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

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

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

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

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

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

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

462. Adrian Ingram
463. Ike Isaacs
464. Enver İzmaylov

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

769. Snoozer Quinn

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

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

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

969. James “Blood” Ulmer
970. Phil Upchurch
971. Stein Urheim

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

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

1034. Jim Yanda (Terrific player, unique style, similar to Bill Frisell)
1035. Patrick Yandall
1036. Masaya Yamaguchi
1037. Geoff Young
1038. Jacob Young
1039. Dhafer Youssef

1040. Frank Zappa
1041. Richie Zellon
1042. Fabio Zeppetella
1043. Axel Zinowsky
1044. Norman Zocher
1045. Attila Zoller
1046. Vitaliy Zolotov
1047. Rick Zunigar
1048. 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

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Comments (6)

Royce Campbell Says:
You might consider adding Jeff Massanari to your guitarists list. He’s worthy of being on it.
January 3rd, 2024 at 6:11 pm
Royce Campbell Says:
I was surprised Giuseppe Continenza wasn’t on the list. He’s pretty much considered the #1 player in Italy.
January 3rd, 2024 at 6:20 pm
vreny Says:
Thank you so much Royce for helping me with this. Yep I am sure there are A TON of names still missing. It’s a continuous work in progress. I actually had Guiseppe on my list, BUT being so unbelievably slammed, I had not had a chance yet to update the page here with my list with newly added names. Seeing your comments was all the more motivation to quickly prioritize it and get it done. I just uploaded the new list I had been adding names to in the past year. All that said: I did not know Jess Massanari yet, and just added him. So definitely keep helping me with this if you can think of any new names I need to add. Thank you Royce. Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a fantastic 2024 to you and your family!
January 7th, 2024 at 6:38 pm
vreny Says:
Just uploaded the new list with Jeff added. Thank you Royce. I appreciate your input a lot. It’s making the list better.
January 7th, 2024 at 6:39 pm
Frank Says:
You might want to consider Dutch guitar player Bernhard Reinke. I think he plays stellar fusion jazz.
January 13th, 2024 at 6:21 am
vreny Says:
Thank you very much, Frank. Just updated (added Bernhard) the list and uploaded the new info. Keep me informed. Thank you.
February 26th, 2024 at 3:53 pm

The Most Complete List of Jazz Guitarists