10 Best Classic Rock Guitarists
Shaping rock and roll one riff at a time.
The guitar has always been the quintessential element of what makes rock and roll as big as it is. More than just an instrument, the use of the guitar in rock music from the 60's onward felt like a weapon of resistance against the traditional values of generations past.
While the guitar may hold a lot of power, it's the person behind the fretboard that works the real musical magic. Throughout rock's glory days from the Swinging 60's to the hard-edged 80's, musicians were bringing new innovations to the guitar that helped re-contextualize the instrument for different styles of rock and roll.
The best guitarists are the ones who looked at the instrument not as a writing tool but rather an extension of their physical being. Even if the guitarists on this list aren't shredding solos across every track, their playing always has the passion and unfiltered aggression that makes you jump out of your skin whenever you hear them.
Whether it be through influence, innovation, or general badass status, the guitarists in rock's golden age wrote the licks that made rock and roll sound so exciting.
10. Joe Perry/Brad Whitford
As the 70's arrived, an incredible influx of bands arrived on the scene that would become staples of the rock genre. Most of the bands would often use two guitar players, with one taking the lead parts and the other filling out the rhythm. While these roles came to be adopted by future generations of rock and rollers, Aerosmith's approach to the twin-guitar assault was much different.
The combination of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford made for unreal solo work across the golden run of Aerosmith in the 70's. On one side of the record, Perry was the most rhythmic lead player you had ever heard, with licks that sounding like they could have been played by a horn section in an R&B band. However, Whitford would also fill out the lead sound with a much more precise attack and a bluesy texture reminiscent of blues guitarists like Jeff Beck.
The best moments for this duo were when the band would stretch songs out to have multiple solos and Whitford and Perry would play off each other beautifully. Though Joe Perry gets much more of the adulation because of his rock star behavior, his interaction with Brad Whitford made Aerosmith virtually untouchable.