The Most Complete List of Jazz Guitarists

I can’t know for sure that this is “the most complete” list of jazz guitarists. For all I know, someone else might have compiled a list of jazz guitarists that is even longer.

Given the amount of work and research it took to compile this list, I like to believe that mine is probably the longest one. 🙂

I made it all the way to over a 1000 jazz guitar players.
I am still ways away from having heard the music of every musician on this list, but I’m getting there.

My two favorite jazz guitarists are Pat Metheny and my fellow Belgian countryman Philip Catherine. Me being a huge fan of Philip Catherine doesn’t have anything to do with his Belgian nationality b.t.w.- I just really love his music.

I also really love Bruce Bartlett. He was my favorite guitar teacher at Berklee College of Music. Apart from how much I loved studying with him, I have all his albums and love his playing and compositions.

This is a continuous work in progress.

You will notice I added some notes for some of the guitar players. This might turn into a booklet over time with short biographies. I have included a pdf which you can download at the bottom. In that pdf, you can click on the names to get more info about each guitarist.

Anyhow, here are the 1000+ jazz guitarists.

1. Blake Aaron
2. Eivind Aarset
3. Rez Abbasi
4. John Abercrombie
5. Paul Abler
6. Steve Abshire
7. Morris Acevedo
8. Bernard Addison
9. Steve Adelson
10. Dan Adler
11. Ron Affif
12. Caio Afiune
13. Noël Akchoté
14. Jan Akkerman
15. Odd Steinar Albrigtsen
16. Howard Alden
17. Johnny Alegre
18. Oscar Alemán
19. Cecil Alexander
20. Glenn Alexander
21. Neal Alger
22. Dave Allen
23. Laurindo Almeida
24. Peter Almqvist
25. Frode Alnæs
26. Greg Amirault
27. Leonardo Amuedo
28. Chuck Anderson
29. Stephen D. Anderson
30. Tuck Andress
31. John Anello Jr
32. Quentin Angus
33. Apostolis Anthimos
34. Michael Anthony
35. Ron Anthony
36. Marc Antoine
37. Dan Arcamone (Modern, similar to Alex Skolnick)
38. Bruce Arnold
39. William Ash
40. Irving Ashby
41. Dave Askren
42. Badi Assad
43. Gustavo Assis-Brasil
44. Chet Atkins
45. Erich Avinger
46. Jay Azzolina

47. Gyula Babos
48. Elek Bacsik
49. Brian Baggett
50. Mike Baggetta
51. Derek Bailey (The most radical)
52. Sheryl Bailey (Blazing style)
53. Bob Bain
54. Clint Baker
55. Duck Baker
56. Mickey Baker
57. Matt Balitsaris
58. Charlie Ballantine
59. Biel Ballester
60. Dan Baraszu
61. Diego Barber
62. Carlos Barbosa-Lima
63. Dave Barbour
64. A Spencer Barefield
65. Danny Barker
66. Everett Barksdale
67. Junior Barnard
68. Tony Barnard
69. George Barnes
70. Jeff Barone
71. Carl Barry
72. Frode Barth
73. Claude Barthélémy
74. Bruce Bartlett
75. John Basile
76. Billy Bauer
77. Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
78. Billy Bean
79. Gerry Beaudoin
80. Jeff Beck
81. Joe Beck
82. David Becker
83. Walter Becker (Steely Dan)
84. Jean-Marc Belkadi
85. Kelvyn Bell
86. Robert Bell
87. Roni Ben-Hur
88. George Benson
89. Lutte Berg (Incredible technique, sound similar to Nguyen Lé)
90. Rolf Berg
91. Gonzalo Bergara
92. Chris Bergson
93. Randy Bernsen
94. Peter Bernstein
95. Gene Bertoncini
96. Mads Berven
97. Skeeter Best
98. Ed Bickert
99. Raoul Björkenheim
100. Brian Blade
101. Lee Blair
102. Jack Bland
103. Marek Bliziński
104. Michael Bocian
105. Claus Boesser-Ferrari
106. Pascal Bokar
107. Mark Boling
108. Paul Bollenback
109. Luiz Bonfá
110. Raymond Boni
111. Dekel Bor
112. Ron Bosse
113. Perry Botkin Sr
114. Jean-Paul Bourelly
115. Al Bowlly
116. Tim Bowman
117. Antoine Boyer
118. Gary Boyle
119. Ned Boynton
120. Terry Bradds
121. Craig Brann
122. Sean Bray
123. Joshua Breakstone
124. Lenny Breau
125. Zachary Breaux
126. Pascal Brechet
127. Terence Brewer
128. Jakob Bro
129. Bobby Broom
130. Andy Brown
131. Norman Brown
132. Sam Brown
133. Steve Brown
134. Dale Bruning
135. Jimmy Bruno
136. Maurizio Brunod
137. John Bruschini
138. Mike Bryan
139. Jimmy Bryant
140. Buckethead
141. Dennis Budimir
142. Hiram Bullock
143. Teddy Bunn
144. Kenny Burrell
145. Andre Bush
146. Billy Butler
147. Jonathan Butler
148. Charlie Byrd

149. Olivier Cahours
150. Al Caiola
151. Michele Calgaro
152. Giulio Camarca
153. Glen Campbell
154. Royce Campbell
155. Jim Campilongo
156. Brent Canter
157. Andre Caporaso
158. Joe Capraro
159. Ana Caram
160. Steve Cardenas
161. John Carlini
162. Larry Carlton
163. Danny Caron
164. Stian Carstensen
165. Joe Carter
166. Deirdre Cartwright
167. Al Casey
168. Oscar Castro-Neves
169. Chet Catallo
170. Lauderic Caton
171. Philip Catherine
172. Katie Cavera
173. Mike Cea
174. Roberto Cecchetto
175. Franco Cerri
176. William Chabbey
177. Eugene Chadbourne
178. Greg Chako
179. Emmett Chapman
180. Roger Chaput
181. Rémi Charmasson
182. Jean Chaumont
183. Fawzi Chekili
184. Ed Cherry
185. Andrew Cheshire
186. Pete Chilver
187. John Chiodini
188. James Chirillo
189. Charlie Christian
190. Corey Christiansen
191. Jeff Ciampa
192. Joe Cinderella
193. Roy Clark
194. Bruce Clarke
195. Doug Clarke
196. Greg Clayton
197. Dave Cliff
198. Nels Cline
199. Barry Coates
200. Joe Cohn
201. George Cole
202. Cal Collins
203. John Collins
204. Ken Colyer (Mostly known as trumpeter, but also played jazz guitar)
205. Eddie Condon
206. Bill Connors (Return to Forever)
207. Robert Conti
208. Giuseppe Continenza
209. Ry Cooder
210. Joyce Cooling
211. Michael Coppola
212. Larry Coryell
213. Pete Cosey
214. Yamandu Costa
215. Ray Crawford
216. Henri Crolla
217. Steve Cropper
218. Pierre Cullaz
219. David Cullen
220. Brian Cunningham

221. Thomas T. Dahl
222. Ori Dakari
223. Laurie Dameron
224. Jerome Darr
225. Rudolf Dašek
226. Daniel Heløy Davidsen
227. Bill DeArango
228. Angelo Debarre
229. Tony DeCaprio
230. Graham Dechter
231. Phil deGruy
232. Fabien Degryse
233. Paco de Lucía
234. Mike DeMicco
235. Orhan Demir (Incredible chops, style similar to Pat Martino)
236. Tom Dempsey
237. Cary DeNigris
238. Frank Deniz
239. Jack deSalvo
240. Philippe Deschepper
241. Bob Devos
242. Mike DiBari
243. Eddie Diehl
244. Al Di Meola
245. Denny Dias (Steely Dan)
246. Joe Diorio
247. Diz Disley
248. Sacha Distel
249. Lonnie Donegan
250. Pat Donohue
251. Christy Doran
252. Pierre Dørge
253. Pierre Van Dormael
254. Tony do Rosario
255. Jim Douglas
256. Scott DuBois
257. Marc Ducret
258. Todd Duke
259. Ted Dunbar
260. Cornell Dupree
261. Eddie Duran
262. Eddie Durham

263. David Eastlee
264. Jon Eberson
265. Lars Edegran
266. Bruce Eisenbeil
267. Howard Elkins
268. Charles Ellerbee
269. Edward Ellington II
270. Mike Elliott (Cult album Solo Guitar)
271. Herb Ellis
272. Danny Embrey
273. James Emery
274. Tommy Emmanuel
275. Cenk Erdogan (Plays fretless acoustic, unique sound!)
276. Eddie Erickson
277. Gene Ess
278. Ron Eschete
279. Christian Escoudé
280. Gene Ess
281. John Etheridge
282. Bus Etri
283. Kevin Eubanks

284. Dave “Knife” Fabris (Several albums with piano legend Ran Blake)
285. Dan Faehnle
286. Mike Fageros (Phrasing like Pat Martino)
287. Dalia Faitelson
288. Nelson Faria
289. Tal Farlow
290. Buzzy Feiten
291. Nir Felder
292. Mordy Ferber
293. Jim Ferguson
294. Julio Fernandez
295. Per Arne Ferner
296. Bebo Ferra
297. Boulou Ferré
298. Elios Ferré
299. Jean-Pierre “Matelo” Ferret
300. Pierre “Baro” Ferret
301. Garrison Fewell
302. Scott Fields
303. Diego Figueiredo
304. Ed Fila
305. Carl Filipiak
306. Jamie Findlay
307. Barry Finnerty
308. Axel Fischbacher
309. Jacob Fischer
310. Andy Fite
311. Buddy Fite (Check out his great album Tasty)
312. David Fiuczynski
313. Brick Fleagle
314. Rod Fleeman
315. William “Biddy” Fleet
316. Chris Flory
317. Ronaldo Folegatti
318. Antonio Forcione
319. Robben Ford
320. Bruce Forman
321. Marc Fosset
322. Johnny Fourie
323. Mimi Fox
324. Heiner Franz
325. Christer Fredriksen
326. George Freeman
327. Russ Freeman
328. Fred Fried
329. Robert Fripp
330. Bill Frisell
331. Carl Filipiak
332. Nir Felder
333. Scott Fivelson
334. Peter Frampton (Verve, Monk’s “Work” on “That’s The Way I Feel Now”)
335. Jean-Marie Frédéric
336. Fred Frith

337. Tony Gaboury
338. Per Gade
339. Gabor Gado
340. Al Gafa
341. Slim Gaillard
342. Barry Galbraith
343. Eric Gale
344. Charlie Galloway
i. Led one of the very first jazz-oriented bands in 1889.
ii. No recordings exist of his playing.
345. Frank Gambale
346. Oliver Gannon
347. Keith Ganz
348. Al Garcia
349. Dick Garcia
350. Olivier-Roman Garcia
351. Paulinho Garcia
352. Hank Garland
353. Arv Garrison
354. Danny Gatton
355. Pierrejean Gaucher
356. Nigel Gavin
357. Jay Geils (“Jay Geils Plays Jazz”)
358. Grant Geissman
359. Mike Gellar
360. Jane Getter
361. Sandro Gibellini
362. Eddie Gibbs
363. Banu Gibson
364. Gene Gifford
365. Joe Giglio
366. Joao Gilberto
367. David Gilmore (Not the guy from Pink Floyd lol)
368. Greg Ginn
369. Steve Giordano
370. Egberto Gismonti
371. Jamie Glaser
372. Christophe Godin
373. George Golla
374. Jeff Golub
375. Geoff Goodman
376. Mick Goodrick (Post-bop)
377. Torsten Goods
378. John Goodsall
379. Werner Goos
380. Pedro Javier González
381. Tony Gottuso
382. Anton Goudsmit
383. Jimmy Gourley (Hard-bop solos)
384. Guthrie Govan
385. Gismo Graf
386. Davy Graham
387. Primoz Grasic
388. Jack Grassell
389. Ronny Graupe
390. Jay Graydon (Played the solo on Steely Dan’s “Peg”)
391. Douglas B. Green
392. Freddie Green
393. Grant Green
394. Grant Green Jr
395. Barry Greene
396. Ted Greene
397. Sonny Greenwich
398. Michael Gregory
399. Tiny Grimes
400. Igor Grigoriev
401. Steve Grismore
402. Marty Grosz
403. Ivar Grydeland
404. Tom Guarna
405. George Guesnon
406. Jostein Gulbrandsen
407. Gerard Guse
408. Rune Gustafsson
409. Fred Guy (Ellington Orchestra)

410. Bobby Hacket
411. Axel Hagen
412. Jerry Hahn
413. Tommy Halferty
414. Jim Hall
415. René Hall
416. Stuart Hall
417. Mary Halvorson (A fierce improviser, avant-garde)
418. Bob Hames
419. Fred Hamilton
420. Steve Hancoff (Ragtime)
421. Mick Hanson
422. Fareed Haque
423. Sean Harkness
424. Richard Hart
425. Albert Harris
426. Bill Harris
427. Jerome Harris
428. Leroy Harris Sr.
429. Joel Harrison
430. John Hart (Modern mainstream )
431. Richie Hart
432. Ken Hatfield (Hard to classify)
433. Svein Dag Hauge
434. Frank Haunschild
435. Jeff Healey
436. Gilad Hekselman
437. Franz Hellmüller
438. Scott Henderson
439. Al Hendrickson (Artie Shaw Orchestra)
440. Steve Herberman
441. Jon Herington (Steely Dan)
442. Even Helte Hermansen
443. Octavio Hernandez
444. Jimmy Herring
445. Jim Hershman
446. Peter Hertmans
447. Allen Hinds
448. Carl Hogan
449. Jerome Hol (Performs with Dutch sax legends Hans and Candy Dulfer)
450. Allan Holdsworth
451. Clarence Holiday
452. Sol Hoopii
453. Toninho Horta
454. Sten Hostfalt
455. Michael Howell
456. Diane Hubka
457. Brian Hughes
458. Geoff Hughes
459. Perry Hughes (On a par with George Benson)
460. Charlie Hunter
i. 8-string
ii. Bop-based guitarist with an open mind towards funk and R&B
iii. www.charliehunter.com
461. Joe Huron (Only 2 CDs released, very difficult to find, brilliant)
462. Clifton Hyde
463. James “Tootie” Hogan

464. Adrian Ingram
465. Ike Isaacs
466. Enver İzmaylov

467. Michael Gregory Jackson
468. Milt Jackson
469. Paul Jackson Jr.
470. Ron Jackson (Hard-bop based guitarist)
471. Sid Jacobs
472. Alex Jacquemin
473. Tim Jago
474. Bert Jansch
475. Tomas Janzon
476. Rolf Jardemark
477. Maceo Jefferson
478. Billy Jenkins
479. Bill Jennings
480. Chris Jentsch
481. Denny Jiosa
482. Antonio Carlos Jobim
483. Kim Johannesen
484. Nils-Olav Johansen
485. Art Johnson
486. Eric Johnson (Bluesy soulful)
487. Henry Johnson
488. Lonnie Johnson (One of the couple of top jazz guitarists from the 20’s)
489. Wayne Johnson
490. Randy Johnston (Straight ahead in the hard bop/soul-jazz tradition)
491. Rodney Jones
492. Ronny Jordan
493. Stanley Jordan (8-finger tapping jazz, extraordinary)
494. Steve Jordan
495. John Jorgenson (Gypsy jazz)
496. Joyce Moreno (Brazilian singer, “Music Inside”)
497. Gabor Juhasz
498. Barbara Jungfer
499. Vic Juris

500. Dirk K
501. Helmut Kagerer
502. Henry Kaiser (Hard to classify, worked with Fred Frith a lot)
503. Kalle Kalima
504. Ray Kamalay
505. Grzegorz Kapołka
506. Ken Karsh
507. Terry Kath
508. Halvard Kausland
509. Ryo Kawasaki (Fusion)
510. Pat Kelley
511. Jim Kelly (Australia)
512. Jim Kelly (U.S.)
513. Louis Keppard
514. Barney Kessell
515. Calvin Keys
516. Steve Khan
517. Rebecca Kilgore
518. Mark Kimbrell
519. B.B. King
520. Jackie King
521. Steven Kirby
522. Frode Kjekstad
523. Bjørn Klakegg
524. Daan Kleijn
525. Oscar Klein
526. Mark Kleinhaut (Hard bop and post-bop jazz)
527. Goran Klinghagen
528. Earl Klugh
529. Niclas Knudsen
530. Paul Kogut
531. Frank Kohl
532. Jan Erik Kongshaug
533. Ludwik Konopko
534. Dave Koonse
535. Larry Koonse
536. Jerry Krahn
537. Wayne Krantz
538. Jonathan Kreisberg
539. Tor Egil Kreken
540. Carl Kress
541. Volker Kriegel (Germany’s most legendary jazz guitarist)
542. Uwe Kropinski (A master on the acoustic guitar)
543. Aleksey Kuznetsov
544. Frank Kvinge
545. Allen Kwela

546. David Laborier
547. Fapy Lafertin
548. Julian Lage
549. Biréli Lagrène
550. Nappy Lamare
551. Shawn Lane
552. Eddie Lang
553. Jake Langley
554. Jon Larsen
555. Attila László
556. Steve Laury
557. Ant Law
558. Serge Lazarevitch
559. Hugh Leal
560. Gene Leis
561. Peter Leitch
562. Nguyên Lê
563. Harry Leahey
564. Bob Leary
565. Michael Leasure
566. Phil Lee (A master, his CDs are very difficult to find)
567. Søren Lee (Great Danish player, brilliant bluesy jazz!)
568. Peter Leitch
569. B.D. Lenz
570. Peter Lerner
571. Rob Levit
572. Adam Levy
573. O’Donel Levy
574. Vic Lewis
575. Vince Lewis
576. Arto Lindsay
577. Anders Chico Lindvall
578. Rudy Linka
579. Jeff Linsky
580. Tom Lippincott
581. Ed Littman
582. Ulysses Livingston
583. Jean-Pierre Llabador
584. Chuck Loeb
585. Bruce Lofgren
586. Lorne Lofsky
587. Eric Löhrer
588. Mimi Lorenzini
589. Lionel Loueke
590. Olivier Louvel
591. Mundell Lowe
592. Robert Lowe Jr.
593. Romero Lubambo
594. Sylvain Luc
595. Nick Lucas
596. Reggie Lucas
597. Lawrence Lucie
598. Rob Luft
599. Steve Lukather
600. Lage Lund
601. Alf Wilhelm Lundberg
602. René Lussier
603. Jo David Meyer Lysne

604. Doug MacDonald
605. Alex Machacek
606. Billy Mackel
607. Dave MacNab
608. Thor Madsen
609. Stephen Magnusson
610. Ivor Mairants
611. Lanfranco Malaguti
612. Russell Malone
613. Andy Manndorff (Totally unique style)
614. Ahmad Mansour
615. Janet Marlow
616. Jack Marshall
617. Eddie Martinez
618. Pat Martino
619. Pedro Martins
620. Steve Masakowski
621. Jeff Massanari
622. Carmen Mastren
623. Yoshiaki Masuo
624. Hans Mathisen
625. Rick Matle
626. Will Matthews
627. Peter Mazza
628. Pete McCann
629. Pat McCarthy
630. Charlie McCoy (Mostly known as session musician harmonica player)
631. Dick McDonough
632. Eddie McFadden
633. Sean McGowan
634. Dan McIntyre
635. Steve McKenna
636. John McLaughlin
637. John McLean
638. Jimmy McLin
639. Dick McPartland
640. Lou Mecca
641. Maurizio Mecenero
642. Paul Mehling (Gypsy jazz)
643. Coleman Mellett
644. Chris Mello
645. Alessio Menconi
646. Pat Metheny
647. Ulf Meyer
648. Paul Meyers
649. Rale Micic
650. Fredrik Mikkelsen
651. Adam Miller (Great Australian player)
652. Jane Miller (Post-bop)
653. Tim Miller
654. John Mills Jr.
655. Dom Minasi
656. Chieli Minucci
657. Roman Miroshnichenko
658. Andreas Mjøs
659. Adrien Moignard (One of the hottest new Gypsy Jazz players)
660. Per Møllehøj
661. Amanda Monaco
662. Ben Monder
663. Wes Montgomery
664. Davy Mooney
665. Johnny Moore
666. Oscar Moore
667. Juarez Moreira
668. Justin Morell
669. Paulo Morello
670. Mike Moreno
671. Joe Morris
672. Scotty Morris
673. Tony Mottola (Frank Sinatra’s regular guitar player)
674. John Moulder
675. Ronald Muldrow
676. Jim Mullen
677. James Muller
678. Matt Munisteri
679. Tisziji Munoz
680. Doug Munro
681. Ron Murray
682. Michael Musillami
683. Wolfgang Muthspiel
684. Jean-Philippe Muvien
685. Brad Myers
686. Kim Myhr

687. Gabo Naas
688. Nate Najar
689. Randy Napoleon
690. Ken Navarro
691. King Benny Nawahi
692. Joe Negri
693. Willie Nelson (“Two Men With The Blues”)
694. Werner Neumann
695. Calvin Newborn
696. Helmut Nieberle
697. Bern Nix (Ornette Coleman’s guitarist)
698. Mike Nielsen
699. Uwe Niepel
700. Sebastian Noelle
701. Robin Nolan
702. Robert Normann
703. Issei Noro
704. Ray Norris
705. Øystein Norvoll
706. Brian Nova
707. Oz Noy

708. Andreas Öberg
709. Ray Obiedo
710. Dave Occhipinti
711. Jordan Officer
712. Miles Okazaki
713. Steve Oliver
714. Peter O’Mara
715. Mary Osborne
716. Dietmar Osterburg
717. Max Ostro
718. Wim Overgaauw

719. Nathen Page
720. Remo Palmieri
721. Lello Panico (Highly sought-after cult CD The Secret)
722. Gerard Pansanel
723. Eugene Pao
724. Jeff Parker
725. Dean Parks
726. Jackie Paris
727. John Parricelli
728. Andreas Paolo Perger
729. Joe Pass (Was the ultimate bebop guitarist)
730. Rosa Passos
731. Lino Patruno
732. Ralph Patt
733. Roy Patterson
734. Les Paul
735. Rick Peckham
736. Hallgeir Pedersen
737. Ricardo Peixoto
738. Oscar Peñas
739. Harry Pepl (The godfather of all Austrian jazz guitar players, a legend)
740. Evan Perri
741. Bobby Perry
742. Mike Peters
743. Andreas Petterson
744. Jack Petersen
745. Lorenzo Petrocca
746. Peter Petrucci
747. Reynold Philipsek
748. Romain Pilon
749. Chico Pinheiro
750. Jacques Pirotton
751. John Pisano
752. Bill Pitman
753. Bucky Pizzarelli
754. John Pizzarelli
755. Mary Pizzarelli
756. Mikkel Ploug
757. Nils Pollheide
758. Jimmy Ponder
759. Kenny Poole
760. Frank Portolese
761. Frank Potenza
762. Gary Potter
763. Baden Powell
764. Doc Powell
765. Nigel Price
766. Jeanfrancois Prins
767. Rue Protzer
768. Sylvain Provost
769. Joe Puma
770. Tony Purrone

771. Snoozer Quinn

772. Rafael Rabello
773. Brad Rabuchin
774. Nate Radley
775. Corinne Bailey Rae
776. Adam Rafferty
777. Elliott Randall
778. Doug Raney
779. Jimmy Raney
780. Ernest Ranglin
781. Karl Ratzer
782. Aurell Ray
783. Ray Reach
784. Jake Reichbart
785. Hans Reichel
786. Vernon Reid
787. Babik Reinhardt
788. Django Reinhardt
789. Josef “Nin Nin” Reinhardt
790. Lousson Reinhardt
791. Nitcho Reinhardt
792. Bernhard Reinke
793. Emily Remler
794. Andrew Renfroe
795. Allan Reuss
796. Alvino Ray
797. Paul Renz
798. John Reynolds
799. Marc Ribot
800. Jeff Richman
801. Reuben Ristrom
802. Lee Ritenour
803. Jimmy Rivers
804. Tony Rizzi
805. Howard Roberts
806. Duke Robillard
807. Jim Robitaille
808. Phil Robson
809. Steve Rochinski
810. Jimmy Rodgers (Song: Blue Yodel no 9)
811. Adam Rogers
812. Billy Rogers
813. Romane
814. Tony Romano
815. Dan Rose
816. Jimmy Rosenberg
817. Stochelo Rosenberg
818. Jamie Rosenn
819. Kurt Rosenwinkel
820. Brandon Ross
821. Dave Ross
822. Thom Rotella
823. Avi Rothbard
824. Bjarne Roupé
825. Issi Rozen
826. Chris Ruppenthal
827. Ray Russell
828. Art Ryerson
829. Jakob Terjesønn Rypdal
830. Terje Rypdal

831. Michael Sagmeister
832. Luis Salinas
833. Sal Salvador
834. Dennis Sandole
835. Thomas Sankara
836. Gray Sargent
837. Akio Sasajima
838. Bruce Saunders
839. Tomas Sauter
840. Jeremy Sawkins
841. Scott Sawyer
842. Paulus Schäfer
843. Wolfgang Schalk
844. Philip Schjetlein
845. Karl Schloz
846. Dorado Schmitt
847. Tchavolo Schmitt
848. Diknu Schneeberger
849. Joachim Schoenecker
850. Norbert Scholly
851. Marzio Scholten
852. John Schröder
853. Coco Schumann (The so-called Ghetto swinger, he survived Auschwitz)
854. Reg Schwager
855. Gary Schwartz
856. Thornel Schwartz
857. John Scofield
858. Andrew Scott
859. Bud Scott
860. Mike Scott
861. Ari Seder
862. Mitch Seidman
863. Spencer Seim
864. Gene Segal
865. Karen Segal
866. Esmond Selwyn
867. Bola Sete
868. Brian Setzer
869. Marvin Sewell
870. Agboola Shadare
871. Eldon Shamblin
872. Kendra Shank
873. Elliott Sharp
874. Sonny Sharrock
875. Brad Shepik
876. Ben Sher
877. James Sherlock
878. Bobby Sherwood
879. Scott Sherwood
880. Paul Shigihara
881. Jimmy Shirley
882. Jon Sholle
883. Tim Siciliano
884. James Silberstein
885. Yotam Silberstein
886. Ricardo Silveira
887. Ronnie Singer
888. Kenneth Sivertsen
889. David Aleksander Sjølie
890. Greg Skaff
891. Alex Skolnick
892. Margaret Slovak
893. Roy Smeck
894. Jarek Smietana
895. Floyd Smith
896. George M Smith
897. Johnny Smith
898. Kenn Smith
899. Perry Smith
900. Richard Smith
901. Stan Smith
902. Terry Smith
903. Pete Smyser
904. Ferenc Snétberger
905. Bob Sneider
906. Russ Spiegel
907. Jay Soto
908. Fabrizio Sotti
909. Les Spann
910. Melvin Sparks
911. Tim Sparks
912. Klaus Spencker
913. Russ Spiegel
914. Peter Sprague
915. Torgeir Standal
916. Chris Standring
917. Bob Stanton
918. John Stein
919. Joscho Stephan
920. Leni Stern
921. Mike Stern
922. Matthew Stevens
923. Jimmy Stewart
924. Louis Stewart (The greatest Irish jazz guitar player)
925. Eric St-Laurent
926. Harri Stojka (The Austrian Django Reinhardt)
927. Håkon Storm-Mathisen
928. Rick Stone
929. Jonathan Stout
930. Margaret Stowe
931. John Stowell
932. Guy Strazzullo (Perfect in various styles)
933. Eleonora Strino
934. Dave Stryker
935. Rory Stuart
936. Håvard Stubø
937. Thorgeir Stubø
938. Daryl Stuermer
939. Monnette Sudler
940. Kiyoshi Sugimoto
941. Ray Suhy
942. Andy Summers
943. Ewan Svensson
944. Frédéric Sylvestre
945. Nelson Symonds
946. Gábor Szabó

947. Olaf Tarenskeen
948. Ed Taylor
949. Martin Taylor
950. Tommy Tedesco
951. Marlina Teich
952. Sister Rosetta Tharpe
953. Stephan Thelen (Fascinating soundscapes, similar to David Torn)
954. Toots Thielemans
955. René Thomas
956. Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
957. Kåre Thomsen
958. Ole Thomsen
959. Wayman Tisdale
960. Danny Toan
961. Roberto Tola
962. Jukka Tolonen
963. David Torn
964. Gisle Torvik
965. Zvonimir Tot
966. Ralph Towner
967. Mark Towns
968. Bud Tristano
969. David Tronzo
970. John Tropea

971. James “Blood” Ulmer
972. Phil Upchurch
973. Stein Urheim

974. Knut Værnes
975. Petter Vågan
976. Jaime Valle
977. Maarten Van Der Grinten
978. Rick Vandivier
979. Guy Van Duser
980. Vreny Van Elslande
981. George Van Eps
982. Jesse Van Ruller
983. Varre Vartiainen (Guitarist Leningrad Cowboys, released a jazz CD)
984. Eugene Vees
985. Craig Ventresco
986. Nelson Veras (Stunning and unique sound/technique)
987. Frank Victor
988. Frank Vignola
989. Randy Vincent
990. Alexander Vinitsky
991. Al Viola
992. Hristo Vitchev
993. Ricardo Vogt
994. Harry Volpe
995. Lou Volpe
996. Matthew Von Doran

997. Sunao Wada
998. Ulf Wakenius
999. Mike Walker
1000. T-Bone Walker
1001. John Bruce Wallace
1002. Doug Wamble
1003. Efferge Ware
1004. Leonard Ware
1005. Quentin Warren
1006. Kazumi Watanabe
1007. Mitch Watkins
1008. Chuck Wayne
1009. Barry Wedgle
1010. Susan Weinert (The German Emily Remler)
1011. Carl Weingarten
1012. Lloyd Wells
1013. Magni Wentzel
1014. Stian Westerhus
1015. Jon Wheatley
1016. Hy White
1017. Peter White
1018. Mark Whitfield
1019. Jack Wilkins
1020. Wayne Wilkinson
1021. Staffan William-Olsson
1022. Bernie Williams
1023. Claude Williams
1024. Dan Wilson
1025. Mark Wingfield
1026. Torsten de Winkel
1027. Louis Winsberg
1028. Christian Skår Winther
1029. Anthony Wilson
1030. Christopher Woitach
1031. Lew Woodall
1032. Stephane Wrembel
1033. Denny Wright
1034. Wayne Wright
1035. Jimmy Wyble

1036. Jim Yanda (Terrific player, unique style, similar to Bill Frisell)
1037. Patrick Yandall
1038. Masaya Yamaguchi
1039. Geoff Young
1040. Jacob Young
1041. Dhafer Youssef

1042. Frank Zappa
1043. Richie Zellon
1044. Fabio Zeppetella
1045. Axel Zinowsky
1046. Norman Zocher
1047. Attila Zoller
1048. Vitaliy Zolotov
1049. Rick Zunigar
1050. Barry Zweig

The Top 30 Jazz Guitar Giants (roughly in chronological order)

Eddie Lang
Carl Kress
Dick McDonough
George Van Eps
Django Reinhardt
Les Paul
Charlie Christian
Barney Kessel
Tal Farlow
Jimmy Raney
Jim Hall
Charlie Byrd
Wes Montgomery
Grant Green
Joe Pass
George Benson
Pat Martino
Derek Bailey
Sonny Sharrock
John McLaughlin
Al Di Meola
Pat Metheny
John Scofield
Howard Alden
Bill Frisell
Mike Stern
Russell Malone
Stanley Jordan
Birelli Lagrene
Charlie Hunter

As an extra service, I gladly offer you the complete list as a pdf. You can download it here.

1000-Jazz-Guitarists

Conclusion

Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.

If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.

1 Lesson = 75

You’ll impress your friends and loved ones in no time with your guitar playing!

Consider donating any small amount to help me keep this blog going.
Thank you for your support!

(14 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Tagged

Comments (2)

James venardis Says:
Mickey baker was not mentioned in the a-z of jazz greats. Why?
August 26th, 2025 at 3:14 am
vreny Says:
I left Mickey out of the list cause I always thought of him more as a blues and rock ‘n roll guitarist, considering that his main body of work is in that genre, not in jazz (despite having published the jazz lesson books). But taken your post here into account and considering that many resources also include jazz as one of the styles he played — yes maybe I should add him to the list. I’ll take care of it. 🙂
August 26th, 2025 at 6:10 pm

The Most Complete List of Jazz Guitarists