10 Greatest Hard Rock Guitarists Of The '70s

The '70s marked the true birth of the hard rock genre. While things were just starting to pick up some steam after the Flower Generation died, it wasn't until the next century that we saw a slew of fantastic acts popping up left and right. With it came volume, new genres, and the inner workings of the guitar being blown wide open.

As opposed to the more straightforward rock guitar sounds that you had in decades past, these guitarists really made their instruments their own, with some of the most off-kilter sounds ever to come out of the amplifier speakers. Whereas Jimi Hendrix may have laid the groundwork for what the guitar hero would be in the '60s, this was the decade where we saw the arrival of the guitar god, which came in all different shapes and sizes. Instead of just hiding behind effects pedals, these six-stringed madmen made their trade by turning the guitar inside out, adding extensions, or just relying on their hands to do the real work.

Either way, these weird sounds coming from these bands weren't something we would soon forget. From studio technicians to some of the most technically gifted musicians the rock world has to offer, these guitarists have carved their own path in rock history.

Styx have had a bit of a complicated relationship in the rock sphere to say the least. While their core fanbase never abandoned them across over 4 decades, there has been just as much rancor thrown at Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung for the grating songwriting and almost manufactured sensibilities. Even though there were plenty of cheap shots made, did y'all just forget about J.Y. Young?

No matter which era of the band you come across, Young's guitar lines are some of the hardest sonic forces in the entire mix. Whether it's going through the pop hits like Come Sail Away or something like Blue Collar Man, Young is always the glue that holds everything together, with just the right mix of Zeppelin like blues and just the slightest dash of prog rock to make everything go down nicely.

Take something like Renegade for example. Yeah, the actual story of a runaway may sound pretty generic by rock standards...and then the track gives way to a solo that will leave you dumbfounded after you hear it. In addition to being a masterful guitarist, Young's touch behind the mic and in songwriting has given every Styx album a proper edge. Despite a lot of Styx albums having more than a lot of cheese on display, J.Y. is the one aspect of the music that has aged gracefully over the years.