The Best 1970s Guitarists Of All Time Ranked
In ensembles or bands playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition plays the role of supporting the melodic lines and improvised solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they strings, wind, brass, keyboard or even percussion instruments, or simply the human voice, in the sense of playing steadily throughout the piece, whereas lead instruments and singers switch between carrying the main or countermelody and falling silent. In big band music, the guitarist is considered part of the rhythm section, alongside bass and drums. In some musical situations, such as a solo singer-guitarist, the guitar accompaniment provides all the rhythmic drive; in large ensembles it may be only a small part (perhaps one element in a polyrhythm). Likewise, rhythm guitar can supply all of the harmonic input to a singer-guitarist or small band, but in ensembles that have other harmony instruments (such as keyboards) or vocal harmonists, its harmonic input will be less important. Here are the best 1970’s Guitarists ranked.
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20. Pete Townshend
“He is one of the one of the founding fathers of modern rock and is the one who introduced the gritty sound of the guitar were so used to today. He used power chords extensively, thus laying the foundations for punk rock and came up with some of the catchiest riffs in the history of music.”
19. Steve Howe
“A totally underrated instrumentalist… perhaps because he never cared of the spotlight as much as being a part of an awesome “machine” named YES, or simply due to the fact that YES was never a trending band. However, among prog rock musicians, Steve is my number 1 man… with perhaps Steve Hackett of Genesis very close behind..”
18. Robert Fripp
“Invented New Standard tuning and has used it exclusively since 1985, (thus re-learning how to play some of the old material all over again), has reinvented his sound every few years, developed Frippertronics, founded Guitar Craft, and the interweaving, Gamelan-like guitar lines with Belew are mind blowing.”
17. Joe Walsh
“My favourite part is the intro to life in the fast lane was just a warm up exercise. His sound is incredible to listen to and his feel for the instrument is mind boggling. It’s like the guitar becomes an extension of him.”
16. Stephen Stills
“Stephen Arthur Stills is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Please check out his work on acoustic guitar and electric. If you can find “Black Queen” check it out.”
15. Billy Gibbons
A rrilliant guitarist who can plan many styles and also has an understanding of the history of blues and rock & Roll. Brilliant guitarist who can plan many styles and also has an understanding of the history of blues and rock & Roll.”
14. Angus Young
“Angus is literally the epitome of “rock”. There is no other guitarist that can play pure rock the way angus does. People knock him for the simple cords. That’s just a part of the songs they play and not an effect of angus’s true abilities. Let loose he is very close to Eddie Van Halen. I know why people always put Hendrix at top, but it would be for innovation rather than purely just being the best.”
13. Buck Dharma
“Buck Dharma is truly awesome. Compare his sweet melody and tone on ‘Last Days of May’ with his scorching ‘The Red and the Black’. He had it all. The best ever. Amazing. Listen to the guitar break at the end of Harvester of Eyes on “On your feet or on Your knees” just one example of the carnage he’s able of.”
12. Mick Taylor
“The heart and soul of The Rolling Stones for 5 brillant years. Listen to his solo on Time Waits For No One, a stunningly beautiful coda to his career with those geezers. Also one of the best slide guitarist around, check out All Down The Line! His vibrato on Love In Vain, off the live Get Your Ya Ya’s Out LP, is exquisite! “
11. Terry Kath
“Listen to “Introduction,’ “I’m a man,” “25 or 6 to 4,” or “Make me Smile” and tell me Terry isn’t in the top five of any list of the best guitarists ever. Terry gets painted by a broad brush and unfairly associated with the post-Kath period of music by Chicago, when sappy Cetera and Lamm ballads dominated their offerings. Terry wrote, sang, directed and led Chicago through 6 extremely good albums. When Terry died, the remaining members couldn’t produce anything close to their work with him.”
10. Ritchie Blackmore
“The man who played the most famous riff of all time in rock history (Yes of course is Smoke on the water) must be at least in the top ten. He is one of those guitarist that is good making riffs and solos too. And he made definitely the most iconic ones. He’s not above in the list just because of his personality and the fact that he didn’t die young and he didn’t play for his entire life with the same band. He is a guitar genius, and geniuses are never easy to work with.”
9. Carlos Santana
“This guy can play anything. He can play great expressive slow blues leads (you want emotional leads, he’s up there with David Gilmour and John Frusciante), he can play virtuoso solos with the best of them, and he’s a genius acoustic guitarist to boot. And with any of these, he’s instantly identifiable, in the way that he uses vertical vibrato or straight tones on held notes instead of standard vibrato, his impeccable sense of complex rhythm and phrasing, and his awesome trill technique.”
8. Brian May
“He’s very underrated. That probably has to do with the fact that MOST Queen classics don’t feature much guitar play. But if you listen to the guitar heavy Queen songs as well as his solo songs, you will be blown away with the things he could do with that guitar. There’s a reason Queen put on their early albums “No synthesizers”, because people wouldn’t realize that those sounds were actually from Brian’s guitar.”
7. Mark Knopfler
“I appreciate other players but there’s something about Mark’s tone, versatility, and flat out percussive technique that I identify with. His work with Dire Straits, especially the early stuff, represents some of the best clean strat sounds ever recorded. In the Gallery, Setting Me Up, and especially Skateaway and Telegraph Road are standouts for me. Some of his finger-picking lead lines are right up there with any flat-pickers in terms of speed but Mark has them on the expressiveness of his vibrato, use of volume swells, and perfect application of delay”
6. Eric Clapton
“There are thousands and thousands who can force a guitar to sputter. There are hundreds who can make a guitar talk. But at any given time, there is only a very select few who can truly let a guitar sing. Clapton is one of those few (along with Hendrix, Santana, and a couple others). Clapton writes his music straight from the heart, finding inspiration is his real life. From his relationship with Pattie Boyd, with whom he was madly in love (Wonderful Tonight), and later his deteriorating marriage with her (Running on Faith), to the death of his son (Tears in heaven), Clapton puts more raw emotion into his music than any other guitarist I’ve ever heard, including Hendrix.”
5. Alex Lifeson
“Alex Lifeson deserves more credit for his influence as not only a band member of Rush but also a very underrated and powerful musician. He not only used big swirling arpeggios to from his sound but knows how to shred. Just listen to every song on “Exit Stage Left”. I read about people saying that Steve Howe was the most awesome prog rock guitarist in the 70’s and today.”
4. Duane Allman
“I don’t care who plays the fastest, has the best technique, the slickest… Whatever. It comes down to telling an emotional story, note by note and Duane could do it better than anyone. Add Dickey and they weaved a story untouched by and duo. Then duane adds slide in the mix and just takes your heart and mind to places no guitarist has reached. Just listen to Live At Filmore, considered by many (Rolling Stone, Playboy others) as the best live album ever recorded.”
3. David Gilmour
“He’s such a great player, he creates a kind of world where we can see things that are simply magical and cannot be understood. What David Gilmour gave to us is a gift yet many don’t understand it the way it as suppposed to be taken. David Gilmour, that name that can only belong to the genre of Space Rock with a grandious number one title,we owe this true god of guitar a huge thanks and don’t let the recent generations to come to listen to rap and pop because life has given us way more than that.. Pink Floyd, the name of the best.”
2. Tony Iommi
“The guitar God’s God. There is more Soul in his playing than any other practicing Metal Master. If it were a drug it would make all other guitarist’s strength look like childrens Tylenol. I respect many other guitar wizards but he really is the Grand Master. When he dies God and Satan will be having a grudge match over who gets to keep him for the leader of their House Band.”
1. Jimmy Page
“This is a difficult distinction to make, but Jimmy Page gets the nod not solely because of his virtuosity, but also because of his songwriting. Everybody on this list can play the hell out the instrument, but it’s the originality and musical intuition that separates the greatest from the greats. Jimmy has a somewhat limited catalog to display his superiority, but he succeeds. He begins his professional career as a studio musician, and moves on to a blues group (The Yardbirds).”
