Guitar Gods: The Top 10

10. Mike Mushok (Staind)

Mike Mushok is one talented man! He makes it on to my list of top ten favorite guitarists because of the unique style he brings to not only Staind but to music, in general. The delays, riffs and choice of chords he uses on such songs like Mudshovel, So Far Away, Believe, Price To Play and Schizophrenic Conversations are just brilliant.

Best use of the Guitar: "So Far Away"

9. Aaron North (Nine Inch Nails & Jubilee)

Mr. North, here, is another guitar genius. The man litterally turned the established sound of Nine Inch Nails on it's head and ushered in a new era of the band. His combination of drops and constant delays (As heard in: The Hand That Feeds, Capital G and Non-entity) are another example of unique creativity and pure genius. He doesn't use many ringing riffs with his guitar (As he did in: Everyday Is Exactly The Same and The Good Soldier) but when he does, it never fails to be of epic proportions.

Best use of the Guitar: "Capital G"

8. Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)

I can't wait until Green Day comes out with another album but from what I've heard of their pasted work, Billie Joe's creative melodies on the guitar are never a failure. He's the perfect example of how to manipulate a song. Example: If you were to strip down the lyrics, drums and bass from Welcome to Paradise or Basket Case, you'd have a perfect instrumental song on the guitar and that's a rare thing to come across.

Best use of the Guitar: "Wake Me Up When September Ends"

7. Jonny Buckland (Coldplay)

Now, this man is a true pro. Coldplay is alot of things but without Buckland, they're just another ordinary band. He focuses his guitar melodies more on the higher strings and deeper chords (In competition with Chris Martin's Piano as everyone knows by now) and I personally think that makes the music that much more interesting. I mean, sure, you can listen to the piano notes of Clocks for a thoasand years all by itself but without Buckland on guitar, that trademark song wouldn't have been nearly as much of a success. His undertones and abrupt ringing riffs are his personal trademark on the songs Speed of Sound, Yellow, Clocks, Viva La Vida, The Scientist and Fix You.

Best use of the Guitar: "Fix You"

6. Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails & Guns N' Roses)

Besides Trent Reznor's beautiful and relatable lyrics, Finck is the only reason why I constantly listen to the first live NIN album, "And All That Could Have Been". His re-arrangement of the strings for the live version of NIN's fantastic instrumental, Just Like You Imagined was a work of PURE BRILLIANCE. His live work with Guns N' Roses has also been a great pleasure to me. He can pick a song up or take it down, mood-wise when he chooses to, whenever he uses his trademark two-chord combination like he did in the live version of "Only," on the Lights In The Sky Over North America tour.

Best use of the Guitar: "Somewhat Damaged"

5. Jack White (The White Stripes)

A true gift to the music industry, Jack White has proven himself to be a vital musical artist. He can give a song not just one melody but two or three, as he did in "You Don't Know What Love Is". His style of guitar playing is remeniscant of early Rock and old school Blues, like Jimmy Page. Also, his live electric version of "Seven Nation Army" was like nothing I'd ever heard.

Best use of the Guitar: "Icky Thump"

4. Slash (Velvet Revolver & Guns N' Roses)

Slash was smart to choose his stage name, as so, since he trully does slash away most of his competition. I can't remember a Guns N' Roses or Velvet Revolver song that wasn't amped up by Slash's style of guitar picking or his genius way of matching the song's lyrics to his sound. Another professional at dropping and picking up chords (as well as everything else), Slash has proved himself to be a master at nearly all forms of guitar playing.

Best use of the Guitar: "Set Me Free"

3. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)

The Great Jimmy Page! Seriously, his name speaks for itself. This man has lead a nearly fifty year career and of course, he's known for his work in, well y'know....Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page lead the way to open experimentation with the guitar and he was in my opinion the very first guitarist to ever create his own trademark sound (Something very few Guitarists can do). His style of picking is one of the most original creations in the history of music and his style of delays and elongated chord dropping is still a concept that's in the process of being picked up by many guitarists all around the world.

Best use of the Guitar: "Houses Of The Holy"

2. The Edge (U2)

The Edge is something out of this world! He created the template of using ringing riffs and was the first person to play air guitar strings on a electric guitar (In the song, "Electrical Storm"). From his first years as a amateur guitarist, on the album "Boy," armed with only a '76 fender, Edge was at a level of guitaring that even modern pros, today could only dream of. His sound is the primary sound of U2 and it's always evolved and yet weirdly enough, stayed the same for thirty years. His style of guitaring is one that can only be explained in three simple words: Progressive and Uncanny. One thing that can be said about The Edge is that he knows where and how to approach his music. One more thing to be said about him is that he always knows exactly where to take a song with his sound. I mean, if you listen to Sunday Bloody Sunday which was recorded in the mid-1980's and afterwards listen to my favorite song ever, Beautiful Day which was recorded in the early 2000's, you'd be able to witness his experimentation and will to progress his music to a unchartered territory over the course of a very large time period. In my eyes and to my ears, The Edge is like a chameleon. He's the same at heart but his style changes with it's environment. If you're looking for a true "Guitar Hero," then this is your man.

Best use of the Guitar: "The Fly"

1. Jimi Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix Experience)

Some things are too hard to exsplain in words, no matter how good of a writer someone may be and Jimi Hendrix's guitaring is one of those things that are too hard to be exsplained but I'll try my best to do it. It's seriously hard to come up with the words for such smart guitaring but the only thing that I can really say about Hendrix is that....he can't be touched. He was able to execute anything on the guitar and he was simply, without argument, the very best. Ever. Before his death at the age of twenty seven, he mastered every form of guitaring and like I said, he couldn't and still can't be touched. He was the best.

Best use of Guitar: Every song he'd ever played.