They built their own guitars, stabbed speaker cones with pencils, shattered instruments and eardrums — all in search of new ways to make the guitar cry, scream, whisper, shout and moan. And when that wasn't enough, they turned up the volume. They are the 100 greatest guitarists, and these are their sounds and stories.

Compiled by David Fricke and the editors. Written by Ben Edmonds, Jenny Eliscu, David Fricke, Rob Kemp, Greg Kot, Joe Levy, Tom Moon, Parke Puterbaugh, Mac Randall, Rob Sheffield.