Driven by electric guitar as the primary instrument of choice for sonic assault, punk rock has seen its fair share of phenomenal guitarists throughout its history, innovating and manipulating the style in countless ways.
While the foundations of the style developed from stripped back, classic rock‘n’roll, every guitarist’s personal twist led to the creation of some of the most aggressive, relentless and creative sounds heard in modern music.
Greg Ginn (Black Flag)
The idiosyncratic self-taught style of Black Flag founder and bandleader Greg Ginn’s style all but defined the sound of the hardcore punk innovators. On ‘78s Nervous Breakdown EP, Ginn and co. essentially invented hardcore punk on the spot, taking the speed and stripped back aggression from bands like Ramones and refining it to an even greater degree. Going into the ‘80s with albums like Slip It In and The Process of Weeding Out EP, the band expanded into much more experimental territory, incorporating elements of free-jazz and sludge metal into their sound, all driven by the quirky and noise-driven style of Ginn.
Johnny Ramone (Ramones)
Often revered as the all-time definitive punk rock guitarist, Johnny Ramone laid the foundation for the downstroke barre chord style that immediately became synonymous with punk. Still to this day, there’s no one who sounds quite like he did, even with his extremely limited range of techniques and gear. Much like the subtle genius of the Ramones’ songs, keeping things simple and stripping them down to the bare-essentials (and playing them really fucking well) is all you need.
Marissa Paternoster (Screaming Females)
Arguably one of the most skilled and adventurous guitarists in modern rock‘n’roll, Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster is a punk rock guitarist not afraid to indulge in the often-considered-uncool practice of extended flashy solos and showing off, yet somehow gets away with it all. Similar to the guitar work of Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein and Television’s Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, the heavily melodic and choppy rhythmic style of her playing elevates the already strong songwriting to a level of virtuosity not often associated with punk rock.
Peter “Blackie” Black (Hard-Ons/Nunchukka Superfly)
While the long-running Hard-Ons have ventured into numerous styles including grindcore, death metal and much softer melodic rock, their style has always been firmly planted in punk. True to the band’s style of having little in the way of subtlety, Blackie’s in-your-face style of heavily distorted riffing and heavy metal-influenced soloing consistently brings a level of danger to the band’s live sets and records.
Brian Baker (Minor Threat/Dag Nasty/Bad Religion)
Potentially boasting the best resume in the business, the Washington DC guitarist initially cut his teeth with the fast and relentless hardcore of the iconic Minor Threat. Moving forward into the mid-late ‘80s with Dag Nasty, Baker developed his signature melodic punk style, most notably influencing a great deal of the typical techniques of later post-hardcore and emo. Joining yet another iconic band, Bad Religion, in the ‘90s, Baker has continued his extremely well-rounded lead and rhythm combinations influenced by early English punk and classic rock.
