Vote for the hottest guitarist in the world right now

Man playing Fender Telecaster electric guitar
(Image credit: Future)

Attention, highly opinionated guitar community! Now that we're approaching the middle of 2022, Guitar World wants you to select the hottest guitarist of the year so far – aka the hottest guitarist in the world right now.

What do we mean by hottest? It's the person who most inspires you, who takes the guitar to the most exciting new places and who's making the biggest splash in this massive guitar community of ours.

Take a look at the poll below, where we’ve compiled a list of 45 or so young players who have Impressed us this year, and simply check the box next to your favorite to vote for them. You can vote for up to seven guitarists at once.

BTW, for those of you who are trying to vote for SRV or Jimi, come on! The focus here is active, hard-working, contemporary guitarists who've entered the scene – whether on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify or the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey – within the past few years, but who is definitely killing it in 2022.

As we've said, you can vote for more than one guitarist, and if we’ve missed your favorite, you can nominate your own choice in the "Other" box at the bottom. P.S.: If we get an impressive number of votes for any "Other" candidate, we'll officially add that human's name to the poll.

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Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.