The Best 2010s Guitarists Of All Time Ranked

The guitarist may employ any of several methods for sounding the guitar, including finger picking, depending on the type of strings used (either nylon or steel), and including strumming with the fingers, or a guitar pick made of bone, horn, plastic, metal, felt, leather, or paper, and melodic flatpicking and finger-picking. The guitarist may also employ various methods for selecting notes and chords, including fingering, thumbing, the barre (a finger lying across many or all strings at a particular fret), and guitar slides, usually made of glass or metal. These left- and right-hand techniques may be intermixed in performance. Here are the best 2010s Guitarists ranked.

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20. Jeremy Widerman

“Southern and stoner rock subgenres have seen the rise of some great new bands during the 2010s. Coming from Canada, Monster Truck pushed the limits of the genre while also relying on the more “traditional” elements. The band’s guitarist Jeremy Widerman is a powerhouse of great stoner riffs. And that tone…”

19. Sithu Aye

“Sithu Aye is a Scottish-Burmese guitarist, musician, and producer based in Scotland. He began his career with the release of his first album, Cassini, in 2011, which was self-recorded and independently released. He has released five full-length albums and six EPs.”

18. Jason Richardson

“If you’re looking for the perfect modern shred beast, look no further than Jason Richardson. Seriously, the guy brought the instrument to a whole new level, just when we thought that all the shred stuff has reached its peak.”

17. Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

“Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is an American blues guitarist and singer from Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States, who became a well-known performer as a teenager. His debut album, Kingfish, was released in May 2019.”

16. Billy Strings

“An incredible guitarist with this incredible power of emotional, spiritual, ecstatic, meditative playing that takes the listener on an incredible musical journey. He delves so far into his soloing that you feel you can fly into the sound waves. Its really an amazing experience to watch him in concert”

15. Rabea Massaad

“Being a great guitar player today doesn’t just come down to impeccable technical skills that will help you run up and down the scale as fast as you can. It’s also about expressiveness, writing abilities, as well as an innovative choice of notes during improvisation. And Rabea Massaad covers all of these categories.”

14. Misha Mansoor

“For modern prog lovers, Misha Mansoor is one of the biggest idols. After all, he’s one of the guys who started the whole djent thing. Inspired by the likes of Dream Theater and Meshuggah, he blended these new elements into his own style that we would hear in his band Periphery.”

13. Jonas Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström (Avatar)

“Looking into both aesthetic and musical aspects, Avatar is one of the most exciting bands today. Although the band started in the 2000s, they came to prominence during the past decade, with Jonas “Kungen” (or “King”) Jarlsby and Tim Öhrström doing all the guitar duties.”

12. Angel Vivaldi

“Angel Vivaldi is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. Voted “third best guitarist” in 2014 by Prog-Sphere, he began his solo career in 2003. Vivaldi has self-released five records, Revelations, The Speed of Dark, Universal Language, Away with Words: Part 1, and Synapse.”

11. Rob Scallon

“Think of modern YouTube guitarists what you want, but you can’t deny Rob Scallon’s greatness. Whether it’s about covers or his own original music, Rob’s performance has never been short of impressive. It’s kind of weird seeing this video from 2011, but it’s still amazing.”

10. Nick Johnston

“Nick Johnston is a Canadian guitarist and songwriter who records as a solo artist. As of 2019, he has released five solo records. His albums have featured the work of notable artists such as Paul Gilbert, Marco Minnemann, Guthrie Govan, and Bryan Beller.”

9. Kmac2021

“Kieran McLaughlin (born November 19, 1991 (1991-11-19) [age 31]), better known online as Kmac2021, is a Scotish musician and YouTuber best known for his online comedy skits which parody heavy metal music and culture.”

8. Richie Faulkner

“We all got more familiar with Richie Faulkner and his work when he joined Judas Priest back in 2011. But even before that, he used to play with Lauren Harris, Dirty Deeds, and even Cristopher Lee.”

7. Tim Henson

“Coming from Texas, Polyphia is one of those bands that pushed the math rock genre to its limits. And you won’t really hear many guitarists like him. What’s more, we never would have thought that the guitar would be taken to these unusual territories.”

6. Mateus Asato

“Yeah, those incredibly fast and surgically precise shredders are all great, but none of them even comes close to Mateus Asato. And he’s living proof that it’s not all about mindless shredding (even though he’s technically skilled to play pretty much anything), but actually expressing yourself through the instrument.”

5. Yvette Young

“Leader of her band Covet, Yvette Young and her music are a breath of fresh air in the world of guitar. Again, instead of mindless shredding and overly complicated song structures for the sake of being complicated, Yvette’s music tells its own story.”

4. Nita Strauss

“Being one of the descendants of Johann Strauss I, Nita brings quality shred to the masses. Mostly known for her work with Alice Cooper, she also kicked off her solo career in 2018. She has one solo album so far, 2018’s “Controlled Chaos.”

3. Gary Clark Jr.

“Coming in third, we have the modern blues guitar hero Gary Clark Jr. Coming from Austin, Texas, he’s carrying on the legacy of the old masters, while also creating his own unique playing and singing style along the way. Whatever genre you’re into, you’re going to love Gary Clark Jr.”

2. Plini

“On the second spot, it’s the almighty Mr. Plini Roessler-Holgate. Going over his work, it’s not a surprise to see him among the top guitarists of today. With six EPs, one full-length album, and countless collaborations, Plini changed the way how we look at the guitar.”

1. Tosin Abasi

“For anyone who has watched his Prog-Gnosis videos will know that he holds an immense knowledge of music theory as well as being able to master complicated time signatures that are not even parallel with the backing drums. The fact that this man has such adversity with his musical knowledge as well as being able to play faster than I can respire means that he deserves recognition as the most accomplished technical guitarist of all time.”