List of most popular studio guitarists (all time)

Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is a Scottish-born Australian guitarist best known as a co-founder, lead guitarist, and songwriter of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC.

Michael Peter Balzary (born October 16, 1962), better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-born American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has worked within many genres of music. His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal...

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...

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...

Freddie King (September 3, 1934 – December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar along with Albert King and B.B. King. Freddie King based h...

Albert King Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known professionally as Albert King, was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing. One of the "Three Kings of the B...

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known by his stage name B.B. King, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and is often called "The...

Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music. He has won 10 Gram...

Johnny "J.R." Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock...

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...

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...

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...

James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, Jr., OBE (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer mostly known as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his care...

Eric Patrick Clapton (born 30 March 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the...

Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the bassist for the American rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding...

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...

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...

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen (born January 26, 1955 in Nijmegen) is a Dutch-American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van H...

David Bowie (born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) was an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, arranger, painter, and actor.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.

David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer who is best known as the former drummer for the grunge band Nirvana and the founder and frontman of the rock band Foo Fig...

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...

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...

John Baldwin (born 3 January 1946), better known by his stage name John Paul Jones, is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, keyboardist, and co-songwriter...

Keanu Charles Reeves (born September 2, 1964) is a Lebanese-born Canadian actor, producer, director and musician. Reeves is most well known for his acting career, beginning in 1985 and spanning for more than three decades. He gain...