Top 10 Greatest Electric Blues Guitarists of All Time

Riley B. King spent 60 years touring as the King of the Blues, performing over 15,000 concerts across a career that began in the Mississippi Delta in 1946 and ended with his death in 2015 at age 89 in Las Vegas. His vibrato technique and his personified guitar Lucille were so distinctive they became the defining voice of the post-war electric blues.

Robert Leroy Johnson recorded only 29 songs before dying in 1938 at approximately 27 years of age, yet those recordings -- made in two sessions in San Antonio and Dallas in 1936 and 1937 -- became the foundation of the entire blues canon. Eric Clapton called Johnson the most important blues singer who ever lived, and his King of the Delta Blues Singers album sold 5,000 copies in 1961 before reaching 1 million by 1990.

Chester Burnett, known as Howlin' Wolf, stood 6 foot 3 and weighed 275 pounds, and his bone-shaking growl and ferocious stage presence gave Chicago blues its most powerful voice from 1948 until his death in 1976. Willie Dixon wrote many of his biggest songs including Spoonful and Back Door Man, and the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the Doors all recorded his compositions.

John Lee Hooker created a deeply personal, hypnotic solo blues style rooted in the Mississippi Delta that was so rhythmically primitive and powerful that even his early 1948 recordings sound modern. His Boogie Chillen sold over 1 million copies when released on Modern Records in 1948, and he continued recording acclaimed albums through his 1989 Grammy-winning collaboration The Healer with Carlos Santana and Los Lobos.

Albert King's angular, string-bending style -- played left-handed on an upside-down right-handed Gibson Flying V tuned to open-E minor -- was so distinctive that Stevie Ray Vaughan described him as his single greatest influence. His 1967 album Born Under a Bad Sign, produced by Booker T. Jones at Stax Records, is the blueprint for the electric blues that defined late 1960s rock.

Elmore James single-handedly defined the Chicago slide guitar sound with his 1951 recording of Dust My Broom -- a reworking of Robert Johnson's composition featuring a slide guitar riff so immediately recognizable it has been described as the most influential six seconds in blues history. Despite dying in 1963 at 45, his influence on Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, and every slide guitarist who followed is immeasurable.

Eddie James House Jr. was one of the Delta blues originators who directly taught Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, performing at plantation juke joints in Mississippi from the 1920s before being rediscovered in 1964 by researchers from Columbia University. His slide guitar and raw, anguished vocal style represent the purest link to the pre-WWII blues tradition, and his Death Letter Blues remains a masterpiece of American music.

Freddie King's Texas-influenced electric blues style bridged the Chicago and West Coast blues traditions with a tone so aggressive and clear that Eric Clapton spent a decade trying to replicate it. His 1961 instrumentals Hide Away and San-Ho-Zay became blues standards, and his 1970s albums produced by Leon Russell brought him to rock audiences who recognized his guitar mastery as the equal of any rock guitarist alive.

George Guy from Lettsworth, Louisiana arrived in Chicago in 1957 with nothing and became both a recording star and the owner of Chicago's most famous blues venue, Buddy Guy's Legends, which he has run since 1989. His wild, feedback-drenched guitar style that Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton cited as their greatest influence earned him seven Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2012.

Riley B. King spent 60 years touring as the King of the Blues, performing over 15,000 concerts across a career that began in the Mississippi Delta in 1946 and ended with his death in 2015 at age 89 in Las Vegas. His vibrato technique and his personified guitar Lucille were so distinctive they became the defining voice of the post-war electric blues.

Robert Leroy Johnson recorded only 29 songs before dying in 1938 at approximately 27 years of age, yet those recordings -- made in two sessions in San Antonio and Dallas in 1936 and 1937 -- became the foundation of the entire blues canon. Eric Clapton called Johnson the most important blues singer who ever lived, and his King of the Delta Blues Singers album sold 5,000 copies in 1961 before reaching 1 million by 1990.

Chester Burnett, known as Howlin' Wolf, stood 6 foot 3 and weighed 275 pounds, and his bone-shaking growl and ferocious stage presence gave Chicago blues its most powerful voice from 1948 until his death in 1976. Willie Dixon wrote many of his biggest songs including Spoonful and Back Door Man, and the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the Doors all recorded his compositions.

John Lee Hooker created a deeply personal, hypnotic solo blues style rooted in the Mississippi Delta that was so rhythmically primitive and powerful that even his early 1948 recordings sound modern. His Boogie Chillen sold over 1 million copies when released on Modern Records in 1948, and he continued recording acclaimed albums through his 1989 Grammy-winning collaboration The Healer with Carlos Santana and Los Lobos.

Albert King's angular, string-bending style -- played left-handed on an upside-down right-handed Gibson Flying V tuned to open-E minor -- was so distinctive that Stevie Ray Vaughan described him as his single greatest influence. His 1967 album Born Under a Bad Sign, produced by Booker T. Jones at Stax Records, is the blueprint for the electric blues that defined late 1960s rock.

Elmore James single-handedly defined the Chicago slide guitar sound with his 1951 recording of Dust My Broom -- a reworking of Robert Johnson's composition featuring a slide guitar riff so immediately recognizable it has been described as the most influential six seconds in blues history. Despite dying in 1963 at 45, his influence on Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, and every slide guitarist who followed is immeasurable.

Eddie James House Jr. was one of the Delta blues originators who directly taught Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, performing at plantation juke joints in Mississippi from the 1920s before being rediscovered in 1964 by researchers from Columbia University. His slide guitar and raw, anguished vocal style represent the purest link to the pre-WWII blues tradition, and his Death Letter Blues remains a masterpiece of American music.

Freddie King's Texas-influenced electric blues style bridged the Chicago and West Coast blues traditions with a tone so aggressive and clear that Eric Clapton spent a decade trying to replicate it. His 1961 instrumentals Hide Away and San-Ho-Zay became blues standards, and his 1970s albums produced by Leon Russell brought him to rock audiences who recognized his guitar mastery as the equal of any rock guitarist alive.

George Guy from Lettsworth, Louisiana arrived in Chicago in 1957 with nothing and became both a recording star and the owner of Chicago's most famous blues venue, Buddy Guy's Legends, which he has run since 1989. His wild, feedback-drenched guitar style that Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton cited as their greatest influence earned him seven Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2012.