Progressive Rock Guitarists — Musician Guide: Players, Bands & Key Albums

Progressive Rock Guitarists — an atmospheric illustration of an electric and an acoustic guitar crossed on a stand in amber light

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Progressive Rock Guitarists — Musician Guide: Players, Bands & Key Albums

The guitar players of progressive rock: who they are, the bands they played in and the albums where to hear them.

  • InstrumentGuitar
  • Guides312
  • OrderBy scene
  • Each guideBands, albums, where to start

Want the full stories? My books map every scene → All instruments

This hub gathers the progressive rock guitarists covered on Prog Atlas. Each player has a guide with the bands, the key albums and a place to start, and the list is sorted by scene, from the British and Italian first wave to the progressive metal players of today.

Guitarists who also sang are listed here when the guitar is what they are best known for; singers who also played guitar are in the singers hub, with the guitar in their guide.

Guitarists with a guide of their own

Steve HackettEnglish guitarist, lead guitarist of GenesisAllan HoldsworthBritish guitarist; Soft Machine, U.K., BrufordSteve HillageEnglish musician best known as a guitarist; Khan, GongFrank ZappaAmerican composer and guitarist; the Mothers of InventionSteve VaiAmerican guitarist; played in Frank Zappa’s band

Prefer the whole story in one place? See my books →

The guitarists, scene by scene

312 guides, grouped by the scene of the band each musician is best known for, in alphabetical order.

British Progressive Rock

Adrian Belew Andrew Latimer Andy Dalby Andy Powell Anthony Phillips Ben Granfelt Brian Willoughby Carl Verheyen Dave Ball Dave Flett Dave Lambert David Gilmour David O’List Denny Laine Florian Opahle Fred Frith Gary Green Geoff Whitehorn Guthrie Govan Huw Lloyd-Langton Jakko Jakszyk Joe Parrish Joe Satriani John Du Cann John Goodsall John Grimaldi John Lees John Verity Justin Hayward Keith Relf Kirby Gregory Laurie Wisefield Mandy Meyer Mark Birch Martin Barre Michael Dunford Mick Abrahams Mick Barnard Mick Box Mick Grabham Mick Rogers Muddy Manninen Peter Banks Peter Blegvad Phil Manzanera Richard Palmer-James Ritchie Blackmore Robert Fripp Robin Trower Russ Ballard Sam Coulson Simon McBride Steve Bolton Steve Howe Steve Morse Steve Waller Ted Turner Tommy Bolin Trevor Rabin Trey Gunn

Italian Progressive Rock (RPI)

Alberto Radius Anthony Sidney Bambi Fossati Carlo Pennisi Corrado Rustici Filippo Marcheggiani Franco Mussida Gaio Chiocchio Germano Serafin Giacomo Castellano Giampiero Artegiani Gigi Venegoni Luigi Tessarollo Marcello Todaro Marco di Castri Marco Sfogli Mario Lavezzi Massimo Morante Paolo Carta Paolo Tofani Pietro Condorelli Red Canzian Rodolfo Maltese Slep Tolo Marton Toni Verde Vincenzo Caporaletti

German Progressive Rock & Krautrock

Ax Genrich Bruno Frenzel Carlo Karges Carola Kretschmer Conny Veit Dieter Bornschlegel Dirk Steffens Eddy Marron Eef Albers Frank Bornemann Geoff Goodman Gustl Lütjens Hans Reffert Josef Jandrisits Klaus Röder Lupo Lutz Ludwig Kramer Lüül Manfred Wieczorke Manuel Göttsching Michael Karoli Peđa D’Boy Peter Wolbrandt Rainer Baumann Rocco Zodiak Roland Schaeffer Roman Bunka Rudolf Sosna Sigi Schwab Stephan Diez

American Progressive Rock

Al Di Meola Al Pitrelli Alan Morse Alex Lifeson Alex Skolnick Ben Jackson Bill Connors Bill Kelliher Bobby Koelble Brent Hinds Buck Dharma Chris Caffery Chris DeGarmo Chuck Schuldiner Colin Frangicetto Criss Oliva Daniel Mongrain Danny Weis David Malachowski David Pack Denis D’Amour Donnie Dacus Doug Jackson Dustie Waring Erik Brann Frank Aresti Frank Gambale George Tickner Gina Gleason Glen Burtnik Ian Crichton James Murphy James Young Jason Göbel Jason Richardson Jeff Loomis Jim Matheos John Dyer Baizley John J. Curulewski John McLaughlin John Petrucci Jon Drenning Kelly Gray Larry LaLonde Larry Reinhardt Michael Abdow Michael Romeo Michael Wilton Mike Pinera Mike Stone Misha Mansoor Neal Schon Neil Citron Parker Lundgren Pat O’Brien Paul Masvidal Paul Waggoner Phil X Randy California Rich Williams Rick Rozz Rik Emmett Ron Jarzombek Sean Lennon Shane Blay Shannon Hamm Steve Smyth Synyster Gates Thomas Youngblood Tim Calvert Todd Huth Tommy Shaw Tosin Abasi Travis Stever Ty Tabor Tymon Kruidenier Victor Arduini Will Evankovich Zacky Vengeance

Modern Progressive Rock

Adam Jones Anders Nyström Christian Andreu Cook Craig Daniel Cavanagh Dave Foster Dave Gregory Fredrik Åkesson Fredrik Thordendal Guy Manning Hans Magnus Ryan Jacob Holm-Lupo Joey Walker John Boyes Kalle Wallner Karl Groom Luke Machin Markus Steffen Mårten Hagström Marty Willson-Piper Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin Nicklas Barker Omar Rodríguez-López Peter Lindgren Piotr Grudziński Ragnar Zolberg Roger Öjersson Tchort Tore Østby Vincent Cavanagh

The Canterbury Scene

Andy Summers Brian Hopper Chris Spedding Doug Boyle Fabio Golfetti Geoffrey Richardson John Etheridge Kawabata Makoto Mark Hewins Mark Wood Phil Lee Phil Miller Pye Hastings

Neo-Progressive Rock

Andy Revell John Mitchell Steve Rothery

Symphonic Progressive Rock

Apostolis Anthimos Brian Godding Claude Olmos František Griglák James Mac Gaw Jan Akkerman Jan Dumée Jean-Jacques Goldman Johan Slager Jukka Tolonen Marc Fosset Per Nilsson Philip Catherine Silver Koulouris

Psychedelic & Space Rock

Brian Pendleton Deke Leonard Dick Taylor Ed Wynne Gordon John Edwards Hideki Ishima Micky Jones Reine Fiske Sérgio Dias

Progressive Metal

Gary Wehrkamp Stephan Lill Thorstein Aaby

Post-Rock & Math Rock

David Bryant David Pajo Efrim Menuck Ian Williams Jeff Parker John Cummings Mike Banfield Mike Moya Stuart Braithwaite Tyondai Braxton

Experimental & Post-Metal

Michael Gallagher Steve Von Till

Tech & Extreme Prog Metal

Andreas Axelsson Kevin Hufnagel Patrick Mameli Tommy Vetterli Uwe Baltrusch

Jazz Rock & Fusion

Clem Clempson James Litherland Martin Scales Peter O’Mara Roy Louis Scott Henderson Ted Dunbar Terry Smith

Progressive Folk

Declan Sinnott Graeme Taylor

Zeuhl

Takahiro Izutani

Indo-Prog & Raga Rock

Baiju Dharmajan Rex Vijayan

RIO & Avant-Prog

Mike Johnson Vincent Kenis

Heavy Prog

Alan Shacklock Bernie Marsden Kim Mitchell

Crossover Prog

Bill Nelson Brian May David Lebón Eric Stewart Ian Parkin Lol Creme Mike Slamer Rick Fenn

Eclectic Prog

Gustavo Santaolalla

Further reading on the blog

My ranking of the best progressive rock guitarists of all time is the companion to this directory. For the playing itself, try the best prog rock guitar solos ever and the best prog rock guitar riffs, or go player by player with the best David Gilmour solos, the best Robert Fripp solos, the best Alex Lifeson solos, the best John Petrucci solos and the best Frank Zappa solos.

How these guides work

Each musician guide follows the same plan: the bands, the albums where the playing can be heard, the line-ups the musician was part of and a place to start. A musician who played in several bands has one guide, filed under the band that made the name, with links to all the others. The guides go online in stages, scene by scene.