30 best guitarist ?

[Zeal]

Lists make my blood boil. If there is one thing I will ever say, "I am damn good at________" it would be music since it is a huge part of my life. I have gone to bed thinking about this type of thing and really what my conclusion is that there is no "most talented/influential" since everyone is completely different from each other.

Influential you can only see the extremely big picture. There are many guitarists who should be credited with huge impacts but they aren't such as Uli Jon Roth. Amazing talent, not really a household name unless you are a fan, but the man had a great but subtle impact. Yngwie Malmsteen came around the time Uli was attempting the neoclassical deal and for at least a decade you ran into people trying to be the clone of Malmsteen by trying to play 100 mph. Yngwie became mainstream, Uli could not stand mainstream and that's why he left Scorpions.

Everytime you see a list it is almost always a mainstream name. Sometimes we are blessed with a person who is that influential in that they should be honored like Zappa and Hendrix. But even if you look at those two men, you cannot compare skills. Hendrix had a huge mainstream influence effect, Zappa was always under the radar but had a giant silent following along with being one of the most prolific musicians of our time.

As always if you had the opportunity to ask the players who is the best and/or influential, they always refer to someone who preceded them. An example would be Eric Clapton and Rory Gallagher pointing to Robert Johnson in a heart beat. So as far as influences, you can have this conversation for an eternity but in all honesty there will never be a stamp. Arguing over skills? Pretty much pointless unless you have a moron in front of you saying how someone like EVH sucks.

If there ever was a true list, it would point to the evolution of music. Whoever started the next movement honestly didn't. Some no-name started that music 10 years before and did not get recognition due to the time.

Proof of that is the topic of the Tapping technique for guitar. EVH emphasized it and utilized it A TON, however, he was not the first to do it and learned it off another. He was just the first to be widely recognized for it.

The only list I can honestly say that there should be are the musicians who aren't burned out and can still kick ass such as Zakk Wylde and previously mentioned Uli Jon Roth. You listen to Michael Schenker when he was young and go "wow". You see him now and you want to cry.

Now I need a nap.