By far the most glorified instrument in rock music, the guitar has been the subject of much attention, and music journalists have devoted endless amounts of time to conjuring up lists of the “greatest guitarists of all time”. That’s an impossible thing to accomplish, but it doesn’t stop us from trying. So here’s mine:

10. Tony Iommi- The Black Sabbath guitarist is one of the most underrated people in music. His heavy style of playing was unheard before his band rose to prominence in the 1970s. It pioneered the future of metal and related genres with its’ intense, demonic, and sludgy sound.  

9. Wayne Kramer- Kramer was just a teenager when he co-founded the politically radical proto-punk band MC5. An intense and experimental approach to music separated them from their hippie peers. However, Kramer’s guitar playing remains the most notable part of all their great music and served to inspire later guitarists like Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Greg Ginn of Black Flag.

8. David Gilmour- The guitarist of Pink Floyd and successful solo artist has developed a dark, dreamy, and skilled style of playing which, along with Roger Water’s lyrics, made Pink Floyd stand out from the otherwise pretentious progressive rock scene.

7. Chuck Berry- Berry, along with Elvis, Little Richard, and a few others, created rock n’ roll. Berry was the most gifted songwriter and guitarist out of all them. His approach was distinctive from the blues and folk music rock grew out of and helped it develop as its’ own genre.

6. Django Reinhardt- A three-fingered gypsy from Paris, Reinhardt was one of the first Europeans to master jazz and is arguably the first great jazz guitarist. The fact that he did this with a disability makes it all the more impressive.

5.  Frank Zappa- The most prolific and multi-talented person on this list, Zappa made 100 albums, and he wrote,produced, and engineered almost all of them. His guitar playing talents equaled his work ethic. A virtuoso on par with Hendrix and Clapton, Zappa created songs like ‘Watermelon in Easter Hay’ and ‘Black Napkins’ which could bring people to tears with their beauty.  

4. Muddy Waters- More than anyone else, Waters developed an electronic style of playing the blues, creating the Chicago blues scene and leading to the emergence of artists like B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf.

3. Jimmy Page- The Led Zeppelin guitarist is a master of both the acoustic and electric guitar. Paige is a skilled musician, but has also adopted a heavy and early metal style of playing which was far different than the blues artists who inspired him.

2. Jimi Hendrix-  Hendrix is one of the few 1960s artists who transcended the trite and drugged-out music scene they were a part of. His intense, psychedelic, and funky style of playing was both original and influential.

1. Robert Johnson- It is widely believed Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical gifts. An understandable legend, as Johnson apparently began as a talentless hack but went on to create the modern blues guitar. With the exception of Reinhardt, no one else on this list would even be known if it weren’t for Johnson’s innovations, making him the greatest guitarist of all time.

Honorable Mentions: Howlin’ Wolf, Eric Clapton, Greg Ginn, Thurston Moore, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn