Readers Poll Results: The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
We look at the 100 greatest guitarists, as voted by Guitar World readers.
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What a long, strange trip it's been.
Back in early April, we set out to determine your choice for the greatest guitarist of all time. A bracket was made, players were ranked — a few were voted in — and we kicked off our Greatest Guitarist of All Time readers poll. It was a mammoth 132-guitarist tournament that would span nearly six months and log close to a half-million votes when all was said and done.
Was it a perfect, scientific process? No. We had a couple of extra matchups, some bizarre pairings and the occasional omission. But overall, Guitar World's first-ever Greatest Guitarist of All Time Readers Poll was a fun, engaging way to get you all talking, sharing opinions and maybe even checking out some guitarists you weren't all that familiar with.
When the dust settled, Eddie Van Halen stood alone as the victor, defeating Queen's Brian May in a wild finals matchup that saw fans clubs, forums and Facebook pages getting involved to support their respective candidates.
Both guitarists had tough paths to the finals, between them knocking off Jeff Beck, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Satriani, Jimmy Page, Randy Rhoads and a host of others.
While it's clear who No. 1 and No. 2 are, we wanted to see how poll results stacked up on a grander scale, so we've compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, as voted by you, the Guitar World readers. Check it out below!
The Rankings
How did we determine a Top 100 ranking for a tournament-style poll?
Simple. We ranked the guitarists by round — first the two guitarists from the finals, then the remaining two from the final four, and so on — and then within their respective rounds by their overall vote count. Dimebag Darrell, for instance, is No. 9 because he received the most votes of any guitarist that didn't make it to the Elite Eight.
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KINGDON
October 10, 2012 at 4:29pm
Keith Richards, also overrated, the guy can barely play, just because they're legends doesn't mean they can play. Bob Dylan is a legend, the guy can't sing worth a shit.
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fvegas
October 10, 2012 at 2:27pm
It is absurd to turn this "tournament" into a ranked list. John 5 #99 just because he happened to be paired up against Dimebag in the first round??? Give me a break - he should easily be in the top 10 for his chops and versatility. This was fun, but there's no way you can turn it into a ranked list due to the nature of tournament style voting.
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shadowofaday
October 10, 2012 at 3:14pm
Dude John 5 is WAY overrated. The worst part of the poll was Dimebag losing To Lifeson... flowed by Laiho vs. Wylde. Thirdly Iommi vs. Mustaine... Petrucci should have beat Them both but that one was a close match with Mustaine so it is understandable. Finally starting Syn vs Laiho in round one????? Really??? But overall I loved this poll. It was decently accurate and pretty fun to be in :)
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Turboscab
October 10, 2012 at 2:05pm
Please....whoever is responsible for this ranking should never touch a guitar again...I don't mind to have Eddie among the 10 best in the world..but seriously: Mark Knopfler is somewhere in the 90's?? Are you out of your mind? You have Shredders in the top 20!!?? Ingwie is not at least in the Top10????
Alright, here is a Ranking that comes closer to the reality guys:
1. Steve Vai
2. Joe Satriani
3. Adrian Vandenberg
4. Doug Aldrich
5. Yngwie Malmsteen
6. Mark Knopfler
7. David Gilmour
8. Slash
9. Gary Moore
10. Ritchie SamboraTake that and learn...
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KINGDON
October 10, 2012 at 4:37pm
Ha ha, except for Gilmour, a list of all my most hated hacks...Malmsteen, If I'm only interested in listening to someone practising scales....terrible.
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bluzmn59
October 10, 2012 at 4:24pm
The only top-10 list Yngwie belongs on is top-10 over-inflated egos. Richie Sambora? Really?
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errbt
October 10, 2012 at 3:56pm
All we've learned are who your top 10 favorite players are...nothing more, nothing less.
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errbt
October 10, 2012 at 4:30pm
Also,the fact that you are unable to separate your own bias when considering the all time greats is a bit sad, though it seems to the norm these days. For example, Jimi Hendrix & Jimi Page are not in my top 10 personal favorite players, but I would never question their place in the top 10 of "greatest rock guitarists ever" due to, in Page's case, his staggering body of work & his stylistic range, & in Hendrix's case, his status as a game changer. Doing otherwise would be like me trying to say my personal favorite list of NHL players = the greatest ever, for example...it is just a stupid way to go about things. My favorite player ever, by far, is Steve Yzerman. While I would also include him in my top 10 best of all time (maybe even top 5), I would understand that many others wouldn't, and I would NEVER be delusional enough to put him ahead of Gretzky, Bobby Orr, or even Mario Lemieux, even though none of them are among my personal favorites. I simply have too much understanding of, and WAY too much respect for, the history of the game and the changes that certain revolutionary players (mainly Orr & Gretzky) ushered in to allow my personal blinders to warp things. THIS is what way too many people fail to do in polls like these. Speaking of the people who voted in all the brackets, they are all "who is responsible for these rankings". All guitar world did was rank players my most total votes (or some similar formula) in order to create this list.
ps oops, make that "All we've learned IS", not "are" in my first comment above...can't edit it for whatever reason, and now I'm stuck sounding like George Dubya.





















