100 GREAT GUITARISTS WHO WEREN’T ON ROLLING STONE’S 100 GREATEST GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME LIST

“Making my own list, I found you can find a hundred other great or profoundly influential guitarists without breaking a sweat.”  –Tim Brookes

Laurindo Almeida

Sergio and Odair and Badi Assad

Chet Atkins

George Barnes

Arthur Blake

Agustin Barrios Mangore

Pierre Bensusan

Vahdah Olcott Bickford

Julian Bream

Lenny Breau

Junior Brown

Leo Brouwer

Charlie Byrd

Maybelle Carter

Martin Carthy

Tracy Chapman

Charlie Christian

Francisco Corbetta

Robert Cray

Reverend Gary Davis

Alex De Grassi

Paco De Lucia

Ani DiFranco

Jerry Douglas

Bob Dunn

Eddie Durham

Duane Eddy

Herb Ellis

Tommy Emmanuel

Bus Etri

Tal Farlow

Jean “Matlo” Ferret

Eliot Fisk

William Foden

Stephen Foster

Bill Frisell

Diego de Gastor

Slim Gaillard

Freddie Greene

Mauro Giuliani

Davy Graham

Tiny Grimes

Woody Guthrie

Jim Hall

Michael Hedges

Justin Holland

John Lee Hooker

Sol Hoopi’i

Eddie “Son” House

Sharon Isbin

Lemon Jefferson

Tom Jobim

Lonnie Johnson

Stanley Jordan

Laurence Juber

Phil Keaggy

Joseph Kekuku

Barney Kessel

Albert King

Freddie King

Carl Kress

Fapy Lafertin

Bireli Lagrene

Nappy Lamare

Eddie Lang

Leadbelly

Roy Rogers

David Russell

Sabicas

Joe Satriani

John Scofield

Bola Sete

Martin Simpson

Roy Smeck

Fernando Sor

Willie Smith

Francisco Tarrega

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Merle Travis

George Van Eps

Dave Van Ronk

Ben Verdery

Ana Vidovic

Frank Vignola

Joe Walsh

Muddy Waters

Doc Watson

Jimmy Webster

Let me count . . . Okay, so that’s more than a hundred.

Of course, this list is largely bogus, too. Where are the contemporary country Fender players? The great Fado guitarists? (Fado is a kind of Portuguese blues–and in case you are wondering what Portuguese music has to do with a history of the guitar in America, WJFD-FM in New Bedford, Massachusetts, broadcasts 50,000 watts entirely in Portuguese.) Where are the great Russian seven-string players of the early twentieth century? The emerging African guitarists?

Wait a moment. I can’t believe I forgot John Williams. And Waylon Jennings. And Jack Marshall. Goran Sollscher. Stefan Grossman. Duck Baker. Cindy Cashdollar. John James, the Welsh ragtime wizard…

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In addition to books on asthma, hospice, SARS, and hitchhiking, our friend Tim wrote Guitar: An American Life.