49Muddy Waters

Peter Sherman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesMuddywas there at the beginning, in the Delta, actually sitting at the feet of Charley Patton and Son House. He was a kid when those guys were in their prime. Then he electrified it. There was a physicality in the way he played the guitar percussive, like a drum. When he plays slide, it's not on the high strings. It's lower, guttural, and it sounds like he's about to rip the strings off.I was already a Muddy fan the Muddy of Chess Records when I heard his Library of Congress recordings, captured by Alan Lomax in 1941 and 1942. They caught Muddy so young, when he was a complete unknown, maybe self-conscious and shy, listening back to his voice for the first time. There is something vulnerable about it, but also fully formed. For slide players in the Delta, it was a call-and-response thing with themselves. The slide would take the other voice, like a female voice in a choir. Muddy carried it right on through to Chicago.There are "Muddy licks" riffs he would play over turnarounds that were unique to him. You can hear some Muddy licks inHendrix's playing. Later on, as Muddy got older, he played guitar less and less. But when he did jump in, you knew it. He hadBuddy Guyand Jimmy Rogers in his bands. But when you played with Muddy, you didn't play what he did, because that shit was covered. By Derek TrucksKey Tracks:"Rollin' Stone," "Mannish Boy"

50Ritchie Blackmore

Ian Dickson/RedfernsBest known for the gargantuan riff at the heart ofDeep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Ritchie Blackmore helped define heavy-metal guitar by mixing intricate classical composition with raw-knuckled blues rock. "I found the blues too limiting, and classical was too disciplined," he said. "I was always stuck in a musical no man's land." Blackmore made waves on 1972'sMachine Head; his solos on the boogie rocker "Highway Star" and "Lazy" remain models of metal pyrotechnics. He looked back toward early European music with his next band, Rainbow even learning cello to write 1976's stomping "Stargazer" and now explores Renaissance-style fingerpicking with Blackmore's Night. But it's his Deep Purple work that influenced a generation of handbangers. "Blackmore epitomized this fascination I had with the bare essence of rock & roll, this element of danger," saysMetallica's Lars Ulrich. "Deep Purple, in their finest moments, were more unpredictable thanBlack SabbathorLed Zeppelin."Key Tracks:"Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," "Speed King"

51Johnny Marr

Peter Pakvis/RedfernsThe Smiths' guitarist was a guitar genius for the post-punk era: not a showboating soloist, but a technician who could sound like a whole band. As a kid studying Motown records, Johnny Marr would try to replicate not just guitar riffs but piano and strings too, all with his right hand. His voluptuous arpeggios often played on a chiming Rickenbacker with incredible flow and detailing were every bit as essential to the Smiths' signature sound asMorrissey's baritone. And he was a tireless explorer: For 1983's "This Charming Man," Marr dropped knives onto a '54 Telecaster, a revelatory incident thatRadioheadmay have been alluding to in their Smiths-inspired "Knives Out." "He was a brilliant rhythm player, rarely played solos, so full of sounds," said Radiohead's Ed O'Brien part of an entire generation of British guitarists who took their cues from Marr. "I've been in the studio with him, and there's nothing he cannot do on guitar," saidOasis' Noel Gallagher. "The man's a fuckin' wizard."Key Tracks:"This Charming Man," "How Soon Is Now?"