{ Lick That Riff! }

Jimi Hendrix

Wow! This guy was a L-E-G-E-N-D! I don't think anyone can argue him being on this list or any list for that matter. Rolling Stone Magazine put him at #1 of the 100 Guitarists. Why? Well it's only because of the small fact that he was the greatest guitarist that ever lived! The guitaring this guy could do with his baby toe is probably better than I could ever do with my two hands. I can always remember the first time I heard Hendrix's guitar whail. I was 12. I was round my friends, and I'd only been playing for a week or two. I don't think I've ever been so amazed in my life. As a young aspiring guitarist, to hear the sounds that Jimi's guitar was making was unbelievable, astounding and indefintaley inspiring. It blew me away and still does to this day. My favourite Hendrix track is 'All Along The Watchtower' And I know this is a Dylan song, but that's the reason why it's my favourite Hendrix song, because he completely makes it his own, there's barely a shade of Dylan left in the song. The Hendrix legend will always live on! RIP!!!

Bob Dylan

Up until about 2 years ago I wasn't much of a Dylan fan. Well it wasn't that I wasn't a fan, it was more that I didn't know much about him. Then one friend who I looked up to musically told me to listen to a few of his songs. And as of that day I fell in love with Dylan. His songwriting ability is truly incredible. He's Inspired so many guitarists up and down the years including the man just above him in my list. I find it quite odd and surprising that Dylan didn't make it into Rolling Stone Magazines 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time. When I looked through the list I was shocked that he wasn't there, I really thought he would be. Anyway back to this guys music. Some of the greatest songs ever created were by this man and what's more some great guitar classics aswell. Take my favourite Hendrix song, 'All Along The Watchtower' such a great song on Hendrix's part but that stems from the simple chord progression on the original Dylan song. Another song that's often highly regarded within the guitaring world is 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' I remember reading a Total Guitar edition a few years ago where they tabbed how to play it and it was just a simple chord progression. I suppose Dylans Guitaring maybe wasn't up to scratch for Rolling Stone Magazine, however when you think of all the bands and artists he inspired The Beatles, Hendrix and Guns 'N' Roses to name but a few, you really have to sit back and take notice. Especially when these people that he inspired are considered some of the worlds greatest guitarists; Harrison, Hendrix, Slash. Bob Dylan is a Legend! 34 Studio Albums. Cant. Argue. With. That.

Albert Hammond Jnr/Nick Valensi

Ok, so I know this is two guitarists but there is good reason for that which I will get to later on. Firstly let me tell you why I think the Strokes should be here. They are here because the Strokes are probably the most important guitar band of the 21st Century. Now I know I'm going out on a limb here but they are in my eyes the best guitaring band to emerge out of the 21st Century. They produced three albums in total but on these albums were some truly amazing guitar tracks. These include 'Someday' and '12:51'. But the most notable of tracks from the New York Quintet are 'Reptilia' and 'Last Nite'. Reptilia has an amazing riff going through the verses and as for Last Nite, well if you don't know this song and solo then I won't really consider you as a guitar fan. This then brings me to why I have both guitarists here when really Nick Valensi is mainly the lead for The Strokes, well this is because on some tracks the most obvious being Last Nite, Albert Hammond Jnr pumps out the lead and especially the solo. Its why I fell in love with the strokes, that one solo that just hooked me in. When I first heard this at around about the age of 13 I thought "I'm never gonna be able to play anything like that!" But when I actually tried it, I found that it wasn't as hard as I first thought. Its a short solo that in its simplicity, gives so much depth to the song, and when its heard anywhere, for an Alternative music lover it instantly strikes a chord and gets air guitars plucking! In fact if you check out my 'About Me' page you will see me air guitaring to this very solo in the bottom picture.

Gaz Coombes

For those of you who don't know who Gaz Coombes is, he is the lead guitarist in an English band called Supergrass. For those of you who don't know them I suggest you look them up, especially their debut album 'I Should Coco.' Anyway, again with a lot of people on this list I wasn't always into Supergrass, I mean I do remember liking about two of their songs but that was only when I heard them on the radio. I can't remember what it was that made me decide to download them but something just clicked. I downloaded their discography and since then I have loved every one of their songs. They are one of those bands that don't seem to have a bad song on any album, if you know what I mean. The first song of theirs that I ever heard was 'Alright' and although this song had a piano based intro the solo on this was so melodic and beautiful. However once you get to know Supergrass and Gaz Coombes as a guitarist, you really see that he's very accomplished at what he does. His most recent Supergrass album had some amazing guitar riffs on it, 'Diamond Hoo-Ha' being one of the best with a dirty thick riff over the verse parts. One of my favourite songs from Gaz Coombes is one that is slightly slower with a great guitar riff, its called 'Time.' Anyway Gaz Coombes has influenced me greatly in my guitar playing, especially some of his later stuff with some nice riffs.

Angus Young

So Angus Young, a Great British guitarist. Well British-born anyway, I'm claiming that! He's a great guitarist, I think everyone knows that. Although again Rolling Stone Magazine have surprised me by putting Angus way down the bottom of their list at #96 which I think is completely ridiculous. Most guitarists rate Angus Young as one of the pioneers of guitar and definately one of the most importantly people in Rock history. His dirty blues solo's and amazing rock riffs should leave him sitting above 30th at least. Anyway I think I've ranted too much about Rolling Stone Magazine tonight. The great thing about Angus Youngs guitaring is that it has a range of so many different levels. I remember when I first started playing I wanted to play like Angus Young, and I could. It didn't take me and my friend too long to learn the basics to 'Back In Black' and when that happened I felt great. I felt like I was an amazing guitarist. And that's what Angus's playing does to you. You've got 'Hells Bells' for a more intermediate guitarist and then you have all of his bluesy solo's for the more advanced guitarist. Its amazing. I don't think there are many guitarists out there where an 11 year old beginner can sound to a non-guitarist just as good as a 50 year old advanced player, but thats the beauty of AC/DC's songs, and Angus's playing and writing. I think without Angus Young and AC/DC, guitaring wouldn't be the same today, and my guitaring definately wouldn't.

Suppose thats the end of the list now. This list was a very hard list to make and took me a lot of time and effort. There were a few more guitarists that could have been in the list but at the end of the day I had to put pen to paper otherwise I would have been there all day. How about you make your own list of the top 10 guitarists who have inspired you? It's a good little exercise, and it might even reignite a passion for a guitarists songs that you haven't played in a while.

Hope you enjoyed the post.

Bye