“Had he recorded nothing but the 10-minute Maggot Brain solo, Eddie Hazel’s place in guitar history would be complete”: The 30 best guitarists from New Jersey – from Al Di Meola and Richie Sambora to Gibson's best-selling signature artist (2024)

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New Jersey derives much of its water from New York’s Catskill Mountains. Low in calcium and magnesium, it’s a naturally soft water that’s ideally suited for bread flour. And, of course, that means it’s also a crucial component in the making of New Jersey pizza, which everybody knows is the best in the United States. (Oh, you wanna argue about it? How about this? Fuggedaboudit!)

Ask any New Jerseyan why the state is number one and you’ll get a variety of responses. Its beaches — there’s Stone Harbor, Cape May, Point Pleasant, Ocean City and Sea Bright, to name just a few. Why, you can drive down practically the entire 130 miles of the state’s coastline and call it “the Jersey Shore.”

Its produce – blueberries, corn, tomatoes, apples, asparagus and anything else that grows from the ground (there’s a reason New Jersey is called “the Garden State”). And the state has not one, but two football teams.

Okay, technically they’re the New York Giants and the New York Jets, but they play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, so New Jerseyans can rightfully claim dibs. BTW, the same goes for the New York Red Bulls, the local Major League Soccer team that, of course, plays in Harrison.

In terms of sheer geography, New Jersey isn’t large – it accounts for only 7,352.9 square miles, making it the 46th largest state by area. But in terms of its impact on modern music, it’s enormous. Hoboken’s own Frank Sinatra got his start singing in New Jersey social clubs, and over the years the state has been a breeding ground for the sounds of doo-wop, garage rock, soul, jazz, punk, funk, hip-hop, blues and heavy metal.

Perhaps more than any other state in the Northeast, New Jersey has been home to a staggering number of notable guitarists. That said, when we crafted the following list of New Jersey guitarists, we had to consider what actually constituted a “New Jersey guitarist,” and our criteria was based on anyone born there, raised there or made their greatest impact there.

There were, however, certain qualifiers that could be seen as subjective. Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio was born in Texas; his family moved to Princeton when he was 3, but he famously relocated to Burlington, Vermont, the birthplace of Phish, a band that will forever be associated with Vermont.

Hey, when we do our Vermont guitarists roundup, Anastasio will be front and center. Meanwhile, the Eagles’ Joe Walsh attended Montclair High School. Is he “a New Jersey guitarist”? Get outta here!

As you’ll see from the 30 players we’ve highlighted, they’re a diverse lot – there are shredders, jazzers and strummers, fusion kings and punk pioneers, arena superstars and indie darlings. But in their own unique and spectacular ways, they’ve helped to make New Jersey a music paradise – or at least one of those “There must be something in the water” states!

Bruce Springsteen

“Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk.” Bruce Springsteen was in his 20s when he wrote those words, but he’s been living the rock ’n’ roll dream since the age of 14, when he sat in his Freehold living room and watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.

With single-minded determination, Springsteen set out to be a hotshot guitarist and cut his teeth in the British rock-influenced local band the Castiles. Having played everywhere from Elks Clubs to the Café Wha? in NYC’s Greenwich Village, he soon formed the Cream-styled power trio Earth, followed by the hard rock outfit Steel Mill and, ultimately, the E Street Band.

On record, Springsteen has a penchant for downplaying his guitar skills (though he’s delivered hellfire solos on cuts like Candy’s Room, Adam Raised a Cain and Cover Me, all performed on the now-iconic Fender Telecaster/Esquire he bought for $185).

During his epic three- and four-hour live shows, however, it’s a different story. Hailed as perhaps the most dynamic rock performer of his generation, Springsteen allows his fellow guitarists (Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren) plenty of room to shine, but during key moments he clears the path (he is, after all, the Boss) and lets loose with rapturous solos that are big and bold, brimming with drama and theatrical razzle-dazzle.

Gene Cornish

At 12 years old, Gene Cornish saw Scotty Moore playing guitar with Elvis Presley, and that was all he needed to know.

By the time he was 18, Cornish – who had moved with his family from Canada to New Jersey – was leading his own bands, and after stints in a couple of Garfield-based outfits (Joey Dee and the Starlighters, the Unbeatables), he formed the Rascals with Felix Cavaliere (keyboards, vocals), Eddie Brigati (vocals) and Dino Danelli (drums).

One of the first American rock ’n’ roll bands to break through during the height of the British Invasion, the Rascals scored a Number 1 hit with their garage-rock take on Good Lovin’ (a track highlighted by Cornish’s rip-roarin’ rhythm breaks) and quickly followed it up with rowdy original You Better Run.

Mixing soul, R&B, gospel and psychedelia, the Rascals ruled the charts with classics like How Can I Be Sure, I’ve Been Lonely Too Long, A Beautiful Morning, People Got to Be Free and Groovin’. While Cornish (who favored a Gibson Barney Kessel double-cutaway archtop) never tried to compete with the new group of virtuoso soloists, his intuitive rhythm playing was key to the group’s sound.

Cornish left the Rascals in 1971 and kept busy as a producer and guitarist. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and in 2013 all four members reunited for the Steven Van Zandt theater production Once Upon a Dream.

Al Caiola

During the 1950s and early ’60s, while instrumental guitarists Dick Dale, Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy became household names, one of the most recorded guitarists of that time remained virtually anonymous.

His name was Al Caiola, and for nearly two decades he had a lock on the NYC session scene, recording with Percy Faith, Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, Eddie Fisher, Bobby Darin and Perry Como, among others, as well as playing on countless movie and TV themes.

Born in Jersey City in 1920, Caiola learned guitar by listening to Django Rheinhardt and earned a living as a musician right out of high school. He served in WWII and played in Bing Crosby’s band, and once he returned home he got a job with the CBS orchestra.

By the late ’50s, after working for Jackie Gleason, Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan, he turned freelance, and his highly melodic and versatile style – he could play jazz, R&B, country, pop and rock – was put to use on thousands of sessions.

On his own, Caiola hit the charts with the themes from Bonanza and The Magnificent Seven, and he would go on to record more than 50 solo albums. Moving to the West Coast in the early Seventies, he began a long association with Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé and played in their orchestra, and in 1991 he toured with Sinatra. He passed away at age 96 in 2016 in Allendale, New Jersey.

Jim Babjak

Combining the crackling melodicism of Dave Davies, the rhythmic flair of Pete Townshend and the walloping crunch of Angus Young, Carteret native Jim Babjak, co-founder of the Smithereens, has become one of New Jersey’s distinctive guitarists.

Raised on British rock ’n’ roll, Babjak and school mates Dennis Diken (drums) and Mike Mesaros (bass) played dances and local bars. In 1980, they joined fellow New Jerseyan Pat DiNizio to form the Smithereens.

After years of thankless gigs, the band’s fortunes turned around with the release of 1986’s Especially for You, on which Babjak’s tight, tuneful and spirited leads helped turn tracks like Blood and Roses and Behind the Wall of Sleep into breakout hits.

Eschewing flash, Babjak plays for the song, but when the spotlight turns his way, he delivers; his double-stop-laced lead on the power-pop gem A Girl Like You (1989) could stop traffic. Babjak’s sound and style even influenced Kurt Cobain, who famously referenced the Smithereens while cutting Nirvana’s Nevermind.

Following the 2017 death of DiNizio, Babjak and the surviving Smithereens rhythm section have maintained a steady gig schedule with Marshall Crenshaw and the Gin Blossoms’ Robin Wilson alternating as front men.

Dean DeLeo

During the grunge revolution, Stone Temple Pilots became radio stars with hook-filled hits that blended alt-rock grit, classic rock grandeur, psychedelia and touches of country twang. Key to their success was the sophisticated guitar stylings of New Jersey native Dean DeLeo.

Growing up in Point Pleasant Beach, DeLeo drew on influences like Jimmy Page, Tal Farlow and Jeff Beck, along with Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant. He and his bassist brother, Robert, headed to California, where they formed Mighty Joe Young with singer Scott Weiland and drummer Eric Kretz. After signing with Atlantic, the group became Stone Temple Pilots, and their 1992 debut, Core, ruled the charts.

A master of raging rock riffs – Sex Type Thing, Crackerman and Dead and Bloated are rugged earth-movers – DeLeo also employed inventive chord voicings on songs like Plush and Interstate Love Song. For spitfire solos, look no further than his spine-tingling lead on Vasoline.

Tragically, two previous STP front men (Weiland and Chester Bennington) passed away, but in 2017 the band announced Jeff Gutt as their new singer. Their most recent album is 2020’s Perdida.

Emily Remler

Emily Remler might have left us at the young age of 32, but her impact is everlasting; from start to finish, this woman did it her way. Born in Englewood Cliffs in 1957, Remler picked up guitar when she was 10 and was said to be heavily influenced by typical Sixties giants such as Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Winter before becoming enthralled with Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Herb Ellis, Pat Martino and New Jersey-born Joe Pass.

And that checks out, given the fact that Remler’s hyper-unique blending of jazz and blues came to define her across the board. To that end, to call Remler “a jazz guitarist” would be doing her a disservice, just as it would to label her a “blues player.”

Remler was whatever she wanted to be, as evidenced by her telling People in 1982, “I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavy-set black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery.”

Remler eventually settled in New Orleans and relentlessly worked jazz and blues clubs with her Gibson ES-330 and Borys B120 in hand. Her debut record, Firefly (1981), is considered a classic, as are Take Two (1982) and Catwalk (1985).

Sadly, Remler suffered from opioid use disorder, and she died of heart failure while on tour in Australia in 1990. In 2020, GW included Remler as one of “the 40 guitarists who changed our world since 1980,” the year the magazine was founded.

Les Paul

The importance of Lester William Polsfuss (better known by his stage name, Les Paul) on popular music and guitar playing cannot be overstated. Perhaps his single most significant and enduring contribution to music is the famous guitar that bears his name, but during his lifetime he also innovated countless recording techniques, including tape delay, close-miking, overdubbing and multi-track recording, that are still in use today.

A talented multi-instrumentalist, Paul began to make a name for himself as a guitarist in the 1930s and Forties. With a style that blended country and jazz, he became a radio star and recorded with his own group, the Les Paul Trio, along with Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters and the Delta Rhythm Boys. In 1949, he married singer Mary Ford and formed a duo that scored hits like How High the Moon and Bye Bye Blues, on which Paul overdubbed layers of guitar tracks.

An inveterate tinkerer, Paul created an electric guitar known as “The Log,” and in 1950 he partnered with the Gibson Guitar Corporation as he refined his dream model, which resulted in the Les Paul. The guitar and its many iterations – the goldtop, the Black Beauty, the Les Paul Standard, the Les Paul Custom and the Les Paul Junior – would become the choice instrument for guitarists across the globe.

Although born in Wisconsin, Paul moved to Mahwah in 1951. He continued to perform well into his 90s – each week, he played a regular set at the Iridium Café in New York City – until his death in 2009 at age 94.

Eddie Hazel

Had he recorded nothing but the unaccompanied 10-minute solo Maggot Brain that kicked off Funkadelic’s 1971 album of the same name, Eddie Hazel’s place in guitar history would be complete.

Before recording, band leader George Clinton instructed Hazel to imagine the death of his mother in the first half of the solo, and in the second half to imagine that his mother was alive.

Hazel responded with a torrent of emotions – fuzz-and-wah-drenched cries and whispers, ghostly delay squalls and a fiery recurring melodic motif that conveys both anguish and joy at their most extreme.

Born in Brooklyn, Hazel grew up in Plainfield and played guitar as a youngster. At 17, he joined Clinton’s doo-wop group, the Parliaments, and as the group moved toward psychedelic rock, he switched from Gibsons and Gretches to a Stratocaster.

He contributed mightily to the band’s early recordings (his wildcat soloing on Funky Dollar Bill, from 1970’s Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow, brings the song to life), but following Maggot Brain he left the group and only put in occasional appearances on future albums.

Drug addiction plagued Hazel and stunted his output. In 1977, he released an acclaimed solo album, Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs, but in 1992 he succumbed to liver failure. Maggot Brain was played at his funeral.

Al Di Meola

One of the most influential guitarists of all time, Al Di Meola (born in Jersey City, raised in Bergenfield) helped put jazz fusion on the map. First inspired by the sounds of the Ventures and the Beatles, he gravitated toward the jazz styles of Tal Farlow, Kenny Burrell and Larry Coryell. By age 19, Di Meola’s preternatural chops were so advanced that he won a spot in Chick Corea’s band Return to Forever.

After two years with RTF, Di Meola struck out on his own and made an immediate impact with his first solo album, 1976’s Land of the Midnight Sun. But it was a pair of albums that followed – Elegant Gypsy (1977) and Casino (1978) – that changed the game forever.

Di Meola’s highly charged alternate and sweep picking, on both electric and nylon-string acoustics, set a new standard and was embraced by players such as Steve Morse, Zakk Wylde and John Petrucci. Along with his blitzing technical skills, he broadened the scope of fusion, incorporating rock, jazz, flamenco and classical music into his compositions.

Teaming with guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, Di Meola sold more than two million copies of the 1981 acoustic live album, Friday Night in San Francisco.

His voracious musical appetite has yielded over two dozen solo albums on which he’s bounced between acoustic and electric, and he even recorded two exquisite tributes to the Beatles.

After suffering a heart attack on stage in 2023, Di Meola is already back on the road in the U.S. and Europe. His new album, Twentyfour, will be released in July.

Zakk Wylde

“Ego-tripping is for jerks,” Zakk Wylde told us in 1989. “I hate posers and people who think they’re rock stars. It’s not a big deal just because you’re in a rock band.”

At the time he spoke those words, Wylde, who had previously only played in local bands in his hometown of Jackson, had just beat out a host of pro players to score the coveted lead guitar spot with Ozzy Osbourne, following in the footsteps of Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee.

An original all the way, Wylde established his own identity with Osbourne, crafting a guitar approach big on super-wide vibrato, aggressive pentatonic leads and hair-raising pinch harmonics with crafty splashes of Albert Lee-inspired chicken pickin’. Visually, he stood out, too – his bullseye Les Pauls became a signature model, and he soon traded poofy hair and bell bottoms for a badass biker gang aesthetic.

A gifted writer, he co-penned dozens of songs with Osbourne, including Miracle Man, I Don’t Want to Change the World and Mama, I’m Coming Home (the latter becoming the singer’s only Top 40 solo hit).

During his sometimes-on/sometimes-off association with Osbourne, Wylde began fronting his own band, Black Label Society, and last year he joined a new lineup of Pantera, filling in for his late friend Dimebag Darrell.

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