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.
Every vote counts – and we will indeed count every vote! We'll reveal the results in an upcoming issue of Guitar World and on GuitarWorld.com.
Happy voting!
“I only used the back pickup. Ozzy hates the sound of the front pickup. He calls it the ‘cow tone’”: Bursting with ideas but deferential to Ozzy Osbourne, a young Zakk Wylde had interesting guitar instructions upon joining the legendary frontman's band
“It was very simplistic compared to my later compositions”: It may have been inspired by the Kinks, but Al Di Meola's Race with Devil on Spanish Highway is one of the great virtuoso displays in guitar history. Watch the maestro play it with Steve Vai
