This years edition of Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest guitarists of all time

Posted on by

Let’s see…

Willy Nelson is on the list and Paul Gilbert is not.

Lou Reed made it and Eric Johnson didn’t.

David Howell Evans a.k.a. ‘The Edge’ is on the list and Joe Satriani is not.

Joni Mitchell….. JONI MITCHELL is on the list. An excerpt from her RS write up:

She had mastered the idea that she could tune the guitar any way she wanted, to get other inversions of the chords.

Wowwww… Alternate tuning a guitar. Joni Mitchel mastered alternate tuning and made the list and Steve Vai didn’t:

YouTube Preview Image

No Kirk Hammett, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Steve Lukather, Brian Setzer, Tommy Emmanuel, Sonny Landreth, john 5 or Jennifer Batten. There are dozens of guitarists that could make the list and didn’t. But Paul Simon did.

Comments
  • Jim Duke November 30, 2011 at 1:20 am

    Where in the hell is Eric Johnson in this list? Of course who the hell reads Rolling Stone other than idiots? Just a commercially driven rag trying to sell CD’s and MP3′s to the idiot masses. . . .

    Link
    • steve December 1, 2011 at 10:32 pm

      Agreed. Any ‘greatest’ guitar player list that doesn’t have Eric Johnson on it isn’t a real list.

      Link
  • Shane December 1, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    I glanced at the list for a minute and realized it was a waste of my time to look any further. I can agree with Jim Duke more…”commercially driven rag”

    Link
    • steve December 1, 2011 at 10:33 pm

      This list is a weak list from an irrelevant mag.

      Link
  • robot December 2, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Yup. Rolling Stone is absolute drivel.

    Link
    • steve December 2, 2011 at 5:26 pm

      RS should stick to Rap and teen pop.

      Link
  • geek49203 December 2, 2011 at 11:11 pm

    Think like a “real” journalist here. The object is to sell copy, right? So you mention people who actually have, like, you know, paying fans! That way you 1) can lean on their marketability to sell your own stuff, and 2) don’t have to work real hard trying to remember names of really good, but non-famous, musicians.

    Kinda like those lists of “25 greatest” for any sport (ie, Indycar or NASCAR or baseball) that only includes people recognized by young adult fans, for whom knowing “which is the best” of anything is an obsession — but those greats of previous generations never get mentioned?

    Link
    • steve December 3, 2011 at 11:21 pm

      2) don’t have to work real hard trying to remember names of really good, but non-famous, musicians.

      Good one!

      Link
  • Dennis February 16, 2012 at 4:02 pm

    Brian Setzer not on the list? Are you kidding me? Stray Cats, Brian Setzer Orchestra? How many albums has he sold?

    Link
    • steve February 16, 2012 at 4:15 pm

      I’m with you. Brian Setzer is an awesome (and very underrated) guitarist.

      Link