One of our favorite songwriters, Dan Sartain, graciously agreed to provide us with the following list of favorite [electric] guitar players, including his reasoning behind each choice. If you are unfamiliar with Dan, we strongly recommend checking out any of the albums listed at the end of this post.
The Best Electric Guitar Players According to Dan Sartain




Dictatorships work in bands sometimes. Without Johnny Ramone’s discipline and clear vision, the Ramones would never have made it out of the basement. What a lot of people don’t understand about the Ramones is how important the right hand is to their sound. All downstrokes, all 16th notes, all the time. People make fun of how easy it is to play Ramones’ songs. Those people are only thinking of the left hand, they refuse to acknowledge the hard work of the right. Those same people couldn’t last in the Ramones for longer than a verse and a chorus before they’d have to come up for air.
Those are who I think are the most influential and important guitar players of all time. There are so many more I love and respect, but those are the ones I think were real game changers. Men who changed the world for (mostly) better. Everything in rock and roll that I hold dear can be traced back to these men.
My other personal favorites are John Reis, Bob 1, and Glen Campbell.
Seriously though, Glen Campbell was a badass and doesn’t get the recognition he deserves as a guitarist. His solos on Wichita Lineman and Galveston are my favorite guitar solos of all time. Just look at the motherfucker:
Click on any of the following albums for more information: