Riley B. King, known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players. AllMusic recognized King as "the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century".
Vincent Moore is an American guitarist and a member of the British hard rock band UFO.
Richard Anthony Monsour, known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known as "The King of the Surf Guitar", which was also the title of his second studio album.
Surf music is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-heavy electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.
Robben Lee Ford is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Springfield, Little Feat and Kiss. He was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.
Clarence Leonidas Fender was an American inventor known for designing the Fender Stratocaster. He also founded the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In January 1965, he sold Fender to CBS, and later founded two other musical instrument companies, Music Man and G&L Musical Instruments.
Mike Varney is an American record producer and music publisher. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records, and Blues Bureau International. He also owns 50% of Magna Carta Records, a New York-based label. Varney is often credited for popularizing the mid-1980s shred guitar boom, and has continuously specialized in producing musicians within the genres of instrumental rock, hard rock, jazz, jazz fusion, blues, blues-rock, progressive metal, and speed metal.
William Frederick Gibbons is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, Flash in 1968 and opened four dates for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Gibbons formed ZZ Top in late 1969 and released ZZ Top's First Album in early 1971. He has also maintained a solo career in recent years, starting with his first album Perfectamundo (2015).
Michael "Cub" Koda was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, songwriter, disc jockey, music critic, and record compiler. Rolling Stone magazine considered him best known for writing the song "Smokin' in the Boys Room", recorded by Brownsville Station, which reached number 3 on the 1974 Billboard chart. He co-wrote and edited the All Music Guide to the Blues, and Blues for Dummies, and selected a version of each of the classic blues songs on the CD accompanying the book. He also wrote liner notes for the Trashmen, Jimmy Reed, J. B. Hutto, the Kingsmen, and the Miller Sisters, among others.
Daniel Quine Auerbach is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced eleven studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney. Auerbach has also released two solo albums, Keep It Hid (2009) and Waiting on a Song (2017), and formed a side project, the Arcs, which released the albums Yours, Dreamily, (2015) and Electrophonic Chronic (2023).
Mesa/Boogie is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969.
Joseph Leonard Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which eleven have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart.
Peter Hayes is an American musician and singer, best known as a member of the rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Elliott Randall is an American guitarist best known for being a session musician with popular artists. Randall played the well-known guitar solos from Steely Dan's song "Reelin' in the Years" and Irene Cara's song "Fame". The former solo was ranked as the 40th best guitar solo of all time by the readers of Guitar World magazine and the eighth best guitar solo by Q4 Music.
Kelly Richey is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and composer based out of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Eric Charles "Erock" Friedman is an American musician, best known as the current guitarist for Tremonti and former touring guitarist and backing vocalist for Creed. He played with the band on their 2009 United States reunion tour with Staind and their 2010 Tour with Skillet. He is the former lead guitarist for the band Submersed and also the former lead guitarist for Daughters of Mara. Submersed and Daughters of Mara both disbanded in 2008. He also currently plays lead guitar and co writes for the rock band Hemme. At the age of thirteen Friedman was the youngest guitarist at the time to be fully endorsed by Fender. His first introduction to Mark Tremonti was at a NAMM show where his then manager introduced them both. They subsequently jammed at one of the Rivera amp booths and noticed, that although they had different styles,, they both complemented each other.
Bruce Anthony Conte was an American R&B and jazz fusion guitarist, known primarily for his work with the band Tower of Power, of which he was a member from 1972 to 1979. He performed on seven albums, and rejoined the band for live work briefly in 2006-2007.
Tom Principato is an American electric blues and blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
Eli Hudnall Cook is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He is known for an eclectic style, with a focus on blues and blues rock. His deep, rich baritone voice and guitar playing have drawn widespread acclaim.
Eric Tessmer is an American blues guitarist residing in Austin, Texas. The Austin Chronicle named Tessmer the best guitarist in the city for 2017–2018, based on their annual poll.
