The electric guitar is not just the most important instrument of all time it is also the best. Sorry, but you will not change my mind. I have played the guitar for over 15 years but the versatility and expressiveness that this instrument is capable of never fails to amaze me. In the right hand, an electric- guitar sounds like the notes are coming straight from the heart of the player. I have had my share of influences along the way in my “guitar journey” but here are the five players whose impression is as strong on me today as it was the first time I heard them. For you, I have undergone the painful task of ranking them one through five. Telling you what makes each man great was far easier.

5. Mick Ronson

David Bowie had great taste in guitar players period, let’s get that out of the way. He had Stevie Ray Vaughan take lead on his 1982 album “Let’s Dance” and resurrected Peter Frampton to cover six-string duties on his “Glass Spiders” tour in 1987. You get the idea. Before them, Bowie’s dance partner was Mick Ronson and together they helped define an era in glam-rock with some pretty damn good songs. Mick covered lead guitar and a variety of musical arrangements for some of Bowie’s best work between 1970 and 1973 which encapsulated his legendary “Ziggy Stardust” era. It was always the “David Bowie Show” so to speak but Ronson always stood out to me for his ability to shine in little moments, put together memorable riffs, and his emotive style of soloing. Tracks like “Ziggy Stardust”, “Suffragette City”, and “Gean Genie” come to mind when I think of his ability to drive a song without making it about himself. Mick played a black Gibson Les Paul Custom which with the finish stripped off on the front: he claimed that it gave the instrument more sustain. His tone was very thick and warm, achieved through the classic Les Paul into a Marshall amplifier combination along with a Wah-Pedal which he would use for saturation by setting it into the compressed position- similar to the sound you hear on the solo from “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin.

Key Track: “Moonage Daydream” – The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

4. Mick Taylor

Yeah, I know… another Mick. Mick Taylor handled lead duties for the Rolling Stones between 1969 and 1974. This was a comparatively quiet era if ever you could say that about anything to do with the Rolling Stones. Taylor started his career in near-identical fashion to other British greats Eric Clapton and Peter Green, the latter of whom was the founding member of Fleetwood Mac. He played lead on John Mayall’s Blues breakers album “Crusade”. While his style of soloing no doubt had its basis in the blues, he separated himself by incorporating Latin and Jazz influences as well. His lead lines were very smooth and when given the room to work (hard to come by in a band with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards) he shines brighter than anyone. Though he used a Gibson Les Paul for the vast majority of his work, and exclusively today, Taylor also played a Gibson SG and at times even a Stratocaster.

Key Track: “Time waits for no one” – Its only Rock n Roll

3. Jimmy Page

Even if you don’t play guitar yourself, we may have arrived at the first entrant on this list with who you may be familiar. I hope I don’t need to tell you the significance of Jimmy Page but in case I do two words: Led Zeppelin. He was the primary writer, arranger, and obviously lead guitar player for the biggest hard rock act of all time and the greatest band not named the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. The first thing I have to mention about Jimmy Page has absolutely nothing to do with his playing itself – how fucking cool he looked. The guy hung his Les Paul practically at his knees sporting a dragon suit while strumming his guitar with a violin bow. He is also the first entrant on this list who is every bit the songwriter that he is a guitar player. I describe his playing as “consistently inconsistent”. His style of soloing, like the majority of his peers, was based on the blues and pentatonic scale. However, his playing is so idiosyncratic that he never sounded like anyone else and no one ever sounded like him. He sounded like he was falling down the stairs but he always landed on his feet somehow. Listen to “ Black Dog”, “ Rock and Roll”, and of course the best example “Heartbreaker” to see what I mean. The only thing Jimmy did better than solo was riffing. “Black Dog”, “Moby Dick”, “Kashmir”, “The Rover”, “ Good Times Bad Times”, I will stop there. Jimmy most heavily relied on a variety of Gibson Les Paul’s but also a double-neck EDS-1275, and good use out of a Fender Telecaster, especially in the studio and early days of Zeppelin.

Key Track: Take your pick…. But I’ll go with “Heartbreaker” – Led Zeppelin II

2. Jeff Beck

In terms of technical proficiency, versatility, flair, and having the biggest bag of tricks, there is no debate that Jeff Beck was and is the best of the three great Yardbirds guitar players. When you consider the other two were Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, that is no small distinction. When I was a kid my guitar teacher once told me Jeff Beck could make any wrong note right. His mastery of vibrato bends, and varying degrees of attack on the strings give him a sound that can’t really be duplicated. Yeah sure, like the rest of the guys on this list, his basis may be the blues. However, it is a lot more than that and Jeff can make the most basic 12-bar shuffle worth listening to. His hands can be as fast as they come or also more drawn out than should be possible. From his early days in the Jeff Beck Group, alongside frontman Rod Stewart, to his fusion work on “Blow by Blow” right down his rare appearances today: Jeff has a sort of cool detachment from the instrument that makes him all the more mesmerizing to me. He never achieved the highs or sustained commercial success of Page and Clapton but much of that was by choice. He never had an interest in going “mainstream” and instead opted to push the envelope creatively. What are you left with? A guy who your favorite guitar player is in awe of. Jeff is forever synonymous with a White Fender Stratocaster into a Marshall but he also used a Les Paul extensively in the early days as well. Fender Esquire, Telecaster, and even a Jackson Soloist. Truth be told, it doesn’t matter what the fuck he plays, it will sound like him and it will sound good. Jeff is the closest I have ever heard to make a guitar sound like a human voice.

Key Track: “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” – Blow by Blow

1. ERIC CLAPTON

And so here we are: my favorite guitar player there ever was or will be. Eric Patrick Clapton. Of the three great guitarists who went through the Yardbirds: if Jimmy was the most creative and Jeff was the most skilled…. Eric was just the greatest overall. I respect absolutely everything the man ever did but his early days with Cream and John Mayall’s Blues Breakers are most dear to me. His style was straightforward, never straying far from his blues roots, but it has a consistency and a soulfulness to it that just works in any context. I prefer “Gibson Clapton” to put it that way. When he plugged either a Les Paul, ES-335, SG, or Firebird into a Marshall and called it at that with nothing more than a Wah-pedal. He evolved as a musician, grew into his own as a singer, and thus was able to stay at the front of pop music for five decades. Something- neither of his Yardbird peers can claim. In terms of his playing, the Cream era was his best for me. He was aggressive, his tone was warm and rich, and he filled so much space alongside just two (albeit both damn skilled in their own right) other musicians. Listen to his lead work on “Crossroads”, “Tales of Brave Ulysses”, and “White Room” among others to realize what made this era of Clapton so special. Or how about his haunting vibrato on “While my guitar gently weeps”?

Key Track: “ Crossroads” – Wheels of Fire