Top 50 Guitar Albums: Full List, Readers Poll Revealed

Gibson ^ | 7-30-10 | staff

[Mr. Blonde]

The top 10

1. Van Halen, Van Halen (1978)
2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (1967)
3. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
4. Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
5. Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction (1987)
6. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II (1969)
7. The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East (1971)
8. Cream, Disraeli Gears (1967)
9. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland (1968)
10. AC/DC, Back in Black (1980)

[crazydad]

You read my mind. Stranglehold is one bad ass guitar song.

[Hammerhead]

Totally bogus list without the Reverend Horton Heat.

Best guitarist of ALL time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYALiTct1_I&feature=related

[Mr. Blonde]

DSOTM is #12 and Wish You Were Here is #49.

[vetvetdoug]

No Chet Atkins? No Ventures? No Flatt and Scruggs? Al Ciola? No Merle Travis? Bets are they've never heard of Steven King. It seems to me that the ones that voted on these albums are limited as to their experience and knowledge.

[circlecity]

"Half of these guys learned their riffs from Link Wray"

LOL, yep, most of rock guitar is just a reworking of something Link, B.B. King, and Chuck Berry had already done before 1960.

[Mr. Blonde]

I don’t think he has an album that really qualifies. Rumble would be on a list of songs.

[Mr. Blonde]

Everyone is limited by their own tastes and what they have been exposed to.

[Hammerhead]

Jim Heath (aka Rev. Horton Heat) blows all the old timers away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz1rUZcBMEY&feature=related

[Ammo Republic 15]

Wow, the first time I’ve ever heard anybody mention Al Caiola.

[crazydad]

Wow 12 is still to high for such an Inovative album... But that is good.. David Gilmour is one of the best guitar players ever..

[Mr_Moonlight]

Are we talking “of all time”? Surely Les Paul and Chet Atkins deserve a place at the top

I believe this was a poll by Gibson for only 'guitar albums', not guitar artists, and in doing so Gibson has been fair with the listing - even including many who are famous for playing Fender and Gretch (Atkins) but not including one of Gibson's most famous players - Les Paul !

All in all, with only a few minor disagreements, it seems like a fairly good listing of guitar albums

-- MM

[Wallop the Cat]

[Mr_Moonlight]

Zappa was an interesting character ... once described himself as "a composer who just happens to play guitar" ...

FWIW :)

[circlecity]

"David Gilmour is one of the best guitar players ever."

I agree but surprisingly enough his technical vituosity is average at best. He just knows how to squeeze really pretty sound out of a guitar with the chops God gave him. A true musician in addition to instrumentalist.

[PubliusMM]

Or, Ronnie Montrose...

[Mr. Blonde]

The editors at Gibson have a clear affinity for heavier stuff. It could easily be in the top 10, but then I wouldn’t have Van Halen in the top 10 much less one myself.

[Ammo Republic 15]

Roy Buchanan anyone?

[wastedyears]

Very LOLable list if you ask me.

Where’s the dual lead work? Iron Maiden ring their bell a bit?

These “top” lists are such garbage.

[Mr. Blonde]

Or Lynyrd Skynyrd. Seems their first album would belong.

The lists are fun to talk about even if they aren’t close to the list you or I would make.

[circlecity]

"These “top” lists are such garbage."

LOL. Yeah, if you let people vote on the "50 Best Rock Guitarists" and "50 Most Overrated Guitarists" you would probably get 90% of the same people on each list.