Any list such as this is subjective. I am not saying that these are the best guitarists of all time but most influential. Each guitarist on the list has had a massive influence in the way blues/rock guitar has evolved. And each one was a pioneer, daring to go where no one had before by experimenting and pushing the boundaries of popular music in their time.

 

1. Robert Johnson. Where it all began. His influence is astounding. He must be the Great Grandfather of modern blues/rock. Everyone on this list has been influenced directly or indirectly by this legend. How many versions of his great hit Crossroads have you heard?

 

 

 

2. Muddy Waters. Dubbed the Grandfather of Chicago blues, Waters has influenced some of the other greats on this list like Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and the Rolling Stones who actually derived their name from one of his songs.

 

 

 

3. Chuck Berry. Heavily influenced by Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Berry was arguably the father of 12 bar blues and boogey rock. His songs are still covered all over the world today.

 

 

 

4. Jimi Hendrix. Do I need to explain this one. Hendrix was the first to incorporate feedback into his solos in a positive way. He was also one of the first to experiment with guitar effects.

 

 

 

 

5. Jeff Beck. The man who has been a part of blues/rock forever. From his early days with the Yardbirds through to his current jazz fusion genre, Beck has influenced other guitar greats such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Even Rolling Stone magazine described him as “…one of the most influential guitarists in rock.” Check out what Jeff Beck is up to now on our forum page.

 

 

 

6. Robert Fripp. Fripp is one of the most innovative guitarists of all time. With his band King Crimson in his early career he pushed the limits of sound and music. Fripp also developed the art of cross picking and new standard tuning which he taught in his Guitar Craft serious of lectures.

 

 

 

7. Dave Gilmour. What can I say about Gilmour except he, like his band, Pink Floyd, are completely unique. Gilmour has influenced so many guitarists and bands through his feel and technical excellence.

 

 

 

8. Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen was extremely influential with his finger tapping and hammer on technique which became so popular in the early eighties. He is the pioneer in this field.

 

 

 

9. Jimmy Page.  I have said it before and I will say it again: Every guitarist that plays blues/rock solos today plays Jimmy Page licks.

 

 

 

 

10. Steve Vai. Vai would be the most influential guitarist of the modern era. His technical ability is incomparable. He has designed several guitars including his famous seven-stringer and a three neck model that he plays at his gigs. James “Munky” Shaffer of Korn, Mike Eizinger of Incubus and Tom Morello of Audioslave all cite Vai as a major inspiration.

 

 

There are of course other great guitarists and legends of rock but I can’t think of any that have had more influence then the ten above. If you can please add a comment and let me know.

- Axel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last month, the world lost one of the greatest guitar innovators of all time. I am referring to Les Paul who died on 13 August 2009. This is my tribute to the great man.

We all rave on about who has been the most influential guitarist of all time. We throw names around like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and even Robert Johnson but we forget about Les Paul.

Most people know and relate Les Paul to his solid body guitar development. It was the development of such guitars that has given rock music its direction and sound ever since. But Les Paul even did much more than this.

Born Lester William Polsfuss, June 9, 1915 just near Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the USA (that’s where the TV show Happy Days was set) of German immigrant parents. It was only later that he took the stage name of Les Paul.

Like many kids, Paul began playing harmonica at the age of eight and took up the guitar when he was older. In his early teens, he invented a neck worn harmonica holder so he could play his harp and guitar at the same time. This device is still manufactured today using his basic design.

It was when Les Paul moved to Chicago in 1934 that his music career really took off. He jammed with, played with and backed such artists as Django Reinhardt, Jim Atkins (Chet’s big brother), Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, Nat King Cole and the list goes on.

In 1945, Les Paul met Mary Ford with whom he formed a band and later married. The couple had many hits of their own.

At the height of his playing career, in late 1948, Paul broke his right arm and elbow in a near fatal car wreck. The doctors could not rebuild his elbow and told him that his arm would remain in whatever position they set it in. This wasn’t a difficult choice for Paul who chose to have his arm set at just over 90 degrees so he could still play his axe. It took him almost two years to fully recover.

During his early playing career Paul was never happy with the unwanted feedback and lack of sustain on his acoustic electric guitar. This led Paul in 1940 to build his own guitar nicknamed “The Log” which was just a piece of 4×4 hardwood with a bridge, guitar neck and pickup attached.

Paul’s “The Log” was one of the first solid body electric guitars ever built, however, Gibson showed no interest in the guitar. It was not until Fender and Rickenbacker started producing solid body guitars that Gibson joined the party, and in 1952 built the first Gibson Les Paul Standard, a gold top guitar based on Les Paul’s design. Speaking of vintage guitars, can you imagine how much one of those babies would be worth today?

In 1948 Les Paul started experimenting with multi-track recording. He originally used acetate disks, which is a type of grammar phone disc that you could record directly on to.

Not long after Ampex released the first reel to reel tape machine, Paul began using this for his recordings by simply placing a second playback head before the record/play head in the machine. That way he could record while listening to his previous recording. Through, his experimentation with the reel to reel tape machine he developed tape echo which was used widely right up until we entered the digital world. I can remember using those tape echo machines years ago. They were great and you could get a delay that lasted a week if you wanted.

Amazingly, Les Paul did not receive many awards throughout his career, although in 1988 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So here is to Les Paul, guitarist, inventor, genius.

And just to re-cap on his amazing musical inventions - Les Paul was responsible for:

• The harp holder.

• The first solid body guitar.

• The design of Gibson solid body guitars.

• Multi-track recording.

• Multi-track tape recording.

• Tape echo.

This legend will be missed by every guitarist out there.

-Axel

What happened to our rock stars? Do we actually have them anymore? Or are we surviving on those who still remain from days gone by?

In my day we only had one kind of music, rock ‘n roll. We didn’t have this techno pill popping crowd, dancing around like headless chickens and drinking copious amounts of bottled water paying homage to djs that just don’t cut it as stars. Our heroes were true rock stars who performed outrageous acts on and off the stage.

It seems like the real rock star is a character from yesteryear and the only ones we have left are all in their sixties; guys like Keith Richards (who still practices stage diving, albeit out of palm trees), Ronnie Woods, Steven Tyler (still too drunk not to fall off stage), the prince of darkness himself, Ozzie Ozbourne, who, as the story goes bit the head off a live bat during a gig and Alice Cooper, who used to cut his own head off during his show.

And then there are the true legend rockers like Keith Moon from The Who, who drove his Rolls Royce into his next door neighbor’s swimming pool just to annoy him. Moon was also renowned for his practical jokes whilst on the road; apart from trashing every hotel room he ever stayed in, it was reported once that he broke into Pete Townsend’s suite and glued all his furniture to the ceiling.

And speaking of trashing hotel rooms no article on rock legends would be complete without a mention of Joe Walsh who was addicted to (among other things) throwing TV sets out of high rise hotel room windows. Yes Joe trashed many hotel rooms and even wrote about it in his song “Life’s Been Good” …. “stay at hotels tear out the walls, I’ve got accountants to pay for it all”

The stories continue about guys like Jim Morrison from the Doors who was prone to disappearing just before a gig only to be found a few days later drunk, at a local brothel; the band having appeared on stage without him. And the amazing guitarist Roy Buchanan who would wander off just minutes before curtain call and be found later chatting to locals in the street. One time old Roy got himself into a fight and ended up in jail; the gig was canceled.

And I am sure you are aware of the incredible on stage showmanship of Jimi Hendrix but you may not know some of the things he got up to offstage, apart from the endless amount of drug taking and womanizing. Hendrix would often, for some unknown reason, hock his guitar just before a gig. This was not a trivial problem with an easy solution like grabbing another guitar from somewhere else as Hendrix was left handed and his guitar had to be set up just right. Fender wasn’t big on left handed guitars in the sixties. So his manager, Chas Chandler, would firstly have to locate Hendrix, retrieve the pawn ticket from him and then go and buy the guitar back so they could do the gig.

There are so many great stories that have almost become urban legends, even myths about our rock stars from the sixties and seventies. These days all we hear about is whose been arrested for solicitation, drink driving and drug offenses. The stories have lost their edge, the current breed of stars have lost the flair for creating the legendary headlines of old that will remain part of rock history forever.

-Axel