The following guitarists are my own personal favourites. Each has something that is unique to them and that's the reason I admire them. As always, opinions are personal and if you don't agree…send me an e-mail or put a comment in my guest book. I've also listed a couple of tracks that I feel would sum their style perfectly.

Van Halen have been very quiet recently but I’m hopeful they’ll be back soon! In 1978 a friend brought Van Halen I round my house and put the first side of the album on. The first track leapt out of the speakers and I was impressed. But I was unprepared for the second track. Eruption is less than 2 minutes long. It changed the way the guitar would be played for the next decade. If you haven't heard it and you play the guitar…you must. Firstly take into account that Eddie started out as the drummer. Then that when he recorded this, he was 23 years old. Then, turn up your stereo very loud, sit back and…listen. This track broke every rule in the book but more importantly, established the guitar in an era that was very disco. Eddie played with attitude and you could hear it in his sound. A lot has been said of his tapping technique which, is superb, but he rarely uses it and there is so much more to his style. He often quotes the fact that he never listens to other top guitarists or, current rock at all. It could be this that sat him at the top of the pile while everybody else tried to copy his licks. A true Master.

Essential listening:
'Eruption'- Van Halen I, 'Unchained', ‘Mean Streets’- Fair Warning,
'Light Up The Sky' 'Spanish Fly'-Van Halen II,
'Hot for Teacher'-1984, 'AFU (Naturally Wired)'-OU812

Bill Nelson was my first major influence. He was lead guitarist, lead singer, lyricist and bandleader of Be-Bop Deluxe (also my choice for best ever band name!) who hailed from Wakefield in West Yorkshire. The early albums seemed to hold a fascination with Bowie-esque type writing but he very quickly established his own sound using Carlsboro amplifiers and Hagstrom guitars (from Sweden) which, in this day and age of high powered valve combo's, processors and 'studio toys', can't have been easy. The most exciting period for me was between 1975-1977 when Be-Bop released 'Futurama', 'Sunburst Finish', 'Modern Music' and 'Live! In the Air-age'. These four albums all hold very special memories for me, as it was at this stage that I began to take the guitar more seriously. Once again, no one sounded like Bill Nelson or Be-Bop Deluxe. They were quite English and Bill never copied anybody. With the onset of punk/new wave, Bill decided he no longer wished to be a guitar hero (he was not the type-the overall music was much more important to him) and the decline came fast as punk took hold. Today, still busy, he writes a lot of ambient type music and does film scores etc. But the guitar no longer takes centre stage.

Essential listening:
'Sister Seagull'-Futurama,
'Crying to the Sky'-Sunburst Finish,
'Modern Music Suite'-Modern Music
'Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape'-Live! In the Air age

My first impression of George Lynch was 'atomic’ Tom Scholtz (Boston), as every solo seemed to be exactly what you wanted to hear. You could whistle the solos (but couldn't play them!) and the sound was immense. There was a period in the '80's, when a rumour circulated the guitar world that George had given lessons to Eddie Van Halen. This was untrue but George did not have to pander to rumours to convince the guitar world of his tasty playing. Dokken were never an immense band as soloists, the drummer and bass player being (IMO) adequate and the songs becoming formularised as MTV took hold. But they were great vehicles for Lynch to unleash a death-defying solo after the second chorus. The band disintegrated due to not liking each other very much and though Lynch formed Lynch Mob and Dokken have continued on and off, neither has benefited from the loss of the other and massive success has eluded both parties. Hearing George play is good enough but if you get the chance to watch him, you will see that he doesn't play like anybody else. Very few of his licks are standard and he does things a different way-his way.

Essential listening:
'Mr Scary',' Heaven Sent'-Back for the Attack,
'Wicked Sensation', 'For a Million Years'-Lynch Mob.

Frightening speed, amazing vibrato as well as a sense of humour! Mr Big mark 1 were the scariest band I ever saw. They played amazingly (Pat Torpey is an awesome drummer, Eric Martin has a blues/r'n b voice to die for) but at the heart of it all was great self-belief and very good song writing. They realised early on that it would be the songs they would be remembered for and not the million note tapping solos. Yeah, you got a couple of awesome songs at the start of albums, such as 'Addicted to that Rush', 'The Drill Song (Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy)', 'Colorado Bulldog' etc. but there were also awesome songs like 'Just Take My Heart', 'Had Enough' and 'Anything for You'. These allowed Paul and bass player Billy Sheehan to stretch beyond the normal backing for AOR/Rock, but never forget that the "song is first". Paul left and was replaced by Ritchie Kotzen (another great guitarist) but the band then ‘fired’ Billy Sheehan (!) and folded after a farewell tour of Japan. It was a sad end to a band that defined the word "dynamic".

Essential listening:
'Addicted to that Rush'-Mr Big,
'I Understand Completely'-'Guitars That Rule the World' compilation
'The Drill Song (Daddy, Brother, Lover Little Boy)'-Bump Ahead

A sublime guitarist who, once again, knows how to inject humour into his playing. After sending a tape of his playing to one of his idols, Frank Zappa, at the age of 15, he was invited to join Zappa's band. There he embarked on one of the most fruitful apprenticeships of all time (keeping up with Frank being a musician's mark of total flexibility). He is of course famous for his stints with both Dave Lee Roth and Whitesnake but has recorded solo albums right throughout his career. There are two tracks, which I cannot speak more highly of, for completely different reasons. Firstly, 'For the Love of God' which, if you haven't heard it, is the sound of a musician in total harmony with his instrument. This song builds into a thing of wonderment where he connects with the guitar on a purely personal level, beyond technique, the title being so apt for someone who has faith and inner peace. The second is my favourite for sheer audacity, comedy, surprise and, above all¸ bewilderment. 'Big Trouble' may not be a well-known song in the Stevie Vai catalogue but it wins every time as far as I'm concerned. From the Dave Lee Roth album 'Eat 'em and Smile' this is all over the place but the humour is incredible. Guitarists are good for creating solos that evoke moods but pissing yourself laughing at something so "out there" is not on my usual list…truly incredible.

Essential listening:
'Big Trouble'-DLR, Eat 'em and Smile,
'For the Love of God'- Passion and Warfare,
'The Attitude Song', Flex-able.
'Hotdog and a Shake'-DLR, Skyscraper, ‘Touching Tongues’

Behind Vai as a coincidence only. But Steve and Joe are always intrinsically linked together for several reasons. Most notably they came to prominence about the same time and both play and endorse Ibanez guitars. They regularly play together on the G3 shows that tour periodically (G3 translates to 3 guitarists, the third guy picked has been Eric Johnson, John Petrucci , Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Yngwie Malmsteen so far) and, guitar nuts will also know that Joe did actually give Steve some lessons way back. They are very good friends and admire each other's playing and they are similar in some parts of their style. I enjoy most of what Joe has done because he takes chances and evolves. One of his earlier studio albums, 'Engines of Creation', evoked strong feelings in America due to the fact that he used drum loops and some dance culture…good for him! It'd be boring to continue chopping out 'Blue Dream' type stuff-at least he likes a change of direction. Favourite tracks are hard to pick out of such a huge bag but I'm going for a mixture of stuff that sends a chill up my spine and flash bastard histrionics!

Essential listening:
'Surfing with the Alien'-Surfing with the Alien,
'Mystical Potato Groove Head Thing' ‘Strange’-Flying in a Blue Dream,
'Time Machine'-Time Machine,
’The Extremist’, ‘Summer Song’, 'Cryin'-The Extremist

I've been a real blueshound for about 15 years. Before that, it was all rock but the blues didn't take hold until I heard Stevie doing a song called 'Lenny'. I couldn't believe the emotion in that song and immediately started to look for other stuff. I thought he obviously had passion in his playing but then I heard 'Scuttlebuttin' and thought 'Oh, he's got this as well!' Stevie admired such a wide range of guitarists (Hendrix, Lonny Mack, Albert King, Freddy King etc) that he took a little piece of all of them and made it his own. On any SRV album you'll hear Texas blues, Chicago blues, Hendrix style '60's rock, Jazz…even surf type stuff! His tone was immense due, partly, to him using the biggest gauge strings he could get his hands on. Rumour has it that he took to using something like a .70 on the bottom E which, after doing 3 shows a day some days, left his fingers looking like mincemeat. To remedy this he used to put superglue on his arm, apply his fingers until they had stuck and then 'rip' them away from his arm leaving nicely re-skinned pinkies but large patches of skin missing from his arm! Not recommended. I'm such a fan of his raw sound that in one of my old bands, Jone$ville, I used a Stevie Ray Vaughan patch on my Line6 combo (downloaded from their web-site…thank you Line6!) with the neck pick-up on my £50 Squier for 90% of the stuff we did. Stevie used a lot of different combo's both live and in the studio but he was never far away from a black-faced Fender twin or Bassman and this is the sound I try and emulate when doing his stuff. If you're new to Stevie (or you've lived on the Moon for that last 20 years!), I'd recommend you start with 'Texas Flood' but even more highly recommended is to get hold of the 'Live at the El Macambo' video from 1983. This video is absolutely smokin' and was before Stevie was a big name. Highlights include his blistering performance of Hendrix' 'Voodoo Chile (slight return)' and 'Third Stone from the Sun' (he really gives his guitar some abuse here!) and the crowning moment is to watch him, bathed in sweat (it's running off his hat!) sitting down to play 'Lenny'. Pure emotion. Buy it, rent it or steal it but see it now!

Essential listening:
'Texas Flood', 'Lenny'-Texas Flood,
'Riviera Paradise'-In Step
Also 'Live at the El Macambo' video