Top 10 Guitar Duos

Script written by George Pacheco

Top 10 Guitar Duos

These tag teams are all about that fancy fretwork. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Guitar Duos. For this list, we’re ranking bands who have employed at least two separate guitarists that have worked in tandem, whether in a rhythm guitar/lead guitar set-up or a twin lead guitar capacity. We’re also taking into account various line-up changes endured by these bands, which may have changed the landscape of their guitar team status.

#10: Duane Allman & Dickey Betts The Allman Brothers Band

There have been many members who have come and gone within the Allman Brothers over the years. However, most diehard fans will likely point to the band’s classic early line-up of lead and slide guitarist Duane Allman and lead player Dickey Betts as the one to solidify the Allmans’ musical reputation, especially with their breakout live album, “At Fillmore East.” The Allman Brothers’ fiery, melodic lead work and emotional yet complex blues and jazz arrangements would come to define the band’s position, alongside such contemporaries as Lynyrd Skynyrd - which also had a memorable guitar duo in Gary Rossington and Allen Collins - as leaders of the southern rock movement.

#9: Pete Willis, Phil Collen, Steve Clark & Vivian Campbell Def Leppard

While tragedy and addiction have led to a series of changes, Def Leppard has certainly been blessed when it comes to guitar players. Pete Willis and Steve Clark burst onto the scene on On Through the Night, High 'n' Dry and Pyromania, with Phil Collen taking over for Willis on the latter following his booze-related dismissal. Collen’s technical chops, meanwhile, and Clark's pure feel made hits of “Pyromania” and “Hysteria”, before a combination of alcohol and painkillers took Clark's life in 1991. While Adrenalize featured Collen alone handling all guitarduties, he was joined by Vivian Campbell in 1992 and the duo has since become the longest serving tag team in the band's history. Despite the changes, Def Leppard influenced many to follow in the dual guitar sound. #8: Don Felder & Joe Walsh Eagles “Hotel California”- the album - marked the entry of the Eagles best-known lead player, guitarist Joe Walsh. His brash ‘n’ bluesy style somehow fit in perfectly with the calculated but feisty guitar work of Don Felder. Walsh had already cut his teeth with the greasy hard rock of the James Gang, and brought that aggressive approach with him into the Eagles, which helped take the band even harder in o rock and roll territory. From the guitar harmonies of “Hotel California to the weaving mesh of “Get Over It,” these two just had a chemistry that can't be duplicated.

#7: Stone Gossard & Mike McCready Pearl Jam The grunge movement typically avoided obvious musical prowess but Pearl Jam were never the typical grunge band. Stone Gossard and Mike McCready pioneered a ‘90s grunge guitar style that wasn’t dependent upon flashy fret pyrotechnics or busy-sounding lead work to get the job done. Instead they preferred to focus on chords and riffs that best suited the mood of each song. The result fit in perfectly alongside frontman Eddie Vedder’s deep-voiced croon.

#6: Jeff Hanneman & Kerry King Slayer Want to hear what it sounds like when all hell breaks loose? Then just take a listen to this next duo on our list. Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King were the founding guitarists for thrash metal’s darkest and most extreme practitioners, and made it their business to play the most aggressive and violent riffs they could possibly imagine. Although early Slayer material possesses a little of their more melodic British metal influences, the band’s career would eventually churn out material so unrelenting and furious that Hanneman and King would find themselves influencing even more extreme death and black metal artists in the years to follow.

#5: Angus Young & Malcolm Young AC/DC They say that every great comedian is only as good as their straight man. So too is the relationship between iconic AC/DC lead guitarist Angus Young and his brother Malcolm, whose reputation as one of the best rhythm men in hard rock is no overstatement. Indeed, the impact between the explosively manic lead guitar of Angus is made even more powerful by Malcolm’s anchor-like presence over near the drum riser, holding onto each rock-solid rhythm as if his life depended on it. You can’t fake a musical symbiosis such as this, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

#4: Glenn Tipton & K.K. Downing Judas Priest It’s rare to see a guitar team weather so many stylistic storms, only to always emerge with their own unique identity intact. Yet this has indeed been the case with Judas Priest guitar duo Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. Whether it was with the bluesy heaviness presented with early Judas Priest killers from “Rocka Rolla” or “Sad Wings of Destiny” to the thrashing metal of “Painkiller” or the more commercial leanings of “Turbo,” Tipton and Downing have continually proven to be masters of the riff and kings of epic, memorable melody. And they’ve done all this while simultaneously serving as inspirations to countless hard rock and metal guitarists in their wake.

#3: Keith Richards & Ronnie Wood The Rolling Stones There’s just something immediate and natural about the cohesiveness between Rolling Stones guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood; an ease which makes the duo’s material with the Stones throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s some of the most enduring of the band’s career. While Ronnie isn't the first “other” guitarist in the Stones, he may be the first to truly weave with Keef. Wood’s slick and natural funkiness as a player blends in nicely with Richard’s nasty, jangling rock guitar, creating the sort of musical and commercial balance only a band of the Stones’ caliber could pull off.

#2: James Hetfield & Kirk Hammett Metallica If there’s a tighter thrash metal guitar team out there, we can’t think of one. Metallica’s two-guitar lineup has always semi-followed the AC/DC method, in that rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield tends to refrain from stepping out in a lead capacity, preferring instead to leave that honor to shredder extraordinaire Kirk Hammett, whose frenzied yet textural solos have inspired countless young players to pick up the instrument. It’s Hetfield’s right hand which holds it all down for Metallica, however, as there’s simply no metal guitarist of his era who can touch the Metallica frontman in terms of unwavering rhythm prowess. Before we unveil our top guitar duo, here are a few honorable mentions! - Slash & Izzy Stradlin Guns N’ Roses Scott Gorham & Brian Robertson Thin Lizzy Joe Perry & Brad Whitford Aerosmith Dave Mustaine & Marty Friedman Megadeth Nick Valenci & Albert Hammond, Jr. The Strokes Eric Clapton & Duane Allman Derek and the Dominos

#1: Dave Murray & Adrian Smith Iron Maiden Although many guitarists passed through the ranks of Britain’s legendary metal band Iron Maiden during their early days, it’s the twin lead team of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith that holds a special place within the hearts of many Maiden maniacs. The team’s impeccable knack for life-affirming harmonies and melodic soloing sent the band into the heavy metal stratosphere throughout the ‘80s. The duo would even go on to team with future Maiden axeman Janick Gers in the ‘90s to create an impressive triple guitar attack, further adding to their legacy as one of metal’s most influential six string teams. Do you agree with our list? Whic guitar duos are your favorite? For more rockin’ top 10 lists published every day, please subscribe to WatchMojo.com.