Not the names on every list. The players whose work everyone has heard without knowing whose hands were on it. Two at a time, one pick each, and the order belongs to whoever votes.
1Mick RonsonDavid Bowie's guitarist on Ziggy Stardust and the arranger behind Lou Reed's Transformer. Neither record sounds the way it does without him.1000pts
2Malcolm YoungAC/DC's rhythm player. The riffs everyone can hum are his, and almost nobody plays them right.768pts
3Andy SummersThe Police guitarist whose chorus-drenched chords and space on Message in a Bottle shaped new wave guitar.640pts
4Steve JonesThe Sex Pistols' guitarist, whose layered overdubs on Never Mind the Bollocks are far more careful than punk's reputation allows.605pts
5Neal SchonJourney's guitarist, a Santana sideman at 15, whose melodic solos sit behind the band's reputation as a power-ballad act.567pts
6Kevin ShieldsMy Bloody Valentine's guitarist, who turned the instrument into a texture machine and spent years perfecting Loveless.567pts
7Mike CampbellForty years with Tom Petty, then Fleetwood Mac, playing only what the song actually needs.539pts
8Robby KriegerThe Doors' guitarist who wrote Light My Fire and played flamenco-influenced slide parts that rarely get credited next to Jim Morrison.524pts
9Joni MitchellUsed dozens of open tunings to write songs like Big Yellow Taxi, and her guitar playing is overshadowed by her songwriting.524pts
10Link WrayRecorded Rumble in 1958, an instrumental banned from radio for supposedly inciting riots, and invented the power chord doing it.475pts
11Dean WeenWeen's guitarist, whose long, inventive solos are often hidden in jokey songs, keeping him off most guitar polls.475pts
12Alex LifesonRush's guitarist for four decades, overshadowed by Geddy Lee and Neil Peart despite the riffs of Tom Sawyer and La Villa Strangiato.419pts
13Ernie IsleyThe Isley Brothers' guitarist whose Hendrix-inspired solos on That Lady and Summer Breeze became a signature of the band's 1970s records.419pts
14Billy DuffyThe Cult's guitarist, economical to a fault, every note placed where it counts.419pts
15Steve HackettGenesis guitarist in the Peter Gabriel era and an early pioneer of tapping, overshadowed by the band's singers.419pts
16Richard ThompsonFairport Convention founder and folk-rock virtuoso, named among Rolling Stone's greatest guitarists yet little known outside critics' circles.419pts
17John FruscianteRed Hot Chili Peppers guitarist whose restrained, melodic playing on Californication and Under the Bridge favours feel over flash.419pts
18James BurtonPlayed behind Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley and Gram Parsons, and invented much of what country guitar became.354pts
19Mark KnopflerDire Straits' fingerpicking frontman whose clean, economical style on Sultans of Swing is admired by players but seldom on greatest lists.354pts
20Peter BuckR.E.M.'s guitarist whose jangling arpeggios defined college rock in the 1980s while Michael Stipe drew the attention.354pts
21Curtis MayfieldSoul legend whose open-tuned rhythm playing with The Impressions influenced Jimi Hendrix, overshadowed by his songwriting and the Super Fly soundtrack.354pts
22Wilko JohnsonDr. Feelgood's guitarist whose choppy, pickless rhythm-and-lead style shaped pub rock and influenced early punk players.354pts
23Peter GreenFleetwood Mac founder who wrote Albatross and Black Magic Woman, praised by B.B. King yet largely forgotten after leaving in 1970.354pts
24Lindsey BuckinghamFleetwood Mac's fingerpicking guitarist and producer whose playing on Rumours and Tusk is often lost behind the band's soap opera.354pts
25Brian SetzerBrought rockabilly guitar back with the Stray Cats, then did it again fronting an eighteen-piece orchestra.354pts
26Robert QuinePlayed on Richard Hell's Blank Generation and Lou Reed's The Blue Mask, and almost nobody outside the credits knows the name.279pts
27Nancy WilsonHeart's co-founder whose acoustic intro to Crazy on You and electric work rarely gets the credit given to male rock guitarists.279pts
28Bernard ButlerSuede's guitarist for two albums, and the reason those two albums still sound unlike anything else from the era.279pts
29Mick TaylorThe Rolling Stones between Brian Jones and Ron Wood, across Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup.279pts
30Ry CooderSlide player on hundreds of records, from the Rolling Stones to Paris, Texas, and rarely under his own name.279pts
31Nile RodgersChic, Bowie, Madonna, Daft Punk. The most recognisable rhythm guitar on earth, credited far less often than it is heard.279pts
32Tom VerlaineTelevision's frontman whose interlocking guitar lines with Richard Lloyd on Marquee Moon influenced post-punk far beyond its sales.279pts
33Paul KossoffFree's guitarist, whose slow vibrato on All Right Now made him a model for blues-rock players before his death at 25.190pts
34Johnny MarrWrote the guitar parts that carried The Smiths, then kept reinventing the job with Modest Mouse and The The.190pts
35Sister Rosetta TharpeThe 'Godmother of Rock and Roll', a gospel singer whose distorted electric guitar in the 1940s inspired Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley.190pts
36Hubert SumlinHowlin' Wolf's guitarist, whose lines on Smokestack Lightnin' got borrowed by every British band that followed.0pts
37Rory GallagherThe Irish blues-rock guitarist with the battered Stratocaster, a huge live draw in the 1970s who never had a big hit single.0pts
38J MascisDinosaur Jr.'s frontman whose loud, fuzzed-out solos brought guitar heroics back into 1980s indie rock.0pts
39Mick JonesThe Clash's lead guitarist and co-writer of London Calling and Should I Stay or Should I Go, always in Joe Strummer's shadow.0pts
40PrinceTopped Rolling Stone readers' poll of underrated guitarists; his solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the 2004 Hall of Fame stunned viewers.0pts
Photo credits
- Mick Ronson — mickeydb, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Malcolm Young — Harry (Howard) Potts, CC BY 2.0
- Andy Summers — Whoisjohngalt, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Steve Jones — Birgit Fostervold, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Neal Schon — Matt Becker, CC BY 3.0
- Kevin Shields — Chriswatts, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Mike Campbell — Davidwbaker, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Robby Krieger — Caroline Bonarde Ucci at https://www.flickr.com/photos/caroline_bonarde/, CC BY 3.0
- Link Wray — Eric Frommer, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Dean Ween — Moses, CC BY 2.0
- Alex Lifeson — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
- Ernie Isley — John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Billy Duffy — kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0
- Steve Hackett — Stefan Brending (2eight), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Richard Thompson — Dxede5x, CC BY-SA 3.0
- John Frusciante — Hel Davies from United Kingdom, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Mark Knopfler — Sebastien.gross, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Peter Buck — David Lee, CC BY 2.0
- Curtis Mayfield — AVRO, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Peter Green — Nick contador, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lindsey Buckingham — Raphael Pour-Hashemi, CC BY 2.0
- Brian Setzer — Marcos C., CC BY 3.0
- Nancy Wilson — Angela George, CC BY 4.0
- Bernard Butler — Paul Hudson, CC BY 2.0
- Mick Taylor — Joshua Knowlton Berry (joshbg2k ), CC BY 2.0
- Ry Cooder — Dani Canto, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Nile Rodgers — PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tom Verlaine — Bene Riobó, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Johnny Marr — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
- Hubert Sumlin — Sumori, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Rory Gallagher — Harry Potts, CC BY-SA 2.0
- J Mascis — Jason Persse from Brooklyn, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Mick Jones — John Coffey, CC BY 2.0
