Top Ten Best Effects Guitarists
Thomas Morello is an American musician, singer-songwriter and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. This is a man who knows his stuff. He doesn't just play a pentatonic scale for every solo or riff he does. He experiments and uses what he calls the happy accidents that occur during rehearsal and practice.
If Morello is ever overtaken, then this list should be deleted. Bellamy is good, but Muse wouldn't even be around if it wasn't for Rage or Morello. Best guitarist ever, in my opinion!
Just plain godly. He and Tim can do some seriously wild stuff.
Matthew James "Matt" Bellamy is an English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He is most famous for being the main vocalist in alternative rock band "Muse". Bellamy pushes effects to a whole new level. Muse conveys so much power, energy, and emotion each time they perform a riff or a solo live, even one that they've played a thousand times before.
That's why Bellamy is my favorite guitarist - he figuratively (and sometimes literally) throws his guitar over the top of the barrier of what a guitar is supposed to sound like.
The funny thing is, his favorite guitarist as a child was, in fact, Tom Morello. Obviously, the knowledge has rubbed off on him, with solos in the songs Supermassive Black Hole and Thoughts of a Dying Atheist.
David Jon Gilmour is an English singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He joined the progressive rock band Pink Floyd as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1968. For David Gilmour, it was a test - a test to see how many pedals he could fit into one effects unit. When he plays, it's a trip to the dark side of the moon for us.
Dude can make any effect work - with the vibrato bar, using pedals, or without any kind of pedals. He has very good control over the pitch.
Jimi Hendrix (born November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter.Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most... read more
Just remember that this is about the best effects guitarists, not just guitarists. This man was a pro of pyrotechnics and full-on sonic freakouts. Just listen to his rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.
He was using pedaling effects more than anybody else in his time.
Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956) is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor, with many of his former students achieving fame, such as Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie... read more Like lilbullet111 wrote, just listen to his masterpiece "Surfing with the Alien." If you hear it and still don't think he deserves the top spot, go and listen to many of his other songs - he uses really good effects!
By the way, I respect that Tom Morello is in first place because he always makes strange and awesome effects while playing.
Including Surfing with the Alien, his song Searching also has awesome uses of the whammy pedal. I often see people get mad for pedal effects after listening to Joe Satriani's songs.
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" was an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds (the other two being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page). Beck also formed The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. Sure, he doesn't use that many effects, but I'm going to include him here for his expert use of the whammy bar. The amazing thing is, he could maneuver it fantastically, and it seemed that his guitar didn't even go out of tune!
Kirk Lee Hammett 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. WAAH! WAH! Yeah, this guy can do a lot of good solos without the wah pedal, but with it, he can do awesome things like Enter Sandman or Don't Tread on Me!
Not a fan of his, but I admire his use of the Wah pedal.
James Patrick Page is an English musician, songwriter, and record producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin.
David Howell Evans, better known by his stage name the Edge, is an Irish musician and songwriter best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist of the rock band U2. The man behind the music of one of the most influential bands of all time, The Edge can play. Best known for his echo effects, this guitarist is pretty awesome.
Never uses the same effect twice.
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was a Dutch-American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor. He was best known as the lead guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen.
The Newcomers
Peter Lennodo is a British musician. He is also a composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the vocalist, lead guitarist and main songwriter of the rock band The Arcana.
John Anthony "Jack" White is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo The White Stripes, but has also had success in other bands and as a solo artist. King of distortion, in my opinion. This man knows how to mix crazy, heavy sounds with blues and feel. His great use of octave pedals for Seven Nation Army just makes him known worldwide.
He's done things on guitar that no one else ever thought about, starting in the early '80s! Take that, Tom Morello! (I do respect both guitarists, though.)
Tom Morello seems to have taken tons of the noises Thurston made at least a year before he did. Thurston ROCKS. If you don't think he's the best, then you obviously don't know who started it all. (It's Thurston!)
Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore brings the word sonic to a whole new level. It's truly amazing how far you can take technical abilities these days. And man, he knows how to make a guitar scream.
John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, producer and composer.He is best known for his time with the Funk Rock California based band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He was also part of the Mars Volta, Swahili Blonde, Ataxia and more.
Jonathan Richard Guy, professionally known as Johnny Greenwood, is an English musician and composer mostly known for his role as the one of the lead guitarists and the main keyboardist of the English alternative rock band Radiohead. Tom Morello and Jimi Hendrix definitely deserve high places on this list, but where is Jonny? Seriously, this guy puts so much psychedelic emotion and touch into his melody with the nuances of his effects.
Listen to the guitars on Paranoid Android and Subterranean Homesick Alien, to name a few!
Kurt Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. In 1987, he started the grunge band Nirvana, which became one of the most successful bands ever. He was a talented yet troubled grunge performer. Kurt Cobain became a rock legend in the 1990s with his band. He committed suicide at his... read more I'd say that this legend is the king of the quiet-loud contrast, notable in songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit and Lithium.
Brian Patrick Carroll, known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has worked within many genres of music.
Brian Elwin Haner, Jr., better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American musician, best known for being the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the band Avenged Sevenfold. Pure, clean picking, and all the notes are touched. The slides, pull-offs, and everything else are just awesome.
Brian Philip Welch, better known by the stage name Head, is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is one of the guitarists and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death.
Michael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He often uses a pedal to control his guitar solos, especially during double guitar solos.