Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (/vaɪ/; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa and played in Zappa’s band from 1980 to 1983. He…
Buddy Guy George “Buddy” Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues and has influenced guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr., and John Mayer. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters…
Carl Kress Kress started on piano before picking up the banjo. Beginning in 1926, he played guitar during his brief time as a member of Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. For most of his career, he was a studio musician and sideman buried in large orchestras, and his name was little known. His work in the 1920s…
Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian guitarist, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter and last constant member of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. Angus Young is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and his own version of Chuck Berry’s duckwalk. Young was ranked 24th…
Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; 21 July 1948), commonly known by his stage name Cat Stevens, and later Yusuf, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, in his later career, Islamic music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in…
Charlie Christian If you have to name one person as being the originator of the modern jazz guitar style, it would have to be Charlie Christian. He was also the first musician to popularize the electric guitar as a lead instrument. Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure…