Creativity, Originality, Influence, Status, Impact, to a lesser extent Technical Skill and just my personal bias.

He's played for progressive rock groups like Soft Machine and Gong, in fact he's collaborated with a lot of rock musicians on what are basically rock recordings, and enough of his own solo material could be considered rock. I dont really think of him as a pure jazz guitarist, and most purists would agree to that.

I am aware of that. But Live it to Death and Schools Out are considered milestones in his career, he did much to define Coopers original sound.

Maybe he's too high, but I'm not gonna worry about the rankings too much, just the inclusions more than anything.

EDIT: Made one slight change, replaced Homme with Ace Frehley. But I dont intend to make any more changes, I like the final result just fine and I'm not trying to please anyone, just curious what people have to say.

I really wonder why Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah isn't on there.

Hey you forgot the Michael's :p:

Michael Karoli
Michael Romeo

I would include Greg Howe & Manuel Gottsching as well.(Gottsching is really underrated)
But i guess that would be a Demonoid's list then.

Steve Ray Vaughn should be a little higher, and Duane Allman should be a little higher too.

Am I the only one who thinks Hendrix shouldn't be first? I like Duane and JBeck over him. Definitly top 5 though.

EDIT: Holdsworth is great. Don't take him out. His stuff on the second Bruford album (the name escapes me) is great.

Just so long as it isn't a personal insult to the king of the blues (like The Unfan...don't know how much crack he was smoking). I did notice the absence of a few other guitarists, but it wasn't anything big. I would have rearranged the top ten:

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Duane Allman
3. Chuck Berry
4. Eric Clapton
5. Jimmy Page
6. Bo Diddley
7. Jeff Beck
8. Eddie Van Halen
9. Stevie Ray Vaughan
10. Pete Townshend

Without doubt Hendrix is the greatest.

I don't think its without doubt. I think it's sort of like just saying Neil Peart is automatically the best drummer when John Bonham and Ginger Baker are quite exceptional themselves.

I'm adding some more names to it, til I get to like 250.

Why not share a little bit about your personal favorites along the way.
I would be interested to hear what someone who can evaluate 200 plus guitar players has to say about personal favs.

Bo Diddley is one of the top 10 pioneers/innovators in R&R, but, he is not anywhere near the top 50, or 100, or 200 when it comes to his skill on the guitar.
What he did was create a sound and a beat that every guitarist has used since 1957.
But inventing a sound and a beat doesn't make him a better axeman than you or I.
His influence is etched in R&R history, but not for his guitar playing abilities.

I love him:bowdown:, I listen to his music:bowdown:, I miss him:bowdown:, I hear his beat every day in other bands tunes, but, again, as a guitarist, he shouldn't be on anyone's top guitarists list.:finger: