1. Peter Green
Replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (that's a hard act to follow)...in `67 formed his own band with 2 other Bluesbreakers--was too modest so he named the band after them, "Fleetwood Mac"
2. Eric "Slowhand" Clapton
Commonly referred to as God. Started in the Fabulous Blues-Wailing Yardbirds, played with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, part of the first supergroup Cream, Derek & the Dominoes with Duanne Allman, Blind Faith....like I said, Eric Clapton is God.
3. Jimi Hendrix
"Surf music is dead"....his blues-based rock & roll was so original and so significant to everything in rock music afterwards
4. Dick Dale
King of the Surf Guitar...invented the surf sound ("Pipeline" riff)...should also be on the trumpet list--he played both guitar and trumpet on "Miserlou"
5. Buddy Holly
Popularized the Fender Stratocaster...an inspiration to many a guitar player...brought rock-a-billy into rock & roll
6. Jimmy Page
Another Yardbird...session musician for many...formed Led Zeppelin...at times even played the electric guitar with a bow--one of the most inventive guitarists of all time
7. Stevie Ray Vaughn
Elmore James would have paid to go see SRV play his own songs
8. George Harrison
He played lead guitar for The Beatles...that's a helluva thing to be able to put on a resume!
9. Joe Walsh
The James Gang, Barnstorm, The Eagles, solo work
10. Scotty Moore
Guitarist for Elvis Presley and many others
11. Angus Young
Good morning little school boy
12. Alvin Lee
Ffrom Ten Years After....go ahead, take another listen
13. Carlos Santana
One of the few guitar players (along with Clapton & B.B. King) who I love to watch play guitar up close (alas on TV--never have seen him live)...the guitar is an extension of his very being. Any guitar player would want to play with Santana at least just once
14. Eddie Van Halen
An explosion of sound
15. Jeff Beck
Rounds out the holy trinity of Yardbirds and helped create the monster guitar sound that would come in the next decades
Honorable Mention. There are others that I'd like to put on the list but didn't: Robbie Robertson, Duanne Allman, Steve Miller, Keith Richards, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tommy Bolin (Deep Purple) and others.
There are obvious others outside of rock & roll like B.B. King, Robert Johnson and Elmore James, but for my list these are "out of scope". I'll make a list of top 10 blues guitarists another time.
List created April 20, 2005
