King of? Cream were probably the closest thing to metal when they came out.

But then of course guys like Zeppelin and Blue Cheer took it a lot further.

I'd say kind of edgy is an appropriate description. They were kind of edgy for popular music of the time, but there was more usual music out there at the time to be sure.

True, but it being more obscure meant it didn't have the amount of influence and impact that Clapton did.

That's all I'm saying.

That's why I bumped him out of my top 5.

Well, i must disagree that jimmi hendrix is number one. i know i will make a lot of people mad by saying this, but he is not that great. name one incredible song that he has done, and please dont say al along the watch tower

"Angel"

well I don't believe Hendrix is the best, as far as technique I wouldn't rank them even in the top 10, but he is the most influential by far...

Try to understand I tried to be objective with this list.

It's not about who's the best but who is the greatest.

Steve Howe would be number 1 if it was personal preference.

The National Anthem?

My favorite Jimi track is probably 3rd Stone From the Sun. Little Wing, If 6 Was 9 and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) are also up there.

Its not that great, he didn't write it, and its a really sloppy cover of it.

Also, its called the Star Spangled Banner. not 'The national anthem'.

Also, "Machine Gun".

If all you've heard is the usual Purple Haze, All Along the Watchtower, and Fire, then you have to listen to more before you can deny how awesome Jimi was.

To be fair, a lot of what Hendrix innovated was tone more so than just his unique. He was fairly sloppy yet good enough at his instrument to make that slop coherent with what he was doing. "Loose" would be a good way to describe his playing. What made him so great is that he found the perfect tone to make that loose feeling wank sound like gold. He mastered the art of making fuzz sound trippy.

Kurt deserves no spot on that list in my opinion.

His influence is pretty big, dude ;)

I don't understand how three-chord songs (exaggerating) influence anything. He's fine, but I don't think he deserves a spot in all honesty. Well, he may. I'm just a hater :D

Like, Zakk Wylde is a 100x better than him in my opinion and is one spot below. His solo in No More Tears is phenomenal.

Zakk Wylde is one of the worst guitarists on that list, and hasn't influenced ANYBODY. Kurt Cobain's guitar playing wasn't influential for it's chords, it was for his unconventional playing during leads, especially live.

I guess all I can do is disagree?

this is like the 3rd of your posts i quote tonight, i'm starting to wonder if you're trolling or just really need a clue.

regardless of his influence over a generation cobain was acutally pretty freaking talented. he wasn't a virtuoso but what he lacked in technical chops he made up for in raw emotion. that's what made him stand out so much, his sound was raw and real. and like khfreek said, his lead style was unique, unlike the multitude of wankers that pick up their guitars with the intent of playing guitar instead of music.

considering the man single handedly influenced a generation of kids to pick up an instrument and play music AND wrote great songs they could all start off with. he most definitely IS one of the top 200 guitarists in rock.

Really? Have you been to a guitar center? Go there and I bet you will see several kids in black label t-shirts shopping for les pauls.

I'm gonna go ahead and quote myself from earlier in this thread:

Alright, I was being a bit harsh when I said I didn't think he deserved a spot but I think he gets too much credit. Bands like Screaming Trees and Mudhoney, who influenced Nirvana a great deal, don't really get any credit and yet both came before Nirvana did. Had there been no Mudhoney, I doubt Nirvana would have sounded like they did. Don't get me wrong, I own every Nirvana CD, but I really only find myself listening to four or five of their songs whereas I can listen to all of Mudhoney, half of Screaming Trees, and all of other bands like Soundgarden. I believe that Kurt's such vast influence was merely chance. For whatever reason, which I still do not understand, they were the ones who got the majority of the grunge credit so to speak. You can talk about raw emotion, but I'd argue that both Eddie Vedder, while I can't stand him as a person, and Layne Staley both put out a lot more emotion than he does.

Indeed, Kurt did show the world that you can make beautiful music out of simplicity, I believe that his influence, while it is vast indeed, was all sheer chance. Had, say, Screaming Trees broken out as the grunge front men, I'd be arguing the this the complete opposite way.

Everyone has influences, that's no reason to discredit anybody, thing is, Cobain has influenced more people than anyone that's influenced him (save Pixies), especially as a guitar player.

And no saying "everyone he influences sucks" is not a counter argument, he made a big impact and influence is influence no matter who it is.

i just realized you have J. Mascis at #103. seems a little strange to be below D. Boon, wouldn't you say?

and i thought you liked him. :(

in my opinion Hendrix, Page, and everyone else that you guys were arguing about for "originality, influence, and talent" were good for their time but the new generation of guitarists like Nils Norberg, Per Nilsson, and kiko loureiro are just superior in every way.

i dont mean any disrespect to the old school "influencial" guys but its proven that musicians get better and better with every generation that passes

Never heard of them.

That really wouldn't have been a good counter-argument because that's a subjective matter anyway.

I think Boon deserves to be higher, Boon was by far one of the more gifted punk guitarists and he was a big influence on everything from RHCP to Fugazi, but yeah I like Mascis, I could see him going higher maybe.

well i'm just saying that because it's pretty obvious that J. was slightly more talented as a guitarist. and i understand, Boon had a much wider influence as a songwriter, but you gotta figure, Mascis actually spent the effort to combine all those influences of his into one singular entity (which had an enormous impact upon modern indie rock).

i like both as songwriters, i would have loved to see Minutemen while Boon was still alive. but it's pretty clear to me who the better guitarist was.

And Boon didn't combine his influences to create his own style? I'd say he did. And yeah Mascis has a lot of indie influence so I might move him up a bit.

they're both pretty dynamic guitarists. there are a few more elements to Mascis' style (extensive use of feedback for example).

Zakk wilde.... should be higher...
and i have nothing more to say

actually i do...
Why is Curt Cobain considered a good guitarist??

look them up fool

:laughing:

Kurt Cobain isn't widely considered to be a very good guitarist, but that's never stopped him from being very influencial, and overall he's made more significant contributions than Wylde ever will. I wouldn't give either much points for originality in their guitar styles, but Cobain gets credit for playing a huge part in the sound of a particular music scene and for bringing about a big change in mainstream rock music.

In my personal opinion, I would add Chris Broderick and move Dave Mustaine up the list to atleast to top 50.

But thats just me and my Megadeth loving stupidity.

greatest guitarists
 

pretty good list. better than rolling stone's. i'd put jeff beck up top, though

nah, it's not just you, i agree.

Seeing Andy Summers in the top 100 is the first sign this list is awesome.

Yeah I need to update this. There's really no excuse for Tom Verlaine to be up there but not Richard Lloyd.