Greatest heavy metal guitarists (all time)

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Aleksandar Živojinović, (born August 27, 1953), better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that would becom...

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...

Charlie Parra del Riego (born March 5, 1985 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian guitarist and composer. He is also known as Charlie Parra.

David Scott "Dave" Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, and lead singer of the American thrash metal band Megadeth, and well known as the original lead guitaris...

James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main songwriter, and lyricist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield is mainly known for rhythm playing, but has also per...

Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N'...

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...

Gilbert "Gilby" Clarke (born August 17, 1962, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American guitarist and record producer best known for a 3-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N' Roses, replacing Izzy Stradlin in 1991 during the Use...