I have had many a discussion over this list in the five years since it came out. I agree that there is a bias toward innovators and players who contributed to a band's unique sound over sheer technical skill. But that's OK with me. Everybody has different tastes and my opinion is no more valid than the next guy's, but I have heard plenty of guys who can play really fast. A solo for the sake of playing a show-off solo just bores me. I would much rather hear a short solo that really says something in the context of the song, or just tasty little embellishments here and there. And catchy riffs count for a lot, they are like writing a hook lyric, it's hard to do. Chuck Berry and Steve Cropper are my idea of perfect guitarists.
A word about Johnny Ramone: He may have not been a virtuosic guitarist, but he invented what he did, made it work, never sounded bad, and still nobody sounds like him. I remember reading an interview with Billy Zoom, a legendary "punk" guitarist who can play like Chet Atkins or Django Reinhardt with ease and many other instruments, and he said he was absolutely blown away when he heard the first Ramones record. He didn't know whether that was all Johnny did or whether he was one of the best guitarists in the world. And it may be easy to learn a Ramones song, but playing like Johnny did, all downstrokes at that tempo, song after song, is really hard.
The list definitely shows something about the time it was written and the magazine's demographic. Jack White probably wouldn't be so high today, for one thing. "Alternative" music from the 1990s is well represented, but the '80s is almost ignored. Andy Summers, Peter Buck, James Honeyman-Scott, Dave Alvin, Johnny Marr, the above-mentioned Zoom, all were very influential in their day. Including D. Boon and Greg Ginn was nice, though.
James Burton has worked on more "rock and roll" stuff than Chet Atkins, but I agree Chester should be on the list. Jerry Reed too, for that matter. And Eddie Van Halen in the lower thid? Come on.
And it bugs me that they listed both of Radiohead's, Sonic Youth's and MC5's guitar players together, but didn't include Richard Lloyd to go along with Tom Verlaine. And Carlos Santana higher than Peter Green? Listen to early Fleetwood Mac records and try to figure that one out.
And I'll give a shout-out here for Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Jimmy Nolen and Nils Lofgren.
Bo Diddley, Robert Quine and Ron Asheton have also died since the list was made, Asheton within the last couple of months.
Anyway, those lists are always good for getting a discussion going, if not an argument!
--Justin
