Greatest Prog Guitarists (1,953 views)

[ProgBoi]

Lol, so I started working on this list a few years ago because I got bored and I wanted to explore more progressive artists. I decided I wanted to listen to a variety of different prog rock, prog metal, fusion, and other proggy artists and create lists for the most popular and most talented musicians in those sub genres (and sub-sub-genres too, I suppose).

Why? Eh, I like making lists (ask anyone from TRP 1 and 2, haha)

Here’s the list of some of the greatest prog guitarists:
1. Allan Holdsworth (Soft Machine, Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, Bruford, UK, solo) 
2. Steve Howe (Syndicats, Tomorrow, Yes, Asia, solo)
3. Robert Fripp (Giles Giles & Fripp, King Crimson, Eno, David Bowie)
4. Steve Hackett (Genesis, solo)
5. David Gilmour (Pink Floyd, solo)
6. Frank Zappa (The Mothers of Invention, solo)
7. Steve Morse (The Dregs, Deep Purple, Flying Colors, solo)
8. John McLaughlin (Miles Davis, Tony Williams Lifetime, Mahavishnu Orchestra)
9. Jan Akkerman (Focus)
10. Alex Lifeson (Rush)
11. Fred Frith (Henry Cow, solo)
12. John Petrucci (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, G3)
13. Andrew Latimer (Camel)
14. Ollie Halsall (Timebox, Patto, Boxer, Tempest, Kevin Ayers)
15. Steve Rothery (Marillion)
16. Guthrie Govan (Asia, GPS, The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson)
17. Steve Hillage (Uriel, Khan, Gong, solo)
18. Terry Kath (Chicago)
19. Adrian Belew (Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, King Crimson, Gizmodrome)
20. Al Di Melos (Return to Forever, solo)
21. Steve Vai (Frank Zappa, G3, solo)
22. Buckethead (Praxis, Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, solo)
23. Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd, solo)
24. Shawn Lane (Black Oak Arkansas, Jonas Hellborg, solo)
25. Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders)
26. Martin Barre (Jethro Tull)
27. Bill Nelson (Be-Bop Deluxe, solo)
28. Trey Anastasio (Phish, Oysterhead)
29. Fredrick Thordendal (Meshuggah, Special Defects)
30. Alex Skolnick (Testament, Alex Skolnick Trio, Attention Deficit, Savatage) 
31. Mike Oldfield (Kevin Ayers, David Bedford, solo)
32. Jonny Greenwood & Ed O’Brien (Radiohead)
33. Tony MacAlpine (Planet X, CAB, Steve Vai, solo)
34. Mikael Åkerfeldt & Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth)
35. Peter Lindgren (Opeth)
36. Manuel Göttsching (Ash Ra Tempel, Ashra, Cosmic Jokers, solo)
37. Devin Townsend (Steve Vai, Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend Project, Casualties of Cool)
38. Brent Hinds & Bill Kelliher (Mastodon)
39. Chuck Schuldiner (Death)
40. Michael Romeo (Symphony X)
41. Kerry Livgren (Kansas, AD)
42. Andy Powell & Ted Turner (Wishbone Ash)
43. Omar Rodríguez-López (At The Drive-In, The Mars Volta, Antemasque, Bosnian Rainbows)
44. John Mitchell (Arena, It Bites, Frost*, Kino)
45. Jim Matheos (Fates Warning, OSI)
46. Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night)
47. Matthias IA Eklundh (Freak Kitchen)
48. Jeff Loomis (Sanctuary, Nervermore, Arch Enemy)
49. Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry, Kaipa, Meshuggah)
50. Roine Stolt (Kaipa, The Flower Kings, Transatlantic)

51. Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp, solo)
52. Robin Trower (Procol Harum, solo)
53. Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, 801)
54. Jukka Tolonen (Tasavallan Presidentti, Wigwam)
55. Chris DeGarmo (Queensrÿche)
56. Jeff Beck
57. Ty Tabor (King’s X, Platypus, The Jelly Jam)
58. Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Bumblefoot, Sons of Apollo, Asia)  
59. Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower, Spastic Ink, Blotted Science)
60. Paul Masvidal (Cynic, Æon Spoke)
61. Gary Green (Gentle Giant)
62. Adam Jones (Tool)
63. Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa, Beer For Dolphins, Dethklok, Devin Townsend, solo)
64. Daniel Gildenlöw (The Flower Kings, Pain of Salvation)
65. Tommy Bolin (Zephyr, Billy Cobham, Deep Purple)
66. Richard Henshall & Charlie Griffiths (Haken)
67. Yvette Young (Covet)
68. Plini 
69. John Goodsall (Brand X, Atomic Rooster)
70. Arjen Anthony Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, solo)
71. Franco Mussida (Premiata Forneria Marconi, solo)
72. Francis Dunnery (It Bites, solo)
73. Peter Banks (The Syn, Yes, Flash)
74. Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos)
75. Larry Lalonde (Possessed, Primus, Serj Tankian)
76. Criss Oliva (Savatage)
77. Misha Manson, Mark Holcomb & Jake Bowen (Periphery) 
78. Matt Bellamy (Muse)
79. Paul Waggoner (Between The Buried & Me)
80. Eduardo “Gato” Alquinta (Los Jaivas)
81. Todd Rundgren (Utopia, solo)
82. Claudio Sanchez (Coheed & Cambria)
83. Michael Karoli (Can)
84. Roye Albrighton (Nektar)
85. Ben Levin (Bent Knee, Ben Levin Group)
86. John Wesley (Porcupine Tree, solo)
87. Alan Morse (Spock’s Beard)
88. Anthony Phillips (Genesis, solo)
89. David Lebón (Pescado Rabioso, Serú Girán)
90. Ed Wynne (Ostrich Tentacles, Nodens Ictus)
91. Piotr Grudziński (Riverside)
92. Petri Walli (Kingston Wall)
93. Phil Miller (Delivery, Matching Mole, Hatfield & The North, National Health, In Cahoots)
94. Dave Gregory (XTC, Big Big Train)
95. Michael Rother (Neu!, solo)
96. Francis Lickerish (The Enid, Secret Garden)
97. Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, solo)
98. Mick Box (Uriah Heep)
99. Mike Holmes (IQ)
100. Nick Barrett (Pendragon)

[ProgBoi]

If anyone wants to make a case for a guitarists that they think should be on here, please feel free to let me know and post a few links to some of their work. :)

[clem]

If you haven't checked out Frank Gambale, I think you'd dig his work, judging from the other artists you've included. He was big in the late 80s/early 90s sweepy, economy picky shredding fusion scene with the Chick Corea Elektrik Band.

[ProgBoi]

Jul 9, 2020 13:29:16 GMT clem said:

If you haven't checked out Frank Gambale, I think you'd dig his work, judging from the other artists you've included. He was big in the late 80s/early 90s sweepy, economy picky shredding fusion scene with the Chick Corea Elektrik Band.

I was actually listening to some of Gambale’s work recently, like his work with Steve Smith and his Frank Gambale Live album from ‘89, and he certainly is a fantastic guitarist. I’ll put him in for consideration, and I might add John Scofield (He’s a big figure in fusion and has worked with George Duke and Billy Cobham, among other fusion artists that lean more heavily into the prog rock side of things) and maybe consider Robben Ford (just due to his extremely versatile and diverse discography, but I’m iffy due to the fact that he’s not done anything that is technically prog).

Also, I was talking to Henny Mack yesterday and he was questioning whether Syd Barrett (who was undeniably a big influence in guitar experimentation during the mid-to-late ‘60s) should be as high as he is. While Barrett and Floyd are some of my all-time favorites, I think I might have placed him a bit high on the list. I think he could still be in the top 50 (he definitely beats out Roine Stolt on influence, originality, and creativity alone), but I can definitely see him dropping down a few spaces.

[Captain Planet]

Enjoy

[kuyashii]

As much as I pretty much grew up on prog I'm not exactly sure how much I can say about the list since while I know quite a bunch of names, I don't know a lot of them as well haha. While I'm not saying those below ought to be on the list, but there are some guitarrists I really like and I dunno if you want to count them or not. How "prog" they are is up to discussion but since you have some dudes who lean more to the metal side but still have a considerable amount of prog influence on their playing, I guess that's ok?

Ben Sharp (Cloudkicker): He's not that much of a lead player and not the flashiest around but his songwriting and riff crafting is pretty spot-on imo. The way he utilizes his technical habilities to write aggressive stuff that still favoris atmosphere and emotional depth is pretty awesome. Definitely one of my favorite musicians of late and Solitude is my 2020 AOTY so far.

Robin Staps (The Ocean): Kinda the same as Sharp. He's not that much of a lead player and he's arguably more in the metal side but the way he mixes influence from a lot of extreme metal subgenres and still have that "prog heart", willing to think outside of the box, is kinda nice. He's a very versatile composer and like Sharp, his songwriting and riff crafting is pretty awesome. "Jurassic/ Cretaceous" is the best song released in 2020 imo

Benjamin Baret & Matt Klavins (Ne Obliviscaris): Yeah, they're definitely more "metal" guitarrists but their riffcrafting and songwriting again is pretty cool, Baret is an amazing lead guitarrist who has awesome technical chops but knows how to use it very tastefully. I guess their progginess has to do more with the "think outside of the box" approach to songwriting than technical hability.

Ihsahn (Emperor, solo and a bunch of other stuff): Yeah, I know he's the "black metal" dude but the influence of classic/prog rock on his solo music is nothing short of insignificant so I definitely consider him at least to be "prog adjacent". He's a very versatile guitarrist with considerable technical habilities that often get overlooked due to his out-there songwriting.

[raysh]

The reason I wanted to pick up this guitar is because of Carlos Santana.
He will forever remain, in my mind, one of the greatest guitarists ever. But after finally trying to learn guitar I have been exposed to so many great guitarists. And I probably would never had heard of them had I not finally try and learn. And I have largely been exposed to them because of conversaations like this.
Buddy Guy
T Bone Walker
Je Bonamassa
Derek Trucks
Jeff Beck
All 3 Kings
Gary Moore
Peter Green
Debbie Davies
Hubert Sumlin
And, yes, David Gilmour

[troy]

No Tore Østby? Of Conception and Ark? Wild.