My top 5 Blues Guitar players.

There are so many great blues guitar players that it’s hard to choose just 5, but I’m gonna try.  This list is going to be based on purely blues.  Not blues rock, but blues guitar players only.  I know the line is hard to draw, but I don’t want to include all the rockers in this list such as Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix.

With that said here’s my top 5 Blues Guitar Players.

  1. Robert Johnson Why? Because he is “The King of the Delta  Blues Singers”  Yes, the blues would not be what it is today without Robert Johnson.  His legendary recordings have been rerecorded and reworked by many high profile guitarists including Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton.  All those classics such as, “Crossroads”, “Traveling Riverside Blues”, “Malted Milk”, and “Walking Blues”, were all written by Robert.  If you’re not familiar with Robert Johnson’s work, get familiar and start learning what the blues is really about.
  2. Albert King  SRV’s biggest influence had a stinging vibrato, and guitar licks that hit you over the head like a ton of bricks.  Just check out “Born under a Bad Sign” if you want to hear where Clapton got some of his licks from.
  3. BB King  What more can you say?  You can’t say Blues guitar without thinking about BB King.  His style has been imitated by every guitarist in every genre.  His vibrato and phrasing are his trademarks.  He can say more with one note than any other blues guitarist I’ve heard.   His style is instantly recognizable.  One guitar lick from him and you know it’s the King!
  4. Buddy Guy  He was doing the Hendrix thing before Jimi ever came along.  Playing with feedback, wild solos, and just a total chaotic blues guitar style that dripped with the blues.  Buddy often said, “I’ve played louder than any metal band out there”.  He has a killer voice as well and his performances are very entertaining.  Simply put, Buddy is a living legend.
  5. Elmore James  If there was no Elmore, then there would have been no Duane Allman.  Elmore’s slide classics such as “Dust my Blues”, and “Blues Before Sunrise” have defined him as an innovator of the electric slide guitar.  The Allman Brothers Band covered many of Elmore’s legendary hits such as “Done Somebody Wrong”, and “One Way Out”.  Duane was totally fascinated by Elmore James, and with good reason.  His songs are what electric slide blues is all about.  Anyone interested in learning slide guitar needs to check out his legendary blues guitar style.

So there’s my top 5 blues guitarists.  I know there are many other awesome blues guitarist out there, so that’s why I wanna know what YOUR top 5 blues guitar players are.  Leave a comment and tell the world your opinion.

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John W Tuggle
John W Tuggle

I love teaching the blues and have created numerous training courses and lessons to learn how to play like BB King, Clapton, Duane Allman, and more. Get Started Now

22 Comments

  1. Hi John,

    Thanks for posting the great list. I think it covers amazing ground. Here are a few more to add:
    1. Otis Rush – Brilliant vibrato and string bending, mournful, melodic solos and a fantastic singing voice. He is a deeply soulful player. Where would Peter Green and Jimmy Page be without Otis Rush?
    2. Freddie King – A huge man with a huge tone! His instrumental work inspired countless players. Although best known for his instrumental work, Freddie was also a great singer. He was a strong influence on Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray.
    3. T-Bone Walker – To me, T-Bone Walker is the father of electric blues guitar. His style was very sophisticated. He incorporated elements of jazz into his blues playing that set the standard for countless players who followed. His solo phrasing was beautiful. He is best known for writing the blues standard “Stormy Monday.”
    4. Peter Green – He was overshadowed by Clapton as a blues player, but many (me included) consider him to be a superior blues guitarist. His brilliant playing with John Mayall led to the formation of Fleetwood Mac. He has written several standards, including “Black Magic Woman,” “Albatross,” and “Oh Well.” His purity of tone, sad phrasing and vibrato drip with emotion. A tragic genius.
    5. Ronnie Earl – Ronnie Earl has it all…phrasing, tone, emotion, superb bending and vibrato…He is a stunning player. He manages to sound both old school and modern at the same time. Although capable of tremendous technical virtuosity, he emphasizes economy of phrasing over speed and flash. He deserves a much wider audience.

  2. 1. Albert Collins the “Master of the Telecaster” Hard BITING licks, could make one note say it all 2. John Lee Hooker” The HOOK” ’nuff said

  3. Not necessarilly the 5 greatest but 5 of my favourites:-

    Not in any particular order

    1. BB King

    2. Eric Clapton

    3. Peter Green (I could never get bored with his solos)

    4. Michael Bloomfield

    5. Robben Ford

    If I could put another 2, it would be SRV and Johnny Winter.

  4. Thanks for the comments guys. There’s so many out there it’s hard to narrow it down.

    @Brian Diller Otis rush is awesome. He has a killer bending and vibrato style for sure.
    @Tony Symon Yes, Albert Collins is the master. Frosty is such a cool instrumental.
    @KH Peter Green is great. Robben Ford has some real tasty licks as well.

    Thanks!

  5. how can people make a blues list and name “white musicians”?it took hundreds of inventive blues players(blacks)from way back to make the “white man” play what he plays.
    White players have been important for the development of rock.but that’s not blues.
    Jimi Hendrix is a much better blues player than all those white players but I would never name him on a list like this.

    my list.
    1. t-bone walker.(solos as we know them today)
    2. albert collins(original phrasings)
    3. clarence “gatemouth brown”(unique sound)
    4.hubert sumlin(master)
    5.buddy guy(inventor of wild playing)

  6. @Ger I originally wrote a top 10 and the next 4 on my list were identical to your first 4. I saw Gatemouth Brown at the HOB in New Orleans. A friend of mine’s uncle played Bass for him for a while. This was about 13 yrs ago. Needless to say Gatemouth was very good! He totally blew me away. No pick. Just pure attitude.
    Great guitarist.

  7. Ronnie Earl is mentioned in this thread but i am surprised he not mentioned more. Tone, licks etc. A master IMO.I bought one of his courses one time and earned a lot. Don’t forget about Magic Sam.

  8. My personal list, top 5, not in a strict order…all 5 are greats in my book.

    1. Albert King – Bends anyone? Best of all worlds kind of guy…
    2. Albert Collins – Unique style, nasty bite, original licks
    3. Freddie King – The least popular of the 3 kings, but definitely in the same room with those guys. Tone monster. Amp settings – 10, 10, 10…heh…
    4. BB King – hard to have a conversation about blues guitar and not include BB. Melodic lines, sweet vibrato. The less is more standard applies here.
    5. SRV – All 4 guys above would hail SRV as in a class by himself. It’s dishonest not to recognize SRV as a great.

    Honorable mentions – T-Bone, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy (in his prime), Robert Cray, Hendrix, Muddy,

    My criteria wasn’t really who could play the best licks, it’s more based on the complete package of their playing, uniqueness to the genre and overall impact/influence in the genre.

  9. Some great picks everyone… let me throw in some of my own and why… plus a few comments.

    There’s no “greatest” blues guitar when you get down to it, only different flavors. The music has been around so long now that you could easily pick a 100 wonderful stylists and still leave good people out. Some of the acoustic blues artists were simply amazing, if you have heard Blind Blake, you know what I mean!
    The thing about blues (and jazz and gospel) is that being a virtuoso is not the be-all and end-all; having a personal voice and style is as important if not more so.
    Lastly, the blues was invented by black people but it belongs to everyone now, so no remarks about whites or others not being able to play it. That’s bull, about as valid as the people who claim no one save blacks can play jazz.

    OK, these picks aren’t in order of historical importance or anything like that. Just my desert island picks for tasty electric blues playing.

    1. Albert Collins – I saw him live many times, and his late 1970s/early 1980s band was unbelieveably tight, funky yet downhome at the same time. Albert’s style was so unique, you just knew it was him when he started playing. And you haven’t lived til you see Albert and his 100′ long cable serenade passers-by on the sidewalk outside.

    2. T-Bone Walker – I love B.B. King down to his toes, but w/o T-Bone, there’s no B.B. King. The jazzy, swinging, big-band side of blues. B.B. admits that he tried very hard to cope T-Bone’s sound early in his career, got close, but couldn’t quite nail it. Course, he went on to found his own style and that amazing vibrato of his.

    3. Freddie King – he and Albert Collins were the kings of the blues instrumental, in my book.

    4. Duane Allman – This guy is the slide maestro far as I am concerned. Maybe his stuff with the Allman Brothers was blues-rock, but his sessions at Muscle Shoals proved his blues and R&B mettle. As much as I love EC, Duane gets the nod as a pure bluesman. Close runners-up on slide: Earl Hooker, Bonnie Raitt.

    5. SRV – what can you say? The man was a giant, and all the greats said so, from Clapton on down.

    Also, Joe Louis Walker, Robert Cray, johnny Copeland, Anson Funderburg, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Otis Rush, Cornell Dupree.

  10. Here are some blues guitar albums I wish more people knew about…

    1. Cornell Dupree – “Teasin'” – This is perhaps the most complete fusion of R&B and blues I’ve ever heard. The band is an all-star collection of top blues, jazz and R&B vets and the cream of the NYC session jazz/R&B session scene, many of whom had played with Ray Charles, Aretha, King Curtis, and others. Dupree shines throughout, as do all of the other players, especially David “Fathead” Newman – whose sax solos are pure blues/R&B heaven. It was released around 1974 on Atlantic.

    2. Albert Collins – any of his early Alligator Records output, “Frostbite,” “Frozen Alive” and especially “Ice Pickin'” Some of the classic songs off these records include “Mastercard,” “If You Love Me Like You Say,” “Brick,” “The Highway is Like a Woman,” “Give Me My Blues,” “Cold Cuts,” “Snowed In,” and many more. The Grammy-winning “Showdown!” with Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland is a masterful effort also.

    3. T-Bone Walker “Classics of the Modern Blues” on Blue Note. These are reissues of sessions done for Imperial in L.A. in the late 1940s/early 1950s. T-Bone was at his peak during this time.

    4. Freddie King “Hide and Dance Away with Freddie King” – contains all of his legendary instrumentals, plus some wonderful vocal numbers, too.

    5. Kenny Burrell is a mainstream jazz artist, a hard-core bopper as well as interpreter of standards by Duke Ellington and others – but listen to his late-night blues feeling on any of the old Prestige or Blue Note recordings from the 1950s.
    “Chitlins Con Carne” and other bluesy numbers influenced countless blues and jazz guitarists. Ditto Grant Green from his golden era around the same time.

    6. If you haven’t heard Wes Montgomery play the blues, you owe it to yourself to check him out. The word “genius” gets thrown around a lot in music, too much so, but Wes is in the pantheon of greatest masters of jazz (and blues) on any instrument. Check his playing on “Sundown,” a big-band jazz-blues number; on piano is the legendary Herbie Hancock. It was done about 1965-66, around that time.

  11. i cant believe that nobody or just a couple of yous didnt mention eric clapton, possibly the best blues guitarist in the world.there are a ton of great guitarist but there is noone who has had a career or has done more with a guitar than sir eric clapton. in my opinion he is the greatest guitarist on this planet.

  12. There are obviously many blues greats, with many different styles, but I find it odd that nobody mentioned Lowell George or Duane Allman. Also, Bonnie Raitt, who learned from greats like Mississippi Fred McDowell so very, very long ago. But then, so many guys tend to overlook her even though she’s a force to be reckoned with. And Clapton, but that’s a given.

  13. you have to break down blues guitarist by the times they played, original blues guitarist and modern guitarists that cam after they paved the way its only fair and logical

    original top 5
    1. Buddy Guy he has it all, the guitar licks and the blues voice !!
    2. Albert King he made guitar bends, vibrato legendary !!
    3. Robert Johnson the songs he wrote showed his greatness !!
    4. Albert Collins his intense guitar playing !!
    5. t bone Walker just total blues from riffs to chords !!

    Modern Guitarists
    1. Stevie Ray Vaughan Greatest guitarist!! Great Vocals!! PURE BLUES!!! he learned from all and made it his own !!!!!!!!! put 200% of his soul into every note,, chord,, riff !!!

    2. Buddy Guy yes I have him here too !! have you heard Skin Deep ?? he is STILL one of the greats!!! Glad I’ve seen him

    3. George Thorogood He puts his heart & blues soul into his playing!! a style all his own!!

    4. Eric Clapton I’m not a fan of him,, but I recognize his playing and blues background for all these years!!

    5. Joe Bonamassa can’t win all those awards without doing something right !!! great playing ,, solo’s just flat out blues playing !!

  14. Its a shame you didn’t put SRV in the list!
    If this was a list of “original” blues men, then I would agree! But this is a list of GREATEST blues guitarists. And by their own admission, He blew away all the guys you have listed here.
    There is just no excuse to keep him off the list.

  15. It’s sad none of you know who influenced any of the great rock blues artists named. Travesty. Now go check out Roy Buchanan.

  16. Straight top 5 blues guitarists. That rules out my Paul Kossoff, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric
    Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, my favorites.
    For straight up blues
    1. Rory Gallagher
    2. Buddy Guy
    3. B.B. King
    4. Freddie King
    5. John Lee Hooker

    Never really dug Albert. He’s great, but his style didn’t speak to me the way the other too Kings’ did.

  17. T BONE WALKER
    FREDDIE KING
    ALBERT KING AND WHAT FOOL BUT ERIC CLAPTON IN HIS LIST. AND I DID NOT SAY THAT AT ANY TIME

  18. Joe Bonamassa – maybe the best living guitarist today; technically no one is better

    Eric Clapton – most recognizable strat tone ever

    Rory Gallagher – When Jimi Hendrix was asked what it felt like to be the best guitarist in the world, he said, “you’ll have to ask Rory Gallagher”.

    Elmore James – you can really hear the inspiration for modern day higher gain slide players – a pioneer

    Gary Moore – maybe not really top 5, but wanted to list one not already mentioned. Check out ‘Blues Alive’, he really makes his guitar scream on that record.

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