I created this chart on a whim. It's based my own aesthetics and surely very
biased. If you are curious about my criteria, you can check out Piero Scaruffi's
website scaruffi.com. Once a friend told me that my way to approach aesthetics
in music is quite similar to Scaruffi’s. I checked his website, and I actually agreed
to at least 60% of his stuff. The major difference is that I’m more technical driven
in assessing rock music, or at least guitar players. Scaruffi also published a list of
best rock guitarists of all time https://www.scaruffi.com/music/guitar.html. I
found some parts quite intriguing. Yet it seemed that Scaruffi, with a deeper
root in jazz and classics, hadn't paid enough attention to rock guitar music,
especially the footage of some rare live performances (There’s no list of all-time
best rock performances on his website. It’s understandable since the internet
didn’t prevail in the last century.).
Brief interpretation of each quadrant:
Up: Graceful

Down: Cringe
Left: slow hands. Since some players are more rhythm-driven, this could be
also be righteously misinterpreted as non-shredders.
Right: shredders
Red Quadrant: LESS IS MORE, ingenuity, artsy.
Blue Quadrants: MORE IS MORE, virtuosity, craftsmanship, discipline.
Green Quadrant: LESS IS LESS, boring or simply unqualified as a professional
(harsh).
Purple Quadrant: MORE IS LESS, bullshitting, some not aware of their
tawdriness, some just technocrats.
A player’s influence or achievements is not a major criterion to assess his level of
grace. Instead, it largely comes from a purely aesthetic perspective. It is
definitely possible for a cringe player to exert a major influence on a graceful
player. Wise players can synthesise and refine what they were fed with. If you
tend to assess an artist by the sales of their artworks or popularity, my website
might be a hostile place for you.
Due to the limitation of space, many other guitarists that one idolises or loathes
might not be included. Some excellent guitar players like Dave Mustaine, James
Hetfield, and Billy Corgan are mainly in charge of rhythm and songwriting in
their groups. I’d rather not include them in this chart, since it primarily aims to
assess lead players or guitarists with a regular solo career. It will be better to
evaluate those rhythm and songwriting geniuses with another chart. On the
perfect centrist point lie Page and SRV, whose names are blurred by the axis.
Don take this chart seriously, peace.
Catalogue of Appendixes:
I: Brief remarks on each player from the chart by quadrant 2
II: Top 20 electric (mostly rock) guitarists of all time 13
III: Nominations for a few acoustic guitar GOATS 14
IV: Top 50 rock guitar solos of all time (live, recorded, or in other forms) 14
V: 5 must-listen guitar albums 18
Appendix I: Brief Remarks on Each Player from the Chart by
Quadrant
Red Quadrant
Jimi Hendrix






Prince





John Frusciante



Rory Gallagher




Frank Zappa



Eddie Hazel


Peter Green


Syd Barrett



Roy Buchanan


Tom Verlaine



Terje Rypdal


Adrian Belew

Robert Fripp


Omar Rodriguez


Hillel Slovak


Trey Anastasio

Jeff Beck

Lou Reed


Sonny Sharrock

Tony Iommi

Larry Carlton

J Mascis


David Gilmour


Marc Bolan

Andy Summers


Frank Marino


Mike McCready



Joe Walsh


Robben Ford


Carlos Santana


Johnny Marr

James Iha


Cory Wong


Joe Perry

Blue Quadrant
Allan Holdsworth



John McLaughlin



Shawn Lane





Jason Becker





Steve Vai


Marty Friedman


Paul Masvidal





Pat Metheney

Andy Timmons

Gary Moore

Eric Johnson



Frank Gambale



Buckethead






Alexi Laiho



John Petrucci




Guthrie Govan





Al Di Meola


Joe Satriani


Nuno Bettencourt


Ritchie Blackmore

Eddie Van Halen




Greg Howe



Plini



Randy Rhoads

Richie Kotzen



Nick Johnston


Tosin Abasi



Vinnie Moore


Alex Hutchings

Paul Gilbert

Mateus Asato


Dimebag Darrel

Alex Lifeson

Jack Gardiner


Mark Knopfler


Jerry Cantrell

Centrist Point
Jimmy Page


Stevie Ray Vaughan





Green Quadrant
Keiji Haino


Jack White


Keith Richards

Johnny Greenwood



















Angus Young


Richie Sambora

Kingfish




Kurt Cobain












Neil Young


Brian May


Eric Clapton




John Mayer




Billy Gibbons


Pete Townshend


George Harrison


Derek Trucks




Thurston Moore



Ace Frehley


RIP Ace
🕯
(written on 17 Oct, 2025)
The Edge




Purple Quadrant
John Skyes

Zakk Wylde


Allen Collins



Matteo Mancuso




Michael Romeo

Yngwie J Malmsteen






Jason Richardson

Slash






Hideto



George Lynch

Kirk Hammet



Synyster Gates


Andy James



Michael Angelo Batio

John 5





Tim Henson



Manuel Gardner Fernandes




Joe Bonamassa







Tom Morello





Philip Sayce



My guilty pleasures in the lower quadrants: The Edge (U2), Ace Frehley (Kiss), Zakk Wylde
(Black Label Society, Ozzy)







Appendix II: Top 20 Electric (mostly rock) Guitarists of All
Time


 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 group honour

 
 group honour
 
 
 
 
 
Appendix III: Nominations for a few Acoustic Guitar GOATS

















Appendix IV: Top 50 Rock Guitar Solos of All Time (live,
record, or in other forms)
 Something in the Water - Prince (1984-1985, sound check)[Thanks God, the sound checks
were recorded. With no need to please the audience, no desire for profit, and zero stage
fright, Prince let the best solo on earth flow. Prince didn’t find the music. Music found Prince.
It’s beyond expression. It’s natural.]




 Final Jam Chorzów - John Frusciante (2007, RHCP live in Chorzów, Poland
https://youtu.be/eo6KxjmE_BY?si=D-7DjVxsE2UP0DMo)[An autograph and biography of
John Frusciante. No one else can unfold such a tangible miniature of their own musical and
spiritual life in 13 minutes.]
 1988 Jam - TJ Helmerich (1988, video record uploaded by himself
https://youtu.be/C0vxPJFnxCo?si=2JiSUiWVwIo-Lwri)[The solo was way ahead of its
time. TJ started the second tapping revolution here. He showed the modern chav kids how
technical a proto-indie rock track could be while maintaining sentimental depth: euphoric
bloom and futuristic nostalgia at the same time.]
 Maggot Brain - Eddie Hazel (1971, title song in the album by Funkadelic)[Unfathomed
depth. Read the preface of Revolt Against the Modern Word by Julius Evola. Otherwise, you’ll
never understand the speech before the solo. If you don’t understand the speech, you are not
going to feel the solo. Sublime tradition. Hats off.]
 Hector’s House - Allan Holdsworth(1972, featured in Ian Carr’s Belladonna)[Young
Holdsworth’s anarchist orgy]
 [MONUMENT OF TAPPING]
[God heard.]
 [The title speaks for
itself.]
 Niandra Lades and Usually just a T-shirt[Peak
aesthetic of backward solo and Lo-Fi. The style was developed from Syd Barret, Captain
Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix, and probably Daniel Johnston.]
 
Truth in Shredding [It’s hard to decide which one’s better, so I list
both. The truth in shredding is in Truth in Shredding.]
 [Exemplary solo
of Allan unraveling the metaphysical and poetic space of mundane objects.]
 Powers of Ten: Live!
 

 Another Green World
 Burnt Weeney Sandwich
 Rainbow Bridge
 Rust in Peace

 Alien Love Secrets
Villanova Junction
 Adventure 
 Focus expanded edition
 One Size Fitz All
 
 

 Marquee Moon 
 
 
 

 Niandra Lades and Usually just a T-shirt[multi-track
harmony of sorrow and nostalgia]
 

 
 

 Top Priority
 Sand
 
[John Petrucci said Meola was his
hero during college. Such solos surely inspired those iconic runs in Petrucci’s playing.]
 Images and Words
 
Pike 65
 Rare Trax
 

 
 
 
 Perpetual Burn
 
 

 Real Illusions: Reflections
 The Alchemists
Erotic Cakes
 Follow the Reaper
 Rust in Peace

 Electric Ladyland
Honourable Mentions:





Perpetual Burn
Crime Slunk Scene
Passion And Warfare
Jazzpunk

3+3
You’re Living All Over Me

Game, Dames And Guitar Thangs, 

Focus
Introspection
Guitar


Тотал II
Appendix V: 5 Must-listen Guitar Albums
 Trout Mask Replica
 Niandra Lades and Usually just a T-shirtEstrus EP
Mascara
 FocusUroboric Forms: The Complete Demo Recordings
Focus

 Sand
 Fare Forward Voyagers (Soldier’s Choice)
Thanks for Reading and I hope you have checked out all I listed here.
