RS 250 Greatest Guitarists - What's the worst picks you noticed

The Coffee Shop
1

I know this is old news, but I went down a rabbit hole after seeing some people claim that Prince should have been #2, and then told me that I clearly knew nothing about music if I didn’t know that Prince was better than Eddie van Halen and Jimmy Page (for example).

Anyway, I started combing through this list. Yes, we all know that there were a lot of problems. But sometimes something jumps out at you that blows away your already low expectations.

For me that was Carrie Brownstein at 64 and then 32 places later I see Mark Knopfler.

I should preface this with the fact that I love Carrie Brownstein as a sketch actress, and while I’m not into her music, I completely respect what Sleater - Kinney does. I’m also not a Dire Straits fan (don’t like the singing nor the overall feel of the band).

But Knoplfler can fucking play. Every other list I’ve seen him on ranks him in the top 50, and I even saw one list that had him as high as #5. Brownstein seems like she struggles to even play the guitar, and the riffs she does play are all pretty simple.

I think the Cobain and Harrison often get ranked too high, but at least they were guitarists in highly successful bands. Sleater - Kinney has sold 600,000 albums. Compare that to the 120 million of Dire Straits.

So what have you got?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitarists-1234814010/

2

It’s Rolling Stone … who gives a fuck?

They start with Andy Summers at #250; I said to myself ‘that’s all you need to know,’ and I stopped right there

3

It’s Rolling Stone … who gives a fuck?

They start with Andy Summers at #250; I said to myself ‘that’s all you need to know,’ and I stopped right there

This. I think we talked about it a bit in the Guitar Peeps thread. This was a list written by non-guitarists, and designed to get clicks or views and discussion; not an honest list of greatest guitarists. The list of people left off or ranked incorrectly is almost as long as the RS list itself.

And anyone who tells you Prince is the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time is trying too hard.

4

And anyone who tells you Prince is the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time is trying too hard.

I agree, but it seems to be quite the trend right now. A Super Bowl performance in the rain, an untimely death, and a new generation of contrarians and Prince has gone from a guy who played better than a lot of us expected, to one of the greatest of all time.

I should also add a fake Eric Clapton quote to the equation.

5

Keith Urban above Paul Simon?
Eric Clapton only 35th?
Brian May only 33rd?
Randy Rhoads would be higher than 20th if he hadn’t died so young
Not really sure that 5-7th place deserve such high spots, and would put Prince higher

6

Zappa outside the top 10 is a travesty.

I couldn’t say it any better than Trey Anastasio:

https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/guitar200-frank-zappa.jpg?w=800
GINNY WINN/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
“When I was learning how to play guitar, I was obsessed with that album,” Phish’s Trey Anastasio said in 2005 of Frank Zappa’s 1981 collection of intricate and blistering solos, Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar. “Every boundary that was possible on the guitar was examined by him in ways that other people didn’t.”

7

Keith Urban above Paul Simon?
Eric Clapton only 35th?
Brian May only 33rd?
Randy Rhoads would be higher than 20th if he hadn’t died so young
Not really sure that 5-7th place deserve such high spots, and would put Prince higher

Higher than 14th? You mean Prince should be closer to #1? Or further away from #1?

He wasn’t even in the top 100 in the 2003 and 2010 lists. If you mean he should be closer to #1, can you please explain why you think that?

8

I’m not qualified to judge guitar players, but it seems like a pointless exercise. How do you even rate what BB King and Eddie Van Halen are doing on the same scale? “Greatness” is wildly subjective.

9

I didn’t give it much credence but I went to check it out for the hell of it. It loaded 250-201 so I hit the Load More button to get to the top. It loaded 200 and that place was Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram. I immediately exited the list. I left the Ed Sheeran stage to see Kingfish at JazzFest earlier this year and it was the best decision. My buddy standing next to me said “He made a deal with the devil”. I got home and bought the expensive tickets to see him when he was coming to town.

I will be long dead before the world has seen 199 guitarists better than Kingfish.

10

I’m not qualified to judge guitar players, but it seems like a pointless exercise. How do you even rate what BB King and Eddie Van Halen are doing on the same scale? “Greatness” is wildly subjective.

I’d hate to show any sort of sympathy to Trolling Stone*, but if they’d simply listed them alphabetically, they’d probably get shit for that, too

*that was an auto-correct issue, but I kinda liked it, so I’m leaving it LOL

11

Keith Urban above Paul Simon?
Eric Clapton only 35th?
Brian May only 33rd?
Randy Rhoads would be higher than 20th if he hadn’t died so young
Not really sure that 5-7th place deserve such high spots, and would put Prince higher

Higher than 14th? You mean Prince should be closer to #1? Or further away from #1?

He wasn’t even in the top 100 in the 2003 and 2010 lists. If you mean he should be closer to #1, can you please explain why you think that?

Yes, higher = closer to #1.

Why? Because I think he’s a better and more influential player than some of those above him. I may be conflating his influence as a “musician” than as a guitarist though.

12

“Greatness” is wildly subjective.

Yes, but I think it’s safer to say that Jimmi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan are greater guitarists than Slowguy and myself. There is a level of objectivity to it.

13

And anyone who tells you Prince is the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time is trying too hard.

I agree, but it seems to be quite the trend right now. A Super Bowl performance in the rain, an untimely death, and a new generation of contrarians and Prince has gone from a guy who played better than a lot of us expected, to one of the greatest of all time.

I’m no musician but I’ve been wondering for years if I was just missing something with Prince. I guess I’m not the only one.

14

“Greatness” is wildly subjective.

Yes, but I think it’s safer to say that Jimmi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan are greater guitarists than Slowguy and myself. There is a level of objectivity to it.

I’ve never even heard you or Slowguy play. It might be more interesting if they put them in tiers by genre. The list is accomplishing its intent, people are talking about it.

BTW, I know little about guitar playing, but if I had to pick favorite, it would be Knopfler.

15

“Greatness” is wildly subjective.

Yes, but I think it’s safer to say that Jimmi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan are greater guitarists than Slowguy and myself. There is a level of objectivity to it.

There are 2 different “goods” when it comes to musical instruments:

Good Creatively, and good technically.

In the electric bass world there are 3 people that stand out creatively - Wilton Felter, Carole Kaye, and Donald “Duck” Dune. Between those 3 they account for a vast majority of the bass lines that are imitated or copied today.

There are also 3 people that stand out from a technical standpoint - Geddy Lee, Anthony Kiedis, and Les Claypool. I leave out Victor Wooten because he isn’t really playing the part of bass player, and Jaco Pastorious was a one trick pony - He played fretless very fast. His intonation was marginal at best.

Jimmi Hendrix was creative, but it isn’t that technical. Stevie Ray is very good technically (as is Eric Clapton) but he is just playing the blues most of the time.

If you want to watch a fantastic guitar player (Technical skill), check out Leonid and Friends’ guitar player, Sergey Kashirin. He left the group in 2021 but his performance on songs like 25 or 6 to 4 is flawless. The problem is he is copying someone else’s work.

16

“Greatness” is wildly subjective.

Yes, but I think it’s safer to say that Jimmi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan are greater guitarists than Slowguy and myself. There is a level of objectivity to it.

There are 2 different “goods” when it comes to musical instruments:

Good Creatively, and good technically.

Again, I’m just a fan, little to no musical knowledge or ability myself, but I would add a third criteria and that’s that the player sounds good.

Some lauded guitarists just aren’t all that pleasant or enjoyable to listen to, which probably accounts for why they never had very much commercial success (relatively speaking).

17

There are 2 different “goods” when it comes to musical instruments:

I agree with your post, but will add my own thoughts to it.

I also add to your list:

3 - body of work
4 - influence on fans and other artists

BTW, something that we often don’t include is the ability to improvise, which really hasn’t been considered important in the rock genre while it was HIGHLY important in the jazz world.

18

And anyone who tells you Prince is the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time is trying too hard.

I agree, but it seems to be quite the trend right now. A Super Bowl performance in the rain, an untimely death, and a new generation of contrarians and Prince has gone from a guy who played better than a lot of us expected, to one of the greatest of all time.

I’m no musician but I’ve been wondering for years if I was just missing something with Prince. I guess I’m not the only one.

Prince has sold 150 million albums worldwide, thought only 36 million in the US (still a big number, but it appears that he had a broader appeal worldwide). So he definitely has his fan base.

Regarding him specifically as a guitarist. He is surprisingly good considering that his music is not really guitar focused like, say, Van Halen or ACDC.

Having said that, when looking at the 4 categories that autojack and I put together, he’s nor particularly impressive in any of them.

Technical playing - he can play, but it’s not anything special. I have friends who are better.
Creativity - his solos are all pretty standard licks. Nothing iconic that you could point out.
Body of work - in terms of guitar work, it’s pretty small.
Influence - again, in terms of guitar playing, none.

What he does have is top level showmanship, he’s fairly popular and very ironic as an artist, performer, and musician, and he’s a good pick for douchebag know-it-all contrarian independent record store employees (who’ve now been replaced by random internet people) to pretend that he’s really one of the greats, and you’d know that too if you were cool.

19

In the electric bass world there are 3 people that stand out creatively - Wilton Felter, Carole Kaye, and Donald “Duck” Dunn. Between those 3 they account for a vast majority of the bass lines that are imitated or copied today.

There are also 3 people that stand out from a technical standpoint - Geddy Lee, Anthony Kiedis, and Les Claypool. I leave out Victor Wooten because he isn’t really playing the part of bass player, and Jaco Pastorious was a one trick pony - He played fretless very fast. His intonation was marginal at best.

I think you mean Flea

20

In the electric bass world there are 3 people that stand out creatively - Wilton Felter, Carole Kaye, and Donald “Duck” Dunn. Between those 3 they account for a vast majority of the bass lines that are imitated or copied today.

There are also 3 people that stand out from a technical standpoint - Geddy Lee, Anthony Kiedis, and Les Claypool. I leave out Victor Wooten because he isn’t really playing the part of bass player, and Jaco Pastorious was a one trick pony - He played fretless very fast. His intonation was marginal at best.

I think you mean Flea

I bet you don’t agree that B# = C either :slight_smile: