Musicians Famous Guitarists from Illinois

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List of famous guitarists born who were born in Illinois, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Many of these guitar players from Illinois are legends in the music world, each with their own innovative styles of play. If you play guitar, whether acoustic or electric, then these famous Illinois guitar players should be people you look up to. These are some of the best guitarists that have ever picked up the instrument, and whether they play rock, blues, metal or folk, these men and women are considered legends.

The list you're viewing is made up of many different items, like Eddie Vedder and Billy Corgan.

This list answers the questions, "What guitar players are from Illinois?" and "Who are famous Illinois guitarists?"

1
Adam Jones is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois

2
Billy Corgan is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 51 William Patrick "Billy" Corgan Jr. is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and poet, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and sole permanent member of The Smashing ...more

3
Dan Donegan is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 50 Dan Donegan is an American musician and guitarist for heavy metal band Disturbed. Donegan began playing guitar as a teenager and eventually formed a band called Vandal, which was an '80s-style ...more

4
Daniel Gula is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 32 Daniel Gula is a musician in the Independent Rock band Redding. His style of guitar playing is known to be more pedal and effect oriented rather than complex guitar patterns. He currently lives ...more

5
Nils Lofgren is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 67 Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E ...more

6
Terry Kath is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 32 (1946-1978) Terry Alan Kath was an American musician and songwriter, best known as the original guitarist, co-lead singer and founding member of the rock band Chicago. He has been praised by the band for ...more

7
Fast Eddie is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 46 Fast Eddie is an American house producer from Chicago, Illinois.

8
Paul Gilbert is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 52 Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American instrumental rock guitarist. He is best known for being the co-founder of the band Mr. Big. He was also in a band called Racer X, for which they released ...more

9
Eddie Vedder is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 54 Eddie Vedder is an American musician who is best known for being the lead vocalist and one of three guitarists of the alternative rock band Pearl Jam. Known for his distinctive and powerful ...more

10
Greg Tribbett is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 50 Greg Tribbett is the guitarist and backing vocalist for American band Mudvayne, and the former guitarist for Hellyeah. He has been with Mudvayne since their inception in 1996. He has named Randy ...more

11
Curtis Mayfield is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 57 (1942-1999) Curtis Lee Mayfield was an African American soul, R&B, and funk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who was one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically ...more

12
Alison Krauss is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 47 Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer-songwriter and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for ...more

13
Pete Wentz is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 39 Peter Lewis Kingston "Pete" Wentz III, known professionally as Pete Wentz, is an American musician best known for being the bassist, primary lyricist and backing vocalist for the ...more

14
Billy Zoom is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 70 Billy Zoom is an American guitarist, best known as one of the founders of the punk rock band X.

15
Carlos Johnson is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 65 Carlos Johnson is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is left-handed, but plays a right-handed instrument upside-down like players such as Otis Rush and Albert King. Johnson is known for ...more

16
James Iha is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 50 James Yoshinobu Iha is an American rock musician. He is best known as former guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins and for his electric musical projects of ...more

17
David Miller is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 70 (1883-1953) David Miller was an American country musician. He is one of the earliest musicians to be associated with country music recording. Miller grew up working at a fruit farm, and served in the Army ...more

18
Richard Bennett is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 67 Richard Bennett is an American guitarist, sideman, session musician, and record producer. As a touring sideman, he performed with Neil Diamond for 17 years, and Mark Knopfler since 1994. As a ...more

19
John Myung is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 51 John Ro Myung is an American bassist and a founding member of the progressive metal/rock group Dream Theater. He is one of two longest serving members of Dream Theater along with John Petrucci. ...more

20
Jay Bennett is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 46 (1963-2009) Jay Walter Bennett was an American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer, and singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Wilco.

21
Tom Paxton is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 81 Thomas Richard "Tom" Paxton is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement ...more

22
Mike Bloomfield is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 38 (1943-1981) Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to ...more

23
Brendon Small is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 43 Brendon Small is an American producer, writer, animator, stand-up comedian, voice actor, and musician. He is best known as the co-creator of the animated series Home Movies and Metalocalypse and ...more

24
Patrick Stump is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 34 Patrick Martin Stumph, known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actor and music critic, best known as the lead vocalist, ...more

25
Roger McGuinn is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 76 James Roger McGuinn known professionally as Roger McGuinn and previously as Jim McGuinn, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The ...more

26
Melissa McClelland is listed (or ranked) 26 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 39 Melissa McClelland is an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter who lived in Hamilton, Ontario, in her youth and now bases her career from Toronto. McClelland's music is influenced by blues ...more

27
Kevin Cronin is listed (or ranked) 27 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 67 Kevin Patrick Cronin is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and occasional pianist for the American rock band, REO Speedwagon. REO Speedwagon had several hits on the Billboard Hot 100 ...more

28
James Young is listed (or ranked) 28 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 69 James V. "J.Y." Young is a guitarist, singer and songwriter who is best known for playing lead guitar in the American rock band, Styx. Young began playing keyboard and piano at the age ...more

29
Jellybean Johnson is listed (or ranked) 29 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 62 Garry George "Jellybean" Johnson, is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, producer and musician based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member and drummer of the band named The ...more

30
Red Rhodes is listed (or ranked) 30 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 65 (1930-1995) Orville J. Rhodes, better known as Red Rhodes or O. J. Rhodes, was an American pedal steel guitarist. His mother taught him to play the Dobro at the age of five, but at the age of fifteen he ...more

31
Stanley Jordan is listed (or ranked) 31 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 59 Stanley Jordan is an American jazz/jazz fusion guitarist and pianist.

32
Bernard Allison is listed (or ranked) 32 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 53 Bernard Allison is a blues guitarist based out of Paris, France.

33
Cortelia Clark is listed (or ranked) 33 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 62 (1907-1969) Cortelia Clark was an African American blues singer and guitarist, known for his performances on the streets of Nashville. He won a Grammy for Best Folk Recording in 1967, for the album Blues in ...more

34
Warren DeMartini is listed (or ranked) 34 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 55 Warren Justin DeMartini, nicknamed Torch, is the lead guitarist for Ratt, a popular American band during the mid-to-late 1980s Los Angeles glam metal scene.

35
Frankie Sullivan is listed (or ranked) 35 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 63 Frank Michael "Frankie" Sullivan III is an American guitarist and songwriter. He is best known for being a member of the band Survivor, and has been the only constant member of the ...more

36
Bob Log III is listed (or ranked) 36 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Bob Log III is an American slide guitar one-man band. During performances, he plays old Silvertone archtop guitars, wears a full body human cannonball suit, and a motorcycle helmet wired to a ...more

37
John Curulewski is listed (or ranked) 37 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 38 (1950-1988) John Curulewski, nicknamed "JC," was one of the original members of Styx. He joined Dennis DeYoung, the Panozzo brothers, and James Young to form TW4 in 1968, which was renamed to Styx ...more

38
Keni Burke is listed (or ranked) 38 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 65 Kenneth M. Burke, better known as Keni Burke, is an American R&B, soul, funk, and jazz singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist who began his career as a member of the ...more

39
Big Bill Morganfield is listed (or ranked) 39 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 62 William "Big Bill" Morganfield is an American blues singer and guitarist, who is the son of Muddy Waters.

40
Duke Tumatoe is listed (or ranked) 40 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 71 Bill Fiorio, a.k.a. Duke Tumatoe, is an American blues guitarist and singer, who was an early member of the band REO Speedwagon. He has developed a presence as a blues performer and entertainer ...more

41
Christian Hejnal is listed (or ranked) 41 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 49 Christian Hejnal – Addams is an American visual effects producer and the guitarist and occasional vocalist of the Los Angeles-based rock band Scarling.

42
Donita Sparks is listed (or ranked) 42 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 55 Donita Sparks is a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to performing with her most recent band Donita Sparks and The Stellar Moments, she is the co-founder of grunge band L7. Sparks ...more

43
George Barnes is listed (or ranked) 43 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 56 (1921-1977) George Warren Barnes was an American swing jazz guitarist, who is believed to have played the first electric guitar in 1931, preceding Charlie Christian by six years. George Barnes made the ...more

44
Terry Callier is listed (or ranked) 44 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 67 (1945-2012) Terrence Orlando Callier, known as Terry Callier was an American jazz, soul and folk guitarist and singer-songwriter.

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Anand Bhatt is listed (or ranked) 45 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 43 Anand Bhatt is an actor, film score composer, film producer and film director.

46
John Brim is listed (or ranked) 46 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
Died at 81 (1922-2003) John Brim was an American Chicago blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. He wrote and recorded the original "Ice Cream Man", which was later covered by Van Halen on their first album. ...more

47
Michael Angelo Batio is listed (or ranked) 47 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 62 Michael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is an American instrumental rock guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He was the lead guitarist for the Los Angeles-based glam ...more

48
Otis Taylor is listed (or ranked) 48 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 70 Otis Taylor is an American blues musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist whose talents include the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals. In 2001, he was awarded a fellowship to the ...more

49
Jimmy D. Lane is listed (or ranked) 49 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 53 Jimmy D. Lane is an American electric blues guitarist. Lane was born to the Chess blues musician Jimmy Rogers and his wife Dorothy. In his childhood, he got to know many older bluesmen who ...more

50
Jesse Johnson is listed (or ranked) 50 on the list Famous Guitarists from Illinois
age 58 Jesse Woods Johnson is a musician best known as the guitarist in the original lineup of The Time. Johnson moved to St. Louis at the age of nine and was raised by foster parents after his parents ...more