40 GUITARISTS WHO CHANGED OUR WORLD SINCE 1980

But we’ve also covered those seminal, magical, groundbreaking moments that made us realize our world would never be the same again.

Examples? The birth of new musical genres and subgenres, the conjuring of savory new tones and mind-melting techniques, the release of game-changing songs, albums and music videos, the resurgence of long-dormant disciplines and so much more.

With GW’s ongoing 40th-anniversary celebration in the air, we decided to sit back, put our feet up and reflect on the past four decades — particularly in the context of the guitarists who’ve made an undeniable impact on our universe. We made a list of around 85 names, added a few more, and — in our efforts to narrow them down to an even 40 — put it to a vote on GuitarWorld.com. Below you’ll find the results of that poll, with one or two surprises thrown in, not to mention several “in the style of” licks with audio. There are so many other names that could be on this list — Shawn Lane, Danny Gatton, Lita Ford, Vernon Reid, Carrie Brownstein, Chuck Schuldiner and Gary Moore come to mind, and that’s just for starters — but we humbly offer up these 40 (Actually, as a nod to our old GuitarWorld.com “bonus” lists, we’ve promised you 40 but given you 42!). Be aware that these guitarists are not ranked or presented in any particular order; this list is simply a celebration of talent, impact and/or influence.

As always, ENJOY!

EDDIE VAN HALEN

WHAT HE DID: Like Jimi Hendrix a decade earlier, Van Halen caused guitarists to look at their instruments in an entirely new way, and, arguably, no single guitarist has had such universal impact since.

“Playing together without having to compromise our sound was a dream come true” — Eddie Van Halen

“ERUPTION” CHANGED EVERYTHING. Sure, it clocked in at less than two minutes and never came close to being a hit. As presented on the first Van Halen album in 1978, it seemed like an instrumental introduction to “You Really Got Me,” the band’s debut single. But it was obvious to anyone who heard the Eddie Van Halen masterpiece that the world of rock guitar had changed dramatically. As author Robert Walser wrote in his 1993 scholarly examination of heavy metal, Running with the Devil: “In 1978, Edward Van Halen redefined virtuosity on the electric guitar.” Frank Zappa put it more simply: he thanked Van Halen for “reinventing the electric guitar.” That was 42 years ago, and guitarists are still reeling from the impact. Before Van Halen, guitar heroes were known mainly for their mastery of the blues and ability to pull a rich, vocal tone from their axes. Some, such as Jimi Hendrix or Jeff Beck, were worshipped for their mastery of feedback and effects; others, particularly fusion players such as John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, were celebrated for their speed.

With “Eruption,” Eddie Van Halen set new standards on both fronts. He not only ripped through demisemiquavers with a speed and clarity that made McLaughlin seem splay-fingered; his mastery of feedback, tremolo and pinged harmonics made his guitar sound as fluid as a synthesizer. And when he used his two-handed hammer-on/pull-off technique to unleash a cascade of sextuplets at the end of his solos, you could almost hear jaws drop in amazement. Nobody had ever done that on a guitar before. No one even imagined it could be done.

Edward knew he was onto something big even before his band made its recorded debut. “I was playing this way when we were playing clubs, and I remember what I used to do. I’d turn around,” he said in 1982. “I didn’t want anyone to see how I was doing it.” Wise move. Edward’s two-handed style was the most widely imitated guitar technique of the Eighties — especially after his quicksilver guest solo put the snarl into Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” in 1982. Simply put, his playing was the foundation for shred.

TOM MORELLO

WHAT HE DID: In the Seventies, Jimmy Page was the most influential guitarist in hard rock. In the Eighties, Eddie Van Halen was the most imitated stylist. And in the Nineties, it was Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello who rewrote the Book of Hot Licks.

“When Rage Against the Machine formed, I was basically the band’s DJ, so it fell on me to create the textures and soundscapes found in kinds of music that traditionally don’t even have a guitar player, and that got me thinking outside the box” — Tom Morello

THEY CAME OUT of L.A. at the dawn of the Nineties. The aptly named Rage Against the Machine combined the ghetto anger of hip-hop and the testosterone fury of metal with a keenly felt political mandate to champion the oppressed and fight the abuses of privilege and power. It was a new and exciting concept back then, and what really drove the point home was the fiercely disruptive guitar work of a Harvard educated young Marxist named Tom Morello. The napalm cry of exploding bombs, the jagged rhythm of strafing machine guns — Morello wrought seemingly impossible sounds with his ax and became an innovative and radical force in metal.

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN

WHAT HE DID: From the moment his debut, Texas Flood, hit the streets in 1983, Vaughan made the world safe again for old-school blues-based rock while also taking the music he loved into the future. His impassioned yet highly technical style, which has been often imitated but never duplicated (although Jesse Davey does a damn fine job), altered the perceived parameters of virtuoso guitar playing.

“I was gifted with music for a reason, and it wasn’t just to get famous” — Stevie Ray Vaughan

WHEN STEVIE RAY Vaughan emerged from deep in the heart of Texas waving his battered Strat, it was hardly the best of times for gritty roadhouse rock and blues. The year was 1983 and Vaughan’s debut album, Texas Flood, was released into a musical world that seemed eager to leave its past behind. Many thought guitars passé, with futurists proclaiming that the venerable instrument would be permanently transformed by MIDI applications and replaced as rock’s dominant instrument by the synthesizer. Even many guitar loyalists thought the old, classic sounds were no longer adequate, transforming their instruments by running them through racks of elaborate, high-tech gear to create heavily processed sounds. Odd-shaped, brightly colored axes were all the rage.

Stevie Ray, on the other hand, was profoundly old-school in almost every respect. His gear seemed obsolete — just his trusty old Stratocaster, a couple of archaic stomp boxes and a crusty old tube amp. When he plugged in and started wailing, he was backed only by Double Trouble, his hard-driving, two-man rhythm section of Tommy Shannon and Chris “Whipper” Layton. Their moves weren’t choreographed and they certainly never wore the mascara or sculpted coiffures favored by the burgeoning MTV. They were just three guys playing old-fashioned, rocked-up blues with passion and skill.

A reasonable betting man would have wagered his house that Vaughan would fail to register on the popular culture’s radar screen. But the normal rules of engagement clearly did not apply to this 29-year-old guitar firebrand. blew down the locked, barricaded doors of popular music and proclaimed in no uncertain terms that blues could actually be a potent commercial force. The album not only quickly put the unknown Texan on the map, but it also signaled that uncompromised, from-the-gut guitar music was not dead