5 Best Guitar Albums

The 5 best guitar albums are all important landmark releases and they do a good job of showcasing the potential of the instrument. Some of these are well known, while a few are a little more obscure. The guitarists involved are all virtuosos of the highest orders and they’ve all made important contributions to the progression of the guitar from both a technical and artistic perspective.

1. “Are You Experienced” by Jimi Hendrix is one of the best guitar albums of the 1960's, and it changed the way people play the instrument. It’s probably the best album to showcase the guitarist’s skills, and has several classic songs, including “Purple Haze”, “Manic Depression”, and “Red House.”
2. “Blow by Blow” is the definitive album by guitarist Jeff Beck, and it’s easily among the best guitar albums in terms of pushing the instrument musically. This is an instrumental album, and the musical diversity is startling, covering everything from jazz flavors to hard rock.
3. Van Halen’s debut album, titled simply “Van Halen”, is easily one of the best guitar albums in the sense that it changed the way people approached the instrument. The guitarist Edward Van Halen has been a huge innovator with his use of two-handed tapping, and this album is where it all started.
4. “Blizzard of Oz” by Ozzy Osbourne is easily one of the greatest of the heavy metal guitar albums. It was the album that introduced the world to Randy Rhoads, who changed the way heavy metal guitarists played forever. There are tons of classic riffs and solos, and every song is a showcase to the guitarist’s gifts and expertise. He recorded one more album with Ozzy Osbourne, and then died tragically in a plane crash. 
5. “Rising Force”, which is the debut solo album from guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, is probably the greatest technical showcase among the best guitar albums. This is the album where the guitarist introduced the world to his brand of neo-classical speed picking, which was a huge innovation at the time and led to dozens of imitators.