“I’m not a theoretical musician or a theoretical writer,” he told Rolling Stone in 2016. He merged all of his influences into one on U2’s early work, utilizing delay, echo, and reverb to create a sound completely his own. Image Credit: Rob Verhorst/Redferns/Getty ImagesĪs a teenage guitarist in the Seventies, The Edge studied everything from punk and new wave to funk, blues, and R&B. Key Tracks: “Gypsy Woman,” “Move on Up,” “Freddie’s Dead” “It used to make me proud because no matter how good a guitarist was, when he grabbed my ax, he couldn’t play it.” - D.W. “Being self-taught, I never changed it,” he said. Mayfield went on to reinvent his playing for a solo career in the Seventies, building his new music around the flickering funk rhythms and spare, gestural, wah-wah-inflected lead parts heard on his Superfly soundtrack and hits like “Move on Up.” His liquid chord sequences were difficult for other musicians to imitate, in part because Mayfield played almost exclusively in an open F-sharp tuning. “In the Sixties, every guitar player wanted to play like Curtis,” George Clinton affirmed. He was also a quietly influential guitarist whose gently fluid melodies and fills, running through records like the Impressions’ “Gypsy Woman,” left a deep impact on Jimi Hendrix, especially in his psychedelic balladry. The late Curtis Mayfield was one of American soul’s finest singers, songwriters, and producers. put it, “I don’t know if I want to get too far off the path - I don’t want to get lost in the forest - but I like to wander out a bit and adventure.” We also tended to give an edge to artists who channeled whatever gifts god gave them into great songs and game-changing albums, not just impressive playing.Īs modern blues visionary Gary Clark Jr. In making the list, we tended to value heaviness over tastiness, feel over polish, invention over refinement, risk-takers and originators more than technicians. (All you Balalaika shredders out there, keep at it maybe next time.) Our only instrumental criteria is that you had to be a six-string player. Many great guitarists realized their genius as part of a duo, so Kim and Kelley Deal of the Breeders, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray of Iron Maiden, and other symbiotic pairs share an entry. There are huge stars like Prince, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young, and behind-the-scenes masters like Memphis soul great Teenie Hodges and smooth-rock assassin Larry Carlton. There are peerless virtuosos like Pat Metheny, Yvette Young, and Steve Vai, as well as primitivists like Johnny Ramone and Poison Ivy of the Cramps. The list has rock, jazz, reggae, country, folk, blues, punk, metal, disco, funk, bossa nova, bachata, Congolese rumba, flamenco, and much more. The earliest entrant on the list (folk music icon Elizabeth Cotten) was born in 1893, the youngest (indie-rock prodigy Lindsey Jordan) was born in 1999. We wanted to show the scope of the guitar’s evolution. But mythic guitar gods like Jimmy Page, Brian May, and Eddie Van Halen are only one part of the story. Guitar players are often as iconic as the lead singers for the bands they play in. Our new expanded list was made by the editors and writers of Rolling Stone. It was compiled by a panel of musicians, mostly older classic rockers. Rolling Stone published its original list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists in 2011. That’s why thinking about what makes a great guitarist is so much fun. Anybody can pick up a little guitar in no time at all, but you can spend a lifetime exploring its possibilities. It is who I am.” The guitar is the most universal instrument, the most primal, and the most expressive. “My guitar is not a thing,” Joan Jett once said.
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