Eddie Van Halen

The man who redrew the boundary of what was physically possible on electric guitar, Eddie Van Halen detonated rock in 1978 with Eruption — a 1 minute 42 second solo on Van Halen's debut album that introduced two-handed tapping as a mainstream technique and immediately rendered all previous speed benchmarks obsolete. Playing his own hand-built 'Frankenstrat' hybrid guitar, he combined harmonic squeals, tremolo arm dives, and blinding legato runs on albums like Fair Warning and 1984. Guitar World named him the greatest guitarist of all time in 2012.