BULLSHIT!!!

Hendrix and Page are easily better! You can even argue Steve Ray Vaughan, but most of you will probably say "he's not metal". And where's Pete Townsend?

NO MICHAEL ANTHONY = NO VAN HALEN

Unreal! the first two post by a couple douchebags! This post is to praise the great Edward Van Halen, not comment about Wolfgang or make stupid comments about other guitarists being better! Eddie deserves to be No. 1. He revolutionized the way all modern metal guitarists play guitar. My oter favorites on the list would be Page and Lifeson (although I would give the edge to Page)

What a bullshit list.

Should have been #1....

Well, he is anyway in my book.

Anyway, these types of lists usually suck.

All these Greatest Guitarist Of All Time polls are fucking lame. Its the same thing when those other magazines name "Sexiest woman alive". Its all bul shit, there can't be and will never be just one yo!

I agree, bitch!

Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my all time favorites! Easily a top three!

Who cares. Guitar World is just trying to sell magazines. And Brian May #2? LOL

That and they give Eddie free advertising for his BS EVH line. Ever notice why they get all the interviews and special reviews??

That is a crock o shite... First of, I LOVE VH... the dude rules! But he is limited... List is missing Petrucci, Jeff beck, Holdsworth, Shawn Lane, Jon Anderson, Terry Kath... And I love dimebag, but if you are going metal then you have to add Jason Becker and Marty Friedman, and a dude named Yngwie.... Wow. Guitar World readers need to spend less time reading and more time listening.

Petrucci, Beck, Becker, and Yngwie were all on the list, but all the bull shit social media sites ruined the competition. If you look at a lot of the comments half the people voting only voted for their favorites. They had no idea who some of the lesser known, yet more talented guitarists were. It was aggravating all the way through it.

Randy Rhoads isn't on the top ten list? What a joke!

Congrats Edward!
Stay Frosty!

Cool I see that I'm on the top five of that list

Good to see Alex Lifeson getting some love.

As much as it may be a cliche to say that Jimi Hendrix is the greatest guitarist ever, it's almost impossible to argue.

He made a quantum leap in the instrument in only a few short years.

And where the fuck is Chuck Berry? For me, he's almost as influential as Hendrix, maybe even slightly more so.

When you talk about guitarists who REALLY advanced what was possible with the instrument, these are the names I think of:

Robert Johnson
Django Reinhardt
Chuck Berry
Jimi Hendrix
Ritchie Blackmore
Tony Iommi
Eddie Van Halen

Sadly, so many out there will NEVER know who he is, or how he could play circles around people with just two fingers...

This list is about the better guitar player, not the most influential. I'm a big fan of Hendrix but technically, E Van Hanlen is superior to him. And so are S.Vai or Dimebag. At least, this ranking make a bit more sense than the"100 best guitar players in the world" from the Rolling Stones magazine.

they are faster. but not all technique is speed.

Agree with all. The only other name I could think of is Keith Richards

Another clueless list put together by the morons at Guitar World.

Karl Logan of Manowar is the best guitarist in the Universe!

chuck schuldeiner is the greatest guitarist in the world.

hendrix is best of all time for me; glad to see lifeson score high on list. david gilmore should be on this list, which should be called best guitarists of all time that are well known,...

This poll was open to the public so it was their votes (for their favorites of course)

The pairings on this poll were very questionable, but people choosing Brian May over Jimi Hendrix was astonishing. Nothing against May but we're talking Hendrix here.

The final two should have been Hendrix vs EVH (which the magazine was hoping for).

How can someone say eddie's playing is limited? that's just plain stupid

it actually is! Don't get me wrong, huge EVH fan, but he's great at what he does, but doesn't show much else. (not that he's not showing alot)...for instance, watching him jam on some classics with Harrison, Steve Winwood, he was out of place, tapping, and just being flashy when it totally wasn't called for...his vocabulary might be limited.

again, love EVh, but that is one of my criticisms of him.

There is hope, after all.

Good choice.

Someone thinks Jimmy Page is a better guitarist than Eddie Van Halen? Really?

Cue angry metal morons bashing EVH because, unlike their superstar heroes, he's never sat in his bedroom learning to play melodic minor runs REALLY REALLY FAST LIKE. Oh wait, I'm too late.

EVH is a sublime guitarist. Definitely the top contender for greatest rock player.

Rules. Yeah there are better shredders, better blues guys, better guitarists, but who since Hendrix is a guitarist most people can name? Who has made the greatest impact in terms of changing the way the instrument is played and the gear used to play it... EVH.

Shawn Lane, Guthrie Govan, MacAlpine, the dudes in Obscura and Necrophagist, Andy McKee, Holdsworth, some random classically or flamenco trained nylon string player, yes they are all better technicians, better guitarists even. But would they win a popularity contest judged by novice, hobby-est guitarist? No. Eddie is just mainstream enough to capture the guitar interested but otherwise musically illiterate fans attention. Just like Kiss inspiring generations of metal player while barely being able to play themselves. Or the vast majority of people who think Bieber or Keith Urban are legitimate musicians.

Opinions are like assholes and muso nerds will argue to the end of time that Beck is better than Page because of his mastery of the vibrato arm and volume pot, or Stevie Ray is a better guitarist than Satriani because SRV played a Strat strung with bridge cables 2 inches off the fretboard through relatively clean amps while Satch uses thin strings practically laying on the fretboard through super saturated, super sustaining, error obscuring high gain amps. Then bring in genre elitists who will say Angus Young sucks because he can't play Origin style sweep picked death metal, or Randy Rhoads couldn't compete with schizo musical styles employed by Dilliner Escape Plan.

People have to bitch. Eddie rules at what he does, Trey Azagthoth rules at what he does, Scott Henderson rules at what he does, Johhny Hilland rules at what he does, Johnny Ramone rules at what he does etc... etc... etc... ad nauseum. There is no sigular best guitarist, any one with a brain knows that. Magazines have to sell, lists incite rants like the one I've just written. Eddies an obvious and appropriate choice.

Marty Friedman & Paul Gilbert are notably absent.

while sometimes these lists can be a bit silly, there is no way and I mean NO WAY Eddie Van Halen trumps Jimi Hendrix! Sorry but that's just the way it is.

Ok now here's one for the haters. I also have to call bull shit on this list because like it or not people Tom Morello re-wrote the book on being a guitar hero! His style is unique and innovative and he should be in the top ten.

Where's the axe men from Evnjed 7fold?!?!?!
And Ahtray-U!!!!!
This is totally bogus dudes!

Seriously.

yea these lists are just people's opinions but Hendrix is simply indisputably No. 1, because without him none of these other people ever pick up a guitar in all likelihood. It all descends from him, as far as the last 40 years or so are concerned...

By that logic the first ape to bang a rock on a log is the greatest guitarist. If he hadn't done that drums, music and every other instrument created wouldn't exist.

Why lists suck.

1.Because they do.
2.They're irrelevant.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

dimebag and Stevie Ray need to go and Brian MAy is questionable,I like them all,but Steve Morse,John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, NEED to be there,in my opinion this poll is as worthless as any rolling stone poll.Just because you die young and tragically does not mean you are automatically 100x better then when you were alive

no dave murray, timo tolki, gus g, zakk wylde, michael amott. malmsteen, kirk hammet, mustaine, roland grapow, slash only good thing on this list is brian may and iommi

At least eddie won with all the innovations he's done for the instrument he deserves it.

Floyd Rose... He didnt invent... Drop D he bought the patten... Tapping Hendrix and Page did that years before this clown... His publisist payed GW BFD

is Eddie but there is a big travesty here.

What is completely nuts is that one of the top ten best players is not even on the TOP 100 list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JEFF WATERS of ANNIHILATOR

Wow I vas not on list, danm good ting cause I don play goods no moe. Eddie is way kool.

Any list that doesnt include Allan Holdsworth or John Mclaughlin is a fucking joke!

...ALL HAIL...TONY IOMMI...!!!!

\m/

"best" and "greatest" are the most ambiguous qualifiers ever; therefore making them the WORST qualifiers ever.

but, i will say those words are very effective publicity-getters. if they picked something specific, like fastest, they'd have to measure it, then all of a sudden we're reading a science magazine.

Is 'the most popular' or 'the best' the issue? For instance: where's Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Gary Moore, Frank Marino etc etc

1. Alex Skolnick
2. Hevy Devy
3. Andy LaRocque
...

Rankings in music is like determining the most attractive woman in the world. Everyone has their own taste. There are over 6 billion people on this planet and 27,000 people voted online to determine the greatest of all time? To each his own, I guess.

WOW big surprise!!! They buy his interviews giving him advertising space for his over priced EVH BS brand... GW is a bunch of $$ hoars and surprise... So is Eddie....

No Uli Roth ? No Blackmore ? fuck this top 10 list

Because I would pick Paul Gilbert or Chris Broderick to teach my kid guitar..but I wouldnt pick them to write a song.

EVH effortless played all those signature riffs and techniques that most other accomplished players craft into their songs.

Effortlessly and melodically.

Just listening to some old AIC today and remembered what melodic and heavy music sounded like...

More artists were excited about the new VH release because it brought them back to their love for playing, the effortless, dynamic playing of a true master.

Amen.

guitar world has to promote brian may---

guitar world=liberal agenda propaganada first---
guitar second
---
they didnt used to be so "on a leash"--- i wonder if they got bought in the 2000s--by communist/population control theorists---

so they have to make sure the "brian may" factor ---is dominant over democracy

brian may=media libtarded symbol--put on a pedestal because of being related to "homo-ness"---yet they can still keep the concept at arms length---because they actually hate homos

but they half to half-ass push the shit---because of pressure from inter=group communists

do you actually believe your own bullshit?

Stay Frosty

The only thing I can say is that EVH hasn't done any real quality guitar writing since the 80's, but i guess you could say that about Jimmy page too. Lifeson, Satch, and Iommi have been pumping out quality shit consistently. Oh yeah, no Randy Rhodes...come on!

no real quality since the 80's?
May I call your attention to

As Is
Chinatown
Honeybabysweetiedoll

All written in 2012.

I think they played parts of China Town between songs when I saw them in Cincinnati in 2004

Clearly a popularity contest and nothing more.

These polls are a joke, John McLaughlin is the greatest guitarist who has ever lived. Where's Al Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth, Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth?

pathetic

Jazz guitar is a different beast. These Jazz guys make Hendrix and EVH look like a joke.

I think it's nuts that Clapton, one of EVH's biggest influences, isn't on the list.

yeah...

i believe it
----
but brian may is actually a good player---i dont want to sound like he sucks or whatever

but this is all "social engineering" wannabe b.s. for the "guitarists"

Marks...period

I tried to vote in this fucking poll every single day. The people running it did a shitty job of setting up the matchups, it was set up for EVH to just waltz into the finals, and the omissions were absurd and disgraceful. If all that wasn't bad enough, all the Brian May fanboys put links to the contest and solicited votes for May. The poll was based on ability, influence, body of work, and technicality. Brian May beat out Jeff Beck, Robert Johnson, Les Paul, and JIMI HENDRIX!!! Brian fucking May beat Jimi Hendrix!!! That's not a joke!!! This poll was a farce and a joke and there may be one or two in the Top 10 that somewhat derserve to be there. Brian May's little bitches ruined the competition, and judging by the replies, Brian's reputation. Some days the voting was open for 3 or 4 days, as it was with Les Paul and Brian May. Then when THE FINALS (the one part you'd think they'd want everyone to vote on) came up, they pulled it halfway through the second day, because May was catching EVH. Guitar World totally blew it. EVH is so fucking overrated it makes me puke!!!

Those lists are stupid...its all a matter of opinion.

Much more than technique... but the guy's technique is unsurpassed.

Saw him live last month (first time) and was blown away by the WHOLE performance: his playing, the songs, his stage presence.

Don't know where he fits on a "greatest guitarist" list, but he needs to be there.

BEST METAL GUITARISTS! Jimi is the all around king for the triple threat of innovation, singing and songwriter. Eddie is the best guitarist for post Hendrix for innovation. Look at just about any other player named and you'll find that without one of these two, then they're probably wouldn't be any of them. Still the stupid matchup format they used does suck and many were bound to be unhappy.

If you're talking about creativity and in song performance, you've got to be thinking about Adrian Smith. Yes MAIDEN is a little heavy for most readers of this mag. / poll, but he has more heart and soul than just good technique and wrote some of the best songs ever, imo. and too this day (TFF) is still writing good work, like Starblind and others from The Final Frontier.

My favorite of all time.

EVH is not by any means my favorite guitar player. I think since EVH and even before him there have been many over all better guitar players.

But absolutely NO ONE did more to revolutionize the way in which people play the electric guitar in the way that EVH did. Even Hendrix. He took his guitar and amps apart and re engineered them so he could have a tone no one else could have. That's why his guitar is called Frankenstein.

There are guitar players far better than EVH but he was truly revolutionary. He deserves number 1. No amount of thumbs down on blabbermouth can change that.

That being said I don't like the guys attitude. He hasn't improved his skills since the 80's and no longer has any ambition. He just tours to make money then released old unreleased tracks and calls it a new album. Guy is a joke to me anymore.

Overall, Jimmy Page annihilates all these guys, he's the most well rounded and simply has the best riffs and is the best songwriter. And the coolest mofo ever to sling a Les Paul. Technically Paco DeLucia is the man. Page and Lifeson are the top 2 dogs.

What a shit list !

The quality of guitar world magazine has gone down a lot in the last few years sso if the only people dumb enough to buy the mag vote, I can see why the list is so shit.

Wise up. Same old fucking list of twatty has-beens.

on what you define as Greatest. Technical ability, innovation, Riffage skills. Either way these kind of lists always aren't very good. In general #1 should be Hendrix though.

As much as I love all the guitarists on this list, nobody has done so much with so little (only 2 real albums). Randy Rhoads is the greatest guitarist of all time!

was

This list isn't as retarded as lists by the likes of Rolling Stones and crappy magazine like that. This is a more realistic list. I was happy to see Chuck Schuldiner included in the 100 list. Only guitarist missing is Piggy from Voivod. He was a major influence for many many bands. Anyway...