Guitar World has compiled a list of the ‘30 Most Badass Guitarists Of All Time.’ It can be found below.
While most ‘Best Of’ and ‘Top 10’ lists are based on the playing ability of guitarists, Guitar World’s latest poll focuses on the swagger of a player.
The site credited its list of guitarists for making the guitar the most popular instrument in the world: “Face it: An ordinary dude could not walk down the street wearing a leopard-skin jacket, high-heel cowboy boots, flowing silk scarves and dozens of silver bangles without getting beaten up within minutes…put a guitar case in that dude’s hands and suddenly grown men want to buy him a drink, and ladies slip him their phone numbers.”
Guitar World’s ‘30 Most Badass Guitarists Of All Time’ is as follows:
JAMES HETFIELD – Metallica
JOE STRUMMER – The Clash, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
SLASH & IZZY STRADLIN – Guns N’ Roses
JIMI HENDRIX
EDDIE VAN HALEN – Van Halen
LINK WRAY – Link Wray and the Ray Men, Robert Gordon
JOHNNY RAMONE – The Ramones
JAMES WILLIAMSON – Iggy and the Stooges, Iggy Pop
BUDDY GUY
JOHNNY THUNDERS – New York Dolls, the Heartbreakers, Gang War
KEITH RICHARDS – The Rolling Stones
ROY ORBISON – Solo, the Traveling Wilburys
MIKE NESS – Social Distortion, Easter, solo
JAMES HONEYMAN-SCOTT – Pretenders
BRIAN SETZER – Stray Cats, Brian Setzer Orchestra
DJANGO REINHARDT – Quintette du Hot Club de France
T-BONE WALKER -Solo, Sebastian’s Cotton Club Orchestra, Freddie Slack’s Orchestra
JIMMY PAGE -The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, the Firm, Coverdale/Page
BILLY GIBBONS – ZZ Top
ZACKY VENGEANCE & SYNYSTER GATES – Avenged Sevenfold
MUDDY WATERS
BILLY ZOOM – X, Billy Zoom Band
WAYNE KRAMER & FRED “SONIC” SMITH – The MC5
CHUCK BERRY
LOU REED – Velvet Underground, solo
JOHNNY MARR – The Smiths, Electronic, the Pretenders, The The, Johnny Marr and the Healers, Modest Mouse, the Cribs, solo
RITCHIE BLACKMORE – Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night
JOE PERRY – Aerosmith
Guitar World’s ‘30 Most Badass Guitarists Of All Time’
