My 30 Favorite Guitarists of All Time — Pick 14

Welcome to the next installment in my series counting down my 30 favorite guitar players! Today’s guitarist is another one who’s no longer with us, having tragically taken his own life in 2012. Back in the 70s, he had the potential to be a guitar icon in the same vein as guys like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck — but he instead pursued creativity over commercial success, forever hampering his career. Aside from playing in the band named after him, he was also a prolific session cat having played guest spots on many a record — so without further ado:

In the early 1970s, heavy rock music was mostly a British thing — such acts like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple were pioneering that sound and it hadn’t quite reached American record labels then. America was due for a heavy rock band, and in 1973 they got one in the form of Montrose. They had a similar sound to Led Zeppelin’s hard rock songs, but Montrose only did hard rock — and it was even louder than Zeppelin! Ronnie Montrose was at the forefront along with a then-unknown singer named Sammy Hagar, and it seemed like this was a surefire combination for this band to reach stardom and become America’s biggest rock band. Sadly, this never came to pass in part due to Ronnie’s controlling nature over the band and his desire to branch to more creative genres like jazz fusion instead of going after commercial success. Still, he was always a fantastic player no matter the style he played in — and was a big influence on many guitarists that came after him, including me.

Favorite Album

This is a no-brainer, really. Montrose’s debut album is a hugely influential album in American heavy rock despite its lack of recognition among the masses. You want straightforward, loud and bluesy hard rock tunes? Look no further. Rock the Nation is a perfect album opener and one of Montrose’s best-known songs. Bad Motor Scooter is the song that introduced me to Ronnie Montrose being the first song I heard from the band, and has Ronnie playing distorted slide guitar to emulate engine noises. Rock Candy is another one of the best known songs off the album and is the gold standard for mid-tempo riff-based bluesy rockers. Good Rockin’ Tonight is a cover of an early rock ’n’ roll tune that was notably also covered by Elvis, and it remains a favorite of mine to play. Finally we get to my pick for the best song on the album, Space Station #5. The slow, spacey intro has Ronnie messing around with what sounds like an Echoplex and also a Theremin. Afterwards, it breaks out into one of the greatest hard rock songs ever made. It’s a simple riff in E that works so well — I dare you to listen to this song while driving on the freeway and resisting the urge to put the pedal to the metal. Also for live performances of the song, Ronnie played a guitar with a Theremin attached to it — a cooler guitar can’t even be dreamed of!

Favorite Solo

While Ronnie came up with great riffs and rockers in Montrose, I think he shined a bit more with solos outside his namesake band. This song from a post-Montrose band of his is a perfect example of his ability to play well outside of hard rock, taking a slow, moody blues approach. Playing in all the sessions he did worked wonders for Ronnie’s chops and improvisational skills which come to play in Voyager’s solo.