Rock, metal, jazz, country and blues Several
magazines and
websites have compiled what they intend as lists of the greatest guitarists—for example
The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by
Rolling Stone magazine, or
100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by
Guitar World magazine.
Rolling Stone The first in the list from 2007 is the American guitarist
Jimi Hendrix, introduced by
Pete Townshend, guitarist for
the Who, who was, in his turn, ranked at #50 in the list. In describing the list to readers, Paul MacInnes from British newspaper
The Guardian wrote, "Surprisingly enough for an American magazine, the top 10 is fair jam-packed with Yanks", though he also noted three exceptions in the top 10. The online magazine
Blogcritics criticized the list for introducing some allegedly undeserving guitarists while forgetting some artists the writer considered perhaps more worthy, such as
Johnny Marr,
Al Di Meola,
Phil Keaggy or
John Petrucci. In 2011,
Rolling Stone updated the list, which this time was chosen by a panel of guitarists and other experts. Jimi Hendrix was again named as the greatest. Artists who had not been included in the previous list were added.
Rory Gallagher, for example, was ranked in 57th place.
The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time is mentioned in many biographies about artists who appear in the list.
Guitar World Guitar World, a monthly music magazine devoted to the guitar, also published their list of 100 greatest guitarists in the book
Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time from the Pages of Guitar World Magazine. Different from the
Rolling Stone list, which listed guitarists in descending order,
Guitar World divided guitarists by
music genre—such as "Lords of Hard Rock" for
hard rock artists or "Jazzmen" for
jazz players. Despite the appearance in other magazines like
Billboard, this publication by
Guitar World was criticized for including no female musicians within its selection. However,
Guitar World recently published a list of "Eight Amazing Female Acoustic Players", including
Kaki King,
Muriel Anderson and
Sharon Isbin.
Time and others Following the death of
Les Paul,
Time website presented their list of 10 greatest artists in
electric guitar. As in
Rolling Stone magazine's list, Jimi Hendrix was chosen as the greatest guitarist followed by
Slash from
Guns N' Roses,
Tony Iommi,
Keith Richards,
Jimmy Page, and
Eric Clapton.
Gigwise.com, an online music magazine, also ranks Jimi Hendrix as the greatest guitarist ever, followed by Jimmy Page, B.B. King, Keith Richards and
Kirk Hammett.
World War II era During the World War II era, several American guitarists also made significant early contributions to the evolution of Jazz in both the United States and Germany.
Mike Danzi is credited with contributing to the introduction of American popular musical genres to Germany during the
Weimar Republic in the 1920s until to the rise of the
Nazi regime in the late 1930s. During the post World War II, era both
Al Caiola and
Tony Mottola also made significant contributions as recording artists, studio musicians and accompanists on major American radio and television networks.
Other genres The classical guitar is traditionally strung with gut or nylon strings for the treble notes, and wound strings for the bass. Often adorned with mother-of-pearl inlays, the instrument was once primarily played using the fingertips alone. Over time, however, guitarists began to use a combination of fingernail and flesh to achieve a clearer, more expressive sound, and allowing for many different changes in sound quality (or timbre). This guitar tradition dates back at least to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when a four course instrument was popular among aristocrats. In the early nineteenth century there the guitar enjoyed a surge of popularity when composer/performers such as
Fernando Sor,
Napoléon Coste,
Mauro Giuliani, and many others published thousands of pieces for the concert hall and home gatherings. The classical guitar enjoyed another period of popularity in the twentieth century when recordings amplified the relatively quiet instrument. There are many
classical guitarists listed as "notable" in their respective epochs. During the post World War II era the Spanish virtuoso guitarist
Andre Segovia played a central role in gaining respect for the guitar as a "serious" concert instrument among audiences within the realm of
classical music. Segovia's performances on the international concert hall stage ranged over three decades and included his own transcriptions of works from both the classical and
baroque eras. In the late 20th century a new generation of classical guitarists followed Segovia's lead by encouraging even wider international admiration for the guitar. Included in this group are:
Julian Bream,
Oscar Ghiglia,
Christopher Parkening,
Celedonio Romero,
Pepe Romero,
Angel Romero and
John Williams. One of the most renowned
flamenco guitarists in recent decades was
Paco de Lucía. Flamenco music is a popular traditional music associated with the Andalucia region of southern Spain. It is characterized by intricate syncopated rhythms intimately informed by a gypsy dance style. Flamenco guitarists also often accompany flamenco singers performing "
cante jondo" (deep song). De Lucía was also one of the first to have successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz. The
cuatro guitar is a family of Latin American string
instruments played in
Puerto Rico,
Venezuela and other
Latin American countries. It is derived from the
Spanish guitar. Although some have
viola-like shapes, most cuatros resemble a small to mid-sized classical guitar. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is an ensemble instrument for secular and religious music, and is played at parties and traditional gatherings.
Christian Nieves is a Puerto Rican cuatro player and is recognized by the Institute of Puerto Rican culture as the most talented young of their national instrument, the
Puerto Rican cuatro. ==References==