Top 10 Most Innovative Guitarists

All these guys made major contributions to guitar playing, whether in terms of technique, tone, style, or simply feel. They changed the way people see the guitar over the years and are very much responsible for what it has become today.

The Top Ten

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Though his mainstream career lasted only about four years from 1966 to 1970, he's widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in popular music.... read more

No one precedes Hendrix in this area in my book. He literally rewrote the book on how to play the guitar in many ways - not just flash, but creating new audio landscapes, merging styles, and creating new ones while elevating the old.

He created the sound you hear in every hard rock and roll song after 1967. A true legend.

Who else can make the guitar scream and still sound good?
Eddie Van Halen

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. He is widely recognized for pioneering guitar techniques... read more

While many other influential guitarists made guitarists everywhere want to play like them, Eddie made people from all over the world go out and buy a guitar.

While other influential guitarists made guitarists everywhere want to play like them, Eddie made people all around the world go out and buy a guitar.

Hendrix did all of this too, and possibly tapping as well. Listen to Hear My Train A-Comin', live at the Atlanta Pop Festival. You'll hear it.
Les Paul

Lester William Polsfuss, known professionally as Les Paul, was an American guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He is credited with pioneering the solid-body electric guitar, which made the sound of rock and roll possible. His work spanned genres such as jazz, country, and blues.

He invented the solid-body electric guitar. And a lot of other things, but that's all he needs to make this list.

He invented the Les Paul, for crying out loud. He should be even higher.
Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, songwriter, composer, record producer, actor, and filmmaker. He was known for his innovative work across multiple genres including rock, jazz, and classical music. Zappa passed away in 1993 but remains an influential figure in music history.

Y'all ever heard of another guitarist capable of incorporating elements of Bulgarian folk music into his guitar solos? I'm pretty sure you haven't. And that's why my vote goes to master Zappa.
Tom Morello

Thomas Morello is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and political activist. He's best known for his tenure with the band Rage Against the Machine and later with Audioslave. Morello's also known for his innovative guitar style and his solo project, The Nightwatchman.... read more

When it comes to innovation, we're talking about new ways to use the guitar. Nobody has done anything close to what he has on this list. That's not to say the others aren't some of the greats, just that we're specifically looking at the guitarist on this list who has created some of the most groundbreaking styles out of all of them.

This is innovation, guys. No one can ever play like Tom Morello. Listen to the riff of "Guerrilla Radio" and the solo of "Bulls on Parade." No doubt at all.

Listening to him play is the only way to understand how good his innovations are.
The Edge

David Howell Evans, better known by his stage name the Edge, is an Irish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the rock band U2. The Edge is recognized for his signature sound characterized by delay effects and minimalistic style.

His tonal innovations are something very hard to achieve. He is the reason why it's so difficult to make a U2 song sound right if anyone other than him plays it.
Dick Dale

Richard Anthony Monsour, better known by his stage name Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist known as The King of the Surf Guitar. He pioneered the surf music style in the 1960s with his use of rapid alternate picking and reverb-heavy sound. Dale's most famous track is Misirlou.

I personally think that he was more important than Dave or Ray Davies for guitar distortion. They used broken amps and power chords to create a "hard rock" type of sound, but Dick Dale's tremolo picking was far ahead of "You Really Got Me." It was heavy, loud, and fast. He brought an Arabian influence to life with fire.
Tony Iommi

Anthony Frank Iommi, known as Tony Iommi, is an English guitarist, songwriter, and producer. He's best known as the lead guitarist and a founding member of the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath. At age 17, he lost the fingertips of his right middle and ring fingers in an industrial accident.... read more

Iommi could stand in 3rd place after Django Reinhardt and Hendrix.

The father of metal guitar. Enough said.
Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai (born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is known for his virtuosic guitar playing and has released numerous solo albums. Vai was born and raised on Long Island, New York.

He might not have invented or popularized any techniques, but he sure did take Eddie Van Halen's work in a whole new direction. Vai made great innovations to many of the techniques made famous by Van Halen, especially whammy bar tricks and tapping. Even his tonal innovations are unbelievable.
Matt Bellamy

Matthew James "Matt" Bellamy is an English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Muse. Bellamy's dynamic guitar work, falsetto vocals, and classically influenced piano compositions... read more

The Newcomers

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Maybelle Carter
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Bo Diddley

Elias McDaniel, known as Bo Diddley, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and music producer who played a key role in the transition from blues to rock and roll. He was famous for his distinctive rhythm and homemade guitars. His influence can be heard in the work of many rock and pop artists... read more

The Contenders

Joe Satriani

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, including Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie... read more

He is the bridge between Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and all other blues guitarists. Enough said.
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal

This guy can multitask like anything. He invented the technique to make the highest note on the guitar infinite.
Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp, born May 16, 1946, is an English guitarist, composer, and record producer. As a guitarist for the progressive rock band King Crimson, Fripp has been the only member to play in all of the band's line-ups from their inception in the late 1960s to the present. He has also worked extensively... read more

He should be #1 for everything he's done, not least of which is basically single-handedly creating progressive rock (and constantly pushing those boundaries since). Not to mention New Standard Tuning, Soundscapes, Frippertronics, etc.

Definitely part of the top 10 innovative guitarists. Or what is guitar innovation?
Buckethead

Brian Patrick Carroll, known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has released over 300 studio albums. He is recognized for his unique style and stage persona, which includes wearing a KFC bucket on his head and a white mask. Buckethead has worked across... read more

The only guitarist out there who can play lullabies one moment, then make computer sounds the next.
Jimmy Page

James Patrick Page is an English musician, songwriter, and record producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of Led Zeppelin. He's widely regarded for his innovative guitar techniques, production work, and influence across rock music genres. After Led Zeppelin disbanded... read more

His guitar playing helped create the foundation of rock 'n' roll guitar playing, and he was one of the first to make hard rock music out of a bluesy style of playing.

Listen to any Led Zeppelin song and you will understand my vote!
Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt was a famous guitarist in the genre of jazz. He lost the use of two fingers on his left hand in a fire but continued to play, developing a unique style that would influence generations of musicians.
Reinhardt later inspired others, such as Arthur Guitar Boogie Smith, Steven Seagal... read more

He literally invented playing solos on guitar! Before him, the guitarist was part of the rhythm section, and that was about it. Django should be #1 on the list just for that. But wait, there's more. He invented playing swing on the guitar, and he could adapt any song or classical music into jazz.
Innovative? While having two fingers paralyzed, he had to create his own chords, which are widespread today and essential to much of modern music. He was Duke Ellington's favorite musician and inspired Tony Iommi to pick up the guitar again after his accident, where he, too, lost the use of two fingers.
OK, enough said... vote to raise Django up the list!
Jeff Beck

Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck was an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three notable guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds, alongside Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Beck also formed The Jeff Beck Group and the power trio Beck, Bogert and Appice.
Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. He was also a founding member of Derek and the Dominos, known for... read more
Adam Jones

Adam Thomas Jones (born January 15, 1965) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning American musician and visual artist, best known for his position as the guitarist for Tool. He is also recognized for directing many of the band's music videos. Prior to his music career, Jones worked in special effects and... read more
Slash

Saul Hudson, known professionally as Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He has also released solo work and collaborated with... read more

Before him, people used the wah pedal to do funky things. Then Slash used it in Civil War.
Brian May

Brian Harold May (born July 19, 1947) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist. He is best known as the lead guitarist of Queen. He co-founded the band in 1970 and contributed iconic guitar parts and vocal harmonies on hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, and Another One... read more

The fact that he was not already on this list is entirely preposterous. I mean... James Hetfield? Matt Bellamy? Jesus.
Brian May was granted the opportunity to perform the national anthem on the roof of Buckingham Palace, and he's not in TheTopTens' list of innovative guitarists? Listen to his arrangement of God Save the Queen (as well as his band's multi-platinum albums while you're at it). His popularizing of multi-layered guitar parts was innovative enough to take a top-three spot.
Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Johan Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader born June 30, 1963, in Stockholm, Sweden. He's renowned for his neoclassical metal playing style. Malmsteen gained prominence in the 1980s with virtuoso albums such as Rising Force (1984).

Who else can play heavy metal with a classical background?

Nah, come on. This kind of neo-classical should be higher!
Jonny Greenwood

Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, professionally known as Jonny Greenwood, is an English musician and composer. He is mostly known for his role as one of the lead guitarists and the main keyboardist of the English alternative rock band Radiohead. Beyond his work with the band, he has composed the scores... read more

How could Jonny not be there? He is one of the most creative guitarists ever.
Dimebag Darrell

Darrell Lance Abbott, also known as Diamond Darrell and Dimebag Darrell, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He co-founded the bands Pantera and Damageplan with his brother Vinnie Paul. Abbott was tragically shot and killed during a performance in 2004 by a mentally unstable fan.

The godfather of most modern metal, whether you like it or not. There isn't one metal band after the 2000s that hasn't been influenced by his style. Unfortunately, not many do it as well as him. He's also widely known for his whammy bar tricks like the dime-squeal and soulful yet face-melting solos.
David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour (born March 6, 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He joined Pink Floyd as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in late 1967 after the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. His arrival helped solidify the band's signature sound.... read more

Comfortably Numb, of course live - greatest song and solo. The only scandal: finishing this solo after approximately 4 minutes!