Guitar World Magazine: Eddie Van Halen Named #1 Guitarist of All Time (Top 100 List)

Guitar World Magazine ^ | 10/11/12

[dfwgator]

Junior Brown also deserves a mention.

[AdamBomb]

"Any list without Brent Mason is not worth serious consideration"

The only problem with Brent is he tries to be too many different things.....I don't think he has enough of his own style. Great player, but hard to pick him out.

[Slump Tester]

No Steffen Schackinger?

I call foul!

[Banjoguy]

Was this a poll about people who could actually PLAY the guitar? Or about people who treated it like a whack toy?

Eddie Van Halen? Give me a break.

To vote intelligenty, one would need to actually know what a guitar is supposed to sound like.

Among contemporary persons I have heard play decent guitar are, Jimmy Bruno, George Van Eps, Howard Alden, any of the prominent Brazilians (e.g. Charlie Bird, Lorendo Almeida).

But the guitar bench marks for the rest of us came from (In chronological order) 1. Eddie Lang, 2.Django Reinhardt, 3. Johnny Smith. 4. Les Paul. If you have not heard Johnny Smith's early 50's recording of S'Wonderful you have really missed a tour de force improv.

[AdamBomb]

ah...yes.....they did forget Junior Brown

[Hammerhead]

there’s no way Eddie can finger pick like Heath - very few can. Only players that come close are classical players.

[Banjoguy]

"The real "greatest" guitarists are no doubt studio musicians with names unfamiliar to the public."

You are correct my friend. You could start that list with Johnny Smith.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“Sorry, But Randy Rhoads was the greatest guitarist i ever seen or heard. At times, it sounded like there were 3 guitarists playing.”

Well, most of Randy’s parts on Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman were double- or triple-tracked. And he did it the hard way.

I’ve always thought that if he’d lived past 1982, most of us would be saying, “Yngwie WHO???”

[dfwgator]

While Steve Lukather is best known for Toto, it’s amazing how many hits he played on throughout the 80s.

[Theo]

It seems that Christian musicians may have been excluded from this list. Lincoln Brewster is also an amazing guitarist.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Eddie can make his guitar replicate the human voice speaking English. It’s pretty dang cool.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“The real “greatest” guitarists are no doubt studio musicians with names unfamiliar to the public.”

I took a closer look at the list and noticed that Steve Lukather didn’t make it. Neither did Larry Carlton.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“Yngwie malmsteen is easily the best..”

If you’ve heard one of Yngwie’s solos, you’ve heard them all.

[Docbarleypop]

I am glad someone else realizes Brian Setzer should be among the best, perhaps its because he is too good! His Guitar Slinger album is just amazing

[Revolting cat!]

Bo Diddley. End of discussion.

[verga]

I’m a bit surprised Roy Clark isn’t on the list. Good guitarist, Really good Banjo player.

[a fool in paradise]

Winner. Without Bo Diddley, so goes Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, and most of all Billy Childish.

[Fresh Wind]

Robert Johnson (#16) belongs in the list of the 100 most overrated guitarists.

[verga]

Seriously, Muddy Waters did not make the top 100. 25% of the people on this list were inspired at least in part by him.

[Big Red Clay]

My favorite is #1! Alright Edward and the Mighty VH!!

I went throught this list and wrote down all of the guys I have seen. It kind of suprised me. My list-
1 3 6 8 9 19 21 24 27 28 29 36 52 53 55 67 68 74 75 77 80 84 86 88 92 94.
Gotta keep building that list.