Fan since ’80. It makes me wonder what the criteria was and who was making the decisions.

  11. Good lord, who put that list together? No satriani, vai, and what the hell are dave gilmour and eddie van halen doing so low? i’m glad Edge is where he is, but nothing else on that list makese any sense……

  12. Good lord, who put that list together? No satriani, vai, and what the hell are dave gilmour and eddie van halen doing so low? i’m glad Edge is where he is, but nothing else on that list makese any sense……

  13. Jeff Beck is a pretty sick guitarist. I don’t know if you are confusing him with someone else. The Edge is a solid guitarist. He deserves at least a mid 20’s ranking. Jack White and Corbain should be much lower. The list is pretty much all out of whack though. I guess they have to inflate the ratings of modern pop culture icons like Jack White and Cobain. Otherwise, they’ll put off the with-it, hipster crowd.

  14. Jeff Beck is a pretty sick guitarist. I don’t know if you are confusing him with someone else. The Edge is a solid guitarist. He deserves at least a mid 20’s ranking. Jack White and Corbain should be much lower. The list is pretty much all out of whack though. I guess they have to inflate the ratings of modern pop culture icons like Jack White and Cobain. Otherwise, they’ll put off the with-it, hipster crowd.

  15. i cannot imagine bono is a better guitarist than kurt cobain.
    i remember mojo magazine made a similar list couple years back, which jimi hendrix also topped, edge was in #33 or #37, just above prince. this time #24, what a step forward!
    i really think edge was more outstading in 80’s than 90’s, i am not talking about the tecnique, but…do you really think ‘zooropa’ and ‘pop’ are guitar records? i am sure there was a time edge was tired of guitar, until ‘all the you can’t leave behind’.

  16. i cannot imagine bono is a better guitarist than kurt cobain.
    i remember mojo magazine made a similar list couple years back, which jimi hendrix also topped, edge was in #33 or #37, just above prince. this time #24, what a step forward!
    i really think edge was more outstading in 80’s than 90’s, i am not talking about the tecnique, but…do you really think ‘zooropa’ and ‘pop’ are guitar records? i am sure there was a time edge was tired of guitar, until ‘all the you can’t leave behind’.

  17. Very E.E. Cummings, this lack of capitalization. (For the record, I’m typing using the shift key, regardless of what spews out.) But getting to the heart of the matter, Rolling Stone magazine is useless. Their covers tell the story: this year alone, two covers featuring Justin Timberlake, two featuring American Idol morons, one with Angelina Jolie, and one with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Sure, they’ve had the Beatles and Jimi on the cover, but even a stopped watch is right twice a day. That doesn’t mean you rely on it to tell you the time.

  18. Very E.E. Cummings, this lack of capitalization. (For the record, I’m typing using the shift key, regardless of what spews out.) But getting to the heart of the matter, Rolling Stone magazine is useless. Their covers tell the story: this year alone, two covers featuring Justin Timberlake, two featuring American Idol morons, one with Angelina Jolie, and one with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Sure, they’ve had the Beatles and Jimi on the cover, but even a stopped watch is right twice a day. That doesn’t mean you rely on it to tell you the time.

  19. Sorry to disagree with you Bad but Jack White is a superbly talented guitarist and Kurt Cobain was an amazing guitarist.
    It doesn’t take a 5 minute guitar solo with your fingers going at 100mph to determine how good a guitarist you are which some people overlook. That’s not directed at you by the way bad!!

  20. Sorry to disagree with you Bad but Jack White is a superbly talented guitarist and Kurt Cobain was an amazing guitarist.
    It doesn’t take a 5 minute guitar solo with your fingers going at 100mph to determine how good a guitarist you are which some people overlook. That’s not directed at you by the way bad!!

  21. In my opinion, Kurt Cobain was a very sloppy/lazy player — and I don’t think it was just for the art. Not to mention, his songs are commonly played by beginner guitarists. Contrast to John Frusciante (Chili Peppers)who is at least arguably better than the Edge, and ranked higher.

  22. In my opinion, Kurt Cobain was a very sloppy/lazy player — and I don’t think it was just for the art. Not to mention, his songs are commonly played by beginner guitarists. Contrast to John Frusciante (Chili Peppers)who is at least arguably better than the Edge, and ranked higher.

  23. Bad, your last comment just saved me from having a fit, thank you for posting it! Really, these lists are all ridiculous, like the Irish and the Italians fighting over who’s better, St. Patrick or St. Francis of Assisi, once you make saint, that’s the end of the discussion! And Rolling Stone ceased to have any kind of credibility about anything sometime during the Carter Administration.

  24. Bad, your last comment just saved me from having a fit, thank you for posting it! Really, these lists are all ridiculous, like the Irish and the Italians fighting over who’s better, St. Patrick or St. Francis of Assisi, once you make saint, that’s the end of the discussion! And Rolling Stone ceased to have any kind of credibility about anything sometime during the Carter Administration.

  25. and you have to wonder who the writers and the audience is for a list that has to specify Keith Richards “of the Rolling Stones” and Jimmy Paige “of Led Zepplin” and of course our man “Of U2” — this list is should be titled “well-known and pretty good guitar players for dummies”

  26. and you have to wonder who the writers and the audience is for a list that has to specify Keith Richards “of the Rolling Stones” and Jimmy Paige “of Led Zepplin” and of course our man “Of U2” — this list is should be titled “well-known and pretty good guitar players for dummies”

  27. yeah. I should change my tune with Jack White. He -is- a pretty exciting player. I have found my self becoming less tolerant of hipster hype in my old age. I’m only 28 but in terms of musical taste, I feel so old. So I kind of react overly coldly towards bands who are hyped these days and the White Stripes are everywhere. Hopefully, he can open some young ears up to the blues. He should definitely be ahead of Cobain.

  28. yeah. I should change my tune with Jack White. He -is- a pretty exciting player. I have found my self becoming less tolerant of hipster hype in my old age. I’m only 28 but in terms of musical taste, I feel so old. So I kind of react overly coldly towards bands who are hyped these days and the White Stripes are everywhere. Hopefully, he can open some young ears up to the blues. He should definitely be ahead of Cobain.

  29. Who cares about ranking. You can’t rank all these players, because they are as equally respected depending on who you talk to. Taste is subjective. How difficult will it be to make a list in another 50 years time. If The Edge is #1 to you…that is ALL that matters. Some intern probably compiled the list while listening to mp3’s during his lunch break anyway. Anyway, Edge is #1 to me.

  30. Who cares about ranking. You can’t rank all these players, because they are as equally respected depending on who you talk to. Taste is subjective. How difficult will it be to make a list in another 50 years time. If The Edge is #1 to you…that is ALL that matters. Some intern probably compiled the list while listening to mp3’s during his lunch break anyway. Anyway, Edge is #1 to me.

  31. As always, one has to keep in mind that this is just a lsit which represents the opinion (thus it’s subjective) of a small group of people writing for that magazine.
    It’s not exactly my opinion either. But it all depends on the defenition of “great” 🙂
    Edge is very creative and I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t let us hear all of his technical capacities, but he’s not a very technical player. He’s more a creative player with a tremendous amount of feel in his play. And that’s what I like about him and what makes him number 1 for _me_. Still I can imagine that other ppl like Kurt better …
    With that said, I shout along with cdragon: LAR-RY, LAR-RY, LAR-RY…
    because after all, it’s all about drums 😉

  32. As always, one has to keep in mind that this is just a lsit which represents the opinion (thus it’s subjective) of a small group of people writing for that magazine.
    It’s not exactly my opinion either. But it all depends on the defenition of “great” 🙂
    Edge is very creative and I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t let us hear all of his technical capacities, but he’s not a very technical player. He’s more a creative player with a tremendous amount of feel in his play. And that’s what I like about him and what makes him number 1 for _me_. Still I can imagine that other ppl like Kurt better …
    With that said, I shout along with cdragon: LAR-RY, LAR-RY, LAR-RY…
    because after all, it’s all about drums 😉

  33. Theese list are bullshits. Last time Noel Galagher was in top 10 =I believe in Q mag) and now hes not even in top 100? Geeeez… And poor Edge, he is the biggest melody maker!

  34. Theese list are bullshits. Last time Noel Galagher was in top 10 =I believe in Q mag) and now hes not even in top 100? Geeeez… And poor Edge, he is the biggest melody maker!

  35. Yeah well that’s what it’s all about in the ned isn’t it bad. Opinions! I hate these polls anyway as they never ever make sense and are pretty much pointless aren’t they. The thing that makes me feel Kurt is a great guitarist is the fact he is playing the bugger upside down and still making great sounds. Well not still but more like was!!! Each to their own mate!
    Still can’t believe John Squire or Johnny Marr aren’t there either!! 😉

  36. Yeah well that’s what it’s all about in the ned isn’t it bad. Opinions! I hate these polls anyway as they never ever make sense and are pretty much pointless aren’t they. The thing that makes me feel Kurt is a great guitarist is the fact he is playing the bugger upside down and still making great sounds. Well not still but more like was!!! Each to their own mate!
    Still can’t believe John Squire or Johnny Marr aren’t there either!! 😉

  37. These are the same type people who ranked the Smiths as the best band of all time. It’s to get hype and buzz. I’m shocked they didn’t have Justin Timberlake on the top 20.

  38. These are the same type people who ranked the Smiths as the best band of all time. It’s to get hype and buzz. I’m shocked they didn’t have Justin Timberlake on the top 20.

  39. Well, U2 finished as the Best Live Band recently in RS…I think that matters more! The four of them together are the best!

  40. Well, U2 finished as the Best Live Band recently in RS…I think that matters more! The four of them together are the best!

  41. I wonder why Madonna wasn’t included. She played guitar on her last tour. Tongue in cheek my friends.

  42. I wonder why Madonna wasn’t included. She played guitar on her last tour. Tongue in cheek my friends.

  43. Let’s not forget Robert Smith (trust me, he’s weird, but a guitar genius)…
    Let’s also not forget that these lists are generally crap… Can’t disagree with Hendrix, but Jack White higher than Townsend??? WHF??? That’s just emabarassing…

  44. Let’s not forget Robert Smith (trust me, he’s weird, but a guitar genius)…
    Let’s also not forget that these lists are generally crap… Can’t disagree with Hendrix, but Jack White higher than Townsend??? WHF??? That’s just emabarassing…

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