Todd's Top Ten Electric Guitarists Who Changed the World

(warning #1: 70s old-guy content)

A Guide for Electric Guitar Connoisseurs

1. Jimi Hendrix (Jimmy James and the Blue Flames): Insanely innovative sonic pioneer, and not a bad songwriter too. Made fantastic sounds using every part of the guitar and amp. Listen for all the cool sounds and melodies in, say, the psychedelic classic, 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be), or anything on Electric Ladyland, for that matter--like All Along the Watchtower--a tour de force of rippling, gorgeous, overlaid guitar tracks.

2. Jimmy Page (of the Led Zeppelins): Another sonic iconoclast and pioneer. The songs are all multi-part and multi-textured and constructed to blow your mind (yeah man), such as in the fake endings in Stairway to Heaven that precede redoubled noise. The guitar sounds, both loud and soft, are varied, subtle, and expressive. Listen to Since I've Been Loving You for its mindblowing climaxes (yeah man), and Ramble On for the beautiful and mysterious guitar sounds, electric over acoustic. Nice bass lines too.

3. Billy Gibbons (from ZZ Top): Rarely mentioned virtuoso and creator of awesome, subtle Stratocaster tones, especially before their decadent MTV period (on his since-lost guitar, Pearly Gates). The classic stuff is on Tejas, side Two of Fandango (the studio stuff), and Tres Hombres. Unbelievable precision, phrasing, and power, and great taste in tones, by which I mean the ribbony thinness and bite (you ever see the way a motorcycle's shiny steel muffler takes on an opalescent blue flame look? That's Billy Gibbons' guitar tone on these albums). Main innovation: choking up on the pick (he uses a quarter or a peso) at high volume so that instead of the notes, these unpredictable harmonics and overtones come out, as in the famous solo in La Grange. This technique accounts for all the weird squawking sounds as the song fades out... Also: must-listen: Blue Jean Blues, a soulful minor key blues on Fandango.

4. David Gilmour (the Pink Floyds): Overshadowed by bandmate Roger Waters, Gilmour has crafted some of the most memorable guitar solos ever on radio. I bet you could sing the solo to Money or Comfortably Numb--just turn down the radio next time and try. And he did a lot of pretty acoustic stuff too, i.e. on Meddle, and on Wish You Were Here.

5. Paul McCartney: OK, he is a bassist (aka bass guitar), but next time you listen to a Beatles song, concentrate on the nifty, melodic bass lines. The guy is a little lightweight as a lyricist, but a major league pop melodist and an innovative, busy bassist. And to top it off he was innovative on the acoustic guitar as well, such as on Blackbird, which is just not fair.

6. Kurt Cobain: One of the most aggressive and downright ugly guitar players of all time. And thats a good thing. Also showed some touch on that Unplugged Album, which revealed him to be a great songwriter as well....at least to me. Huge sound that is emulated everywhere today.

7. Lou Reed (Velvet Underground): This guy is barely a musician, but the chugging, dirty rhythm guitar powering White Light, White Heat or any classic VU song has been stolen and transformed by bands of just about every following generation. Example: you guys had me listen to Broken Social Scene. You know the song 7/4? That warm, dirty guitar sound that propels the song? Lou Reed invented that...it means the amp is overloaded and starting to distort. Most would have thought that sound ugly, but the Velvets found beauty in it, and thus gave birth to shoegazing....

8. Chuck Berry: inventor of rock guitar, of the main licks and moves everyone learns, and especially the "motorvating" sound evoking cars and hotrod culture. Without Chuck Berry, all the guys above would have been parking lot attendants. Try Maybelline for the nasty dirty guitar intro and solo. Its not supposed to be pretty....burns, sort of.

9. Angus Young: when I was in high school I dismissed this band as "low class." And boy was I right. But this guy's guitar parts can fairly be called majestic. For example, on Hells Bells, and especially For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). Plus, judging by pictures (see above), the guy is barely bigger than the guitars he plays. Wears short pants too, which I admire in a man.

10. I shouldn't leave out the crunching power of Pete Townshend on rhythm guitar (who lost fingernails doing his famous windmill move--ouch!). This might be the loudest, most powerful band ever. So loud they were able to survive the death of the greatest drummer ever. Try Who's Next or Live at Leeds, for example.

Why no women on this list? I don't know! Maybe because the electric guitar has always been extremely phallic and associated with cars, aggression and social transgression? Maybe because the guitar solo is so well suited to macho preening and narcissistic self-indulgence? Nancy Wilson of Heart was a brilliant guitar player, especially on the acoustic guitar (listen to the acoustic stuff on Little Queen and Dog and Butterfly), but even Heart hired on male lead guitarists who they later had to fire for drug use.....there are many distinguished female rockers, and no one will ever duplicate all the innovative things Joni Mitchell did on acoustic guitar in her career, but there are just too few women playing electric guitar (but for what our book would call cultural, not genetic reasons...)

Note: my favorite guitarist is probably Keith Richards. I have no idea why I didn't include him...but I don't want my top ten to go to eleven...