10 Best Guitarists Of The 2000s

The rock landscape at the dawn of the millennium was still in limbo, with bands taking the cues of grunge bands before them and putting out half-baked ideas and rudimentary guitar noodlings. When it was cool to sound the same, Jack White was the guitarist who bucked the trend of his contemporaries. While many looked to the past, White showed us we just may haven't been looking back far enough.

When White exploded onto the scene with the White Stripes, his guitar playing had a bluesy swagger to it reminiscent of the bluesmen of old like Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. While a blues-based style was an admirable effort, White shattered expectations by blasting his sound to monumental proportions. The sound was one part blues, one part punk, and 100% awesome.

While White's style is somewhat simple when compared to other guitarists, his impact on the guitar community was immense. The White Stripes' music made rock and roll sound exciting once again and prompted millions of fans around the world to do the same thing. In an era of stale guitar players, Jack White helped guitarists get over themselves and show the power of rock when you strip it down to its bare essentials.