The lamest "top 100" list ever? Rolling Stones' 100 Greatest Guitarists.

[JohnT]

Naw, he's there. He's even listed in my OP.

[Straybow]

Les Paul invented it, but Gibson was more influential in spreading its use. He was the first to use it as the centerpiece for a band (or something like that).

[JohnT]

Here's a history of the electric guitar that I quickly Googled up: http://www.si.edu/lemelson/guitars/noframes/00main.htm

[molly bloom]

Ali Farka Toure as the token world music representative.
I]Niiice.[/I]


So few blues guitarists- odd, considering the importance of the guitar to the spread of blues. So, farewell, Son House and Bukka White....amongst many, many others.

No Fred Frith- clearly experimental guitar playing is a bit scary.

A very dull list, replete with exponents of those mind numbingly boring, decade long guitar solos that filled up the early seventies. I'd swap 'em all for one performance of Death Letter or John the Revelator.

[Straybow]

D'oh! I was searching to find a picture of Les Paul… Somehow I thought that was somebody else with Mary Ford (I didn't remember that his wife had a different last name).

I could only remember footage from their TV show that I'd seen on PBS. They had voice microphones mounted on their guitars, too… pretty wild. That didn't catch on. I guess it was too unwieldy.

I didn't realize Gibson was 19th century…

Yep, that's me: mind like a steel trap. Mangles anything foolish enough to get caught in it.

Mol B: John the Revelator?

[MikeH]

As a guitarist myself I'd have to say that 'best' doesn't just mean the person who can play fastest. It's about who can create great music out of their guitar.