20 of Noel Gallagher’s favourite guitarists
He’s often spoken about as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, and it’s not hard to comprehend why. Just mentioning that Noel Gallagher has penned the likes of ‘Live Forever’, ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ for Oasis gives an emphatic demonstration of the quality that underpins his status. In addition, he was the band’s principal songwriter, with much of their era-defining essence attributed to him.
Outside the confines of Oasis – who split in 2009 – Gallagher has continued to refine his work with The High Flying Birds and has delved deeper into the more expansive sound he teased towards their end. As a lyricist, he is one of the most adroit out there, but there exists an argument that this is not the most significant element of his artistry. He is one of the great British guitarists, often mentioned in the same way as Pete Townshend, Keith Richards and Johnny Marr.
As many accounts praise his work on the six-string, fans have often wondered who Noel Gallagher cites as his personal guitar heroes. Given that his oeuvre is so varied, the list of guitarists he has mentioned as his favourites is an eclectic one, touching on various forms of rock from grunge to baggy. Today, we’ve listed 20 of them.
Famously, the band that had the most significant impact on his life and guitar playing was The Beatles, with him crediting them as the band that influenced him to start using Epiphone models: “I wanted to start playing Epiphones because of the Beatles. I didn’t know anything about guitars then. They looked good; they felt good, I could make them sound good. I’m a songwriter, not a guitar player. You know, that’s my thing.”
Two guitarists he has often mentioned as having a profound impact on him is Paul Weller, the ex-frontman of The Jam. The Woking group burst onto the scene in the late 1970s with an electrifying and politically-charged sound that fused punk sentiment with a mod sensibility.
As for Johnny Marr, he is one of the most individualistic players of all time, breaking through with indie pioneers The Smiths. He carried their work with his busy, arpeggiating style, before finding success with Modest Mouse, The Cribs and as a solo artist.
When speaking to Total Guitar alongside his friend Weller, Gallagher mentioned both the former Jam and Smiths men in the same breath: “I’m unfortunate enough that two of my best mates are Johnny Marr of The Smiths and Paul Weller. Those two are virtuosos to me, although neither of them would admit it. On the electric guitar, they’re it. So if you’re asking me how do I compare to those two – and I like to compare myself to the greats – I’m average at fucking best.”
Another hero of the six-string that Gallagher has cited is the Canadian legend Neil Young. The Toronto native is one of the most storied players out there, who first found fame with the countercultural group Buffalo Springfield. This was before he took his work to the next level as a solo artist, with a brief stint in the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Demonstrating Gallagher’s appreciation of the larger-than-life Canadian, he revealed that Young and Crazy Horse are his dream partners for a jam session. “Neil Young and Crazy Horse would be fucking great,” he revealed on his YouTube channel. “Just to kind of be on stage with them and skulk around in the background just playing loud, I’d love that. Or playing drums for Crazy Horse, I’d be a great Crazy Horse drummer. I’ll be Neil Young’s drummer all day.”
Gallagher added: “He’s always been very respectful to Oasis and to me when I’ve met him. I’ve seen him with Crazy Horse, with acoustic gigs, and he always comes from a place of truth. He’s invented a car that runs on fucking grass or something. The world can be split into two camps: people that like Neil Young and people that don’t. And the people that don’t are fucking idiots.”
Once when speaking to Rolling Stone (via KulBritania), Gallagher gave an extensive account of his musical heroes, and in it, he mentioned some of the all-time greats of guitar playing: “Musical heroes, I guess, would be The Beatles and The Stones, Ray Davies because he wrote the best songs, Pete Townshend because he didn’t give a f***, David Gilmour and Roger Waters, John Lydon because he’s real as fuck, I get slightly nervous when I meet him, but I think he likes me because I had some nights out with him and we get on great, and I love him”.
He continued: “Paul Weller, who is a real good friend of mine, who is also my neighbour, The Stone Roses who wrote ‘Sally Cinnamon’ who inspired me, then Morrissey and Marr who took songwriting to a whole new level. Morrissey is so funny, so fucking unbelievable, and Johnny is just like me, he’s from Manchester, and he has an Irish upbringing, but he’s a wizard.”
Of baggy pioneers The Stone Roses’ resident guitar hero, John Squire, Gallagher told Matt Morgan’s Funny How? podcast: “He’s a great guitarist, I’m always threatening to get him to play on one of my records, but I never get round to asking him. I will do. He’s a bit aloof.”
Perhaps the most surprising entry on the list is the late frontman of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. Although the Seattle band’s sound could be so bleak and points that many have argued they were the antithesis to Oasis, Gallagher greatly respected Cobain’s work and his guitar playing. He said: “I always had an affinity with him because he was left-handed, he had blue eyes, he was a Gemini, and he was into The Beatles, and that’s what I was, so I was like ‘fucking hell!'”
Elsewhere, Gallagher has mentioned the likes of Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Stuart Adamson of Big Country and The Edge as exceptional at their craft, with him even labelling the latter a “Yoda figure”.
Get the list below.
Noel Gallagher’s favourite guitarists:
- Johnny Marr
- Paul Weller
- Neil Young
- John Lennon
- Paul McCartney
- George Harrison
- Keith Richards
- Ronnie Wood
- David Gilmour
- Roger Waters
- John Squire
- Kurt Cobain
- Stuart Adamson
- Peter Green
- Jeff Beck
- Ray Davies
- Pete Townshend
- Steve Jones
- The Edge
- Bert Jansch
