The ‘Big 4’ of Grunge Guitarists

Who would be in the “Big 4” of grunge guitarists?

This is a pretty tricky question, because Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam are often regarded as the four most renowned grunge bands. However, there were other musicians who influenced them and may not have fit into the grunge category at the time, so we didn’t actually base our answer solely on those four groups.

Some of the hallmark characteristics of what we consider grunge are droning, heavy guitar riffs, a lot of distortion and am emphasis on melody. The guitar was just as important as the vocals in terms of conveying feelings throughout the songs, as opposed to flashy playing and squeezing as many notes as possible into a solo the way a lot of the ’80s guitarists did.

That’s not to say there was anything wrong with that — they were just different sounds, and there’s a time and place for people to enjoy both.

READ MORE: Every ‘Big 4’ Grunge Album, Ranked Worst to Best

Funny enough though, one of the most skilled guitarists to have ever lived, Eddie Van Halen, was mentioned as a major influence by one of the guitarists we included in the list below. It was the heaviness and thickness of the guitar sound in the song “Unchained,” in particular, that inspired one of the best ’90s players to start experimenting with odd tunings.

And of course, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath’s revolutionary style of playing and frequent use of drop tuning was massively influential for not only the grunge guitarists, but guitarists of all generations and genres that came later on.

Scroll below to see our “Big 4” of grunge guitarists.