When people discuss rock guitar greats, the names most commonly at or near the top of the list are Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Angus Young, Slash, John Frusciante, Nels Cline, Keith Richards, Mike Campbell, George Harrison, Randy Rhoads, Tony Iommi, etc.
Though men often dominate the lists, don’t forget Nancy Wilson, St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Tanya Donelly, Kim Deal, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett, Brittany Howard, Bonnie Raitt, Madison Cunningham, or Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein.
This list highlights four unsung guitar greats. Their names may be well known but these players are sometimes overlooked when discussing the top shredders. The guitarists below come from varying schools of playing and while some shred in a traditional manner, others rose to prominence as anti-guitar heroes.
Let me put you in the picture, let me show you what I mean.
PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey’s riffs are better than yours. Harvey exists in a space entirely on her own—an enigma. “Big Exit,” which opens her brilliant album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, is the kind of driving riff to send Glastonbury’s flag-waving kids into a frenzy. Or check out the doom grunge of “This Is Love.”
Engineer Steve Albini recorded Harvey’s excellent Rid of Me, and the title track is a lesson in whisper quiet exploding into gloriously raw alt-rage. Want something infectiously groovy? Check out “The Wind.”
John Squire (The Stone Roses)
You don’t get to Oasis or Kasabian without The Stone Roses. Manchester, England’s baggy heroes also had a guitar virtuoso lurking beneath the bucket hats. On The Stone Roses’ groundbreaking debut, John Squire shrouds the anthem “I Wanna Be Adored” in dreamy soundscapes. The album closes with “Fool’s Gold,” a 10-minute jam that previews the throwback blues Squire later became famous for.
When the Roses returned on Second Coming, Squire created one of his generation’s most superb riffs, “Love Spreads.” His slinky Jimmy Page-adjacent playing continued with The Seahorses and most recently with Liam Gallagher.
John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees)
Listen to Jonny Greenwood’s ascending scale on Radiohead’s “Just” from The Bends. Next, listen to Magazine’s “Shot by Both Sides” and you’ll see why Greenwood cites John McGeoch as an influence. But it’s not only the Radiohead guitarist who has praised McGeoch’s textural playing.
John Frusciante, The Edge, Johnny Marr, Robert Smith, and Dave Navarro all owe a great debt to McGeoch’s post-punk virtuosity. Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound” is McGeoch at his peak. Also, check out “Rhythm of Cruelty” by Magazine.
Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac)
Peter Green’s “out of phase” Gibson Les Paul changed the sound of rock and roll. There are varying accounts of how Green’s guitar pickup was installed backward, creating his iconic sound. Regardless of how it happened, the “mistake” became an integral part of British blues revivalism. Green founded Fleetwood Mac after playing with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. His playing has influenced Jimmy Page, Noel Gallagher, Joe Perry, and Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes, among many others.
Green’s instrumental “Albatross” became Fleetwood Mac’s first No. 1 single in the UK. “Black Magic Woman” became a defining song for Carlos Santana, but it’s a Green composition. Also, Fleetwood Mac’s two-part opus “Oh Well” is a good place to begin for Peter Green newbies. Then, once initiated, you will be ready to absorb “The Green Manalishi (with the Two Prong Crown).”
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