I should be writing this article closer to August but it's been on my mind lately. After I reach 52 guitar players I intend to end making new guitarists of the week.
Guitarist of the Week will be replaced by Musician of the Week. This is exactly what it sounds like, it'll be any type of musician (or group of musicians) rather than just guitar players.
A goal for all my students is that they're exposed to different types of music and different styles of guitar playing. About a year ago I had a student and at the end of every lesson I'd send him a video of a guitarist I thought he should hear. The next lesson I'd ask him what he thought about it. My idea was that maybe he'd like it and we could have a discussion about the player and the music. Maybe he'd hate it and we could explore what he didn't like about it.
That student ended up leaving (probably my fault and made me think more about how I could better serve students, but I digress) and a few months later I started another student, this one younger. His mother asked me if I could help introduce him to new music and I thought that was a great idea so I ended up creating a page so everyone could see it.
I want to expose students to styles of music they aren't familiar with. I also want to show the diversity of styles they may want to learn. Some players are great because of their technical skill, some are great because of their creative songwriting. It's my hope that a student will hear something new and open a conversation about how that guitarist might think about making music and the gear they use to create their sound.
The list is not intended to be "52 greatest guitar players of all time" or "52 guitar players you should enjoy". I tried to include as many different styles of guitar playing as I could. I didn't do a perfect job. Genres like country and metal tend to be underrepresented. You might have a guitarist in your mind you believe should be on the list and isn't and you're probably right.
Most of my favorite musicians aren't guitar players. I'm not even sure guitar is my favorite instrument that I play. I could probably keep the list going for another year before I'm out of ideas, but I don't see the point. I believe 52 guitarists is enough to get a good idea of the musical landscape of guitar based music.
Musician of the Week will serve a different purpose than Guitarist of the Week did. Musician of the Week will be a list of musicians that had an impact on me. A few guitarists may show up but the point is to showcase musicians I love.