Needles & Grooves

@Joe Mac I try not to get too bogged down on the actual rankings because who the heck knows comparing Joni Mitchell To Dimebag Darrell to Muddy Waters to Mdou Moctar seems like a fools errand as the way these artist use the guitars are almost like playing different instruments.

I mean you would have to because if you paid any attention to all 3 Beatles being ranked above Rory Gallagher you might lose your mind.

I’m disappointed that it’s not a 250 page link.

Frusciante at 25.... I'm not mad

Is there somewhere I can see this list with just the names in order? Too much scrolling

Greatest is a misnomer I feel. Maybe most influential would be better. Or a combo of influential, innovative and technically proficient.

is Ira Kaplan on there? Spent 5 minutes looking and didn't find him.

yup Ira Kaplan is on there #143

Andy Summers?! Really?

/s

Always like seeing Jennifer Batten (237) recognized (got to see her play with Jeff Beck in NYC in the late 90's and she is on point). Not a fan of them doubling up guitarists for some entries. Tim Henson (161) doesn't play a style of music I love in Polyphia but he is undoubtedly a young player breathing life into the instrument.

Same with Yvette Young (155) - she is insanely talented and plays with beautiful fluidity. Tobin Abasi (99) is another new school player that has expanded the approach to the instrument. Both Robert Fripp (59) & Andrian Belew (118) should've been higher - probably Top 50.

Love seeing Prince (14) so high on the list because he often gets short shrift as just a guitar player; but I am unashamedly biased and he is number one on my list and in my heart. Love seeing Joni (9) in top 10. She was a great folk guitar player but she really soared beyond any constrictions of genre in her playing as her career progressed.

My boy, Jeff Beck (5), probably has my favorite technique of any player, albeit not my favorite catalog when taken as a whole; there is so much going on in the way he touched that instrument. The top 10 had some choices I wouldn't make (e.g. Chuck Berry #2, Sister Rosetta Tharpe #6, B.B. King #8) but I don't hate it.

Anyway, those are my completely unsolicited initial thoughts on reading a list of which I will probably never give another look.

Great to see Sister Rosetta getting some cred. That and Joni were pleasant surprises at the top

@Joe Mac Jansch was #81.

Ok fair enough. I went through the list once and didn’t see that. I’d have had him higher because pretty much any folk or folk blues guitarist that has come since has been hugely influenced by his style. It’s a horrible list to navigate if you’re not just going to entirely read it from 250 down.

Rolling stone lists online are super annoying.

List is fine.

I’m looking for a simple text list of all 250. Is Grant Green in there somewhere?

I love lists generally but the section I perused (50-1) was yawn inducing and made me realize that my taste in guitarists has changed a lot over the past 10-20 years.