Are you high or just incredibly stupid?

Here we go again with another rant at people I don't like but this time it's not against musicians. No, this time it is against the worst music magazine on the planet: RollingStone. This magazine has dazzled me ever since I read one of their articles in my teens. They are a complete suck-up to what has trended at it seems they don't know a damn thing about real music. The senior editor David Fricke, who writes on rock music, has either been drinking so much of his own piss that he has turned deaf, blind and retarded or els he ha just represents the magazines philosophy of blowing smoke up people's asses. The one article I hate most of all though is their Top 100 Guitar players of all time.


First of I agree in a way with a lot of people about how you can't measure one guitar player over another, but I just think that some are better then others. The RollingStone list seems to be made with no common sense what so ever. It seems like they've made a list of the most influential guitar players of all time but still have some really unimportant players high up on the list. I'm going to pick out some of the picks that have shocked me the most and at the end I will make a list with my favorite 5 guitar players and a list with the 5 players I think are the best, cause there is a BIG difference. I have no clue of how the voting has influenced this list but it seems like it hasn't mattered at all. Cause some off the voting musicians can't be that stupid. 


The list starts off on a good note by having Lindsey Buckingham out of Fleetwood Mac as number 100. That is not a bad way to start cause he has an incredible ear for hits and pop and is not that bad a guitar player, but from this point on everything is fucked.

#98 Alex Liefson. From the band that invented hard prog-rock and have sold tons off records we have Alex Liefson. He is the third part of the greatest trio to ever play together, Rush, and you have him at number 98. Are you kidding me. He has influenced millions of guitar players, created massive rock hits and is a master at work. Tight as a drum and knowing his limitations he is an amazing guitar player that have some speed, technique and great melodic talent. 

#92 Dimebag Darrell. Right here is a straight piss in the face of a dead man. Dimebag revoke the guitar play in metal during the 90's with blistering speed, his own unique stile and most off all his insane ability to create riff after riff of metal perfection. Zakk Wylde called him the best guitar player in the world and the RollingStone have him at 92 just ahead of Paul Simon. WTF?






#88 Carl Perkins. If you insist on having influence as the most important aspect of a guitar player, Carl Perkins should be in the top 20. He invented Rock'n Roll and was a great musician. The master of the Blue Suede Shoes was an early hero to many blues players and his work with Johnny Cash is so soul-full and deep it shows what a great musician he was.

Through the entire list you see sing-a-song writers standing with guitars on stage. They are not GREAT guitar players. Willie Nelson a guitar god? Bruce Springsteen a shredder. I don't even think the RollingStone knows what a guitar player is, but moving on.

#72 John Frusciante. I have no beef with the RHCP at all but Frusciante is a second class guitar player. In a Rig Rundown he shows off all his effects and stuff but why do you need 7 phasers when you sound is clean all the time. Dani California is the only real song where he uses any effects. RollingStones love his accords during the intro of Under the Bridge but WTF has that got to do with guitar playing? Jack shit, that is song writing.

A common problem on this list is that I don't know a lot of the players. How can I, a guy whole revels in the art of guitar playing, not know 50% of the players on the list. That makes no sense other then they are not great guitar players!

#55 John Lennon. I hate the Beatles but I hate Lennon even more. His show with Yoko Moko Loko Ono where he feeds and she screams shows just how little the guy could do with a guitar other then simple chords. He had no clue of what a guitar player needed to be because he wasn't. That is the main thing. He wasn't a guitar player!

#50 Ritchie Blackmore. Again a guy that has influenced every guitar player that should be in the top 20. He wrote the best riff in music history and was a really experimenting musicians in his day. He is very pentatonic based in his solos but it workes and though crazy he was a starting point for a guy like Yngwie Malmsteen, though Yngwie himself denies it.

#44 Mark Knopfler. Yeah Knopfler at 44. Insanity at its peak. He is a master at work. He has his own style, tone and has proven to be on of the best rock song writers ever. i'm going to say three words that says it all: Sultans of Swing. How can he be so far from the top 20 picks. That makes no sense.

#40 Tom Morello. You have a guy that is build on effects above some of the guys mentioned above? Morello is a descent guitar player and has the ability to write really good riffs, but it ends there. He doesn't even get close to Liefson or Blackmore at any point so again this makes no sense.

#38 The Edge. The "Lead" guitarist of the band I hate most of all is a joke from start to finish. He can't play jack shit. He has no talent at all and has been nursed through the records by engineers that turned he shitty sound into new wave sounds. My god what a fool/tool. Rollingstone pride themselves by claiming knowledge on how bands work and all that but The Edge being at number 38 shows you that, that is what they lack.

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#36 Randy Rhoads. Finally a player that is around the spot he should be in. Roads was a monster but the fact that he died at the age of 25 means he didn't leave the mark he could have. The things he did leave behind are spectacular and unique so he should be around the 35 to 25 mark.

#33 Prince. They call Purple Rain the greatest Power Ballad solo of all time. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. it's not a solo itself but an outro where the guitar runs wild. It is a great piece of guitar work but the statement of it being the best is naive and wrong. His performance at the George Harrison HOF thing on While My Guitar Gently Weeps is good and fitting but it's basic blues licks everybody knows and uses in the same way he does. I like Prince but he should clime no further on this list then into the 90's.

#28 Johnny Ramone. I hate punk but RollingStone said it themselves: A pure rhythm engine, Ramone almost never played a solo. How can a guitarist that can't play a solo be on any list at all? Once again they show the lack of any common sense regarding guitar playing.


#11-1. Only two of the 11 top players on the list belong there: Van Halen and Jimmy Page. Clapton is a close call but I have just always felt that Clapton couldn't do anything more then he did while it seemed like Page and Van Halen where unstoppable at times. but Clapton is a top 20 lock for sure. but the rest of them: Keith Richards, George Harrison, Duane Allman and so on are just blaspheme. Duane Allman died before The Allman Brothers Band got any good. The guy that took over, Dickey Betts is at 61, but he's the one that had any sort off hits and skills other then crashing on a motorcycle. I hear everybody praise him all over but he hasn't shown me shit. Keith Richards is a shitty player with an ear for melody and hits and that deserves respect but he couldn't play a convincing solo if his life depended on it! George Harrison is only this high because he was in The Beatles. The old blues guys i'm not even gonna mention. And then comes Jimi.

#1. Jimi Hendrix revolutionized the guitar and everything around it but that doesn't mean he's the best. He was great and wrote and covered some songs that changed the world but his play got lost in the madness of it all. His death was tragic and all but that also means that he screwed it up for himself. He could have been a god but became a martyr in a way. I feel like if he hadn't come, someone els would have done the same thing. Be was special but JIMI HENDRIX IS NOT THE BEST/GREATEST GUITAR PLAYER OFF ALL TIME! He might be the most influential but that doesn't mean your the best, at all.

Here are my 5 favorite guitar players:
5. Reb Beach
4. Shawn Lane
3. Dimebag Darrell
2. Steve Lukather
1. Eric Johnson


Now, this list shows you which guitar players I cherish the most and now i'm going to explain why my list of the 5 best guitar players is different. Guitar playing is, in my book, measured in skill and sound. Not on their influence. Though I like a lot of the stuff made by the guitar players I think of as the best they are not even close to the love I give others. The 'best', show why they are better in every solo and chance they get to show off. They master every technique at a high level and know when to play fast and when to play slow. Hit making ability is a point that can be put into consideration if it's a close run but shouldn't matter in the long run.


Here are the 5 players I think are the best:
5. Dimebag Darrell
4. Shawn Lane
3. Guthrie Govan
1. John Petrucci
1.  Paul Gilbert

Petrucci and Gilbert are so equal I really can't pick one firmly above the other. Gilbert has a slight edge cause he was insanely skilled right from the get go. Petrucci though has that one song I absolutely love and he is from a different school and music style then Gilbert. They both kick ass and are some of the best musicians to ever walk this earth.

Now this was my take on a list but I respect others opinions as long as they have the backing of it but RollingStone are stupid people and need to listen to some music before talking trash.



Get a life and start listening to better music!