List of famous guitarists born who were born in Northern California, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Many of these guitar players from Northern California 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 Northern California 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.
List includes Courtney Love, John Fogerty, more.
This list answers the questions, "What guitar players are from Northern California?" and "Who are famous Northern California guitarists?"
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his work as the lead guitarist and as a vocalist with the ...more
Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is an American musician who has been lead guitarist and a contributing songwriter for the heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Before joining ...more
Courtney Michelle Love (born Courtney Michelle Harrison; July 9, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. A figure in the punk and grunge scenes of the 1990s, Love's career has ...more
John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty, he founded the band Creedence ...more
Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as lead guitarist and one of the vocalists of the music group Fleetwood Mac ...more
Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. Armstrong serves as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and lead ...more
Nancy Lamoureaux Wilson (born March 16, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and film composer. She rose to fame alongside her older sister, singer Ann Wilson, as a ...more
Robert Hall Weir ( WEER; born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, ...more
Edward Michael Trucco (born June 22, 1970) is an American actor known for his role as Samuel T. Anders on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and his recurring role as Nick Podarutti in How I ...more
John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger ...more
Grant Geissman (born April 13, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist and Emmy-nominated composer. He has recorded extensively for several labels since 1976 and played guitar on the theme for Monk ...more
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Throughout his career ...more
Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known as the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip ...more
Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was posthumously inducted into the ...more
Alexander Nathan Skolnick (born September 29, 1968) is an American musician who is best known as the lead guitarist in the thrash metal band Testament from 1983 to 1993, and again from 2005. He ...more
Joe Louis Walker, also known as JLW (born December 25, 1949) is an American musician, best known as an electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. His knowledge of blues history ...more
Jesse Michaels is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, artist, and author from Berkeley, California. He is the son of the author Leonard Michaels and was married to producer Audrey Marrs. His ...more
Donald David Guard (October 19, 1934 – March 22, 1991) was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding ...more
David Randall Silveria (born September 21, 1972) is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the band Korn from 1993 until leaving the band in 2006. He then became the drummer for ...more
Marc Bonilla is an American guitarist and composer. He has worked with Keith Emerson (including on 1995's Changing States and in 2006-2016 was featured in the Keith Emerson Band), Ronnie ...more
David A. Immerglück (born May 3, 1961) is an American multi-instrumentalist who is best known as a guitarist in the alternative rock bands Counting Crows, Camper Van Beethoven and the Monks ...more
Aaron Abeyta (born August 8, 1965), better known as El Hefe or simply Hefe, from el Jefe (Spanish for "the boss") is the lead guitarist and trumpet player for the California punk band ...more
Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American rock guitarist, who led the bands Montrose (1973-77 & 1987) and Gamma (1979-83 & 2000) and also performed and ...more
Jason Eli Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American musician, songwriter and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty ...more
