Readers Poll Results: The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

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oneunder

Hendrix sucks!

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KINGDON

Clapton? Really? The absolute most overrated hack Ive ever heard, not even in the top 200. Such a cliche to say Clapton, the guy stinks.

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daniloanp@bsd.com.br

In the last forty years Clapton has been overrated. I Agree, but do you listened Blusbreakers with Eric Clapton and firsts three Cream albums? These was the great Clapton. If clapton is the most Overrated guitarrist then Jimmy Hendrix is the 2nd most overrated guitarrist.
The absolute majority of persons choose one guitarristist for either him favourite band or for him speed or for the amount of noise that he can emit. Clapton may don't be the best but surely is in the top 50, and probably in the top 10.

Listen music and read about it. After, if you disagree of Clapton's geniality then I accept it.

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GreenBird

I think this final list was very disappointing, but it was fun to count them down. In the end I do not think people who really play guitar dictated the outcome of this poll. It was fan bases and active PR on the part of some guitarist. If this poll had been put together by people who actually play guitar it would look very very different. I think even the people at GW would agree with that. In the end that is what it comes down too, who voted guitarist or simply fans who do not really know much about playing guitar.

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arew22

Please don't equate the outcome of this entertaining but goofy "reader's poll" with a top 100 guitarist ranking. There are clearly guitarists that most of us readers would place in the top 30, but because of an early loss, you have them in the 80s or 90s? Give your readers a little credit, Guitar World.

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MrVengeance7

are you kidding me? you have keith richards and jeff beck in the 40's. that is just plain stupid. they are the legends. you have all those "shredders" in the 20's ahead of them. im not saying that they aren't good guitarists, because they are, but to put them in front of people like Keith and Jeff and George harrison, thats just stupid. and whats up with Pete Townshend being in the 80's???? now that is just.....

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KINGDON

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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redstrat8

KEITH RICHARDS CAN PLAY DAM HE DID WRITE A FEW SONGS HA HA

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fvegas

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

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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KINGDON

Lifeson totally crushes douche bag, so much more complete, so much more versatile...douche bag shouldn't be anywhere in the top 100.

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oneunder

You're the douche bag.

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Turboscab

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 Sambora

Take that and learn...

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KINGDON

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

The only top-10 list Yngwie belongs on is top-10 over-inflated egos. Richie Sambora? Really?

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errbt

All we've learned are who your top 10 favorite players are...nothing more, nothing less.

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errbt

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.

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Sinnerswing27

Edward Van Halen is the greatest.

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6bpanorama

Its been fun guitarworld thanks

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