10 Greatest Rhythm Guitarists In Rock Music History

It's hard to really quantify anything that Keith Richards has done to be underrated by any stretch. Being part of one of the most successful songwriting teams in the world doesn't hurt all that much, and Keef has written his fair share of great songs for the Stones when the time calls for it. For all of the great licks that he's done though, he's more than just the slacker that got appointed to permanent rhythm guitar.

Across the Stones' catalog, almost every single piece of darkness that comes from them has been attributed to Keith's playing, like coming up with the main riff to Paint It Black or creating the essence of what a rock and roll riff is supposed to sound like on Satisfaction. Strumming only open chords wasn't going to get him very far, and the real magic came when Keef started to mess around with different tunings, almost pioneering open G by himself and playing a guitar with 5 strings to create a new style that was all his own.

Even though the chords that he was playing were still fairly simple by music theory standards, you never forget the kind of foreboding tone that comes out of songs like Gimme Shelter, with the guitars practically creating a haze around your head as the rest of the track unfolds. Keith might not even think of himself as one of the greatest guitar players in the world, but somewhere in between writing all of these classic lines, he's found the key to rock and roll immortality.