Born Leslie Weinstein, with his cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect,” was the moment that he was truly recognized as a guitar legend. By 1969 West was in the band Mountain, churning out songs like the 1970 hit “Mississippi Queen.”
Playing blues with an R&B flair, the guitar legend played with unhinged mentioned and played with amp distortion in a way that might make Hendrix jealous.
John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin is hands down one of the key influencers in the fusion genre. By combining genres like Indian music with jazz and classical, McLaughlin has made the instrument as multi-faceted as can be. In fact, according to Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin was the best guitarist alive.
The musician was once invited to record with Miles Davis early in his career. But it was in his own Mahavishnu Orchestra that his serious riffs gave him that true legendary status.
T-Bone Walker
B.B. King heard T-Bone Walker and said that he thought "Jesus Himself had returned to Earth playing electric guitar." The blues guitarist was one of the originators of the jump-blues electric sound. The multi-talented musician was ranked number 37 on the list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in the 2018 Rolling Stone Magazine.
His bluesy vibrato can be mostly heard in the tracks "Call It Stormy Monday," "T-Bone Shuffle," and "Mean Old World."
Jerry Cantrell
The co-vocalist but lead guitarist of the alternative metal band Alice in Chains rose to fame not only because of his unmistakable voice but also because of his distinct guitar style. While the 1990s Seattle-based band is often lumped with other grunge bands of the time, their take contained far more heavy metal elements. It was one of the most successful acts of the 1990s, selling over thirty million records worldwide, with eighteen top 10 songs and eleven Grammy nominations.
Due to vocalist Layne Staley's substance abuse, the band was often inactive since the 1996s. In 2009 they released two more albums. For the real Alice in Chains experience, check out “Man in the Box” from 'Facelift.'
Terry Kath
One of the countless rock legends who left us too soon, Terry Kath, lead guitarist of the band Chicago, sold more than 22 million records. Producing one of the greatest guitar solos in history, he has been dubbed better than Jimi Hendrix (by Hendrix himself.) The band was formed in 1967 and -described itself as a “rock and roll band with horns.” In 2008, Billboard listed Chicago at number thirteen and fifteen in a list of the top 100 artists of all time (from 2008 and 2015, respectively).
The band has sold over 40 million albums domestically and has released twenty-three gold albums, eighteen platinum albums, and eight multi-platinum albums. In 1974, the group had seven albums on the Billboard 200 simultaneously.