Kurt cobain was a good musician, but he was not a Guitar Player, he dont care about guitar bass or anything, he just want to jump and perform infront of the audience (no drums then) and the bass player was his best friend so guitar then

Jesse Johnson lead guitar player of The Time

Lindsey Buckingham should be top of this list. By FAR one of thee most underrated guitarists ever! I saw Fleetwood Mac not too long ago, and I had to give a standing-O after “Big Love”. Have you seen this mans hands move on the guitar. F*cking Priceless! That alone was worth the price of the ticket.

Thanks

Mattias Jabs
Jake E. Lee
John Sykes
Adrian Smith
Warren D. Martini
and great number of other guitar players are far more underated than any body they mentioned on that list!!!!

you guys dont get good guitar playing….It means making music that sounds beutiful and great. Sure Kurt was 12 on there list, but all u people thinking hes not underrated but overrated and that he was lousy when he made it onto #12. Rolling Stones knows more about music than most of you think you do. Kurt poured his soul into his music. Yeah George Harrison is also reall underrated. Good guitar playing doesnt mean playing real fast stuff that soundls like nothing at all. But i know this will do know good and most of you will continue to diss cobain. If these guys go down in history than theyre better than most of u will ever be. And how did u guys no what kurt could and couldnt do? He could have played extremely fast for all you know but he didnt because he actually focused on how good the music will be.

Jerry Cantrell is totaly underrated!

Mathew Bellamy NEEDS TO BE ON THIS LIST!!! Just listen to Hysteria, Plug in Baby, Knights of Cydonia, Or hell any of his songs and hes INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Why isn’t Keaggy on the Big List? Someone not doing their homework, or buying into stereotypes perhaps?

I’ve seen Keaggy twice, once electric and once acoustic. Both amazing, acoustic supreme.

Keaggy spent his career playing high school gyms because that was the market for Christian music. That’s the kind of integrity he has.

But please don’t judge his music (fretboard and vocal, btw), by circumstances. This is one consummate, lyrical artist, with the rare eclectic ability to transcend multiple genres simultaneously, and to do so virtuosically. He really deserves a lot more recognition than he gets.

okay, the original 100 pissed me off. i saw NO martin barre (jethro tull) and NO jason becker. also, NO jerry cantrell or john butler, but we put ace frehely and kurt cobain in? i mean come on, i could be doing these for rolling stone and im fucking 16

People complain that A.Lifeson and that sort of guys are not listed, why? everybody knows them and their talent. What about guitarists that are out of this world and some folks ask who are they? I give you one example: RAY GOMEZ!!!

y CERATI!?

I think that it’s absolutely criminal that Dave Murray, and Adrian Smith aren’t on this list

prince is a god. he turns the guitar into a sex machine (literally).

it’s all about johnny or ed. what about thom yorke? he comes up with most of the riffs, and his acoustic guitar part on paranoid android is just as cool as johnny’s guitar solo. awesome.

What about Alex Lifeson? I think he just got smothered by Neil and Geddy and nobody remembers him…

Jimmy Hendrix is the number ONE! Prince is the number five in max!

What about Jeff Buckley?

terry kath.. hendrix even said he was amazed by his ability

Roy Buchanan……I think the name says it all!

I have to say that Buckethead is way underrated. In my opinion the most talented guitar player and instrumental writer of our day. Both Dave Mustane and Slash have gone on record to say that he is in a league of his own.

Ian Thornley.

this list is good-

underrated guitarist in my opinion-

1. david gilmour- so fuckern good, yet because the rolling stones love drugged out fuckheads, he only gets on the top 100 (just) to keep everyone quiet. comfortably numb is perfection.
2. george harrison- just listen to something. perfection.
3. billy corgan- just so underrated its an understatement he’s underrated. the cherub rock solo is so cool, it shits all over any red hot chilli peppers.
4. johnny marr- a awesome guitarist. solos aren’t required. just melodic and simple and cool.
5. richie blackmore- from deep purple, i know he was in the top one hundred, however his guitar work is genius. fuck his riffs, listen to his solo.
6. ed o’brian- i wonder were all those freaky noises came from. it wasn’t from johnny or thom.
7. bernard summers- of joy division and new order, just cool and added a freaky dimension to demented ian curtis.
8. james dean bradfield- of manic street preachers, an awesome guitarist, very clever fills.
9. lindsay buckingham- just a great guitarist. finger picking is beyond belief.
10. anybody- but ultimatly anyone who plays guitar is good, ‘coz it’s hard to play. i’m only getting the hang of it now.

overrated guitarists include-

1. johnny frusitate (though he’s good)
2. tom morello (solo on killing in the name of isn’t really a solo, just a fill)
3. angus young (it must get harder to solo in the same key)

anyway kiss suck, sorry

Well I think people vote too much for the band they love and not enough for the guitar skills.
For my part I’d say that J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr is a really good guitarist but unfortunatly him and his band are not enough known.

ross childress-collective soul
steve wilson-porcupine tree

And where is Synyster Gates?!?!?!?!?….(Avenged Sevenfold)?????!?!? didn’t he get guitarist of the year or something in 2006? on this very website?!?!?!?

yes..mike mccready deserves more recognition!

firstly with all the styles it’s hard to do an honest comparison.
take ROINE STOLT,no mention and he puts to shame most all mentioned.
solo in garden of dreams-hmmmmmm
love the ones who take you somewhere else

What about Steve Bartek?

CHIMBINHA!!!!

Dave Mustaine is the most under rated guitarist..He is an amazing guitarist and just really talented..but no one really notices…He may not be the best ever..but he is very close

prince is one of the best ever. he should be top 50 ever

Neal Schon is the most underrated
Listen “lay it down” by “journey”

I’ll also go along with Prince as number one underrated guitarist, but how come no on’e mentiones Nile Rodgers yet?? Amazing

Phil Keaggy belongs in the top five on any all-time list.The reason that most people don’t know who he is,is because of his association with the Christian Music Industry.He is definitely in the same league with Vai and Satriani.He is more known for his acoustic work,but his electric stuff is out of this world.He would not be seen as a shredder by most critics,but what makes him special is his melodic approach to the instrument.His notes ring out loud and clear.He doesn’t over-emphasise scales like most rock guitarists are guilty of doing.If you haven’t heard him,you are missing out on one of the greatest of all time.Thanks,”Rolling Stone”,for mentioning this virtuoso.

oh yah…and clyde down there..u must not know much about mr. corgan..far from lousy man.do some research

watch ross childress on collective souls 99′woodstock cover of crazy train…awesome shit!

Ross childress… former lead axe from collective soul…the guy is one of a kind on a PRS custom 22.listen to these songs and videos:
1.breathe
2.hymn 24 {only on youtube}
3.tremble for my beloved
3.no more, no less
4.heavy
5.vent
6.slow{ riff}
7.crown{solo}
8.bleed

9.untitled{off self-titled album}

One word. Akira.

i think lyndsay buckingham should be on this list, he is amazing

well…im suprise they dont have slash, dimebag darrel,or synyster gates up there….there like the best guitarists…even Bonedaddy not up there

well…im suprise they dont have slash, dimebag darrel,or synyster gates up there….there like the best guitarists…even Bonedaddy not up there

Richie Sambora and Dave Navarro, they play with soul, everybody can agree they are really underrated

Rik Emmet is totally forgotten. Fantastic player, second to none! He is (was?) almost a total guitar player: fast (when needed), musical and stylish. And Triumph had several good songs - still none (on this side of Atlantic) knows the band and neither Rik.

Harrison and Frehley are there for a good reason.Both belong to my favourite guitarist of all time. Musical guitarists with a style. Great solos that match the song 100%. very rare quality nowadays.

Jason Becker shoul be in that list. The best guitarrist of the world!

What about Gary Richrath? Reo’s Live You Get What You Play For has some awesome guitar solos! Especially Golden Country. Also, a couple country artists.. Travis Tritt and Brad Paisley

Once again I think this list left out Tony Bourge(Budgie), Randy Bachman (Guess Who and BTO), Barry Goudreau and Tom Scholz(Boston), and Dave Grohl(Foo Fighters).

A few have mentioned Yngwie Malmsteen and I agree. Underrated means they don’t get the credit they deserve. Surely Cobain and Harrison have had their share of the limelight?! It seems that only guitarists know about Yngwie. Another glaring omission is Chet Atkins. Yeah, he’s country, but just listen!

Harrison sucked. He always hung onto his axe like he was afraid of it. Those cheesy beatle solo’s ruined every song. Beatle’s were never a great musical band. The Who and Stones were light years ahead of them song wise.

Also any of the dudes from Maiden

Mick Mars and James Hetfield are brillaint. But hands down Richie Sambora is the man, Plays from the heart and plays amazing guitar without playing a thousoand notes per minute.

mick mars??????

ClaptonIsGod | 11/25/2008, 3:28 pm EST

Kurt Cobain sucks. So does hendrix. they both are the most overrated ever.

Hendrix doesn’t suck, never say that!

Well, prince is really underrated and skilled but come on, Kurt Cobain!? He is really overrated guitarist, he made awesome riffs but he wasn’t anything special on guitar!

Some realy underrated players are Dave Navarro and Richie Sambora (Dave’s solo on Three Days and Richie’s on Dry County, listen to them)

God everyone forgets Uli Jon Roth…who may be the best guitarist ever in terms of pure emotional and technical playing combined. He and Ritchie Blackmore were rocking harder than anyone and they were so freakin great at using the instrument. Uli went on to do even more amazing things in recent years by combining an orchestra with guitars that sound like a freakin violin!!

Also Jerry Cantrell belongs on there. The harmonies in AIC and his solo work are something else, and the guy can play so many different ways its not funny.

I hate these lists because half the time the people who write them don’t know what they are talking about.

What about Gary Moore? Joe Satriani? Dave Navarro? and get Kurt Cobain off that list, he doesnt deserve to be on this list.

Ask any guitarist that has heard Phil Keaggy and they will all agree that he is amazing. I encourage anyone to check his music out. He is an incredible player and songwriter.

ok I’m not dissin on kurt cobain but he is not that good to be on this list and to be 12 on the greatest guitarists in front of santana
honestly smells like teen spirit is the only good nirvana song

wat about john Mayer
he’s a badass

What about Robin Trower.

Rik Emmett of Triumph.
Excellent guitarist.

Nothing underrated here except Neil Young. Just a bunch of decent players nothing special.

A vote for Bill Nelson; only the true connoisseur of rock and roll can appreciate the superiority of such an eclectic guitarist. Every bit as good as Clapton for my money.

well, it’s all so comercialized, and just the popularity will take you to the top of this lists.. and there is no such thing as best guitarist.. best guitarist is one that puts everything in his play, and it doesn’t depends on the technic(speed, following right scales), it’s about playing with soul.. and that can’t be compared… so don’t be stupid, paying attention to these shitlists.. Andy Summers IS great..

Kim Thayil? (Soundgarden)
Matt Bellamy? (Muse)
Noel Gallagher? (Oasis)
At least cobain is on here…

what about thomas erak ?
you dumb ass……

gosh darn it, jason becker could do just about anything

And what about Michael Monarch(Steppenwolf), Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipon (Judas Priest), and Eddie Clarke (Motorhead).

This list is missing alot of great guitarists like Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Ted Nugent, Phil Collen( Def Lepard), Billy Squier, Alex Lifeson, Slash, George Thorogood, Billy Gibbons(ZZ Top), Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom( Blue Oyster Cult), and Uli Jon Roth( Scorpions).

Matthew Bellamy needs to be on this list! Damn you Rolling Stone!

Where in the world is BRAD PAISLEY!
Has anybody been paying attention to the nust stuff he’s been playin???????????????!!!!!!!!! !!!!
And also Andy Summers shoudl be on here. Effects and musicality out the a==! Adrian Belew and Greg Martin should be on this list too. But where is BRAD PAISLEY buhhhhh!!!

Kurt Cobain? please. Good song writer, average guitarist.
Same with Neil Young, he has said himself he should not be considered to be a great guitarist. I think Jeff Buckley should be in this conversation. His voice obviously was his strongest attribute, but he has done some impressive guitar work.

Rory Gallagher.

3 of the greatest guitarist of all time are not even on the list, just shows who made the list: amatures and non muscisians, THE MEDIA, and puberty kids. These 3 are legends. Anyone who knows anything about the guitar knows what I’m talking about, because if you play and don’t know these 3, your kidding yourself. Who is the best of the best, in no particular order: Andres Sagovia, Django Reinhardt and Chet Atkins.

Corgan is amazing, and few who weren’t in college during the early nineties are familiar with him. ‘Starla’ has a solo thats burgeoning with innovative sounds, and trust me, that’s far more promising than the usual blues noodling or just tapping the hell out of your fretboard. My Beef with Prince being number one is that his rhythm guitar is pretty weak. Doug Marstch from Built to Spill, the guy from Drive-By Truckers, and the guy from Candlebox deserve a place up there, too.

chris cheney anyone?

Linde from the band HIM. Definetley one of the most underrated.

i think that one of the most underrated guitarists has got to be Matthew Bellamy, his from Muse and you probably dont know him but he is great.

Ya’ll need to listen to Roye Albrighton of Nektar

what about Coco Montoya

what about Coco Montoya

Hmmmmm No Syd Barrett not in top 100 either. What is going on here?

Why sooo many rock guitarists although I am a gr8 fan of rock music there are other gr8 guitarists
Jose Feliciano ?????

Yay for josh homme and his awesome bass amp drivin psychdelic tone, and cobain is well known enough to not need to be on this list…

what about zappa, or (dont flame) buckethead? he does some incredible things on the guitar not including speed. His song writing ability is pretty broad too. a VERY versitile guitarist.

and as I heard someone else say Mike Einziger from incubus CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED.

What about Rik Emmett of Triumph.
What a Great Band, their concerts were great live and the instrumental guitar work was fantastic on Rik’s part.

good list. i do think people like kurt cobain, daniel johns and billy corgan are brilliant guitarist (billy did most of the work himself, and james ida deserves a mention). people think “alternative” is where they’re are against interesting guitar playing. good choice prince no. 1, he absolutly rocks. johnny greenwood is a brilliant choice, although a worthy mention goes to his other co-guitarist ed o’brian. i think guitarists like brian may of queen and david gilmour of pink floyd are vastly underrated, though being mentioned in the top 100 list. george harrison is a great choice. check out “something”, probably the most beautiful guitar solo ever. i didn’t notice any metallica in the list, both guitarist (can’t think of their names) are vastly underrated. guitarist richey blackmore of deep purple is also amazing. “highway star”, “smoke on the water” and “black night” are brilliant. and also matt belemay from muse is good as well. and where’s the police bloke, the one who made stings songs listenable and interesting? but there was some brilliant choices. thanks rolling stones for the debate.

Slash,Steve Vai,Zakk Wylde,Al Di Meola

How could you say Cobain and Frusciante are underrated guitarists? They were both on the top 100 list and are widely recognised (Slash wasn’t even on the list!?!?). Some good and some bad choices.
Where is Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree?
Matt Bellamy from Muse?
Nathan Followill from Kings Of Leon is only a recent guitarist but he is churning out the best guitar melodies in the charts for a long time.

I forgot to mention Shawn Lane (R.I.P.).Get on You Tube and check out what this guy was doing in 1979 at 16 years old with Black Oak Arkansas.He was shredding before it was even a term on anyones mind.
Very underrated!!

How about Tim Reynolds from Dave Matthews Band. The guy is amazing, listen to Betrayal or Stream and you will understand. He’s amazing

There are a lot of guitar players that will never get the recognition they deserve.The best is usually determined by who’s your favorite band or bands are and what era you first started listening and buying music.One of mine happens to be Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush.Just be thankfull for the invention of the electric guitar which makes all this debate possible!

Why isn’t Kim Thayil from Soundgarden on that list? he’s great…and remember all those weird tunings he gave us..

I agree with the list but I think Josh Homme, Sam Roberts, Mike Mushok/Aaron Lewis, and George Harsion should be either on the list or higher up.

this list is published to poke the mainstream ass..rolling stone is crap anyway..we dont have to read this crap..my comment got 1 ass and 2 craps in it.. cool..

Typical western uneducated groupies. How anyone cannot name Vlatko Stefanovski in the top 100 is beyond me. The guy can do blindfolded what Berry, Hendrix & Paige dreamed of. Knofler & Townsend have even called him a top 10er of all time. Broaden your horizons people, you may learn something

VLATKO STEFANOVSKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about Paul Waggoner of Between the Buried and Me? Or Jake Cinninger of Umphrey’s McGee? I’d bet a testicle either of these two could smoke almost everyone on this list.

What about Josh Homme(qotsa) and Rivers Cuomo(weezer)?

I agree that Prince should be #1. Most people don’t even KNOW THAT HE IS A GUITARIST!!! And he’s not only a guitarist, but one of the all-time greats. He also wrote all his own songs.

Where’s Adam Jones from Tool? What about Graham Coxon (Blur)? Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick)? J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)? James Williamson (Iggy and the Stooges - only their 1973 record)?????

Here’s the rest of my honorable mentions:

- Stephen Malkmus (Pavement)?
- Chris Funk (The Decemberists)
- Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age)
- Dave Grohl (BETTER GUITARIST THAN KURT COBAIN)
- Buckethead
-Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth)
- BRENDON SMALL (Cartoonist/wrote every dethklok song including the solos)
- Rob Ramos (Strung Out)
- Teppei Takenishi (Thrice)

dimebag darrell definitely should be on the top 100 list, whtever you think is impossible to do on the guitar he could do it with relative ease and those harmonics he does are simply fucking amazing.

why the fuck isn,t darrell lance abbott from PANTERA and DAMAGEPLAN in the top 100 guitarists of all time, he should definitely be somewhere in that fucked up list, what ever seems impossible to acheive on the guitar he could pull it off almost and those harmonics he does are simply fucking amazing.

Can someone tell me why slash(saul hudson) aint on the 100best giutarist of all time? he rocks…i’m disapointed:(

What about Kirk Hammett?

What about Kirk Hammett?

Dave Navarro is horribly underrated, lead guitarist for Jane’s Addiction and guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers for 5 years, Frusciante gets all the credit all the time and let’s not forget the awesome albums Jane’s Addiction released. Dave is also a solo artist, he is NEVER mentioned on any list!

DAVE NAVARRO
DAVE NAVARRO
DAVE NAVARRO
DAVE NAVARRO
DAVE NAVARRO
DAVE NAVARRO
DAVE NAVARRO!!!

Maybelle Carter?

That guy named “Claptonisgod” below is a total idiot! im sorry but Jimmi Hendrix was one of the greatest guitarist ever to grace this earth. Do your homework pal!

Everyone has there opinions, but I rate my opinions from sheer talent and being a guitarist myself. So here my top 5 most under rated guitarist.
1. Alex Skolnick(Testament)
2. Uli Jon Roth(Scorpions)
3. Randy Rhoads(Ozzy Osbourne)
4. Michael Schenker(U.F.O)
5. Jeff Loomis(Nevermore)
These are my opinions and there all under rated.

Why is Kurt Cobain on this list? He isn’t a great guitarist. Also, Alex Lifeson should have been on this list.

Okay, where’s Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton, Marv Tarplin, Earl Klugh, George Benson, Walter Becker, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Prince, Gary Shider (of Funkadelic), Phil Upchurch and Ernie Isley.

Okay, here are a frew more names that didn’t mmake your top 100 list. By the way, I suspect the people who put together this list were a buncxh of middle-aged white guys who rock out and listen to the blues because they think it makes them “hip.”

Where’s Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton, Marv Tarplin, Earl Klugh, George Benson, Walter Becker, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Prince, Gary Shider (of Funkadelic), Phil Upchurch and Ernie Isley.

Kurt Cobain sucks. So does hendrix. they both are the most overrated ever.

they never had the talent or ability as eric clapton.

Kurt Cobain,Joe Walsh OVERRATED!!!
Prince is a great guitarist even though I’m not into his music.
Totally underrated are:
Steve Stevens(Billy Idol)
Steve Lukather(Toto)
Lindsey Buckingham(Fleetwood Mac)
Mark Knopfler(Dires Straits)
Warren Demartini(Ratt)
Neil Schon(Journey)
Johnny Lang(solo)

This list can’t be complete without the great Ray Schinnery!!
Music lover, do yourselves a favor and check out this amazing musician!
He has a really cool website too: www.rayschinnery. net

Most underrated is Yngwie Malmsteen considering he is not on the 100 list and he’s probably the best in the world. Dave Mustaine is definitely the 2nd most underrated, and even though Randy Rhoads made the top 100 list, he is still underrated. He was quite possibly the best guitarist. Go buy the Randy Rhoad’s tribute album and you’ll see what I mean.

Most underrated is Yngwie Malmsteen considering he is not on the 100 list and he’s probably the best in the world. Dave Mustaine is definitely the 2nd most underrated, and even though Randy Rhoads made the top 100 list, he is still underrated. He was quite possibly the best guitarist. Go buy the Randy Rhoad’s tribute album and you’ll see what I mean.

Most underrated is Yngwie Malmsteen considering he is not on the 100 list and he’s probably the best in the world. Dave Mustaine is definitely the 2nd most underrated, and even though Randy Rhoads made the top 100 list, he is still underrated. He was quite possibly the best guitarist. Go buy the Randy Rhoad’s tribute album and you’ll see what I mean.

Most underrated is Yngwie Malmsteen considering he is not on the 100 list and he’s probably the best in the world. Dave Mustaine is definitely the 2nd most underrated, and even though Randy Rhoads made the top 100 list, he is still underrated. He was quite possibly the best guitarist. Go buy the Randy Rhoad’s tribute album and you’ll see what I mean.

Ummm, what?

Billy Corgan should be in Top 5.

My opinion, Kurt Cobain is OVERRATED.

Prince isn’t a rock artist. Face it.

This is one of the worst lists I have ever seen.

Nathan from Tera Melos

and

Thomas Erak from The Fall of Troy

should be in top 5

innovative, original, progressive,

not recycled and rehashed guitar solos of 30 years running.

Another reason why I do NOT read this magazine. Too much MAJOR LABEL FLUFF.

Ray Schinnery
Ray has been playing the guitar since 1954. He writes most of his own material, plays clubs regularly, has toured the states and Europe. However, very few people know who he is, however, if you ever hear him you will never forget him. He and “Edna” are quite a team. Check him out! Google him first chance you get.

Ollie Halsall of Patto/ Timebox/ Kevin Ayers. Thats a name thats criminally underrated.

Yes, Frusciante Made the list! What about Dave Mustaine. And Eddie Vedder. He is as underrated guitarist as anybody u can name/ John Frusciante is Legend!!!

has anyone heard of this guy from texas named BILLY GIBBONS. He should be up on the top 100 some where he is alot better than most on the list. he has also mastered rock and blues guitar most just play one genre. so i think he should of made the list

no one mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughan or Leo Kottke, underated doesnt even cover leo because none of yall even know who he is, and stevie could blister like yngwie if he wanted to, but he played his soul instead

Rik Emmett always has been underated even in Triumphs hayday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would recommend Alex Lifeson of Rush to be added to this list. I saw Rush live for Snakes & Arrows recently and he was amazing. I think Lifeson is criminally underrated because he is in a band with Geddy Lee and the best drummer in rock and roll history. Yet he is a very skilled guitarist who should definitely get more credit.

Yes, Phil Keaggy underrated by something like times ten. One of the very best ever–next to Page, Hendrix, Django, Wes Montgomery and the rest of the top tier. He should never have let that mediocre bunch (you know who I’m talking about) hijack his career.

Rating guitarists is highly subjective; what are the rating criteria? Some of the greats were/are not that fast or accurate but they could milk a tune. How about rating by sales; if you get your bucks out, that’s a serious vote.

Adam Jones of TOOL!

how bout J Mascis?

Saul Hudson? no one thinking about him?

I think some people commenting here don’t understand what underrated means, some one can be rated, but not rated as highly as they should be.

I think that some of the most underrated are:

1. Kim Thayil - Wow, listen to almost anything that he has done and you will be amazed.
2. Pete Townshend - Just listen to any of The Who live in the early 70’s, specifically Naked Eye, Young Man Blues, and Drowned. Also Emininse Front.
3. Josh Homme - He is rarely even mentioned, and when he is it is like honorable mention or something.

Also Kurt should not even be on this list, actually he shouldn’t be on any list…

i love frusciante keaggys great too what about the edge from u2 and jon foreman from switchfoot stop hating on cobain its stupid to say hes on here for his death hes here cause he kicks butt

I’m fairly sure RS made this list because they saw Prince at the Super Bowl halftime show (hence the picture) and decided they were idiots for not at least putting him on their Top 100 list. Cobain is a ridiculous choice: I think a lot of people underrate him but Rolling Stone, who put him highly on their top guitarists list, is NOT one of them. I suppose Lindsey Buckingham is underrated compared to the drastically overrated Stevie Nicks, but while his guitar skills are solid, they aren’t spectacular. Excellent calls on Izzy Stradlin and Eddie Hazel.

Whoever said Steve Lukather and Mike Campbell were spot on. A few other underrated guitarists: Buck Dharma, James Honeyman-Scott, and Andy Summers.

wer is bob marley?

he made the guitar sing

Rory Gallagher and Michael Schenker are the all time hands down underrated guitarist of all time. No one gives them enough credit.

i sort of like this list.

johnny greenwood deserves the tenth spot.Ed obrien should be there too

Josh Homme anyone?

Why isn’t Jerry Cantrell on any of these lists?

allan holdsworth is in world by himself- even if you wanted to copy him-you couldnt-the guy is a incredible guitarist- his left hand is beyond

Alvin Lee.
Barry Melton.

What about Steve Lukather, legend in Pop Rock History of 70s and 80s

Flame me if you want, but there was no mention of a specific genre in the original article, so the most underrated guitarist is Brad Paisley. He is by far the greatest guitarist of his genre!

I think that Carl Broemel and Jim James from My Morning Jacket definitely deserve mention here. Those guys can shred, and James does it a lot of the time on a hammer, which anyone who has palyed the guitar knows is no easy feat.

I think that Carl Broemel and Jim James definitely deserve mention here. Those guys can shred, and James does it a lot of the time on a hammer, which anyone who has palyed the guitar knows is no easy feat.

No ones probably gonna read this but anyway :
Steve Vai
Dimebag, Probably one of the most skilled guitarists of all times
Yngwie Malsteem
Alexi Laiho
and Kerry King should be on there towards the 90s
And whoever mentions Herman Li should just go kill themselves, he cant play at all, he has to speed up his music and Alexi and Dimebag play faster then that anyway

BILL NELSON. One of the best rock guitarists ever! Criminially underated.

how about rik emmett from triumph can play any style of music from heavy metal to flamenco,has to be most underrated guitarist of all time.

Matthew Bellamy, Rory Galagher, and Jerry Cantrell should be on here. Oh and Cobain DOES deserve to be on this list, not only was he a great guitar composer, he had lots of skill and speed too, just listen to the solo on Aero Zeppelin.

Nice to see Keaggy on this list. Not only will he amaze you with his ability on guitar; but he backs it up with such efficient vocals that you can then appreciate how totally complete this musician truly is.

Brian Setzer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ty Tabor!!!

this list is incomplete without the late, great….Roy Buchanan….I guess ya had to be there….he was doing in the 50’s without special effects, what Jimi did in the 60’s…

shawn lane, john petrucci, buckethead are all missing, but agree with prince at no.1 cos so many people are so stupid they dont even realise he plays guitar at all - i hate those people

In my opinion, a great guitarist is one who has great skill, can write great songs, and convey it with feeling and/or innovate. just being influential doesn’t cut it.
Rolling Stone’s list is a travesty, but in reality I just don’t think it’s possible to rank guitar players. Guitar world magazine did it the right way and listed by genre of music in no particular order. I think they were pretty accurate (with the exception of Wes Borland).

Music and musicians are often held to personally baised standards. There are other guitarists who should be on Rolling Stone’s list, but they’ve tended toward popular guitarists seasoned with token old guys (creatively referred to as innovators - I respect somone so poor they had to make their first guitar out of a wooden box and baling wire, but that doesn’t make them great; treasured and authentic, yes; great? No.)
Where is Frank Marino?

www.rayschinnery.net

Ray Schinnery!
www.rayschinnery.ne t
Everybody should know him.

You lot are missing the feckin obvious. What about Jeff Beck? None of you know anything bout nothing and should all die.

This is NOT a list of the best guitarists in the world….it’s a list of the guitarists who are (in RS’s eyes) the most UNDERrated guitarists….in other words, the great guitar players who get little cred for their work!!! Now, saying that, if ANY of you ever have a chance to see Phil Keaggy live, you will understand why I believe he should be higher on the list…no re-takes or do-overs. No magic mixing or fixing….he is completely amazing….

What in tar nations is a Pil Keaggy
Is this a master or a musician.

Master of de Telecaster be Albert
Collins.
In St. Louis, it be Jimmy Guitar Murphy.

Jim McCarty - formerly of Mitch Ryder & Detroit Wheels, Cactus, Rockets and currently in Mystery Train. Idolized by Eddie Van Halen & Ted Nugent. Can match anyone on these lists.

The list of names could go on and on since there are so many greats! I thank you that Phil Keaggy is mentioned, not only because he is so good, but because he has languished in Christian circles who much of the time took his talent for granted. I don’t say this as a disrespect to Christianity, because everyone has the right to what kind of music they want to listen to, but because Christian musicians from Keaggy’s time period very rarely were recognized. He stands on his own two feet among others that garnished much more praise and attention…and he does it without griping because his purpose in music is motivated by a deep and abiding faith. For this I respect him. And I give you kudos for recognizing him on this list of 25.

The talent that he developed from his youth is hard to compare with any other guitarist. One thing that stands out is this…you can sense that he is emerged completely in his work, and that he still continues to grow in talent and diversity. Every project he works on is another venture into the unknown.

The list of names could go on and on since there are so many greats! I thank you that Phil Keaggy is mentioned, not only because he is so good, but because he has languished in Christian circles who much of the time took his talent for granted. I don’t say this as a disrespect to Christianity, because everyone has the right to what kind of music they want to listen to, but because Christian musicians from Keaggy’s time period very rarely were recognized. He stands on his own two feet among others that garnished much more praise and attention…and he does it without griping because his purpose in music is motivated by a deep and abiding faith. For this I respect him. And I give you kudos for recognizing him on this list of 25.

The talent that he developed from his youth is hard to compare with any other guitarist. One thing that stands out is this…you can sense that he is emerged completely in his work, and that he still continues to grow in talent and diversity. Every project he works on is another venture into the unknown.

Im with ‘Mr. Boogies’ what about Chris Cheney of The Living End.
I cant believe they left out Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen from the top 100.

What about Malcolm & Angus Young of AC/DC. Mal is probably the best rhythm guitarist off all time next to Ronnie Wood.

Robbie Robertson - The Band

Paul Kossoff - Free

Paul Rodgers - Free/Bad Company

Marc Bolan - T.Rex

Leslie West - Mountain

Ring any bells? I bet half of you don’t even know who the majority of these people are and if you do know their names, then you probably didn’t know what band they were in!

donovan should be number one he blows prince away.Neil young rocks

What about Stone Gossard??

Alex Skolnick anyone?

Where the hell is BOB MOULD?

Tim reynolds? amazing.

..it’s all how a guitarist does not
or does move to front and center.
Perhaps this should be headlined
as ‘the twenty5 greatest guitarists
with the least pretention’

Chris Cheney anyone?

Phil Keaggy is underrated as he is never reported on in mainstream media. Even his uniquely written instrumental material is listed online as religious - can anyone explain THAT to me??

If you write or sing anything spiritual is it automatically the fact that all there after is branded as such?

Was it the case with George Harrison, or is it only Christian influence that gets so slated?

I guess that everyone in the music industry is now gutless - welcome to musical McArthyism!

Ok we get it with Kurt how about Dave freaking Grohl or Chris Shiflet or on a foo kick here even Pat Smear…. and you can’t forget Josh Homme!!

Ok we get it with Kurt how about Dave freaking Grohl or Chris Shiflet or on a foo kick here even Pat Smear…. and you can’t forget Josh Homme!!

Mike McCready is truly taken for granted. He seems to be a bit subdued in Pearl Jam studio albums. He is outstanding in his live performances and keeps his solos fresh every performance. Check out their live cds or you tube live performances. Solos on Black, Crazy Mary, Porch and Little Wing are amazing. Every solo has a life of its own.

i didn’t read all the posts, cause i realized it was a waste of time. overrated or underrated guitarists, it’s all in your freaking ears! i’ve listened to just about everyone in real-time. i’m eddie van halen’s age. and even though (i bet!) eddie and i were listening to the same music while growing up, i also bet that we’ve listened to the most POPULAR guitarists up to this point in time. eddie made it, i didn’t. has it ever occurred to anyone that perhaps the best guitarist ever is some 15 year old kid who just posted a video on youtube.com? you don’t have to be FAMOUS to be the best guitar player ever. and while we’re at it, i submit to you that I AM THE MOST UNDERRATED GUITAR PLAYER EVER! if i could just write music that would grab someone’s attention… you know, like Lennon/McCartney… perhaps you’ve listened to some of their music.

Davy Graham

After Hours: Live at Hull University 1967 by Davy Graham (released in 1997)

Who was it who brought the guitar out of the shadows of the orchestra and the rhythm section and made it a star in its own right? That honour goes to gypsy-jazz genius Django Reinhardt, but the maverick Davy Graham, born of Scottish-Guyanan parentage, raised in London and occupying a dimension several levels distant from the one you or I are on, changed everything too. And in 1960 he wrote Anji, an instrumental that, with its contrapuntal bassline combined with an unforgettable A-minor riff, became the tune any would-be fingerpicker has had to master ever since.

Graham reinvented American blues and English folk through intricate playing and an inquiring mind that will take on anything from Middle Eastern modal harmonies to Balkan jazz, but he has always been an unpredictable talent. This recording, made in a bedroom before a handful of drunken students at one in the morning, captures a rare moment when his playing is absolutely magical. The background chatter adds to the bottling of a moment in time, and to hear She Moved Thru’ the Bizarre/Blue Raga, in which Graham combines an Irish folk tune with Indian classical music and turns it into something exotic and transcendent, is to be astounded by the possibilities of what an acoustic guitar can do.

Dan Auerbach

Mike Campbell. If solidity and understatement were given their due credit, he’d be Hendrix.

ALEX LIFESON

Mike Oldfield!
yeah, he is great guitar player, who also plays all other instruments

I think it’s a pretty good list, though I hate Cobain. Neil Young is truly underrated. John Fruciante as well - he’s probarbly the best player in the world.

I think it’s a pretty good list, though I hate Cobain. Neil Young is truly underrated. John Fruscianet as well - he’s probarbly the best player in the world.

where’s david gilmour?!?!?!?!

I don’t expect many people to have even heard of John “The Cat” Gatto, which is why he’s so obviously underrated. I was listening to his work with the Good Rats this afternoon (certainly one of the most underrated bands of all time) and noticing just how memorable Gatto’s solos are. They’re crisp, tight, and concise, but they’re also tuneful, becoming an integral part of each song, rather than stand-alone individual diversions from the songs.

As long as people understand great guitarist does NOT mean fast wanky jackoff. This list is correct. Eddie Hazel and Fripp…about time someone recognized.

This is not a list of underrated guitarists, this is a (bad) joke. We expect something more professional from RS, we miss real number ones (Hendrix, Clapton, Allman, Howe…) while some ones in the list are simply out of place.

ROBERT FRIPP!!!!!!!!!!!

ROBERT FRIPP!!!!!!!!!!!

What about Ringo Starr? Liberace? Jon Bon Jovi or Bryan Adams? And where’s Charlie Watts?

Geez… Michael Hedges, Walter Becker! Anybody over 25 work at RS?

Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge (former lead for creed) and Slash?

The most underrated guitarists? Kurt Cobain? UNDERrated! That’s quite a laugh.

Really underrated guitar players:

None of these appear in the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists, all belong

Steve Kimock
Charlie Hunter
Stanley Jordan
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
Fareed Haque
Keller Williams
Bonnie Raitt
John Petrucci
Leo Kottke

Now, also according to the Rolling Stone Greatest 100 the following were VASTLY underrated:

Steve Howe at # 69. More like top 10
David Gilmour at # 82. Certainly a top 25 guitarist.
John McLaughlin at # 49. Another top 10 or 12 guy.
Jorma Kaukonen at # 54. Please. Jorma’s one of the true greats- maybe top 5 no doubt top 10
Eddie Van Halen at # 70. Just an outrage.

And these belong nowhere near anybody’s Greatest 100 list, much less Rolling Stone’s:

The aforementioned Cobain
Joe Perry
Anybody from freakin’ MC5
Anybody from freakin’ Sonic Youth
Ike Turner. (seriously Ike Turner at # 61 all time? Wow)
Joan Jett (C’mon she’s OK)
Johnny Ramone (Lots of fun, yeah, but really not that good of a guitar player- especially not ranked # 16 All Time)
And I dunno if they were just stretching out the list or just simply ran out of energy, but not even half of the bottom 10 on that list belong anywhere near it.

Steve Hackett
Adrian Belew
Steve Wilson - Porcupine Tree

JOOOHN FRUUUUSCIANTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since many of these guys on the list can barely play they cannot be called underrated. Why don’t we use guys who play excellent rhythm AND lead. Hendrix, Van Halen, Page are obvious choices. Kurt Cobain and most punk guitarists are best left off the list because while they may have spirit, skill-wise they leave much to leave desired. Gary Moore, Frank Hannon, Vito Bratta, Steve Stevens, Ronnie Montrose are good choices, even if made their living in the oft-bashed “hair metal” scene. They can still play their asses off. Robbie Robertson and Neil Young? Great songwriters but marginal guitar players, at best.

doug martsch, jeff tweedy?

seu jorge!

OK, this may be parochial, but please add Jeff Healey and Lenny Breau.

why isnt mustaine in the list?

where is buck dharma?

Everyone is talking about Herman Li, but what about Sam Totman? Herman Li’s mostly all shred, but Sam is also the songwriter, and play much more music solos for Dragonforce. The Top 100 list is crazy for not having Slash on it, and I agree, where is Dave Matthews, or Tim Reynolds? And why isn’t Van Halen at least in top 10?

Kurt cobain is #2 - this list is retarded

scrolling through the comments i totally 100% agree with the people who have seen that Gary Moore has been left out of the list - wtf like….

matthew bellamy from muse

rivers cuomo from weezer

kevin cadogan from third eye blind

What about Gary Richrath? I never hear him mentioned as a greatest or as underrated. Golden Country from Live: You Get What You Play For just rocks.

Rory Block.

As a guitarist, I have to say that Kurt Cobain and Billy Corgan are lousy guitar players.

Others more deserving to be on this list…Tom Johnston and/or Patrick Simmons, Phil Manzanera, Stephen Stills, Alex Lifeson.

Well, the 100 best guitarists list that came out a few years back didn’t really made sense total sense to me (but it’s a good thing Hendrix is at the top spot) so I’m really taking this list with a pinch of salt. Georgie definitely deserves to be there, but I can name many other guitarists (especially country and funk) who are way more underrated than many of the guys on this list.

Did anyone mention Charo yet?
Cuchi cuchi!

Ummmm… Rivers Cuomo from =weezer=

How about Jennifer Batten?

what about larry lalonde of primus?

Jeordie White from Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails is BRILLIANT and underrated. He played all the guitar and all the bass on three Manson albums and now he’s also got his new band Goon Moon in which he sings and plays

No Gary Moore ?

well i probably don’t need to get any further, the list has no credit,

i thought we’re dealing with professionals

you guys are not realy music pros

you just make an article that makes sense to the normal audience,

the regular Joe on the street

I recommend adding Paris Hilton to your list

i think billy corgan should be on the 100 greatist list instead of johnny ramone and kurt cobain. corgan is an amazing guitar player on almost all of the pumpkins albums billys played amazing guitar solos. also the reason george harrison is on this list is because well i belive that he was held back by the beatles i mean in a couple of songs he played some good solos but the solos in his career after the beatles where great. and one more thing i think the only reason johnnhy and kurt where on 100 greatist guitarist is because they where classic guitarist that played classic music because i love the ramones and nirvana but kurts solos wernt that special and johnnys solos wernt either but i respect their music and i respect their songwriting and i still respect their guitar playing

I think Daniel Johns has definitely got to be the most underrated guitarist of all time. Sure he’s not a virtuoso or anything, but i think the pure creativity of his guitar riffs is just plain genius! Listen to “The Greatest View”. So cool…

The only thing we should thanking Kurt Cobain for is not his music or his over rated guitar playing…But for throwing the spotlight onto Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. Sure “Smells like Teen Spirit” started something, but it only helped let the people know about Pearl Jam.

Oh yeah…and Mike McCready is an AWESOME guitar player!

HEY I REALLY DIG NEIL YOUNG AND MARK KNOPFLER AND ERIC CLAPTON AT THE SAME TIME I CAN STILL ENJOY OTHER TALENTS SUCH AS BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND NIEL GIRALDO BRAVO TO THEM ALL AND THANX FOR THEIR LOVE OF MUSIC.

wheres jason becker?

jeff buckley is easily one of the greatest guitarists ever. he was so unique.

rip

haha, cobain in the list of overrated guitar player *g*

billy corgan deserves to be in the top 50 of the all time list. listen to the albums gish through mellon collie and youll understand………yes eddie van halen being #70 is terrible, he deserves top 25 all time list…..kurt cobain shouldnt be on either list, he was a great singer/songwriter, but no where near a great guitarist

Also I like what you guys had to say: Duke Duke, Bbender, Lekain…

Has anyone mentioned: Allan Holdsworth, Joe Satriani,
or, Stanley jordan???

I agree 150% with Samba, and Yardjockey, you got good names, there too….

Allen Collins is the most underrated guitarist. Ever. And I agree with everyone who says the RS list is screwed up.

heck yeah for keith urban…and while were on the country side of things…brad paisley and vince gill

this is not a list of underated guitarists

What no J Mascis!!!

Hey, could someone politely tell me why in the hell Keith Urban continues to not be mentioned as one of the very best guitar players alive right now? I have never seen anyone play like he does and he isnt limited by anything. He plays pure country and can shred on the flip of a coin. Look up, “The devil went down to Nashville by Keith Urban”. That has answered any one question that i have.

as far as I can tell these lists are terrible. I mean, In hard rock alone, where the hell is…

John Sykes (wrote Whitesnake’s 1987 album)
Frank Hannon of Tesla
Vito Bratta of White Lion
Reb Beach
Vivian Campbell (now with God-awful Dead Leopard)

and on and on… Kirt Cobain was an awful guitarist, singer and songwriter, he doesn’t deserve to be on a list of anything, aside from sucking. Nirvana fans are delusional

Come on now … let’s not get carried away with who is “the best’ and all that other bull. There are so many greats from Tony Rice to Lenny Breau to Albert Lee to Gary Moore and the list goes on and on. We are all players and we all know that it would be just as hard for Prince or anyone else to sound like any of these guys as it would for them to sound like him.

RORY Fucken GALLAGHER
Lived it, played it, Died for it.
The real deal you fucken ignorant
tubes.

um… was eric johnson mentioned?

Jerry Cantrell(AiC), Kim Thayil(Soundgarden) and Josh Homme(QOTSA) definately need to be on this list.

Where the hell is J Mascis from Dinosaur JR.?

Omg, I can’t believe someone said Herman Li sucked and Kurt Cobain is amazing…do you even play the guitar or listen to their music?

so van zant from lynard skynard was no where on the list…???

Definitely forgot Alex Lifeson.

i think Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains and Larry LaLonde of Primus should be in there, in the top ten… i do love how mike mccready is number 6. he’s amazing

The list definitely left out Alex Lifeson, and how about Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds?

Steve Vai belongs in there, he commands his instrument, conveys a message and feelings with his playing, he’s every bit as good of a guitarist as Santana, Mark Knopfler or Clapton, if you can fault him for anything, it’s his pr0n style faces when he plays. Either way he’s still just as good of a guitarist, just not as good of a songwriter as Clapton and Santana if anything.

Van Halen got snubbed in the top 100, definitely belongs above 70, but I disagree with peopel that say Steve Vai doesn’t belong, he’s on par with most guitarists in the tops, he conveys a message and feeling with his playing. Clean and accurate and with clear command of the guitar, if you’re doing top guitarists of all time, he belongs there.

brian may is fucking underrated

Tiny Tim

Hey, It’s every bit as credible as listing Eddie Van Halen at #70. By the way, which RS exec did he piss off, anyway? What a shame, your mag used to be relevant.

I can’t say enough bad things about this horrible list, BUT HOW CAN YOU PUT EDDIE VAN HALEN AT #70 ON THE TOP 100!!!??? Nobody, with the exception of Hendrix, can play faster and cleaner than he does. He invented his own style! Dimebag R.I.P. absolutely worshiped Ed. That’s sayin something.

Do us all a favor RS and remake some of these lists the way they should be. I mean Kurt Cobain #12??? Seriously, get your shit together.

WHAT ABOUT GEORGE BENSON ? Where has all your taste gone george benson is an amazing guitar player and vocalist. add him to the list

What about Mike fucking Campbell? HUH? HUH? HUH? HUH? HUH? HUH? HUH? HUH?HUH?HUH?HUHHUHUUUHUHU HUHUH HHUHUHUHUHUHHUHUHUHUHUHUHUUHUH UHUUUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUH UHUHUUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUUUHUHUHUHU UUHUHUUHUHUHUHUUUHUHUHUHHUHUHU HUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU UHUHUHUHUH HUH?

Response to dogonroof.
Well, if ‘what I feel inside’ would sound like Prince’s guitar playing, I sure as hell would keep it to myself… Otherwise I liked your comment.

What About Dino Cazares of (Formaly) Fear Factory, Brujeria, Asesino, and Divine Heresy(His best work)

Kim Thayil of Soundgarden Is DEFINATELY Underatted
And PRINCE SUCKS(But thats what i think)

The only thing i really hate about rolling stones top ranking lists is that it seems like if a band or guitarist didnt change the coarse of history then there not considerd great

Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Robbie Krieger of the Doors should rank. Agreed about Kurt Cobain and George Harrison, though.

ok, if he isn’t in the top 25 list, why isn’t rory gallagher at least in this one? the man is unbelievable- he was a hero of slash, to name but one, and respected by the great guitar players.

Mike McCready should be at 1 or at least 2 and prince well hes about the same, for mccready just listen to Yellow ledbetter thats an amazing guitar song

Oh and John Mayer shudve been on this list cuz tards think hes a sissy when in fact smart and honest ppl know,secretly or not,he can rock the guitar…

time to end all of THIS!!!The list may not be perfect but hey it is what it is!enuf of ur “Where is steve vai/pettruci/buckethead?” comments.these guitarists have way lot of skill but since when have they been as influencing or as original as John Frusciante or Kurt Cobain.basically everyone on this list plays what they feel and not what sounds really fast and cool.and u guys jz answered ur own question….”Why is kurt cobain on this list??”…cuz some of u tards still dont see why he was so amazing…cuz he WAS THE guitarist of grunge,he had his own style,and he dominated that style and he did whatever the hell he wanted to do with it and it rocked the world till his death…

The fact that so many people moan that ‘why isnt Steve Vai on this fucking list’ or ‘where’s Zappa’ shows that they are clearly not underrated. Please move on, just because they can wank the guitar for seven minutes while poeple stand around going ‘look how great he is’, it doesn’t mean that they are iconic or by any means overtly talented. 14 year olds like bands for how well they can play thier instruments and nothing more (the types that think Led Zep are the bees knees). Also someone stated “I’m sure you could have done better and listened to us a little more as well…”- funny that, you post your comments after the list has been compiled. Maybe if you want to be listened to, you should get up off your ass, close the porn windows, go out and get a secondary education, and seek employment within the music press, so we can have more ‘enlightened’ people like yourselves telling the magazines what they can and can’t write- wouldn’t that be great……cough.

ok. herman li does not suck. okay? his solo r fricken amazing. lets just say he’s the asain version of eddie van halen.

I wish Kurt Cobain would actually be underrated for a change. I mean, geez, let’s get over it. Just for the record, he couldn’t sing worth a crap either. Nirvana may have changed the sound of mainstream rock ‘n’ roll, but I wouldn’t say it was a change for the better. ‘Nevermind’ ushered in a decade of the most depressing, unoriginal music ever. Kurt Cobain sounded just as toneless and maudlin as the rest of them, so can we please stop singing his praises already?

What’s truly amazing to me is how many people cannot read. It’s a list of “under”-rated players. Guitarists like Ynvie, Vai, and Petrucci are very much “over”-rated guitarists.

Where the hell is Alex Lifeson?

Hernan Li sucks ok. Oh wow he was in Guitar Hero III and they made that song pathetically hard big whoop.

And John Frusciante IS underrated. He’s an amazing guitarist.

And though Kurt Cobain is overrated, it’s not in GUITAR PLAYING. He’s overrated as a person, but he still was an amazing guitarist.

I would have to say that Andy Mckee is probably THE most underrated guitarist. Kurt Cobain is far from underrated, he is way overrated…

Where the f is Ron Wood? EVER?! The guy never says a word and has played with the best. Ask those he plays with. They will tell you.

Maybe Johnny Thunders or Andy McCoy?

Well, it’s realy a matter of taste I would say. Everyone’s 100 top guitarists of all time would be different. And many of them are here not only because they were good technical guitarists but because they made a revolution like Kurt. If there is a guitarist who I think is underrated I’d say it’s David Gilmour, He should be top 20!!!

First off, Neil Young is a great guitarist, and Kurt Cobain, he was alright. But really, how can you fucking say Kurt Cobain is underrated, when first off he is almost at the top of the 100 greatest guitarists list, might I add over guitarist millions of times better than him, Steve Howe, Frank Zappa, the list goes on. Also, since when has Neil Young been underrated? Neil Young should be somewhere in the top 20 greatest guitarists. I think it’s whoever is the fuckin’ editor of Rolling Stone doesn’t no shit about music, probably can’t tell the difference between a guitar and a bass, and you need to get some real fucking people to do this shit. One last thought, since when was the lead guitarist of the Beatles, possibly the most famous band ever, underrated?

Prince is terrible, why is he even on this list?

once again rolling stone put out another crappy out of proportion list. well done guys, you’ve done it again!

SATRIANI!!!

What about KK Downing and Glen Tipton? They are innovators and monsters of the 6 string!
They had cds with guitaring and innovations that Eddie Van Halen released like 2 years later and he was then hailed as an innovator

where is Buckethead?

Overall good list.

Don’t understand how you missed Keith Levene though.

How can you call Kurt Cobain underrated when you rated him as your #12 guitarist of all time?

where are buckethead and tom morello? tom is at least in the top 10 and buckethead should be in the top 20.

^^^^^^
After quickly scrolling through all of this, how does someone as profoundly talented as Tim Reynolds only get mentioned once.

Holy shit people.

RS really should have counted votes for people that didn’t make the original 100 greatest guitarists lists, so the nitwits who didn’t do their homework wouldn’t have voted Kurt Corbain (overrated, btw) and John Frusciante onto this list.

That’s the problem with lists- you can never make anyone happy. Including me! Here’s list of underrated guitarists:
Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets)
John McGeoch
Kevin Shields
Glenn Branca
David Pajo
Simon Knuckey (Severed Heads)
Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O))))
Greg Anderson (Sunn O))))
Laurent Lebec (Pelican)
Trevor DeBrauw (Pelican)
Glenn Tipton
James Honeyman-Scott
Buzz Osbourne

Thanks!

john mclaughlin, al di meola i could go on for days!

whoever makes these lists obviously doesn’t have a clue.
So where is…
*Petrucci?
*Yngwie?
*Sat ch?
*Vai?
*Shawn Lane?
etc etc..

whoever makes these lists obviously doesn’t have a clue.
So where is…
*Petrucci?
*Yngwie?
*Sat ch?
*Vai?
*Shawn Lane?
etc etc..

What about Brian Setzer? He’s neither here nor the top 100 list.

Curt Cobain over Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana, Warren Haynes, and Mark Knopfler. That must be a joke!

Matthew Bellamy?

Ingwie Malmsteen deserves to be on the list plus even though dragonforce is kind of geeky herman lee is an amazing guitarist especially on through the fire and flames

MARK TROMONTI

Amazed to see nobody…NOBODY…mentioning two of the most influential guitarists of the late 70s/early 80s:

John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie, PiL)
Andy Gill (Gang of 4)

These two guys pretty much killed off the guitar solo in pop music. I have nothing against guitar solos (or instrumental solos of any kind) - in jazz. That’s what jazz is about. But in pop? It’s irrelevant wanking, at least post-McGeoch/Gill.

Having said that, I respect Dweezil for keeping his father’s flame alive.

*appalling

I find the lack of virtuosos on that list like Vai and Satch appauling. I think G3 status should be an automatic inclusion.

I’ve been trying to figure out why everyone hates Frusciante. His songs are great and some are pretty hard to play. He’s definitely underrated.

Cobain on the other hand, lower technical skills, but still one of the greatest guitarists ever. It’s not about who’s fastest. It’s about who sounds best. That being said, I’m a shredder. lol.

Besides that, they both made it onto the list, so who is saying they were underrated?

Zappa should’ve been closer to 1st, but I agree with Jimi’s place there.

Mark Knopfler is the most criminally underrated yet popular guitarist of all time.

Eric Johnson
Mark Knopfler

Herman Li all the way

what a crackheaded editor. Cobain’s what… Number 12 on the “best” and Number 2 on the “underrated”

Everyone knows that Kurt CObain IS NOT even close to being top 2000 for greatest guitarists… So he is OVER rated.

Where the hell is Paul Kossoff?

What about Allen Collins?

Gary Rossington?

Steve Gaines?

Ed King?

Dickey Betts?

Why do these simply amazing guitarists get no recognition anywhere?

herman lee of dragonforce

What the HELL???
John Frusciante already is on the list and a really, not deserved position!!! And Kurt Cobain too, what the hell, where’s Yngiwe Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Jason Becker, JOHN PETRUCCI, Steve Morse, Ritchie Blackmore, Randy Rhoads please!!!

this comment’s about a year late but anyhoo: of course graham coxon is missing from the list. maintstream american publications are totally clueless when it comes to british music - as is the general public. in recent years, only the crappiest british bands make it in america: bush, oasis, coldplay… no surprise that rolling stone is clueless when it comes to blur, who are nothing less than the best british band of the 90s.

Nice to see Robert Fripp on there. I would also love to see Larry LaLonde of Primus. he’s really underated, much more innovative then Kurt! heheh

Does this list confine itself to Rock in all its genres? Of course the list is for the most part subjective, and should consider the “Influence” as well as playing ability. Not once did anyone commenting on this list (and there was some extremely intelligent comments marked with F-bombs). Impartially shouldn’t Andres Segovia be somewhere within the top 100?, and NOONE even mentioned Leo Kottke, but I don’t insult the creators, every human has their limitations intellectually. To sum up Fucking, fuck of a fuck, where the hell is fucking Leo Kottke?

What about Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, and Joe satriani?!?! They are all in the top 10 if not the top 4 guitarists of all time!

Frusciante and Kurt Cobain should be someone up the top of

“25 least qualified electric guitarists on the planet”

I just noticed I made a few typing mistakes,where is an edit button on here when you really need one?!

And Paul McCartney is also an extremely multi musically talented musician,singer & song writer!

I just noticed I made a few typing mistakes,where is an edit button on here when you need one?!

And Paul McCartney is an extremely multi talented musician as well as a singer and song writer!

Also one of The Beatles recording engineers Geoff Emerick says that in John Lennon’s song I’m Only Sleeping George Harrison played backwards guitar the most difficult way possible even though he could have taken the easy way,and that it took him 6 hours just for the guitar overdubs! Geoff says that George then made it even more difficult by adding even *more* distorted guitars and that this was all George Harrison’s idea and that he did all of the playing.

Also in an online interview with Eric Clapton called,Eric Clapton In His Own Words,he says that John Lennon was a pretty good guitar player and he would have lnown since he played live in concetrt with John as a member of John’s 1969 Plastic Ono Band.

Also, for your and everyone else’s information,one of The Beatles recording engineers Geoff Emerick says that in John Lennon’s song I’m Only Sleeping, George played backwards guitar the most difficult way possible even though he could have taken the easy way,and it took George 6 hours just for the guitar overdubs,and then he made it doubly difficult by adding even *more* distorted guitars,and Geoff says that this was all George;s idea and that he did all of the playing!

Also, in an online interview with Eric Clapton called,Eric Clapton in His Own Words,he says John Lennon was a pretty good guitar player and would have known because Eric played live in concert with John as a member of John’s 1969 Plastic Ono Band!

Poo, you picked the right posting name because you are really full of poo if you know what I mean!

George Harrison *WAS* a great underrated guitarist! Eric Clapton said during an interview where he and George on their 1992 Japan tour, were asked what they admired about each other,that George was a fantastic slide guitar player!

ERic Clapton and George were very good friends and it’s obvious they both admired and respected each others guitar playing! George played guitar on Cream’s song Badge.

I’m sure you don’t know that George’s mother said in the only authorized Beatles biography,The Beatles by Hunter Davies,that she would stay up until 2 in the morning with George when he was only 14 and he would play until he got the chords just right and his fingers were bleeding!

And The Byrds started playing 12 string guitars after they saw George playing it first in The Beatles great first movie A Hard Days Night in early 1964!

Robert Cray.

Where is Liapin?!!!

HHEEELLLLOOOOOOO!

ALEX SKOLNICK ANYONE?

MY GUITAR HERO, ALEX SKOLNICK.

ALEX SKOLNICK!

I don’t comprehend why Eddie Van Halen is at #70 spot on the best of list (he’s an innovator!!!…and should be listed much higher). Who exactly compiles these lists, and where is Joe Satriani?

Search

“Pearl Jam Evenflow Solo” on Youtube

The first video…a true master at work…

Mike McCready IS under rated.

Here he is SINGING the national anthem!

http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=CPNsC7ajMj0

GARY RICHRATH

BeatlesFAN | 12/6/2007, 9:09 pm EST

“all nirvana songs are simple and overly distorted.”

On the surface.

What about John Lennon? He was a great guitarist, he played lead in many songs. Kurt is definatly overrated, all nirvana songs are simple and overly distorted. Props for George Harrison and Neil Young though. And the guitarist from the DOors? Robbie Kregar? HE is amazing!!!

Kurt Cobain??? he’s overrated!!!! George Harrison on thisn list is a joke.Neil Young is great, but definetely not underrated. SLASH SHOULDN”T BE ON HERE, CAJUN!!! SLASH IS OVERRATED!!! JEFF BECK DEFINETELY IS ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME!! what about buckethead. Ace Frehley on this list is like saying john bonham is the worst guitarist ever!!!

So, according to RS, Kurt Cobain is both:

[1] a top 20 best guitarist of all time and
[2] an underrated guitar player

It’s fair to say then that those rankings cancel eachother out to “unrated” category status.

“Unrated” is ultimately a better position to be in and more appropriate IMO. Those who understand what Nirvana was about, already form their own opinions “independently” and without influence of any list or “best of” chart status rankings. Kurt Cobain was in fact a very good guitar player - it was his ATTITUDE, creative edge and honesty which shone through his music and lyrics. The bottom line is that those who know better don’t take these lists personally.

So…are you guys at Rolling Stone living under a rock? Because the order of your “100 Greatest Guitarists” is just plain stupid. And half of these guys that are “underrated” are on that list. I think the ones who are overrated need addressed. Like Kurt Cobain or Jack White. Seriously…they are in the top 20? Come on! Maybe the bottom 20. Where’s Alex Lifeson? Chris Hayes? Andy Summers?? They are some of the best guitarists on this earth and yet they don’t make either of your lists. They are sorely underrated! Give some credit where credit is due…and stop making musicians like Cobain seem like gods, because they are not.

heythere | 12/1/2007, 9:45 pm EST

“Kurt Cobain, if anything, is overrated.”

You must be a true Nirvana fan. Alternative music topics and discussions don’t really belong here anyway.

Marc Ford

Kurt Cobain, if anything, is overrated. Peter Frampton is truly underrated, same with andy summers, dave murray, alex lifeson, george harrison and steve vai. Good call with billy corgan though.

What about any of the members of G3? None of these lists say anything about Joe Satriani or John Petrucci..

wat about john frusciante from the chilis?

John Frusciante is the first guitarist in the world!(for me)

I agree on Joe Walsh. And how about Bonnie Raitt? Incredibly underrated…

Uhm Richie Sambora
Andy Mckee

if u dont know andy mckee look him up on youtube

AMAZING

Robbie Robbertson from The Band is definitely one of the most underrated guitarists of all time. His work on the Dylan woodstock albums was phenomenal, let alone his fret work in the bands own material, jsut watch him rip Eric Clapton at his own syle on “Further on up the road” on the Last Waltz dvd….beautiful.

I’m glad to see Prince and Neil Young got some recognition and Ace Frehely was Dimebag’s main inspiration but Kurt Cobain i think he is the most overrated guitarist possibly of all time he is mediocre at best

its good to see johnny greenwood on the list
he is always underated…i mean he created the 90’s with just that guitar crunch and hes done so much more, has anyone ever listened to the album, the bends

PETER FRAMPTON should be # 1

PETER FRAMPTON should be # 1

Whenever I read lists such as this (whether it be top rated guitarist, most underrated guitarist etc.) I am repeatedly surprised that one name is consistently missing–Andy Summers.

If you have ever seen Summers play live, and/or listended to his post-Police work, you will likely agree.

In my opinion, he should be on the list of most underrated guitarists.

I saw the Police live two weeks ago and he is as fantastic, if not better than ever. Though he shared the stage with two very talented individuals, Summers was the most entertaining of the three.

I don’t see how Mike McCready is that underrated. Pearl Jam as a whole, was one of The bands of the 1990s but he was truly not that great. Either way there are so many guitarists that could be named as underrated. Who cares?

Alex Lifeson!!! I’m really tired of RS not giving this GREAT guitarist the respect he deserves

Alex Lifeson!!! I’m really tired of RS not giving this GREAT guitarist the respect he deserves

What about these guys..hello?Ronnie Montrose
Robin Trower
Pat Travers
Dave Mason
Frank Marino

They did get Prince & Gary Moore thank god!

This made me check out your 100 greatest to ensure me that there was a higher level of ABSURDITY!!

Elaborate? SURE! anything to help the illterate US public AND Rolling Stone magazine reach a higher level of CONSCIOUSNESS..

the fact that Steve Vai and Adrian Belew weren’t even listed and Frank Zappa was listed at #45 who discovered both those guys and the fact that Eddie Van Halen is #70 makes me really appreciate my mentality vs. yours.

NOW GET OUT SOME REAL RECORDS YOU IDIOTS AND START LISTENING TO SOME REAL MUSICIANSHIP AND TALENT, AND NOT WHAT TOP 40 RADIO TELLS YOU IS GOOD!

on the flipside, let’s go back to a combination of horse vomit and manure, what kind of laundry detergent are people snorting to come up with KURT COBAIN, Keith Richards and Kirk Hammett to be ranked in the upper 25 of the list?

here’s another tip, Dweezil Zappa is touring with a tribute band Zappa Plays Zappa (playing Frank Zappa’s original music) playing humanly impossible solos that will TORCH any of these guys.

Must agree with all comments about black blues guitarists-they should be up with the best as if not for them R&R would not be what it evolved into.I would like to add Brian Jones.Many people dont realise he was the lead guitarist,not Keith Richards.Listen to Brian on “No Expectations”-beautiful lap slide.Mick Taylor was a choice replacement.A lot of controversy over his death if you ever watch movie “Stoned”.

Have to agree jettrink-Johnny Winter is very underrated eg.the 3 sided double album “Second Winter”.The same goes for Alvin Lee of “Ten Years After” eg.”Undead”,”SSHH”,& “Cricklewood Green”.Captain Beefhearts guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo(also CB could wield a mean axe himself).All very influential & underrated

Johnny Winter,probably the best and maybe the most underrated rock/blues guitarists ever.

Rory Gallagher–highly underrated!

-Daron Malakian
-Buckethead
-Josh Homme
-Dave Murray
-Brian May

Where the fuck is Josh Homme?! Kyuss = greatest desert scene band ever/QOTSA = best hard rock band on the planet today.

I like hwo you say Cobain… first of all he wasnt a GREAT guitarist….2nd of all how is he underrated if hes on the top 25 of the top 100 on rolling stone….
STEVE HOWE … of Yes.. is one of the most phenomenal gutiarists of our time….his classical, his jazz, his blues, his rock…. he is an all around amazing guitarist and should be atleast top 10 on rollingstones top 100…. unlike cobain..i could see him down around 80

I agree that Prince is underrated and Izzy is too (he’s rhythm but his style of playing is more than just power chords and straight eight notes), but the a lot of the others were overrated if anything. They should’ve added Steve Clark and Phil Collen to the list (both from Def Leppard), Chris Hayes (Huey Lewis and the News), and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol). Not only do they all create great solos, but they also make great riffs and have a complex playing style.

Jeez lot’s of these players on the 25 most underated are on the RS list of 100 greatest. This ranking stuff is odious anyway ,but here are several who are vastly more articulate then the majority on the 100 greatest list
Paco DeLucia, Jose Neto ,Baden Powell,Egberto Gismonti,Tal Farlow,Carlos Montoya, Andre Segovia,Charlie Byrd ,Lenny Breau, Manitas De Plata,Merle Travis,Kenny Burrell,Hank Garland,Jim Hall Pat Martino,Pat Metheny,Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian
John Renborn,Chet Atkins,Ralph Towner,Ted Greene, Larry Carlton,Django Reinhardt, George Van Epps,Grady Martin ,Jimy Bryant,Terry Haggerty,Barry Finerty,Steve Kimock,Cliff Gallup ,Joe Maphis, Don Rich (with Buck Owens)Blind Blake ,Rev Gary Davis,Tampa Red,Gatemouth Brown,Earl Hooker,Mel Brown ,Snooks Eaglin,Elmore James,Magic Sam,Oscar Moore,Doc Watson,Chank Willis and Robert White of Motown’s Funk Brothers. Jimmy Nolen for James Brown’s band. The list goes on Some of these people may seem obscure,but I’ll bey most of the players on the top 100 list have heard and been affected by many if not most of theplayers I’ve listed

Cobain never claimed to be a great guitarist, although original he was no fan of technique so shouldnt really be here. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, i’ve taken note of a few names i’ve not come across yet. Ist good to see an Aussie on the list but John Butler is several orders of magnitude better than Dan Johns

what about levi e. fletcher. fuck he’s awesome. i’ve been listening to his album for a month now non-stop.

Steve Hackett is far more underrated than most of the people on this list.

this list is fucking god-awful.

Seriously tho, how about Chris Hayes from Huey Lewis and the News?

lol…what about Mike Nesmith

Kovakov.Dont get me confused with Dean Deleo.I am Deano-totally different person but please get out from under your rock & broaden your listening re-guitarists.D.Johns wouldn’t rate anywhere among the guitarists of the last 40 years.Just another commercial band who will never be remembered along side the greats.Cheers

Daniel Johns make pee in your mouth, bitches

Nancy Wilson was completely overlooked.

kurt cobain is not a good guitar player.. rolling stone clearly knows nothing about good guitar if they did they would have included people like micheal amot of carcass, or chuck sholdner of death, or john petrutcii, ali d, i cant spell the mans name i am a hrrible speller. but like if rolling stone wants to hear good guitar they need to listen to death and speed metal becasue some of the most talented guitar players come from that genre, and again sorry for my fucked up spelling

again dean deleo gets stiffed. good to see daniel johns there

Some Oz guitarists-Tim Gaze of “Tamam Shud”.Phil Manning of “Chain” & guitarist from Gulliver Smith’s band-”Company Caine”.

I think Rolling Stone needs to stop making commentary about musicians. They clearly don’t know anything about making music. How about Guthrie Govan?

Synyster Gates aka Brian Haner of Avenged Sevenfold

I’m a bit of an old fart.Anyway my most unrecognised(to a certain extent)-Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown.Stan Webb of Chicken Shack.Randy California of Spirit.Not so unknown but Alvin Lee of Ten Years After.T.S.McPhee of Groundhogs.Early Jeff Beck(a la “Truth”) & my favourite-Peter Green.Maybe I live in the past but Daniel Johns has nothing on Thorpie on John Butler.PS.guitarist out of “Wire”is audibly incredible.

these ppl suck at making good list Neil Young cant play at all i have seen garage bands with better guitarist. where is jose feliciano he is won of the best and yet he is not on either list

prince,hendrix,santana,fr uscia nte, daniel johns,mike einziger,gilmour,cantrell ,mccr eady and tim mahoney(311)…listen up

I gotta say.. Rolling stone really underated Eddie Van Halen. WTF

JOHN FRU..I know he was on the cover a few weeks ago…but that was one of the first times he was even mentioned as a guitar god.

Just glad he made the list, he should be higher tho!

I AM THE GRATEST PRINCE FAN, VERNON LIVING COLOR IS OUTSTANDING,….BUT HAVE U HEARD ABOUT ERIC SARDINAS?

Mick Ronson was awesome, too! Saw him a bunch of times with Ian Hunter. He was the king of glam-distortion-kickass rock n’ roll soloing!

Mick Taylor should have been number one on this list. Just listen to YA-YA’s; Stones Boot Brussels ‘73; or Dylan’s “Real Live.” What an awesome guitar player! The vibrato still sings!!! Evidently MT kicked ass on the recent “Celebrate Hendrix” mini-tour too!

Kind of funny that the guy complaining about the lack of black guitarists thinks the only ones on here are Prince and Jimi. Maybe he should find out who Vernon Reid and Eddie Hazel are.

ALEX LIFESON.

I agree with daniel johns as an underrated guitar player.Playing guitar ain´t only about soloing, but being able to write great songs and melodies. The man can do that!

debutrans

If you actually bother listening to Petrucci and Satriani, then you are a very sad case!
Who the f… listens to that shit for fun!

I would add Gary Moore to the list for both his rock and blues guitar.To hear him live was amazing!

Another name to throw out there was a very talented guitarist that I saw for the first time last night. Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. I haven’t followed them for very long so I’m not real familiar with him, but I was quite impressed last night.

Alex Lifeson is no where on the top 100 greatest or the 25 most underrated. If he isn’t in the most underrated category, I don’t know why they even bothered. One of the greatest bands ever, still selling out arenas after more than 30 years, no recognition, and no Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Criminal.

And George Harrison????? on the list of greatest? I love the beatles and their music, but as a guitar player???? Please.

Graham Coxon, from Blur. Unbelieveably good. There are no words to describe how good he is.

mike einziger.

WHERE THE HELL IS SLASH IN THE LIST!!!????

and he’s a lefty too.

Peter Frampton should be considered also.
Humble Pie, Frampton Comes Alive…shed the pretty blonde hair boy image years ago and you have one of the most refined and extraordinary rock guitarist that ever played.
He can play long solos because he has an amazing repertoire. Who better at the talk box too? Maybe Joe Walsh?

Who was Hendrix’s fave guitarist? Terry Kath. Most of the above names are worthy of inclusion. In fact, there are so many no-brain omissions on this list, I can see why your readership has plummeted.

Prince and David Gilmour are both great and are also underrated. Mike McCready and Pearl Jam are both way underrated. Too many Pearl Jam haters out their. Love Nirvana, but Kurt Cobain? He get’s enough credit I think..

Josh Homme
Daron Malakian (it’s really easy to play his stuff, but every note is in it´s right place)
Slash (I never see him in this bullshit lists)

Dave Murray and Adrian Smith
Mike Bloomfield
Steve Hackett (recorded the hammer-on technique back in ‘73).

kurt cobain is fuking awesome everyone needs to quit dissing him..but i dont get y hes on this list wasnt he #12 in the top100 greatest guitarist of all time?? Daniel Johns is fuking awesome but i dont get y hes on this list im not expurt but i would have to agree with my mate whos fuking goes off on the guitar that daniel is not too talented in that area..hes fuking awesome dont get me wrong but im not to sure he should be on this list..good to see Mike McCready on this list..Pearl Jam are Fuking Awesome!!!

kurt cobain is awesome evryone hould quit fukin dissen him..but i dont egt y hes on this list, wasnt he number 12 in the top100 greatest guitartist?? daniel johns is fuking asesome but id have to agree with my mate who is an awesome guitartist that he hasnt got that much talent in that area, he couldnt be fuked learning classical giutar when he was younger..im not putting im down im probably the biggest fan here but fuk..good to see mike mcCready up there pearl jam are awesome!!

Rory Gallagher was a true original. Criminal he wasn’t on the top 100, even worse he’s not on the most under rated.

Gotta say also that Prince is a good choice to top the under-rated list, he can rip it good even though most of his music is to light for me.

Elmer Fudd, you wouldn’t even be able to aim at a guy in a moving wheelchair if the doc gave you a new bifocal prescription.

(Why is Eddie Van Halen pushed so far down at #70 in RS’s top 100 guitarists’ list? - now THAT, I do NOT understand)

Elmer, you couldn’t aim at an aggressive moving target if you got a new eyeglass prescription from the doc.

jeerio.

Graham Coxon, ex-guitarist from Blur and now a solo artist is cruelly missing. He’s an AWESOME guitarist.

Phil Keaggy, nice to see him get some respect. If you don’t know his music, download a couple of his instrumental tracks. Please, for the love of God, don’t download his later stuff with vocals.
Also, Noel Gallagher is an EXCELLENT song writer, but an average guitarist. I have every Oasis album, I love them all. But, look at the chord progressions of “D’ Ya know what I mean” and “Wonderwall.” You can’t recycle proressions and make a list like this.

David Gilmour
Lowell George (Little Feat)
Sonny Landreth
John McGlaughlin
Randy California (Spirit)

David Byrne/Jerry Harrison: The two Talking Heads weaved a tapestry of guitar rhythms at least as tight and interesting as Keith & Woody. But because the Heads don’t smoke or drink on stage or ram a guitar neck up the other’s arse onstage, they must not be real musicians.

Paul Simon - never gets his due. His playing is beautiful.
Robert Johnson: Maybe he gets his due
Steve Howe (despite being in a prog-rock supergroup his playing is mostly a fusion of George Harrison and Chet Atkins, plus some classical BS)
Willie Nelson - if you’ve ever seen him live you know what I’m talking about.

Where the hell is Peter Green?
Surely he should be in the top three!!

Kurt Cobain sucks and he is rotting in Hell! The frickin’ loser is over-rated as well and I can’t figure the hell out as to why.

Brian Setzer???????
Michael Hedges
Johnny Marr
Django Reinhardt
James Burton

Dissing Kurt and now Neil? These blogs ARE a complete joke. I’ll read the RS articles and ignore the comments from now on.

Ted Nugent? Who said that? Go to bed! Now!

hey yardjockey: damn straight. Terry Kath was an incredible talent. Jimi Hendrix confessed: Kath was “better than me.” That’s worthy praise, eh?

Why am I not surprised the late great Terry Kath of the band Chicago isn’t on this list?

Neil Young and Kurt Cobain? I thought this was a list of under-rated guitarists, not over-rated turds.

A list of underrated guitarists that doesn’t include Robin Trower? What are y’all amoking?

Craig’s a really funny guy.

Anyone who’s ever touched a guitar can realize that Kurt Cobain has no talent. I know kids in high school who are 1000x better than him. And he didn’t get his sound on his own, the studio people did all the work for him. His riffs are unoriginal, and his solos blow.
But I definitely agree with Prince being on there. I would also include Adrien Belew, Martin Barre and Paul Personne.
Lastly, whoever at RS put Kobain on the top 100 list should be fired, he can’t play worth shit. And above Tony Iommi, Dick Dale, Richard Thompson, etc? WHAT THE FUCK!!??

How about a list of the greatest dead guitarists excluding allthe blues cats?

Good call on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez as The Mars Volta are an insanely good band nowadays. I nominate johnny greenwood based on his style of playing, a nod to the metalheads with dimebag darrell and tony iommi (the 80’s is not a good place for him)and Robert Fripp of King Crimson because he can play better than Daniel Johns sitting down, while Johns keeps strumming his guitar making his voice (which is soooo feminine its not funny) even higher than a Banshee’s or when he’s grabbed by his testicles.

Also for playing style, I’d like to mention Bernard Summer and for guitar effects, Kevin Shields

Where’s Daron Malakian??!!

But Woo hoo Daniel Johns made it on the list! He should be number 1 on the list, Him and silverchair are the 2 most underrated things ever

exactly. as in mainstream top 40 music listeners, who think that the only songs worth listening to are the “hits” on the charts.

joe walsh???

the mainstream classic rock listeners aren’t supposed to “get it”.

Kurt Cobain? Oh goodness….what a joke.

Kurt Cobain? Oh goodness….what a joke.

Kurt Cobain? Oh goodness….what a joke.

Kurt Cobain? Oh goodness….what a joke.

Kurt Cobain? Oh goodness….what a joke.

One thing the discussion points out is that the term “under-appreciated” is definitely in the eye of the beholder. In this case, the so-called “experts” at Rolling Stone Magazine. It is obvious the all of the great artists mentioned in this string of posts are appreciated by the people nominating them. While I may not personally enjoy some of the guitarists mentioned, I can at least say I have listened to most of them in my 53 years. I like these discussions because it expands my musical knowledge. Lekain has it right by suggesting that people “do their homework”. For me it just adds to the enjoyment to understand the unbroken string of talent that dates back to Son House, Charlie Patton, Josh White, etc. Muddy’s got a song with the refrain “the blues, they had a baby, and they named it rock’n'roll”. Some of you may not like the music, but this is where many of the chords of riffs of today originated. I’ll end with two guitarists that deserve more attention: Eddie Turner and Jimmy King (RIP).

First, let me say that I love reading the conversations that these kinds of lists spark! It’s things like these that will help give the truly underrated some deserved attention. A few who were already mentioned and I agree with: Peter Buck, Dough Martsch, Mike Einziger, Matthew Bellamy, John Squire, Billy Corgan, Claudio Sanchez/Travis Stever, Kevin Shields.

I’m dismayed to see The Boss, New Jersey’s finest, hasn’t been mentioned. And where is the appreciation for Robert Smith, guys!? Also, let’s see some more love for metal. Thought not necessarily underrated in certain circles, Marty Friedman (formerly of Megadeth) can shred it up. Stephen Carpenter of Deftones, while not complex, certainly has a unique sound. Finally, not to make this too long, Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind, taught by Joe Satriani believe it or not) basically made that band what it was, critical respect be damned.

IsIs
Jimi Hendrix was cutting his guitar playing teeth with progressive jazz players like Brother Jack McDuff in blues-jazz hammond organ quintets long before playing with the Isley’s. Little Isley was definitely a protege’ though.

Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers should DEFINITELY be in the ranks. This is the same band of brothers where Jimi Hendrix first got his feet wet before going off on his own. Listen to “Voyage to Atlantis” & hear Ernie rip it!!! He was a prodigy of Jimi’s before later joining his family’s band.

Kurt Cobain should never have been in the top 100 in the first place.

Kurt Cobain should never have been in the top 100 in the first place.

Pearl Jam are the greatest band ever,nice to see Mike get recognised

While I definitely agree with some of this list (and the top 100 guitarists list - Lindsay Buckingham is definitely underrated!), some of it surprised me. It shouldn’t be possible for those, like Cobain and Robbie Robertson, who are on the top guitarists list to be counted as *under*rated. Santana should (in my opinion, of course) be in the top *5* guitarists. But since when is Ace Frehley underrated? I always thought he was considered one of the greats (I always thought he was, at least). I guess since he didn’t make the top 100 list that would qualify him as underrated.

Noel Gallagher is amazing. He’s an unreal song writer and a great guitarist too. can’t think of one person in the last 30 years who’s written so many incredible songs

Hunter & Wagner (Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Gabriel I)

Steve Hackett (Genesis), a sonic quality that’s unique to rock.

Can i have opinions on noel gallagher please? i know they’ve fallen out of favour here in the states, but i think the guy is incredible. seems like guitarists love to trash him though. Is it his lack of techinical ability…he’s lifted some tunes sure, but who hasn’t- at least he’s hones’t about it. What about liveforever, rocknroll star, supersonic, wonderwall, dontlookbackinanger,whatsthest orymoringglory,champagnesupern ova,goletitout,acquiesce,talkt onight,on and on…certainly there has to be some genius there. sorry bout the hype session!!!

OH yeh rock on daniel johns and mccreedy! but wat about john mayer??? he is absolutely mesmerizing the blues he can get out of his strat! go jm83!

Carrie Brownstein, 1 of the guitarists from sleater-kinney. My personel fave from the list, as shes interesting, and has a unique way of playing, and can give a killer solo (sheck out the 11 minute improv on ‘Lets Call it Love’. Women are underrated on this list, shes the only woman there, and there was only like 3 on the main list. Where was Mary Timony ??? Prince is a healthy choice. Kurt Cobain was a gr8 songwriter, guitarist not so much.

Chords*

…Kurt Cobain, let me go get my lesson book I forget how to play power cords and 10 note solo’s

ok so, this entire thing is retarded. they have eddie van halen at 70,wtf? They have randy rhoads at 85. they dont have slash OR dimebag darrel on there. i dont know the names of the dragonforce guys, but they are insanely awesome. and buckethead should be on there too. this list is just flat out stupid.

Good to see Nels Cline up there - see him live with the Nels Cline Singers if you ever get the chance.
I would have liked to have seen Bill Frisell, Adrian Belew if only for his work with the Talking Heads, and Jeff Tweedy (I mean come on, listen to what he did on A Ghost Is Born).

I’m sorry, but Kurt Cobain is incredibly overrated as a guitar player.

WHAT ABOUT JIMMY NOLAN, JESSE JOHNSON, WHY IS EVERYONE ON THE LIST WHITE/ WITH THE EXCEPTION OF PRINCE AND JIMI. THEIR IS A LOT WRONG AND DISREPECTFUL ABOUT THIS LIST. CURT COBAIN BUT NOT MUDDY WATERS,SON SEALS, BOBBY WOMACK, CURTIS MAYFIELD. IF PRINCE AND THE OTHERS WERE WHITE THEY WOULD GET MORE PROPS AND THIER MUCH DUE RESPECT AS SOME OF THE GREATEST GUITARIST THAT EVER LIVED. WHERE DO YOU THINK THESE OTHER SO CALLED GREATS GOT IT FROM?

T-BONE WALKER, EARL HOOKER, FREDDIE KING,VERNON RIED, BUDDY GUY, OTIS RUSH, MAGIC SAM, ALBERT KING, ALBERT COLLINS, IKE TURNER, GRANT GREEN, THESE ARE SOME OF THE GREATEST GUITAR PLAYERS OF ALL TIME. WITHOUT THEM THERE WOULD NOT BE A LIST. THEY COULD PLAY IT ALL. DO YOUR HOMEWORK PEOPLE AND STOP BEING SO SHALLOW.

Ronnie Montrose
Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers
Uncle Ted Nugent

Heck..If Ace Frehley makes the list, replace Kurt Cobain with Rick Nielsen

Ronnie Montrose
Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers
Uncle Ted Nugent

Heck..If Ace Frehley makes the list, replace Kurt Cobain with Rick Nielsen

what about alexi laiho and michael amott?

Here in fly over country(Minnesota) we have more gunslingers than just Prince. How about Bob Mould(Husker Du),Paul Westerberg and Bob Stinson(Replacements).

Robben Ford
Boz Scaggs
Coco Montoya
Vince Gill
Will Bernard

Robby Krieger of the Doors pioneered sonic landscapes that have yet to be matched for their otherworldliness, disturbing chordal patterns and quiet compositional genius. Hmm, I guess I just stated the reasons why he never makes these lists…

FRANK ZAPPA YOU IDIOTS!

Rolling Stone just simply doesn’t make sense. No wonder why we see more people canceling their subscriptions.

First they put Kurt Cobain as #12 on their list of the 100 Best Guitarists, making him better than Carlos Santana, Tom Morello, Brian May, Pete Townshend, Joe Perry and David Gilmour.

Now they are saying that Kurt Cobain is UNDERATED?? Are you kidding RS?? You are the ones who made Kurt Cobain OVERATED!!

Every time I see an article on “determining” “Who’s The Greatest So and So” I can reliably predict the maturity of responses. Most of the posts are from contributors who are so deeply entrenched into a particular genre that their judgment is biased and often based on their minimal recording collection. Now if the subject was to “vote” for your “favorite” as greatest so and so, then I’d give their judgement due respect. The fact is no one will ever know who, impirically, is the greatest because that unfortunate gem was never discovered. Consider how many monster guitar players have only done studio gigs, played back up to singers, or due to circumstances never made it out of the wedding and state fair circuit.
Then too. how many of the contributing posters qualify the greatest by speed, licks, scales, or technique. The “greatest” has heart and soul and plays his or her heart out as a voice. I once saw an Austin City Limits production that featured some country and western studio guitarists together on stage jammin. They played incredible, outrageous jazz, blues and rock, beside country…and no one knows who they are.

Answer to “DrJ”. You asked “What is the purpose of guitar playing? Is it to move people emotionally..” or “..to give guitar players opportunities to show off and admire one another’s chops?” Well, there’s no single right answer to that, since each individual listener (or guitarist) probably has his/her own personal opinion.. But I would personally answer “why not both?!” There doesn’t have to be a contradiction between these two; real great guitarists can certainly both move people emotionally AND “show off” too! And additionally, guitar playing also can have a lot of other purposes, but I won’t try to list them all.. Bbender

Peter Buck

So What about Ani Difranco.

This Punk-folk heroine has a unique, thrilling acoustic sound.
She’s a woman and she is definitely underrated

kurt john and billy rock!

so i just read where someone said cobain was #12 on all time greatest guitarist list, grew up in aberdeen when kurt did, he was not known as even one of the good guitar players in the area, however he became an amazing success as we all know and probably the most influencial or iconic musician since john lennon, although kurt is an ordinary average guitar player he did develop a unique guitar sound that we all recognize, as did angus young with his simple riffs and melodic guitar solos, i guess it all depends on what you mean when you say greatest, does that mean technical like satriani, vai, van halen, randy rhodes,hendrix, then theres the likes of stevie ray,clapton and all the great 80s guitarist from scorps, priest, dokken, etc.. we could feel most of this list with 80s guitarists, everyone has an opinion on what deems someone the greatest, to me its not about technicality but about how the music makes you personally feel, i love seeing eddie shred live but enjoy angus and his melodic solos more and prefer stevie rays incredible blues guitar playing ove satrianis amazing technicality, but still love and appreciate eddie and joes talent…

I have been to between 75 to 100 concerts in the last 20+ yrs, seen many 80s bands that icluded eddie vh, vai, vandenberg, and so on from scorps, dokken, ac/dc, triumph, rush, whitesnake, ozzy, hagar etc… and also many grunge, country, classic rock shows. but I have to say as great as ac/dc, the eagles,hagar and pink floyd are live, some of the best shows i had seen to this point. the last 2 shows i have seen have blown me away that are both underrated guitarists they are keith urban (who plays his guitar like a rock star), is an incredible singer and an amazing talent and live performer, the place was packed of course huge stadium, and then i had the pleasure 1 week later to see jonny lang just a couple thousand people at this one, was right near the front (got to love the fact that most people have poor taste in music and you can see someone with the talent of jonny in a small venue) so dont tell anyone… anyway WOW amazingly incredible indescribable performance, jonny lang is an amazing performer, much better than on record as is keith, if you appreciate great musicianship and talent these are defitely must see guitarists. hagar is also an underated guitar player and song writer..

I love john Frusciante, but everyone knows he is a guitar god.

I was blown away (in a good way) that Daniel Johns made this list, Silverchair has under-the-radar produced two (Diorama, Young MOdern) of the best albums of this century so far. And having seen both RHCP and Silverchair live, there is no comparison, SILVERCHAIR IS ELECTRIC.Period.

fucking eh kurt cobain, fuckin eh

Greg Sage of the Wipers is definitely one of the most underated and inventive players ever.

Is there no love for:
1. Dave Navarro
2. Billy Zoom
3. Jonny Lang
4. Omar Rodriguez- Lopez
5. Derek Trucks

THE PROBLEM IS PRINCE DOES EVERYTHING SO PEOPLE FORGET HOW GOOD HE IS ON THE GUITAR. YOU CAN’T ALWAYS TELL BY THE ALBUMS, YOU HAVE TO SEE OR HEAR HIM LIVE. THE PROBLEM WITH THESE LISTS ARE THEY REFLECT A MOMENT IN TIME, HAVE A LOOK AT ANY OLD BEST OF THIS OR THAT LISTS AND YOU THINK WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE NOW.

These lists were not put together by players(or someone over 25). Jeff Beck at 14! No Gary Moore! That Johnny Ramone is on the list is a joke. Bill Nelson from BeBop Deluxe could play rings around most of these guys. No Michael Schenker(check UFO’s Obsession album. Peter Green at #30. EVH way down the list. JOKE!

Eet Syharanie Bagus!!!!

Eet Syharanie Bagus!!!!

Kurt Cobain was no 12 on the original top 100 list wasn’t he? How does that make him underrated.

Jonny Greenwood is on there as well, equal with Ed O’Brien - I’m sure Ed himself would be the first to admit he shouldn’t be anywhere near that list, but I guess it’s not always that obvious who plays lead guitar in Radiohead.

John Squire’s ommission from both lists is criminal, as is Bernard Butler’s (Suede). Also a mention to Graham Coxon (Blur).

rolling stones lost its credibility a long time ago (1991, RS gave the Nevermind album 3 out of 5 stars). While it bashes MTV for its lack of focus on the music, RS is actually crappy as rock critics. The top 100 guitarists is a prime example.
Better find other sources. Other lists are better, for example in Mojo’s top 100 guitarists. Prince is ranked 33 and Kurt 60, which is reasonable. I’m just here for this nice forum to talk about music and voice my opinion to others and not to RS cuz they don’t consider your votes, I don’t even think they really read the comments, maybe just browsed hastily, cuz they think they’re above us all.

I think this post will be deleted.

I also saw Madonna live and was incredibly surprised by her playing, it was fluid, melodic, this woman should also be on the list !! Maybe her being a woman guitarist hurts her reputation, but I was very very impressed. Sha can flat out playyyyyyyyy.

OK, how about Dave Edmunds - formerly of Rockpile, etc. Listen to his rendition of Saber Dance sometime - yeah, it’s classical, but damm, that guy can pump it out……

Enough with all of the grunge guitarists…

They got it right here, McCready is the standout and most underrated from the bunch…the rest, aside from maybe Thayil (Soundgarden), are/were pretty ordinary guitarists in the big scheme. Cobain’s stuff is really really ordinary.

i Have to go against the grain here and say that daniel johns is not underrated at all as a guitarist….he is underrated as a songwriter and vocalist but definitely not as a guitarist i have seen silverchair numerous times live and always come away underwhelmed with what he does on guitar but blown away by his vocals….hE IS A GOOD RHYTHM PLAYER BUT HIS LEAD PLAYING IS USUALLY FAIRLY BORING AND SLOPPY

The biggest problem with trying to create an all encompassing list of the greatest guitarists is that you have to start by weighing the players’ talents. Ask yourself what is more important, technical ability or songwriting prowess? The players who excell at both belong at the top of the list.

Frank Zappa and Dave Gilmour…..Zappa usually manages to make it into greatest guitarists lists but always well down the list behind such people as Kurt cobain and Jack White…..anybody that thinks zappa should be anywhere but alongside clapton, hendix and vaughan should have their head read. the saem goes for dave gilmour from the glorious floyd

the reason people don’t think Cobain belongs on these lists is because they DO listen to his playing and realize that he’s very average at best.

alot of people give a hissy fit when Kurt Cobain ends up on these lists.

the thing is you dont listen to his playing. the grunge overdubs make it difficult to really grasp the full potential his riffs create

watch him play

his style is unique and the way he makes his progressions flow is astounding.

I nominate all the unknown and underrated guitarists you see and hear playing in front of the liquor stores, in the subway stations, and on the streets, who take cash donations from passers-by.

I was relieved to hit the link and confirm that “Mick Jones” is the one from the Clash, and not the guy from Foreigner. As for the expected comments from people like the guy who wrote about the views of “guitarists and other who knows what guitar playing is about,” let me ask you: what is the purpose of guitar playing? Is it to move people emotionally, regardless of whether they happen to be musicians themselves, or is it to give guitar players opportunities to show off and admire one another’s “chops”? I’m inclined toward the first explanation.

Ani DIFranco.

Adrian Belew, for sure!

Alan Sparhawk from Low is criminally underrated!

Hey idiots its not metal this
Daniel johns rocks

I can’t believe you didn’t include Ralf Glowna from the 70s funk band Glownisteria

What about Kieth Levene of PiL? He seemed to be to the original post-punk guitar sound what Toni Iommi was to what became heavy metal as we know it, but Levene barely gets any credit for this (use of flangers, etc.) Leven briefly was in The Clash, too, before leaving for PiL.

COBAIN come on, Stradlin,Harrison, none of these guys belong on this list.I am happy to see Johns, McCready, and Young though. David Gilmore, Alex Lifeson, Adam Jones, Tom Morello, JerryCantrell, Dimebag,Joe Walsh should all be on the list. But the man who should’ve been #1 on your little list is DEAN WEEN aka Micky Moist or Mickey Melchiondo. If you don’t think so, check out Ween live in Chicago

Fucking Billy Corgan and that douchebag from the Red Hot Chili Peckers, Frusciante? What the fuck????

Trey Anastasio should be #1

I know that RS isn’t big into metal, but what about:
Dimebag Darrell (Pantera)
Kerry King (Slayer)
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)
Tony Iommi and Randy Rhoads (Both were on the list but in the 80’s)
Zakk Wylde (Ozzy, BLS)
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters Rock, But he really shows his chops with the diversity of style that plays so well on his PROBOT album that shows that he should definitly be on the list)
Darrion Malkain (System Of A Down)

Prince not in the original list!….um um um they need to have a re-do, a make-up session, a complete over haul on this! are u serious RS?! what kind of team was working to put this list together? they need to take a better listen to this man’s abundance(quality and quantity) of work here! i know they are really mistaken here. shame shame.

Alex Lifeson is so underrated that he can’t even make this list.

Daniel Johns deserves to be on the 100 Greastest Guitarist list. Why is Kurt Cobain on the Under appreciated list? He’s number 12 on the Greatest Guitarist list!! I don’t think that makes him underappreciated, take him off of this list.

Chicago’ Don (The Dalai Dona) Moreland is the most underated country-rock guitarist. He is influenced by Chet Atkins but has a dynanic tone and riffs akin to Brad Paisley.

Prince is AMAZING live. Plays it all. If you haven’t seen him live, you don’t know.

Agree with the statement about certain people being retarded, its THE MOST UNDERRATED GUITARISTS clowns. Stone Gossard and Mike Mcready rock. Also Kurt Cobain guitar playing apparently sucks yet everyones talking about him, he must have done something right.

What about Dimebag Darrell ?!

I miss many guitarists…even some that aren’t huge in history…YET

thank gooood for daniel johns hes a LEGEND .. should be even higher

Dave Navarro anyone?
J Mascis?

With the notable exception of Chris Cornell, there have been no group of guitarists more OVERRATED than those from the Seattle scene of the early 90s.

no prince hello purple rain ,bamb, 17day, america those solo are almost as nasty as that first list but i guess when your writes only watch mtv stop looking at music and start listening

yeah yeah yeah and everybody from Seattle who was in a music store and stared at a guitar for more than 8 seconds.

Fuckin’ provincial slave jerk!

Underrated by who? There are hundreds of much better guitarists than these that are not even mentioned in the infamous “100 greatest” list from 2003, so they’re definitely underrated by the people who made this list. But by fellow guitarists, the players I’m talking about are very highly rated, f.ex. Steve Vai, Steve Morse, John Petrucci, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, and my list could go on and on.. For guitarists and other who knows what guitar playing is about, these RS lists are almost meaningless and comic. Yes there are some really good names, but to place f.ex. Cobain on 12th, Johnny Ramone on 16th, compared to people like John McLaughlin on 49th, I mean, hello..? Maybe you should make a new list over the most overrated guitarists, too..

Bbender, Norway

McCready finally gets a nod here!

He is an awesome player…one of the best from the last 20 years!

The following guys should also be there…Kim Thayil, Jerry Cantrell, Gary Lee Connor and of course Stone Gossard!

I’m glad for Daniel Johns, a little from left field, and well deserved!

It’s great to see Daniel and Elliott make it on there. Two of my favorite songwriter/guitarists of all time. And major props for Carrie being the only girl on the list. She’s fucking awesome.

Seriously, Corgan >>>> Cobain.

Once again, he gets the shaft. As far as that genre goes, everyone who plays guitar can’t deny that Corgan’s style is more complex, creative, & distinct than Cobain’s. Not to mention, Corgan’s guitar compostitions cover a broad range of rock, such as 70’s metal, dream-pop, acoustic, electronica, psychedelic and progressive.

Typical media-bias favoring Cobain over all the other musicians who had a creative influence on alt. rock. If this list was greatest 25 guitar players, I bet RS would have Cobain up there = which would dismiss Cobain from the underrated argument. I’m suprised another RS fav, Jack White, is not on this list

Otherwise, pretty good list. However, I would add Jerry Cantrell, Kevin Shields, David Gilmore, & Dimebag.

Yeah Kurt Cobain isnt really a “good” guitar player…Frusciante on the other hand rips it up on Stadium Arcadium

Ok fuck the person who said Pearl Jam sucks, obviously they haven’t heard Mike McCready rip notes apart in Alive!!

Also why the hell are all you people arguing over Kurt he doesn’t give a shit he shot himself a long fucking time ago, because of this very same shit right here!

Also agreed Tom Morello?????
But way to go Daniel Johns!!!

Jerry Cantrell SO deserves to be on this list - I don’t see him listed on RS’s top 100 either.

Prince’s albums (with few exceptions) do not adequately display his guitar skills, which is one reason he may be underrated. It’s a shame because I’ve never heard anyone better live. He’s amazing, and only getting better when it comes to guitar. How RS could leave him out of the Top 20 (let alone the Top 100) after that Hall of Fame induction performance is beyond me (”While My Guitar Gently Weeps”). People who’ve only heard his records were blown away by his live Super Bowl and Grammy performances, but that ain’t anything compared to the live shows and after shows. Obviously, he really pissed off some RS editors.

What about Jerry Cantrell?

What about Jerry Cantrell?

YES!
Daniel Johns! Woot woot.
He deserves more attention, as does Silverchair in general.
They are amazing, unlike most of the shitty talent today getting attention. *cough*paramore*cough. Yes.

Where is Joey Santiago of The Pixies?

Yes…Daniel Johns is a guitar GOD! He should have taken the number 1 spot though, that’s where he belongs!

It’s great to see Daniel Johns on here. I saw Silverchair this summer and they are amazing live. Really…a great experience

I saw Prince in Brisbane in 2003. It was an experience I’ll never forget….check out his solo in “Joy In Repetition” on his ‘One Nite Alone’ live album. Now that’s a solo Jimi Hendrix would have been proud of..

We got it right- Prince is without a doubt the best guitarist not on the original list. RS should make an apology for that exclusion.

It’s about time Carrie Brownstein got come recognition. Fantastic list

It’s awesome to see Daniel Johns on here. Should be higher on the list. He definitely deserves it. He truly is an artist! You guys should also update the silverchair section on here. Young Modern in stores now!

people who were left off, and shouldn’t have been:

donald ‘buck dharma’ roeser (blue oyster cult)
jack rose (pelt, solo)
robyn hitchcock (soft boys, solo)
richard bishop (sun city girls, solo)
dean ween (ween)
david pajo (slint, tortoise, solo)
chris brokaw (come, pullman, solo)
wata (boris)
buzz osbourne (melvins)
greg lisher (camper van beethoven)
marc ribot (tom waits, elvis costello, john zorn, solo)

if nels cline was still slumming w/ the geraldine fibbers, no one would know his name.

What about me??? I should be first on that list… Non the less… Kurt Kubain doesn’t fit this list. One thing is a “guitarist” another is “a-guy-that-plays-guitar”. Curious topic must say… Keep up!

Cool to see Daniel Johns, been a fan from the beginning, Silverchair is THE most underrated band. If you haven’t, you MUST see them live!

Also, that’s cool that you have George Harrison but he’s listed 21 on the official list and then 4 on the 25 list. OOPS!

Good to see Billy Corgan on that list. About 10 spots too low on that list but on there none the less.

it’s cool to see i’m not the only guy named chuck who digs silverchair. that guy is amazing. when i saw them live they extended lever out to like eight minutes long and he just went crazy. it was amazing.. especially after downing about a half a bottle of jim beam on stage… maybe it helps him play better. also, i like the call on shiftlet from the foo. that guy is good. check out his band jackson united if you’ve never heard them.

IZZY IZZY IZZZZZY

Matthew Bellamy from Muse, John Frusciante of Chili Peppers, and Chris Cheney of The Living End… all deserving of places on this list.

Daniel Johns?? AMAZING…Of course I agree, (he should be even higher,) but it’s even more amazing he was even put on this list. LOVE it. Silverchair is one of the most underrated bands of all time in my opinion

Daniel Johns?? AMAZING…Of course I agree, (he should be even higher,) but it’s even more amazing he was even put on this list. LOVE it. Silverchair is one of the most underrated bands of all time in my opinion

Hell, yeh Dan shouldve been number one, i love his teeth solos and singing into pickups although is not really guitar playing. But what about Kim Thayl from soundgarden and definately Matt Bellamy! I think Kurt Cobain is mainly recognised as a guitarist because of the riffs he invented in different tunings which alternative bands have adopted. Dave Grohl and Chris shiflet from the Fooeys should also get a mention.

Are you people retarded?

This list is for the most UNDERRATED guitarists. Not the ones we all already know are great.

That’s why you don’t see any hugely, ginormously well known guitarists that you are complaining about.

go johnsy!!
musical genius

go johnsy!!
musical genius

Thank god for daniel johns

Thank god for daniel johns

i’m sick of this kurt cobain can play guitar rant

Glad to Mr. Nelson at the top of the list.

Uh, excuse me?

Matthew Bellamy?
Jeff Buckley?
John Butler?

I dont see why they’re not on the TOP 100 LIST, let alone this one. Lordy…

Nice to see Daniel Johns is on the list, where is Matt Belemy??? Billy Corgan??? really? and where in the world are Iha and Howerdel?

um. hellOOOO. tom morello!

also, yes, definitely jeff buckley. definitely.

um. hellOOOO. tom morello!

also, yes, definitely jeff buckley. definitely.

Jeff Buckley…nuff said.

hell yeah daniel johns, he’s incredible

i definately agree with the peeps saying CHRIS CHEENEY (the living end..aussie band) and MATT BELLAMY (muse). also JOHN BUTLER is a sick guitarist and plays slide and banjo like a demon.
and the person that said dimebag is underrated is a massive tool, everyone knows hes one of the greatest guitarists ever that is why he is NOT underrated and NOT on this list.

Daniel Johns is an amazing guitarist…he should have been #1 but I’m glad to see he at LEAST made it on the list. Rock on.

Nice to see Daniel Johns is here ahhh what a legend.

Because Prince is an all rounder he typically gets ignored in these types of lists. Anyone who saw him at one of his ‘21 Nights In London’ Aftershow gigs will tell you what an amazing guitarist he is. Its criminal that RS ignored him from the original 100 but not surprising; they have always undervalued Prince’s contribution to music. RS need to realise Prince isn’t just the most underrated guitarist, but the most underrated artist there’s ever been, PERIOD.

No Reverend Horton Heat?!

For shame…

Wait, he made it on top 100 guitarists at 39. He’s still not occasionally brought up in conversation about guitar gods though.

Brian May anyone?

bob dylan

cobain? yeah I agree he is great for compose and lyrics. and also the grunge movemnt at the era. but as a guitarist…? well.. how about Lennon?

Where is Ron Wood, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Lenny Kravitz, Nuno Bettencourt, Wes Montgomery and John Mayer? They are obviously underrated.

some of these are definitely NOT underrated, but basically highly rated. Kurt, Neil Young, John F etc. all very worthy but definitely not underrated by you, RS. One guitarist that is DEFINITELY underrated and who i always look for in your magazine is Mike Einziger of Incubus.

Where is Pete Cosey’s name!

Neil Young yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn!!!

I’m very disappointed by this list and I guess I won’t be able to see what’s on this Friday’s because I’m probably going to visit a friend in Canada. I still think Ace Frehley got hosed!

Ok, Neil Young should be number one in that other list, great guitarists are everywhere, but ORIGINAL players like Neil are very hard to find, you can tell it’s Neil playing a solo from the first listen. Tommy Bolin was like that also, of course Hendrix too.
Hey, try to listen to Neil’s and Eric Clapton’s solos in that Dylan 30th anniversary concert when the whole band plays “My back pages”, you’ll know what I mean.

where the hell are john petrucci, joe satriani, omar rodriguez lopez, mauro pawlowski, josh homme and daron malakian?

MICK RONSON , MICK TAYLOR ,IZZY STARDLIN

NICE LIST

NEIL YOUNG AND PRINCE ARE OFF TJE WALL

This No,1…Exactly so!!!

Mike Campbell… yes “music people” should know who he is - if not - lead guitarist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers… every great lick you’ve heard from this band - 98% chance it came from his guitar.

Maybey it’s because He gives away FREE his music 2 the people that He isn’t on the list.

He and His guitar R like butterscotch clouds and rain ….

2gether

Gary Moore…. why not listed..

Where’s J. Mascis?

And Carrie Brownstein’s in Sleater-Kinney, and she does deserve to be on this list.

Andy Summers (The Police), pleeeeeease!!
ANDY, ANDY, ANDY, ANDY!!!!

my favorite guitarist is very underrated. robert quine (richard hell and the voidoids, lou reed *blue mask/legendary hearts etc.

Absolutely

Um. Neal Schon?

I know “music people” realize he’s a fantastic guitar player, but the average public has no clue how great he is.

Anyone who has Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton fighting to get you in their band at the age of 16 is something special.

what a fucked up list. half of these guys don’t even play anymore

They forgot the heroes
Ben Harper and John Frusciante.

Ty Tabor of King’s X. Criminally underrated.
Saw Brian Robertson mentioned a few times, and I couldn’t agree more.

Smashing up guitars does not make you an underrated guitarist, or a guitarist per se. Cobain should definitely go in the (vastly) overrated guitarists list. And near the top!

No Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter on either list? Hmm…

Sorry! Malmsteen

Ingwie Molmstein

Good to see Daniel Johns get some much deserved cred superb guitarist/songwriter. Elliott Smith as well.

rolling stone doesn’t know anything about music if they can’t recognise Prince as one of the greatest guitarists.

no peter green? boggles my mind…

JOHN FRUSCIANTE.

It warms my heart to run through all of these comments and find a few that love him. He’s done so much for music and puts more heart into his guitar than just about anyone and he’s loved for it.

Daniel Johns…

Gotta put Prince on that top list. Not to mention that at 49 he’s still doing it.
Go to his website http://www.3121.com/joy/ and catch the latest video from his last night on his recent 21 show London gigs. The guitar comes out at the end of the first song and Fender screams for the next two of the three song stream.

RollingStone should flat out APOLOGISE to Prince and it’s readers for not putting Prince in the top 10 of it’s original list.

…oh and they should get rid of Kobain, no matter how in love with him they are as a performer or whatever, he wasn’t a great guitar player. Prince without a shadow of a doubt IS a great player. Anyone who has witnessed one of his concerts or an aftershow would agree 100%.

Shame on you, RollingStone.

PRINCE IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE GREATEST GUITARIST OUT THERE RIGHT NOW I M 50 YERARS OLD AND AM A BIG CLAPTON FAN BUT PRINCE PLAYING LIVE JUST TAKES YOU OUT OF YOUR SEAT

No Brian May?!

“Prince is without a doubt the greatest guitar player of all time.”

Yeah, OOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAYYYYYY Y, buddy! It sounds like you have a CD collection of about 4. Maybe you should get your hands on Zeppelin and Hendrix.

Don’t waste your time with Pearl Jam, though. That’s a bunch of crap!

MICK RONSON!AWESOME!

Oops I got too excited, change it to Dean Ween and my comment made will be right.

Steve Vai did not even make the top 100 list. Jeff Beck was number 14. NOT, NOT, NOT !
Five Best Living Guitarists!
1) Jeff Beck
2) Eric Clapton
3) Steve Howe
4) Steve Vai
5) Eric Johnson

What is up with rolling stone? Gene Ween (of Ween and Moistboyz) is one of the most underrated guitarists! Check out his work. Great sound and tones.

Tom Scholz of Boston is the most overlooked guitar virtuoso. He has great riffs, tone and songwriting skills. He’s also invented key components to enhance guitars. Scholz is additionally a charitable humanitarian and animal loving vegetarian.

Yes, because Prince was not in the top 5 of the original list, it warrants him being the most underrated. Like a few other posts, once you see him live you are an instant convert.

Yes, because Prince was not in the top 5 of the original list, it warrants him being the most underrated. Like a few other posts, once you see him live you are an instant convert.

good call with izzy

great guitar player and songwriter

Prince is without a doubt the greatest guitar player of all time. His name/symbol is synonomis with music and the guitar. But, being the best, awards and charts doesn’t drive him…the music does…that’s what makes him not only the the greatest guitarist, but the most prolific artist of our time. Hendrix has always been the standard as a guitarist, but Prince past him up about 13 years ago when everyone was fixated on the name change to notice the music…Shout out to Nuno B as well…there’s more to him and Extreme than more than words…ashame Japan and Korea get it and America doesn’t. Maybe that’s why England got 21 nights of P also. Open your mind to the music and not the hype.

still strikes like a double-edged irony, as observed by these comments. To be underrated and misunderstood is to remain cutting-edge.

Um, David Gilmore? Of Pink Floyd? He rarely gets press, rarely even makes any of these “lists”. It’s always Jimmy Page this, Jimi Hendrix that. And don’t get me started on Robert Zimmerman, the loxist god of music (pffft).

I’ve been playing guitar for almost 15 years now and I agree with the comments about Cobain being “overrated” not just as a guitar player, but overall! I don’t believe Corgan belongs on any list, he’s just not good at all in my opinion. The rest of the list I pretty much agree with, Prince is amazing and Daniel Johns and George Harrison are both proof that you don’t need over the top guitar solos to be a skilled player.

Prince and Buckehead is AMAZING!
Seen both of them live, WOW…

Prince should be Nr. 1 (!!!)
Buckethead, in the top 20…

I have an idea. lets take a guy that we just called a guitar god, and throw in half a dozen guitarists from some of the biggest bands of all time who have gotten libraries worth of critical acclaim and fan support, and call them underrated just to please these close minded fucks who still support these dead old bands and would rather argue that these guitarists are just as good as everyone has already said they were, instead of listening to something new. shit. scared if you took a peek at zakk wylde’s library you’d have to mothball that kiss T and buy something new? jesus tittyfucking christ kurt cobain played powerchords. i mean nirvana made amazing music that touched my life along with just about everyone else’s, but any acnefaced teen can pick up a guitar and hack out smells like teen spirit. i know everyone has their own preferances, but this isn’t even funny.

totally agreed, jack from bayside for the win.

and the boys from coheed and cambria, as well as Thomas Erack from The Fall of Troy

jack o’shea from bayside is pretty much the most underrated guitarist from the east coast.

totally agree with this list though.

Alexi Laiho from children of bodom
Mr. Brett from Bad Religion

big ups to Prince!!!!
I was more pissed off than anyone else when I didn’t see him on the original list. So f’in stupid!!!
People get so side tracked by the flamboyant pop star that he is. They don’t see what a brilliant guitarist/musician he is. Go see him in cocert. He’s on fire. And he’s playing a hell of a lot of guitar. And it’s real loud too!!!
some others:
Marc Ribot
Bill Frisell
Nels Cline

You have to check these 3 out. The are among the best on the
planet!!!!!

oh yeah, i know john frusciante made the original list, but not the the 6 solo albums that he put out in 6 months. A brilliant guitarist/musician he!!!

BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD BUCKETHEAD

nuff said
(dont forget about Jaco !)

Queensryche’s Chris DeGarmo.

i vote for Bill Braskey

Teppei Teranishi is amazing, he should be on this list.

RE:I will crush RUSH | 10/2/2007, 2:42 am EST

I’m sorry to hear about your brain cancer. We all hope it’s terminal!

Underrated=those who don’t get the cred they deserve. i.e. van hagar, morello, buckethead…anyone who knows of these guys realizes they are badarsemofos.

Kurt Cobain IS underrated thanks to asshats like tc down there. He played with more soul and energy than the majority of guitarists pas and present. He was a far better player than most people think, thus underrated.

Man, this is stupid…Kurt Cobain is underrated? That man is glorified way beyond his ability.

YES!

Elliott Smith!

Sorry, it’s exciting to see him plugged.

Cozmo — I totally agree, and I don’t even like Van Halen in the least. Not a guitarist either, but what’s obvious is obvious, you know? You can tell it’s a “critic’s” list ’cause they list the guitarists from freakin’ Sonic Youth at 33 and 34, way ahead of many other players with way more soul and technical expertise. I’ll bet even Lee Rinaldo and Thurston Moore got a big chuckle over that one.

This is about the most asinine thing in the world. I hate when aging hippies at the head of a major magazine take it upon themselves to publish a list of the greatest guitarists. It’s CERTAIN to be majorly skewed. Anybody who would put (purely for example) Eddie Van Halen at #70 AND include the likes of Derek Trucks and Joan Jett on a list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All time, obviously doesn’t have a clue. Not to mention leaving off a few of the choices in the 25 Most Underrated Guitarists, as well as MANY in the comments above (I totally agree, John Petrucci rules!). Ridiculous!!! These kinds of lists are better left to GUITAR magazines, not pop culture magazines.

Prince and his guitar R 1!!!! There is nothing but love when he plays. I LUV U Prince. Ur the real deal there just fakin the funk. Dont U ever stop the music!!!

Prince and his guitar R 1!!!! There is nothing but love when he plays. I LUV U Prince. Ur the real deal there just fakin the funk. Dont U ever stop the music!!!

I din’t like Prince until my friend took me to a concert, i was blown away. He should be up there in the top 5 in the other top 100.

He was doing stuff that only Hendrix can, and i saw Hendrix 5 times!

Steve Hackett
Mark Curry (not the hanging with mr cooper guy)
Chris Whitley

Frank Zappa, Greg Ginn, J Mascis, Dr Know, Tom Morello, James Iha, Billy Corgan, Bob Stinson, Alex Lifeson, Brad Nowell, Kim Thayil, Vernon Reid, Trey Anastasio, Jerry Cantrell, Steve Howe, Kaleo Wassman, James Baluyut…the list could go on…so many people not mentioned that should have been mentioned, but then that’s why these lists come out, so people can continuously discuss and counter them and hopefully, in the process, turn others on to the talent they suggest

VERNON REID! DAMN RIGHT. However, Kurt Cobain and Ace Frehley are both overrated, and Prince is overrated in his underratedness.

I think Josh Homme from Queens of The Stone Age is an awesome rhythm and lead guitarist.

Of, course PRINCE is #1. Should have been for years!! The man is a genius!! LOVE PRINCE!!!

…oh yeah, nice push on Tim Reynolds, cornelius! knew i forgot someone.

Cobain will be forever loved & hated, so he musta done something special.

absent from the list:
Buckethead
Shawn Lane, R.I.P.
Bill Frisell
Chet Atkins, R.I.P.
Danny Gatton, R.I.P.
Mattias “IA” Eklundh
Reggie Wooten
Al Di Meola
John Petrucci

thanks to all for posting - helping the rest explore guitar talent!!

Teppei Teranishi

why does tim reynolds never get any recognition?

Prince not only is a great lead guitarist and his imaginative use of rhythm guitar is just as underrated. This is a guy that can play latin rhythms on lead like Carlos Santana and shifts octaves on a Gibson guitar like Wes Montgomery. Also Wes Montgomery should be on this list. That brotha played jazz guitar with as much as virtuoso and feel as any guitarist on that list.

How about Matthew Bellamy from muse or maybe Teppei Teranishi of Thrice. Thrice’s new album/project will blow people away.

How could they even consider leaving Prince off the original list?? He is a mad man on the guitar! Didnt they see the Superbowl performance???

How can you leave both John Petrucci, Andy Timmons, and Alex Skolnick off both these lists?!

How can you leave both John Petrucci and Andy Timmons off both these lists?!

i think Mike Bloomfield should be at least in the top five dont you guys remember the little song called like a rolling stone by Bob Dylan Mikes guitar playin is magic

Rolling Stone should be ASHAMED of themselves leaving Prince off the list!

you guys BETTER be talking about Mick Jones from the Clash, not from fucking foreigner. RS gives a link to the foreigner guy, but i’m fairly sure they mean the GOOD musician from the Clash.

or I’ll stop reading RS.

Woo go Daniel Johns!

prince? stone cold genius-im gonna say it loud and proud-the GREATEST guitarist of all time inc hendrix-have u seen him live?

I saw Prince in Paris 20 years ago at an aftershow doing Hendrix -as good as Jimi himself. His concert repertoir is to clean and too brief. You have to see him at a small club to really see him play…

What about Nuno Bettencourt and Stevie salas?!?

RORY GALLAGHER was a guitarist’s guitarist’s. Unpretentous, passionate and gifted. Quite an insult that he wasn’t in the top ten, let alone the top 100!..But I guess with R.S. and their readership, we’re talking primarily about ‘Pop’ music rather than the ‘Blues’ …. Great vocalist also.

I saw Bruce Cockburn at a festival a couple of years back. That man can play guitar like you wouldn’t believe!

Dimebag Darrell. RS never mentions him.

Where is John Squire and Dave Davies?

What about Kevin Shields? He should be number two.

My favorite Prince guitar work is on his version of ‘What If God Was One Of Us’

PRINCE… easy in top 10 of all time.

Prince and Kurt both rock!

‘I might be small but so is dynamite’

Ahhh Prince looks so cute in that pic

Daron Malakian.
And a vote for Stone Gossard too.

I’ll second the Chris Cheney comment. He plays in a band (The Living End) that isn’t big enough here in the states to get him enough attention for even this list. But fuck if he isn’t one of the best in the world right now.

The very badmouthing of Kurt’s playing is what makes him underrated, goofs. Guitar is more than “wow man, that dude can play alot of notes”. Kurt constructed songs beautifully, his guitar leading the way. Every song was memorable because of his riffs. People keep on mentioning those 2 silly Pearl Jam guys, pfff, perfect example of guys who “can play” but do nothing with it. It’s why Pearl Jam has that murky totally unremarkable sound. They can “play” but have no sense of song construction. Their playing is instantly forgettable. Gimme a Chuck Berry 3 chord sequence anyday, anydayyyyyyy.

I agree with Prince. He should be bu up there in the top 3 in the other top 100. I saw him play a powertrio set on 28th august that rivals Hendrix’s best days…he’s amazing!!

I remember when I was about 16 all the doper duuuuuuuudes started playing RUSH during their smoking breaks in high school. Even at 16 I somehow knew their blend of new age lyrics, “musicianship”, and have to be heard to be believed yelping voice was a god awful mess. There was a classic Freaks and Geeks where “Nick” the stoner dude plays along to a RUSH song, lol. It captured a RUSH fan perfectly. God knows why lower middleclass white people love them so much, it’s some note, a sound that they have, it captures white people’s ears……..THIS….IS……OU R…..MUSIC !
Geddy or whatever the knuckleheads name is, good lord, it really is the worst voice or even SOUND ever recorded. What do I compare it to ? The high pitch of mating dolphins ? Metal furniture being dragged across a floor ? The only competition he has for worst singer ever is Yoko Ono, Joan Baez, and William Shatner. But the sheer grating sound of his voice, damn, he wins.
RUSH - WORST BAND IN THE WOOOOOOOOOOORLD ! Thanks Keith Oberman

ALEX LIFESON is so underrated that he’s not even on the Top 25 underrated list!

F.Y.I. he’s the guitarist for RUSH.

Best thing about Buckethead ?
Under that bucket he’s got 3 wings, 3 breasts, coleslaw, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and a handy wipe…….he’s delicious !

Prince is definitely the most underrated of all time, but What about Peter Buck, Adam Jones, Dimebag and Buckethead?

What’s a Johnny Greenwood ? The hillbilly who did “I’m Proud to be an American” ? Man they played that way too much after 9/11. Er, he kinda sounds like a baseball player from the 1920’s. “At third base, batting second, JOHNNY GREENWOOOOOOOOOOOD” !!!

For a magazine so rooted in the 70’s I’m surprised they left out Waddy Wachtel and David Lindley…

Where is Omar A. Rodriquez-Lopez of The Mars Volta? Easily one of the greatest guitarists of the 00’s so far.

Steve Hilalge

how is cobain underrated??? rollingstone constantly tells us how good he was

TOM MORELLO

i COMPLETELY disagree about kurt cobain. first of all he is NOT underrated, not even as a guitarist. second of all, i agree that being a great guitarist is not about technical ability, (so good choice on prince, g. harrison, neil young, etc.), but come on, there’s a limit! also great pick on mike mccready, he really is underrated.

Adam Jones- Tool

Kim Thayil- Soundgarden

Omar A Rodriguez-Lopez- The Mars Volta

NICK DRAKE. Acoustics are guitars too!

yeah kurt cobain is vastly OVER rated

How about Dimebag Darrell or Zakk Wylde? I know that RS doesn’t like show to any love to metal but they seem to act as if Pantera never existed, even though Dimebag influenced almost every hard rock band playing today, even Fall Out Boy say that Dimebag was the person who made them want to pick up guitars. So when you influence everyone from Lamb Of God to Fall Out Boy, yet wasn’t even on the list I’d say that he was underrated.

Come on, what happened?

The KISS ARMY was alerted and deployed, and Ace gets completely robbed. There’s nothing wrong with a little devotion from loyal fans!

I wouldn’t been nice to see his picture up there in his spacesuit and silver make up pursing his lips as he’s playing a solo.

At least he’s never wore cutouts to show off his ass! Yuck!

Come on, Rolling Stone. Loosen up a little!

Where is that fantastic guitarist from ABBA? I guess I’ll comfort myself by pretending I’m a man.

Peter Buck? What are you fucking kidding me? who rocks harder than him?

Ritchie Blackmore?

I wanted to tell you folks about the day I had after I got the terrible news, but . . .

Aussie i meant

I think rocker Chris Cheney is an underrated guitarist. He’s the guitarists and singer in Assie band The Living End. Hear him play E boogie live, and you’ll know.

Peter Buck (R.E.M.) and Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) - These guys invented their own style like Eddie Van Halen and have been just as influential.

MICHAEL LANDAU

.

you people must listen JOHN FRUSCIANTE. pay attention! this man is the genius of our era. and SO underrated. if you prefer, forget about red hot music. listen his solo albums.
i think Brian Robertson should be in the list. and i don’t believe George Harrison is underrated. c’mon

Nils Lofgren
John Jorgenson (Desert Rose Band)
Lawrence Juber (Wings)

James “Honeyman” Scott
Steve Jones
Johnny Thunders
Kurt was a terrible guitarist ? LOL. Guess if you play 3 chords you suck using this theory, sorry Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Johnny Ramone, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, Mick Jones, you all suck apparently (heavy sacrasm). So I guess Steve Fucking Vai etc, are “great” guitar players, er…no.

I agree, JOHN SQUIRE. Go find a few discs of The Stone Roses and find out for yourself.

Well, fuck. I was really pissed when Ritchie Blackmore didn’t make the list.

But I feel better after smashing David Duchovny and Ben Stiller in the face repeatedly with a small color TV set!

Nils Lofgren
John Jorgenson (Desert Rose Band)
Lawrence Juber (Wings)

I’m kinda pissed that STAR Jones didn’t make the list. She fuckin’ rocks!

did you ever hear her cover of “Smoke on the Water?”

She makes Ritchie Blackmore look pathetic!

Nels Cline is a fucking monster!

And I cannot wait for the return of Johnny “Guitar” Greenwood.

DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!
Steve Jones isnt on this list.
What the hell?!

yardjockey,

i think you made some pretty good picks myself. but what do I know? I like Ace Frehley (not a joke)!

I guess 10th just wasn’t quite good enough, Keith. I’m just sad that he didn’t finish first (extreme sarcasm)!

KURT COBAIN UNDERRATED? Are you kidding me Rolling Stone? You rated him TENTH all time on your list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. How does that make him overrated?

stephen stills has some killer riffs

YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKIN’ SLAVES!!!

the fix is in!

“Greg Sage from The Wipers?”

Cobain’s number one influence on guitar was a band called “The Wipers? I guess that’s why he was such an innovative guitar player!

J

Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. His studio work is tight and creative - listen to Runnin’ Down A Dream - that solo was his first attempt after only hearing the song once previously and they don’t come much better than that. And in concert he is phenomenal, flawless and has never played a sour note.

Matt Andres of Jo Jo Gunne
Lowell George of Little Feat

1. Michael Schenker (UFO, solo)
2. Brian Robertson (Thin Lizzy)
3. The late Terry Kath (Chicago)
4. James Burton (Elvis)
5. Glenn Tipton (Judas Priest)
6. Graham Coxon (Blur, solo)
7. Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)
8. Neal Schon (Journey)
9. The late Jimmy Mchulloch (Wings)
10. Tommy Bolin

I’d like some feedback from you freaks on my list, go ahead, fire away.

Just a thought for those who think the poll is slightly skewed:

I think they just hit Ctrl+F and tally up how many times each name appears rather than reading each post.

So if you said Prince/Cobain/etc were trash it probably counted.

Nancy Wilson of Heart…

Marc Ribot
Trey Spruance
Bill Frisell
Jeff Tweedy
Buzz Osborne
Wata from Boris
Fred Frith

John Squire

How come Josh Homme never gets any love on lists like this? Listen to Kyuss and then QOTSA, like night and day but both are cool as hell, and he completely switched up his style. Underrated a tad, me thinks. Also Doug Martsch from Built to Spill, he is a genius.

Better add Stone Gossard to that list. The fact him and Mike McCready were absent from your initial list will be Rolling Stone’s eternal shame. And what’s Kurt Cobain doing on this list? For one thing, he was in the top 20 of your initial 100 greatest guitarists. KC was many things, but a great guitar player he wasn’t.

Buckethead!!!!!

I think Dean deleo should be on the list. He is highly underrated as a guitarist and songwriter

Dean Fuckin’ Ween
(aka Mickey Melchiondo)

Everyone always ignores Robby Krieger from the Doors. Ok it was Ray’s organ that gave them their distinctive sound but have you listened to Robby’s solos, not to mention the variety of different styles he could play. Really you’re gonna put Kurt Cobain on the list but not Robby.

what needs to be determined is… are we talking about songwritting or guitar playing skills? Kurt was not a guitar player and since when is Frusciante not mentioned these days? Trey Anastasio does not get enough credit for being one of the top rock guitarists of all time. No guitar player in the last two decades can touch Trey and he never gets any mention…

Mikey from Incubus

Tom Verlaine (Television)
Rowland S Howard (The Birthday Party)
Mick Ronson (Bowie)
Malcom Young ( AC/DC)
Brad Whitford (Aerosmith)

Bernard Butler from Suede.

Hey Anon,
Carrie Bronstein is with Sleater-Kinney.
Other underrated guitarist:
Joni Mitchell

Why not Joe Walsh? He’s always forgotten.

Wither thou…

-Graham Coxon (a startling ommission)
-J Mascis
-Kevin Shields
-any of the guitarists in any line-up of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band (except in the 1974 easy listening period)

Kurt Cobain? lol. I know more chords than he did. Lindsey Buckingham & Prince, definitely. Corgan too. But Kurt Cobain, lol!

Don’t forget Kurt’s hero: Greg Sage from The Wipers

Lindsey Buckingham, actually anybody who doesn’t use a pick, is more than a great guitarist. He shouldn’t be on that list. Prince should be. Mr. Cobain however, should not, he had some good ideas with alternative tunings.

Yeah didn’t Sissy Spacek play Carrie Bronstein, in that 1976 killer flick? Hey, maybe next time, i’ll just vote for my fucking self!

It’s wasn’t all bad, though. I think I mighta been rapping with the real Slash. Well, if it wasn’t, it was pretty fucking entertaining nontheless!

It was nice break from the bombardment of rocks thrown in my direction!

You know Rolling Stone, just when I think you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself.

Kurt Cobain was about 89 spots too high on your 100 Greatest Guitarists list, and somehow, you guys ranked him as underrated. Wow. I realize the monkey who posted this entry probably had little to do with that Top 100 list, but either this is a really bad employment of sarcasm, or you need to stop reporting on music forever.

“Kurt had an ethic towards his fans that was rooted in the punk rock way of thinking: No band is special; no player royalty. If you’ve got a guitar, and a lot of soul, just bang something out and mean it - you are the superstar. Plug in the tones and rhythms that are universally human. Music. Heck, use your guitar as a drum. Just catch a groove and let it flow out of your heart. That’s the level that Kurt spoke to us on: in our hearts.”

- Krist Novoselic

John Frusciante is definitely underrated. Not so much for his work on Red Hot Chili Peppers, but for his solo stuff. His solo recordings are awesome and you can hear that he is a guitar legend after you listen to them. Anyone out there looking for some great guitar albums should pick up some of his stuff. I would recommend starting with the Record Collection series.

Philip “the Beast” Cambell of Motorhead. Criminally underrated. One of the best ever.

Yes, yes. This reminds me of 1960 election when I got hosed in favor of Jack Kennedy. Something stinks here.

i don’t remember 10 votes from Cobain, I do remember Kiss fans showing up in force. I think you need to do this shit over. I think the vote counters took a lot of fuckin’ liberties. All ya gotta do is count the fuckers! What is soooooooo fucking difficult about that?

Oh, but you did at least get the top spot right. Big ups to Prince.

Kurt Cobain is god awful. Seriously Rolling Stone, are you trying to kill your credibility? He couldn’t play guitar. He wasn’t innovative. One of the most criminally OVER RATED guitar players ever.

Define what you mean by guitar player, because as much as I love Izzy Stradlin, he shouldn’t be on this list as I see it. Amazing songwriter yes, amazing guitarist no.

Wow, some of these are a little ridiculous. I mean, Cobain? THE guitarist for Nirvana, under appreciated? George Harrison, lead guitarist for The Beatles? John Frusciante, the guy who was just on the cover of RS for being a great guitarist, not to mention the savior of The Chillis after that terrible stint with Navarro?
Some of these are great picks: Prince at #1, Johnny Marr of the Smiths and Modest Mouse. Mr. Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac is a great pick, along with Maggot Brain maestro Eddie Hazel, but c’mon guys, I’m sure you could’ve done better. And listened to us a little more as well…

Kurt Cobain is awful!

Yeah, Prince deserves the top spot! He is the guitar guru! I loved to see him play his guitar in London!!! He seems to be totally in love with the instrument, and his technique is amazing!!! So effordless, so fast, so imaginative!

neil young is da BOMB!!! Johnny GreenWood is DA bomb!!! fuck Billy Corgan for being really bald tho

these aren’t the results, you morons. you didn’t even pay attention to what we wrote. who the heck is carrie bronstein?