Tim Brookes’s 100 Great Guitarists Who Weren’t on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time List
“Making my own list, I found you can find a hundred other great or profoundly influential guitarists without breaking a sweat.” –Tim Brookes
| Laurindo Almeida |
| Sergio and Odair and Badi Assad |
| Chet Atkins |
| George Barnes |
| Arthur Blake |
| Agustin Barrios Mangore |
| Pierre Bensusan |
| Vahdah Olcott Bickford |
| Julian Bream |
| Lenny Breau |
| Junior Brown |
| Leo Brouwer |
| Charlie Byrd |
| Maybelle Carter |
| Martin Carthy |
| Tracy Chapman |
| Charlie Christian |
| Francisco Corbetta |
| Robert Cray |
| Reverend Gary Davis |
| Alex De Grassi |
| Paco De Lucia |
| Ani DiFranco |
| Jerry Douglas |
| Bob Dunn |
| Eddie Durham |
| Duane Eddy |
| Herb Ellis |
| Tommy Emmanuel |
| Bus Etri |
| Tal Farlow |
| Jean “Matlo” Ferret |
| Eliot Fisk |
| William Foden |
| Stephen Foster |
| Bill Frisell |
| Diego de Gastor |
| Slim Gaillard |
| Freddie Greene |
| Mauro Giuliani |
| Davy Graham |
| Tiny Grimes |
| Woody Guthrie |
| Jim Hall |
| Michael Hedges |
| Justin Holland |
| John Lee Hooker |
| Sol Hoopi’i |
| Eddie “Son” House |
| Sharon Isbin |
| Lemon Jefferson |
| Tom Jobim |
| Lonnie Johnson |
| Stanley Jordan |
| Laurence Juber |
| Phil Keaggy |
| Joseph Kekuku |
| Barney Kessel |
| Albert King |
| Freddie King |
| Carl Kress |
| Fapy Lafertin |
| Bireli Lagrene |
| Nappy Lamare |
| Eddie Lang |
| Leadbelly |
| Roy Rogers |
| David Russell |
| Sabicas |
| Joe Satriani |
| John Scofield |
| Bola Sete |
| Martin Simpson |
| Roy Smeck |
| Fernando Sor |
| Willie Smith |
| Francisco Tarrega |
| Sister Rosetta Tharpe |
| Merle Travis |
| George Van Eps |
| Dave Van Ronk |
| Ben Verdery |
| Ana Vidovic |
| Frank Vignola |
| Joe Walsh |
| Muddy Waters |
| Doc Watson |
| Jimmy Webster |
Let me count . . . Okay, so that’s more than a hundred.
Of course, this list is largely bogus, too. Where are the contemporary country Fender players? The great Fado guitarists? (Fado is a kind of Portuguese blues–and in case you are wondering what Portuguese music has to do with a history of the guitar in America, WJFD-FM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, broadcasts 50,000 watts entirely in Portuguese.) Where are the great Russian seven-string players of the early twentieth century? The emerging African guitarists?
Wait a moment. I can’t believe I forgot John Williams. And Waylon Jennings. And Jack Marshall. Goran Sollscher. Stefan Grossman. Duck Baker. Cindy Cashdollar. John James, the Welsh ragtime wizard…
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In addition to books on asthma, hospice, SARS, and hitchhiking, our friend Tim wrote Guitar: An American Life.