They missed Terry Kath. Which in itself is amusing since, according to members of Chicago, Hendrix reportedly told Walt Parazaider, “Your guitar player is better than me.”
Hendrix sure seemed to hold a lot of other guitar players in high esteem. 
Gah! They did say of all time, didn’t they? Kurt Cobain but not Andrés Segovia? What about Doc Watson, Leo Kottke & John Renbourn?
I’ve said it before with lists like these and I’ll say it again: If there isn’t any explanation as to how they came up with this list, expect someone like Murray the mailboy or Harry the perverted copyist to have made the list.
Where are the jazz guitarists? No Django, no Charlie Christian, no Wes Mongomery?
No Pat Metheny?
After you’re dazzled by how quickly Yngwie can play the scales, perhaps you’ll wonder why you’re so entertained by someone who just… plays the scales. He’s not on the list for the same reason that Jumping Jacks isn’t an Olympic event.
Evil Captor
So I guess you too are a fan of Randy California and Spirit? It does not surprise me that he was omitted that list though. It seems Randy California never received anywhere near the recognition he deserved and now 6 years after his death, it seems fame just might always elude him.
Buddy Guy shoulda been higher on the list…as should have Zappa and Fripp and Townshend.
If you’re going for influence, Eddie Lang and Charlie Christian should have appeared, as well as Les Paul.
And hey, if you don’t think Bob Dylan can play a pretty mean guitar when he wants to, give a listen to Good As I Been to You.
I forgot Eddie, thanks for reminding me.
How much do you want to bet that this list was written by a bunch of 26-year olds, with access to a decent amount of older rock and blues recordings, but no jazz, folk, country, or classical records?
A Kansas City boy!
And a good point; he should have been on there and up there.
Jazz guitarists were totally snubbed. Pat Metheny was a glaring omission, as were John Scofield, Wes Montgomery, and DJANGO! And what about Andres Segovia?
I agree that Steve Morse, Joe Satriani, and Slash deserved to be on the list. Like their styles of music or not, if you play an instrument or know anything about music, you can’t deny their talent.
I am a huge surf fan, and I was glad to at least see Dick Dale and Link Wray on the list, but one or both should’ve been higher. And what about Duane Eddy?
But where was Brian Setzer? He’s one of my musical heroes, and he really should have been on there. Preferably high.
Uh, has Rolling Stone been even close to relevant since the 70’s?
It is funny that Eddie Van Halen is so low down on the list. Somewhere, David Lee Roth is laughing his ass off.
For all the omissions and errors, I was pleased to see Richard Thompson up there. I’ve seen him live, and he’s incredible.
But Neil Young at #83? WTF indeed.
I’m sorry, but after about 6 monthes of playing guitar ANYONE can write/play songs on the level of Kurt Cobain. He simply isn’t a great guitarist, not worthy of any spot on the top 100 (espically not above Eddie Van Halen or Angus Young!).
Nobody listens to me.
Zappa, who I consider the best ever, said in his book that he was not a great guitar player, citing that there is such a thing as a virtuoso, which he was “definately not.” I think his comment was something like “I can’t even play without looking at the frets. And I certainly can’t sing when I play.”
Robert Fripp is fantastic as well. And Hendrix goes without saying. He’s just a freak.
I think the best criterion would be, how long would it take you to be able to play what they played? I have no guitar playing experience. But if I devoted a decade to practicing, I think I could play every guitar lick ever heard on the radio. (Assuming those songs were what I was practicing for that decade.) For guitarists like Joan Jett, shorten that decade to about a month.
But there are Zappa licks I might never be able to learn. Same with Fripp and Hendrix. With Hendrix, it’s just a matter of “that guy’s amazing.” But with Zappa and Fripp it’s their talent as composers that showcases their guitar playing ability.
For instance, to this day I still cannot hum, or even keep the beat to the main lick in Echidna’s Arf (of you) off Roxy and Elsewhere, despite using that intro as my startup sound for years. (Which I find frustrating in that I actually played trombone in my band-geek days. Pretty well, too.) And don’t even get me started on songs like Thirteen and Five-Five-Five. But changing time signatures every other measure coupled with heavy doses of explicit lyrics won’t get you a lot of radio play. I think that’s why the no love for Zappa.
As far as KC goes, a friend once begged off putting in Larks Tongues In Aspic on a car trip because, and I quote him directly, “It’s too Frippish.” I think that same mentality kept him down on the list.
at least these magazines could try to coordinate their polls. How could Steve Howe win the Guitar Player overall best guitarist award 5 years in a row and be their first guitarist inducted into their Gallery of the Greats and only be #69 in Rolling Stone??
Well, I’m more of a fan of the band than California in particular. I was thinking of his guitar solo on “Mechanical World” which sounded like it was some kind of weird hybrid of a synthesizer and a guitar. It was incredibly original when it came out – been copied to death since, of course.
Warren Haynes is the true number 1 as far as I am concerned
Oh, and Charlie Hunter for god’s sake. That guy is amazing.
with RS’s historical hatred of prog-rock I’m surprised Robert Fripp and Steve Howe even made the list to be honest.
No Pat Metheny???