The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

The Police were a new kind of power trio, and Andy Summers was the main reason. Quickly moving away from punk, he recast jazz chords and reggae rhythms as headlong rock & roll. Summers played as sparely as possible, constructing clipped twitches or dubby washes of sound, leaving ample room for Sting and Stewart Copeland. “His tone and style were just absolutely perfect — he left space around everything,” Rush’s Alex Lifeson said. “And he can handle anything from beautiful acoustic playing to jazz to hybrid kinds of stuff.” —D.W.Key Tracks:“Message in a Bottle,” “Every Breath You Take”

Since starting out in the garage-roots band Alabama Shakes, Brittany Howard’s guitar playing has always been an earthy, fluid, admirably ad-hoc complement to her powerhouse vocals and soulful songwriting. She’s has an elastic sense of rhythm (check out the way her tough, jagged lines bounce off Shakes lead guitarist Heath Fogg on their 2015 song “Don’t Wanna Fight”). Howard took on straight-ahead rock & roll with her side band Thunderbitch, and her 2019 solo album, Jaime, was a stellar showcase for her open-ended musicianship, from the funky James Brown-indebted hopscotching she did on “History Repeats” to the molten fuzz she slathered on “Presence.” —J.D.Key Tracks: “History Repeats,” “Presence”

Schooled in flamenco and jazz, Robby Krieger pushed beyond rock at a time when most players were still bound to the blues. In the Doors, he had the improvisatory flair to follow Jim Morrison’s wildest journeys, wrote some of their biggest hits (“Light My Fire”), and picked up the slack in their keyboard-drums-guitar lineup. “Not having a bass player … made me play more bass notes to fill out the bottom,” he said. “Not having a rhythm player also made me play differently, to fill out the sound. I always felt like three players simultaneously.” —A.L.Key Tracks:“Riders on the Storm,” “Roadhouse Blues”

When the B-52s played live, Ricky Wilson often seemed to exist happily in the background amidst the manic exuberance of lead singer Fred Schneider and the beehive hair and campy dance moves of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. But his mix of downhome chicken scratch, angular post-punk, rockabilly, and surf rock on classics like “52 Girls,” “Strobe Light,” and “Private Idaho” made him one of the most inventive players of the New Wave era. Wilson often used  only four or five strings on his blue Mosrite guitar and odd tunings to get a strange, spartan sound. “I just tune the strings till I hear something I like,” he once said. With his death in 1985, the indie-rock scene lost an unassuming radical. —J.D.Key Tracks: “52 Girls,” “Mesopotamia”

Paul Simon, the great wordsmith, speaks as vividly through his guitar as his lyrics. Weaned on early doo-wop and rock & roll, Simon got caught up in the folk revival during the mid-Sixties, traveling to England to study the acoustic mastery of Bert Jansch. He has continued absorbing new influences, as on “Dazzling Blue,” off his most recent album,So Beautiful or So What: “All that folk fingerpicking is what I did withSimon and Garfunkel, but [here] it’s on top of this rhythm with Indian musicians playing in 12/8.” In his 80s, he’s still as nimble as ever, as he demonstrated on his 2023 album Seven Psalms.–W.H. Key Tracks:“Dazzling Blue,” “Kathy’s Song”

Leslie West (real name: Leslie Weinstein) first made his mark in mid-Sixties garage rock, with the Vagrants’ meaty cover of Otis Redding‘s “Respect.” By 1969, West was the heavy vengeance in the Cream-like quartet Mountain. On songs like the 1970 hit “Mississippi Queen,” West played roughened blues lines with deceiving facility and an R&B flair, through a black forest of stressed-amp distortion. “The riffs were incredible,” says Dave Davies. “He could play flashy, intricate phrases. But he wasn’t a look-at-me guy. He played with feel.” —D.F.Key Tracks:“Mississippi Queen,” “Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)”

Now that pop stars Rosalía and the Weeknd have dipped into its mystique for a global hit, it’s hard to believe that bachata was once little known outside its native Dominican Republic. And the man who gavela música del amargueits sonic identity — those pungent, spiraling guitar lines that flutter and accentuate the bitterness of love lost — is Edilio Paredes. A self-taught prodigy, he played a key role in engineering the transition frombolero campesinoto the contemporary bachata that finally won its rightful place as a transcendent Afro-Caribbean genre in the Nineties. Paredes’ discography as a prolific session man from the ‘60s to the ‘80s speaks for itself — butel maestrowas also vindicated through his appearance on the exquisite 2011 albumThe Bachata Legends. —E.L.Key Tracks: “No Me Olvides,” “Bendita Nena”

The National are a one-of-a-kind rock story, starring a virtuosic twin-guitar duo who happen to be twin brothers. Bryce Dessner has collaborated with legends like Steve Reich, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jonny Greenwood, and Kronos Quartet. Aaron Dessner is Taylor Swift’s guitar wingman on Folklore and Evermore, adding Jerry Garcia-like twang to “Cowboy Like Me”; he really cuts loose on “August” in The Long Pond Studio Sessions. The Dessner brothers can mesh for electric angst (“Terrible Love”) or intimate folk beauty (“I Need My Girl”). They also masterminded the ace 2016 Grateful Dead tribute Day of the Dead, jamming with Bob Weir on “I Know You Rider.” —R.S.Key Tracks: “Mr. November,” “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”

Gen Z guitar hero Lindsey Jordan took lessons from fellow 250 Greatest Guitarists list-member Mary Timony, the extraordinarily inventive guitarist in Helium and Wild Flag. When Jordan made her debut as Snail Mail at 18 years old with 2018’s Lush, she seemed to have arrived having fully internalized the entire indie-rock canon. She’s a casual virtuoso and a serious shredder, shifting from strummy tension-builds to glorious, combustible solos, from coolly coiled Liz Phair low-fi to Sonic Youth sprawl. “I like to play really balls out,” she told Rolling Stone in 2018. “That’s what it means to be onstage with integrity.” —J.D.Key Tracks: “Heat Wave,” “Pristine”

He may not be country’s most virtuoso player or its most traditional, but Keith Urban shines among Nashville cats for his effortless style. His riffs, rhythms, and solos seem to materialize as naturally as thinking and yet somehow always elevate the song. Nothing is overtly flashy; every note makes sense. Both are peak Urban in the studio. But he’s at his best when onstage, delivering guitar heroics that stack up with the greatest of the rock pantheon. No wonder he’s jammed with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Nile Rodgers. “I love that people want to hear the guitar,” Urban told Rolling Stone in 2015, “but I just think about the song … whatever the song seems to want.” —J.H.Key Tracks: “Highway Don’t Care,” “Blue Ain’t Your Color”

Erin Smith of riot grrrl pioneers Bratmobile got her start playing along to records by Beat Happening, a self-consciously primitive cuddle-core band with a woman on drums. “That was in ’87, and not only did I see women could play music, but I could see that just you could do it yourself,” she told the Museum of Pop Culture. “I could never be [Duran Duran’s] Andy Taylor. And I realized that was OK.” The style she went on to create with singer Allison Wolfe and drummer Molly Neuman combined melodic surf-rock bass lines with slashing garage-rock chords to help make the Bratbmobile’s 1993 debut, Pottymouth, one of the most exciting punk records of the Nineties. —E.G.P.Key Tracks: “Love Thing,” “P.R.D.C.T.”

If there was any doubt left in the late 1950s that the guitar — not the saxophone — was rock & roll’s essential lead instrument, Duane Eddy settled the argument: See his 1958 single “Rebel Rouser,” curled with country twang and rippling with tremolo. “Chet Atkins used vibrato in a selective way — Duane Eddy used it to thrash the music,” says the Kinks’ Dave Davies. The impact of Eddy’s hits, like “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and “Peter Gunn,” would soon be heard in surf music and guitarists such as Jeff Beck and George Harrison. —D.F.Key Tracks:“Rebel Rouser,” “Peter Gunn”

If Robert Pollard is the off-kilter genius id of Ohio indie-rock institution Guided By Voices, then Doug Gillard is the band’s beating heart. He’s a perfect complement to Pollard, turning his mad wordplay and experimental drones into rock & roll, and doing it at the tireless pace of two or even three GBV albums a year. “I know his usual shapes and drones — or can pretty much decipher what they are if it’s a new shape — and replicate them on the rhythm parts on the records for the most part,” Gillard once said. “But also, I have some freedom to transform them.” —B.E.Key Tracks: “I Am a Tree,” “Mr. Child”

Jennifer Batten came to prominence as the lion-maned guitar hurricane on Michael Jackson’s biggest tours. It’s a gig that required her to play funk, soul, metal, and Eddie Van Halen’s “Beat It” solo every night. On her first solo album, 1992’s Above Below and Beyond, she recorded Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumble Bee,” Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” and John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” (two unusual ways) on electric guitar with whammy dives and finger-tapping galore throughout, all with her unique touch. She later took giant steps herself, becoming one of the few guitarists capable of going toe to toe with Jeff Beck, touring and recording with him on some of his most daring albums around the turn of the millennium. —K.G.Key Tracks: “Flight of the Bumblebee,” “Giant Steps (Rock Version)”

Greg Sage formed his Portland, Oregon, band the Wipers in 1977, blowing past punk orthodoxies before they even existed with his complex, sprawling songs and jagged, miasmically distorted guitar sound. At a time when other bands valued thrashing simplicity, Wipers songs such as “When It’s Over” and “Romeo” felt like pummeling soundscapes. As a result, they galvanized the Pacific Northwestern indie-rock scene. “We learned everything from the Wipers,” said Kurt Cobain, who proudly claimed them as his favorite band. “They were playing a mix of punk and hard rock when nobody cared.” —Z.Y.Key Tracks: “When It’s Over,” “Up Front”

British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Laura Marling is a subtler kind of virtuoso, employing complex tunings and voicings within her music that sound far simpler than they really are. “I Was an Eagle,” off Marling’s 2013 LP, One I Was an Eagle, sounds dreamy and atmospheric thanks to her use of DADDAD tuning, with her primary influence Joni Mitchell ringing through her catalog via unusual phrasings and atonal flourishes. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Marling shared her guitar insight with fans and followers, offering concise and informative tutorials on Instagram. —B.MKey Tracks: “I Was an Eagle,” “Wild Fire,” “Ghosts”

Manchester’s John McGeoch announced his presence with the vaulting attack of Magazine’s 1978 debut single, “Shot by Both Sides,” one of U.K. punk-rock’s great anthems, and he quickly went on to invent his own expansive, architectural style on Magazine’s later work and with Public Image Ltd, as well as with Siouxsie and the Banshees. McGeoch earned worshipful praise from Johnny Marr, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, and others. His mix of slashing rhythm guitar, miasmic flange, and swirling arpeggios made the Banshees’ 1981 album, Juju, the great Eighties goth-guitar album, introducing a moody new language to U.K. rock where atmosphere mattered much more than angst. —J.D.Key Tracks: “Philadelphia,” “Spellbound”

H.E.R. has stayed low-key enough that she still gets to blow minds with each big public appearance like the Grammys or the Super Bowl. H.E.R.’s voice is steeped in classic R&B, and she loves a simmering ballad, but her playing runs the gamut from delicate and fluid accents to Prince-like rock shredding. H.E.R.’s single “Hold On” features her doubling her own vocal melodies with a series of squealing leads, one of her favorite signatures. “I also like to play my guitar like I’m singing,” she told Guitar World. “Sometimes, I like to sing and play my solos at the same time … even harmonizing my voice with my guitar.” In 2021, Fender created a signature Stratocaster model for H.E.R., making her the first Black woman to receive the honor. —J.F.Key Tracks: “Hold On,” “Comfortable”

Though he grew up loving jazz, David Williams made his greatest impact on a style of music not known as an instrumentalists’ showcase: Eighties pop. His intentionally spare touches are key to the rhythmic seduction of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Stevie Nicks’ “Stand Back,” and Diana Ross’ “Muscles.” The Vietnam veteran, who also toured with Jackson and Madonna and worked with everyone from Chaka Khan to Kenny Loggins, once described the “secret spice” he added to Top 40 hits: “You don’t need much of it, but the right amount gets the job done.” Williams died of a heart attack in 2009 at 58. —C.S.Key Tracks: “Billie Jean,” “Dirty Diana”

Etta Baker’s name is synonymous with Piedmont blues, a rolling, ragtime-and-folk-influenced style of playing that originated along the East Coast in the early part of the 20th century. Baker, born to a multi-racial family in North Carolina in 1913 and raised in Virginia, learned guitar from her father and often played dances with her family as a youngster. Her instrumental compositions like “One Dime Blues” that appeared on a 1956 anthology were seismic: Among those listening were Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal, the latter of whom would record an album with Baker before her 2006 death. —J.F.Key Tracks: “One Dime Blues,” “Carolina Breakdown”

Maybe because he single-handedly transformed the sound of Latin rock with the majesty of his songs, it is easy to forget what an extraordinary guitar player Gustavo Cerati was. In the mid-Eighties, the Argentine singer-songwriter unleashed a pan-American rock en español boom with trio Soda Stereo and anthemic hits like “De Música Ligera.” After disbanding Soda, Cerati fell under the spell of sequencers and samples, but he returned to guitar-god mode with 2006’s Ahí Vamos, a blustery session soaked in ragged electric riffs. Cerati fell into a coma at age 50 and never recovered — but the image of him smiling with pleasure as he ripped into a solo onstage is forever etched in the subconscious of Latin music culture. —E.L.Key Tracks: “Canción Animal,” “La Excepción”

Sixteen-year-old Barbara Lynn had a final warning for her boyfriend, Stank: “If you should lose me/You’ll lose a good thing.” The Beaufort, Texas, native set her words to music, using a right-handed guitar she’d taught herself to play with her left hand. The resulting song, “You’ll Lose a Good Thing,” an R&B Number One in 1962, was the first lick in an acclaimed 60-years-and-strummin’ career. Lynn’s mostly self-penned tunes have been covered by the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Robert Plant and sampled by the Beastie Boys and Moby. This speaks to the relatability and creative power of a good woman done wrong. —C.S.Key Tracks: “You’ll Lose a Good Thing,” “I’ll Suffer”

When New York Dolls-turned-Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren gave Steve Jones a white Les Paul Custom that had been played by the Dolls’ Syl Sylvain, the instrument (or a similar model) became Jones’ weapon of choice ever after. Jones’ brutish power chords and flamboyant gutter-glam solos were a perfect mirror for the taunting bile of Johnny Rotten — and a yardstick for every punk-rock noise-maker who followed. His legacy was set with indelible riffs on one record — 1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks… — that inspired guitarists from Slash to Billie Joe Armstrong. It was an attitude as much as a sound. As Jones told a journalist during his days with the Sex Pistols, “Actually, we’re not into music. We’re into chaos.” —W.H.Key Tracks: “God Save the Queen,” “Pretty Vacant”

A pillar of of New York’s post-punk No Wave movement, Glenn Branca committed himself to establishing the guitar — often tuned to his trademark “harmonic series” and modified to function in different registers and produce varied tonalities — as a symphonic instrument that could be composed for ensembles sometimes totaling up to 100 players. His droning, heaving Symphony No. 1, recorded in 1981, would feature both Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth in the orchestra. Branca would also release Sonic Youth’s first album on his Neutral label, demonstrating that he also had a talent for spotting other musical revolutionaries. “I’ve got so many ideas about music that I haven’t even begun to work on,” he told Esquire in 2016. “If I lived to 200, I wouldn’t finish my work.” —T.B.Key Tracks: “Light Field (In Consonance),” “Velvets and Pearls”

Long before El Kempner launched Palehound — an indie-powerhouse project that recently opened for boygenius — they were just a seven-year-old child learning to play by strumming their dad’s guitar with a marker cap. Since then, guitar has been the Boston-native’s guiding light: Electrifying riffs elevated by Kempner’s musical dexterity carry vivacious tracks like “The Clutch” off their recent fourth studio album, Eye on the Bat. But what heightens the 29-year-old’s refined skills is their versatility. Kempner is equally at home rocking out on their beloved Stratocaster, doing pretty acoustic fingerpicking, or swirling arpeggios. —M. GeorgiKey Tracks: “The Clutch,” “Independence Day”

Forged in Detroit during the 1960s, the MC5 guitar tandem of Wayne Kramer and Fred “Sonic” Smith worked together like the pistons of a powerful engine. Combining Chuck Berry and early Motown influences with a budding interest in free jazz, the pair could kick their band’s legendarily high-energy jams deep into space while simultaneously keeping one foot in the groove. “If you play with another guitar player long enough, you exhaust everything you know, and then you start playing what you don’t know, and you get into something good,” Kramer told Premier Guitar in 2018. “We just found that we could play syncopated rhythm parts simultaneously, and they would lock in perfectly, or we could solo simultaneously and they’d still lock in.” —D.E.Key Tracks: “Looking at You,” “Poison”

The playing and composing of Atlanta-born and Detroit-raised Marv Tarplin became key to the success of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles almost as soon as the soul crooner hand-picked him to be the group’s guitarist in the 1960s. Tarplin’s versatility fit the demands of Motown, from his driving chords on “Going to a Go-Go” to the sweet 12-string acoustic on “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” His playing around with the chords of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” led to him writing the core of the Miracles smash “The Tracks of My Tears.” He continued to work with Robinson after the Miracles split; the delicate filigrees he added to Robinson’s 1979 solo single “Cruisin’” gave that track a timeless feeling that helped propel it to the Billboard Hot 100’s Top Five. —M.J.     Key Tracks: “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Cruisin’”

In 1958, musicologists Sam Charters and Ann Danberg Charters were traveling in the Bahamas looking for musicians to record when they came across Joseph Spence playing music so rich they assumed from a distance that they were listening to two guitarists. “He often seemed to be improvising in the bass, the middle strings, and the treble at the same time,” Sam noted in the liner notes to Joseph Spence: The Complete Folkways Recordings 1958. Spence’s pointillistic, sharp-angled fingerpicking on a wide range of music, from blues to spirituals to calypso, would have a huge influence on the folk movement and beyond. The Grateful Dead turned the Spence highlight “We Bid You Goodnight” into a live set-closer, and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds classic “Sloop John B” is indebted to Spence’s version of the song. —J.D.   Key Tracks: “Brownskin Girl,” “Jump in the Line”

Even before they started sweeping awards ceremonies, California-raised, Nashville-based bluegrass innovator Molly Tuttle and her crack band Golden Highway were writing their name into the history of roots music. Her acoustic flatpicking, influenced by everyone from Tony Rice to Joni Mitchell to Clarence White, is rooted in but not bound by tradition. Earlier this year, she became the first bluegrass act to ever score a Best New Artist Grammy nomination — a sign of the sound’s continuing evolution, which Tuttle has played a large part in. “Our generation of bluegrass players are really pushing in some new directions,” Tuttle told Rolling Stone in January. “I feel lucky to be part of this scene that’s breaking down barriers.” —C.M.Key Tracks: ‘Take the Journey,” “El Dorado”