Top 10 Guitarists Who Have Played Black Guitars
They don't need to play black guitars all the time but the longer, the better (for this list).
James Alan Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963. He is an American musician, singer and songwriter known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica. James has had several black guitars. Also, one of his main guitars since 2008 has been black, too - his custom 'Iron Cross' guitar, also referred to as 'Uncle Milty'.
He has a white version of the 'Iron Cross' as well.
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner (1967-2001) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the founder and vocalist, guitarist and bassist of the American heavy metal band Death. He is considered the most influential figure in Death Metal, with some publications referring to Chuck as the "Godfather of Death Metal". Schuldiner died in December 13, 2001 of brain cancer, his death subsequently leading to the disbandment of Death, but has remained influential among many aspiring metal artists.
He was also known for his polite and life loving attitude and openly condemned stereotypes of metal musicians being harmful and evil. An underrated guitarist - whether it was black or not..
Riley B. "B.B." King was an American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. His guitars were usually black Gibson guitars that he named Lucille (his iconic black 'Lucille').
Fredrik Thordendal (born February 11, 1970) is a Swedish musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah. He's considered the originator of the djent technique. Thordendal was rated No. 35 by Guitar World in the top 100 greatest heavy metal guitarists of all-time, along with Meshuggah's rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström. Including his Ibanez Fredrik Thordendal Signature 8-String Electric Guitar
(this guy isn't very popular but he is very high on this list because he invented a guitar playing style - djent - that is currently pretty popular).
Steffen Kummerer (born June 1, 1985) is a German guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He is the leader, main songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist for the progressive technical death metal band Obscura as well as the blackened melodic death metal band Thulcandra. Even his RAN signature model is black (in the picture). I love that pointy design.
Adam Nergal Darski (born Adam Michał Darski; 10 June 1977 in Gdynia), is a Polish musician and television personality, best known for being the frontman for the black/death metal band Behemoth.
Darski was born Adam Michał Darski in Gdynia, Poland, raised Catholic, and started playing guitar at age eight. He goes by the stage name Nergal (naming himself after a Babylonian deity), and he is the founder, lyricist, main composer, frontman and manager of the band Behemoth, which he started when he was still a teenager. He also plays lead, rhythm and acoustic guitar. My favorite is his 7-String black V, with eagle graphic and eagle inlay
Kerry Ray King is an American musician, best known as a guitarist for the American thrash metal band Slayer.
It's a fretless guitar (in the picture).
Tom 'Fountainhead' Geldschläger played lead guitar on Obscura's Akroasis album (2016). Sweep picking is even harder on fretless guitar, especially at Obscura's speed.
Most of you probably never heard of him but it was one of the reasons to add him to this list - to share with you something new and interesting (I hope it's interesting).
Richard Stephen "Richie" Sambora is an American rock guitarist, producer, singer and songwriter who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi for 30 years. He is known for his work with Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He is a very praised guitarist who played solos for songs like Dry County, Stranger ...read more.Most of the time throughout REM's history, Peter Buck can be seen playing a black Rickenbacker 360, which he bought brand new in the early 80s.
Neil Percival Young is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician, producer, director and screenwriter. Neil's main electric guitar is a 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop named Old Black. The guitar had been repainted by a previous owner from gold to black sometime in the early 60s.