100 Guitarists

Yngwie Malmsteen has had a long career, so if you don't have time for the whole discography, there’s one record that every guitar player owes it to themselves to rock out to at full blast. Whether or not you decide to commit yourself to some arpeggio exercises straight from hell, you’ll no doubt get the gist of the Swedish-born guitarist’s mission statement. In this episode, we’re talking about al...

If you know Dan Steinhardt from That Pedal Show and The GigRig, you might also know he’s a huge Radiohead (and Oasis) fan! He’s even worked with the band (particularly Ed O’Brien) as a gear maestro. We hit up Dan to talk about all things Radiohead: how they changed the electric guitar, why Ed’s signature Strat is so awesome, and how they’re like Van Halen and The Beatles. Sponsored by Gibson: gibs...

Is Joe Bonamassa a guitarist you should know? On this episode, we’re sussing out our thoughts on this hotly contested question, which we’ve been discussing off-mic since starting the 100 Guitarists podcast. Come along for the ride, and share your thoughts!  Sponsored by Gibson: gibson.com Follow Nick: https://www.instagram.com/nickmillevoi Follow Jason: https://www.instagram.com/jasonshadrick...

On our last episode, we had Joe Satriani join us to talk about his long history with his old pal Steve Vai. In celebration of the new SATCHVAI band, we've made this a two-parter, and Vai is here to return the favor. Sponsored by Vega-Trem: vegatrem.com Follow Nick: https://www.instagram.com/nickmillevoi Follow Jason: https://www.instagram.com/jasonshadrick Get at us: 100guitarists@premierguitar.co...

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have one of the deepest guitar-shredding relationships in the 6-string universe. Famously, Satch was Steve Vai’s guitar teacher back in their Long Island days, and they’ve developed their careers across the decades as solo artists, as partners in the G3 world, and now with their own co-led band, SATCHVAI. To celebrate, we’ve got a two-episode arc with each of the guys ta...

PG Editorial Director Richard Bienstock has interviewed Slash more than a few times throughout the last couple decades. So, we’ve called on him to join us in celebrating the Guns N’ Roses guitarist as we discuss his sound, his riffs, and his look! Tune in to find out about the time the two went guitar shopping and when Slash showed up at Richard’s desk.  Sponsored by Gibson: gibson.com Follow...

One of the many things that Willie Nelson and his trusty Martin nylon-string, Trigger, have in common is their truly unmistakable voices. And Willie’s laid back, behind-the-beat phrasing applies to both. To break it all down, we called on Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel. The two have been friends for a long time, and in 2009 they released the swinging Willie and the Wheel together. Benson tells...

Singer-songwriter Jason Sinay, maybe best known for his work alongside Mike Campbell in Dirty Knobs, joins us to talk about the most foundational rock ’n’ roll guitarist of them all, the man who started the ball rolling, Chuck Berry. When it comes to his guitar playing, his influence can be heard across all styles. Without his licks, his songs, his vocal phrasing, who knows what path the electric...

To celebrate the late great Space Ace, we called up PG ’s favorite Kiss fan, Chris Shiflett. On at least one of your 100 Guitarists hosts’ favorite episode of Shred with Shifty , the Foo guitarist sat down with Ace to talk about his guitar playing on “Shock Me.” It’s a fun interview with lots of great anecdotes and killer vibes. But Shiflett has a lot more perspective on Ace, going way back to mee...

When it comes to rockin’ ’n’ rollin’, it doesn’t get more classic than Aerosmith. Guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford have spent decades bouncing their riffs off each other, and these days they’re still at it with the Joe Perry Project. For this episode, we called up JPP bassist Robert DeLeo—best known as a Stone Temple Pilot—to talk about his longstanding relationship with Aerosmith, what it’s...

John Scofield is undeniably one of the preeminent forces in contemporary jazz guitar. Along with a few of his peers—see Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Mike Stern—he modernized the sound of our instrument and the genre. But there’s much more to Scofield than just jazz. To break down the deepest of Scofield’s records and talk about the intricacies of his playing, we called up another great, Adam Levy. T...

Adrian Belew has spent his career on the cutting edge of guitar sounds, inventing the most forward-thinking tones to ever appear on record. His work as a solo artist and with King Crimson would be enough to land him on every guitarist’s radar. But that’s just one facet of his musical life, and he’s famously spent time with some of the biggest artists of all time: David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Talking...

When you think of classic rock guitar, what do you hear? Who is the most classic of all classic rock guitarists? We have a theory, and we tapped Greg Koch, the hard-touring, hard-rocking Gristlemaster himself, to join us and test it out. Is it Joe Walsh? From his time with the James Gang through joining the Eagles and embarking on a successful, hit-laden solo career, Walsh epitomized the sound of...

This week, hosts Nick Millevoi and the shamelessly biased Jason Shadrick dive deep—much, much deeper than Nick ever imagined he would go—into the vast discography of the great Jimmy Herring. They enlist Rob Compa, formerly of Dopapod and now of Neighbor, whose greatest qualification is living in Burlington, Vermont, "the hub of all things jam bands". Maybe you’ve heard Jimmy Herring is amazing, bu...

Hit-making guitarist Mike Scott—who’s worked with everyone from Justin Timberlake to Janet Jackson—showed up in Minneapolis from his hometown of D.C. and started snatching everyone’s gigs. Soon, he ended up at Paisley Park, jamming with the man himself and joining his band, New Power Generation. This masterful storyteller joins 100 Guitarists to talk all things Prince, cracking us up along the way...

We figure Jimi Hendrix is easily the most discussed guitarist of all time. And at this point, there are probably few, if any, stones left unturned. So for our Hendrix episode of 100 Guitarists , we had to go to the ultimate scholar on Hendrix’s playing to get deep, and luckily we knew just who to call. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve probably learned at least a song or two from a transcripti...

As a longtime music journalist and author of the Allman Brothers books One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band and Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ’70s— both New York Times bestsellers—Alan Paul is foremost authority on the Allmans who was never in the band. He’s also a guitar player who leads the band Friends of...

When you think about the most name-checked guitarist of all time, who do you think of? Hendrix? EVH? Good guesses, but we think it’s gotta be Waukesha, Wisconsin’s own Les Paul. Though his name lies atop one of the most popular guitar models of all time, there’s so much more to Les. His inventions span modern recording history, and with his music—whether with then-wife Mary Ford, solo, with Chet A...

You already know about Peter Frampton’s use of the Talk Box and the wild success of Frampton Comes Alive . On this episode of 100 Guitarists , we’re celebrating those things, but we’re also getting into all the stuff that made Frampton so great, from Humble Pie to his Simpsons cameo. His smashing success often overshadows some of the other fun facts about his life, like how he once played in a ban...

Buddy Guy’s high-energy, crowd-strolling performances set the bar for every electric blues and blues rock guitarist who came after him. And that includes Jimi Hendrix. Buddy changed the game and left an indelible mark on the sound of electric guitar playing. He’s still out there, delivering incendiary performances to stages all over. On this episode, we’re talking about one of the last blues guita...

When it comes to queen of slide guitar Bonnie Raitt, we’ve got something to talk about. On her rootsy first albums— Bonnie Raitt , Give It Up , and Takin’ My Time —she set a bluesy vibe, but covers like Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” and Del Shannon’s “Runaway” showed she had more to say. By the late ’80s, she was a pop radio superstar.  So if you’re looking for Raitt’s best gui...

Dave Matthews’ guitar playing left its mark on the hosts of 100 Guitarists . In this episode, we’re talking about his unique style and sound and the players who influenced it. From his work leading DMB to his duo performances with guitarist Tim Reynolds, there’s a lot to cover.  Speaking of Reynolds, Jason calls on Dave and Tim to return to Luther College for the 30th anniversary of their fir...

Surf’s up—it’s summertime. On this episode, we’re talking about the most legendary, well-choreographed, reverb-drenched surf rockers of all time, the Ventures. They not only created the template for instrumental guitar music, they influenced just about every classic rock guitar hero you can think of. And their catalog is truly epic, so where do you get started? That’s what we’re discussing. From “...

You could call John Fahey the Johnny Appleseed of solo steel-string guitar playing, but Black Flag is probably a more appropriate reference. Like the punk progenitors would do many years later, Fahey not only crafted a uniquely rooted musical approach that would be adopted by legions of practitioners, he self-released his records on his Takoma Records label and hit the road, well before DIY was a...

Punch Brother and friend of the podcast Chris “Critter” Eldridge drops by to talk about the great Tony Rice. Not only is Rice one of the most reputable legends of bluegrass guitar, he also served as Eldridge’s mentor. Eldridge, who paid tribute to Rice in 2022 with the Punch Brothers’ Hell on Church Street , shares his firsthand stories of listening to music with Rice on his home stereo and taking...