List of musical instrument players, sorted by name (all time)

Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck; 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader.

Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg, December 1, 1935) is an American actor, writer, director, comedian and playwright, whose career spans more than 50 years.

Wolfgang William Van Halen (born March 16, 1991) is an American musician. He is the bassist for Van Halen, having replaced Michael Anthony in 2006. He is also the bassist for the heavy metal band Tremonti...

William "Will" Champion (born 31 July 1978) is an English musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the alternative rock band Coldplay.

Victor "Vic" Stefan Vogel, (born August 3, 1935) is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, trombonist and conductor in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi (born 19 February 1948) is an English guitarist, songwriter and producer. Best known as lead guitarist and founding member of the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, he has been the band's sole co...

William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian virtuoso guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer, best known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects o...

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. He has worked as a composer for movies and musicals and has acted in supporting roles in films, including Paradise Alley and Br...

Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but is also known as a...

David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known by his stage name The Edge (or just Edge), is a British-born Irish musician and songwriter best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist of the rock band U...

Theodore Anthony "Ted" Nugent ( born December 13, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, hunter, and political activist. Nugent initially was the lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes before embarking on a solo career. Nug...

Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto (born on March 27, 1961 in Toyonaka, Osaka) is a Grammy Award-winning Japanese guitarist, producer, arranger, composer, singer and songwriter. In addition to being the guitarist and lead composer for the h...

Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English musician, composer, singer, songwriter, and painter. Best known as a founder member of the band Pink Floyd, Barrett was the lead singer, guitarist and princip...

Stone Carpenter Gossard (born on July 20, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the rhythm and additional lead guitarist for the American rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one...

Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He is best known as the former drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s...

Steven Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, songwriter, singer, and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. After starting his career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, he recorded and toured in Z...

Saul Hudson (born July 23, 1965), better known by his stage name Slash , is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achie...

Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, also known as Rodríguez or Jesús Rodríguez (born July 10, 1942), is an American folk musician from Detroit, Michigan. His career initially proved short lived, with two little-sold albums in the early 1970s an...

Samuel Roy "Sammy" Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and musician. Hagar came to prominence in the 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose. He afterward...

George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd with drummer Nick Mason, keyboardist Richard Wright and...

Robert John "Robin" Finck (born November 7, 1971) is an American guitarist. He is one of only a few artists who has played in two different bands listed on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock": Nine Inch Nails (ranked no. 43)...

Roberto Agustin Trujillo (born October 23, 1964) better known as Robert Trujillo, is an American musician known for his role as the current bassist of American heavy metal band Metallica. He also was a member of crossover thrash m...

Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter, who began his professional career as a session musician as a member of the instrumental band The Outlaws and as a backing musician of po...

Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. He occasionally sang lead vocals, usually for...

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), professionally known as Ray Charles, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and composer. He was sometimes referred to as "The Genius", and was also nicknamed "The H...

Randall William "Randy" Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. He died in a plane accident while on tour with Osbourne in Florida in 1982...

Prince Roger Nelson (born June 7, 1958), known by his mononym Prince, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor.

Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American rock musician and songwriter who is best known as co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Throughout his career with R.E.M. (1980–2011), as well...

Paul D'Amour (born May 12, 1967) is an American musician, and the first bass guitarist for Tool. His bass sound was recognized by the aggressive picked tone he developed with his Chris Squire Signature Rickenbacker 4001CS, which c...

Oliver Theophilus Jones (born September 11, 1934 in Little Burgundy, Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger.

Norah Jones (born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Throughout her career, Jones has won numerous awards and has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. Billboard named...

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English musician and composer, best known as the drummer of Pink Floyd. He is the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965. Despite solely writing onl...

Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. He began performing in a group covering Shadows instrumentals in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded t...

Neil Ellwood Peart (born September 12, 1952) is a Canadian-American musician and author, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist for the rock band Rush. Peart has received numerous awards for his musical performances, inclu...

Michael Edward "Mike" Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as a bass guitarist, backing vocalist, and...

Michael "Mike" David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the American rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding mem...

Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer, acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.

Michael Anthony Sobolewski (born June 20, 1954), known professionally as Michael Anthony, is an American musician who is currently the bass player in the rock supergroup Chickenfoot. Anthony is best known as the former bass player...

Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer and percussionist. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of t...

Matthew Joseph Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American drummer, producer, and sound engineer. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.

Matthew David "Matt" Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the American rock bands Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. After getting his start with the Seattle, Washington-based bands Bam Ba...

Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Dire Straits, wh...

Malcolm Mitchell Young (born 6 January 1953 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a retired Australian guitarist best known as a founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Except for a b...

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed (March 2, 1942 – October 27, 2013) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of the Velvet Underground, and his solo career spanned several de...

Leonard Norman Cohen (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, painter, poet, and novelist. His work has explored religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships. Cohen has been indu...

Lars Ulrich (born December 26, 1963) is a Danish drummer and one of the founding members of the American heavy metal/thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle-class family. A tennis player in...

Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberd...

Krist Anthony Novoselic is an American rock musician. He was the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana. After Nirvana disbanded following the death of the lead singer Kurt Cobain, Novoselic formed Sweet 75 and Eyes Adr...

Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is the lead guitarist and songwriter for the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus...