Keith Richards officially the 4th Greatest Guitar Player of all time!!

He plays backup for Lady Gaga.

I missed my vote, in no particular order:

Chet Atkins
Merle Travis
Roy Clark
Tommy Emanuel

these cats knew what chords actually were, lol !!!

here's a lil Tommy



72 different chords in that rendition !!!

Number 72

Keith Richards would not be the 4th best guitar player in a lot of bars that I have been in... much less of all time. :|

Its relative to what you like.

To me. Randy Rhodes is the best. Will always be the best.

I like a lot of guitarists on that list. But not a one of them in my mind is better than Rhodes.

Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth round out the top three in my book. Uli has a jazz feel about his playing thats spooky in a metal format sometims, LIsten to "The sails of Charon" or "Hellcat" for examples.

Duos: K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton are tops. They play off each other so naturally its amazing to watch em live. Love these boys. Maidens guitarist are prolly second in my books, Dave Murray looks bored out there sometimes he makes it look so easy. Kiss guitarists, Ace and Paul, awesome again. Great duos for heavy metal.

No ones gunna ever get the list right. Just enjoy em all. They all rock, some better then others, but even Keith Richards rocks. Just remember that if you like it, it rocks. And if its too loud, your too old.

that list is bogus...this guy has to be at the very least top 10.

I always find it sad that few people consider Eric Johnson when it comes to "top guitar players."

I think he's the best guitarist I've ever seen personally... when it comes to technical ability.

Now if you're considering influence to the masses... that's another issue because not many people outside of the music-nerds know who Eric Johnson is.

I've heard EJ play things live that Hendrix needed a recording studio to create - it's freaky!

This list from Rolling Stone is really only considering rock guitarists, obviously.

I don't care about Eric or Andre Segovia, and Steve Vai is just horrible.

agreed^

Keef is more akin to Johnny Marr. His guitar playing was more composition oriented.

Hendrix was like an abstract painter. He altered your consciousness. He was a drug.

The problem with Eric Johnson is he was too adult contemporary. His music was too safe. Too tame. Too soft.

His best songs were a little less flashy. More raw. Song for George is top notch. Trademark is his best composition. Both songs rely less on speedy gimmicks.

I've met him once, seen him live 3 times.

I would love to produce his next album. It'll be like Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash.

When Frusciante was doing drugs, he was a genius. Good thing he didn't overdose.

Keith wrote the intro to songs that put him over the top not just as a mere player....but key holder to the Jagger-Richards song making engine.

Nobody had a bigger impact.