30 Instrumental Guitarists With Something to Say

GW's guide to two-and-a-half dozen inspiring instrumental masters, plus — in many cases — their exclusive advice on how to keep your own instrumental music endlessly interesting.

- By Amit Sharma

As guitarists such as link Wray, Hank Marvin, Grant Green and Giovanni Paolo Foscarini (Look him up!) have taught us, compelling guitar-based music does not require vocals or lyrics. Below — inspired by our two cover stars — we offer up a guide to 30 (technically 31!) hardworking instro-centric guitarists whose solos are worth at least a thousand words.

JOE SATRIANI

MUCH LIKE HIS old student Steve Vai, Joe Satriani’s influence has echoed in the waves of guitarists that have come after him. His ear for big, bluesy hooks and liquid legato lines set him apart early on — as evidenced by the enduring popularity of his solo albums like Surfing with the Alien, Flying in a Blue Dream and The Extremist, his session work with Mick Jagger and, in more recent years, his achievements in supergroup Chickenfoot.

“Context is everything,” he once told me. “It’s all about how you apply the artistry. It has to make sense [at] that moment in time. Imagine you’re playing music for a scene in a film with a cute baby walking toward the camera. You wouldn’t play the most grotesque and dissonant notes possible, right? But what if that baby was covered in blood and had a huge knife in its hand? That’s totally different! I can’t say flat nines always sound bad… they sound perfectly beautiful in Phrygian or Phrygian dominant. But if you play a C# when everyone else is in C major and you are going to stick out. There’s the context!” To find out about Satch’s newest music.