For over 30 years, Vintage Guitar magazine has been honoring those who inspired and awed us as guitar players, fans, and listeners by inducting great players, instruments, and innovators into the VG Hall of Fame. We also choose Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Players of the Year. Who and what goes into the VG Readers’ Choice Awards has always been determined by the readers of VG. Learn more about each of these inductees listed below.
Readers’ Choice Awards Inductees
Album of the Year
|
Hall of Fame: Player |
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|---|---|---|
| Jimi Hendrix – 1994 | Chet Atkins – 1996 | B.B. King – 1997 |
| Eric Clapton – 1998 | Jimmy Page – 1999 | Chuck Berry – 2002 |
| Jeff Beck – 2003 | George Harrison – 2004 | Django Reinhardt – 2005 |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan – 2006 | Les Paul – 2007 | Duane Allman – 2008 |
| Buddy Guy – 2009 | Robert Johnson – 2010 | Keith Richards – 2011 |
| Billy Gibbons – 2012 | Charlie Christian – 2012 | Edward Van Halen -2013 |
| Wes Montgomery – 2013 | Johnny Winter – 2014 | James Burton – 2014 |
| David Gilmour – 2015 | Gary Moore – 2015 | Carlos Santana – 2016 |
| Joe Walsh – 2016 | Terry Kath – 2017 | Joe Bonamassa – 2017 |
| Pete Townshend – 2018 | Peter Green – 2018 | Mark Knopfler – 2019 |
| Peter Frampton – 2019 | Michael Bloomfield – 2019 | Eric Johnson -2020 |
| Rory Gallagher – 2020 | Jerry Garcia – 2020 | |
|
Hall of Fame: Instrument |
||
| Gibson Les Paul Standard (’Burst) – 1990 | Fender Stratocaster – 1990 | Fender Telecaster – 1991 |
| Martin D-28 – 1991 | Gibson ES-335 – 1992 | Fender Precision Bass – 1992 |
| Gibson Super 400 – 1993 | D’Angelico New Yorker – 1993 | Vox AC-30 amplifier – 1994 |
| Gibson L-5 – 1994 | Fender Twin Amplifier – 1995 | Fender Jazz Bass – 1995 |
| Gretsch 6120 – 1996 | Gibson Flying V – 1996 | Marshall JTM 45 – 1997 |
| Rickenbacker 360/12 – 1997 | Fender Bassman – 1998 | Martin D-45 – 1998 |
| Gibson ES-150 – 1999 | Vox Wah – 1999 | Gibson SJ-200 – 2002 |
| Fender Jazzmaster – 2002 | Marshall Super Lead 100 – 2003 | Gibson Les Paul Custom – 2003 |
| Gretsch White Falcon – 2004 | PRS Custom – 2004 | National Tri-Cone series – 2005 |
| Mesa-Boogie Mark I – 2005 | Gibson ES-5 – 2006 | Fender Jaguar – 2006 |
| Vox AC15 – 2007 | Gibson J-45 – 2007 | Gibson Les Paul Model (Goldtop) – 2008 |
| Gibson SG Standard – 2009 | Gibson Byrdland – 2010 | Fender Deluxe Reverb – 2011 |
| Gibson Les Paul Junior – 2012 | Gibson Firebird – 2013 | Fender Princeton Reverb – 2014 |
| Fender Champ – 2015 | Gibson Explorer – 2016 | Gibson ES-175 – 2017 |
| Fender Super Reverb – 2018 | Dumble Overdrive Special – 2019 | Gibson Les Paul special – 2020 |
|
Hall of Fame: Innovator |
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| Leo Fender – 1991 | Orville Gibson – 1992 | Les Paul – 1993 |
| Ted McCarty – 1995 | C.F. Martin, Sr. – 1996 | Seth Lover – 1997 |
| Jim Marshall – 1998 | Adolf Rickenbacker – 1999 | Paul Bigsby – 2002 |
| Lloyd Loar – 2003 | Hartley Peavey – 2004 | John and Rudy Dopyera – 2005 |
| John D’Angelico – 2006 | Dick Denney – 2007 | Floyd Rose – 2008 |
| George Fullerton – 2009 | Paul Reed Smith – 2010 | Seymour Duncan – 2011 |
| Mike Matthews – 2012 | Ernie Ball – 2013 | Randall Smith – 2014 |
| George Beauchamp – 2015 | Tom Scholz – 2016 | Bill Collings – 2017 |
| Roger Mayer – 2018 | Jim Dunlop – 2019 | Edward Van Halen – 2020 |
|
Album of the Year |
||
| Joe Walsh, Analog Man – 2012 | Mark Knopfler, Privateering – 2013 | Eric Clapton & Friends, The Breeze: An Appreciation of J.J. Cale – 2014 |
| Jeff Beck, Live+ – 2015 | Eric Clapton, I Still Do – 2016 | Rolling Stones, Blue & Lonesome – 2017 |
| Ry Cooder, The Prodigal Son – 2018 | Joe Bonamassa, Redemption – 2019 | Joe Satriani, Shapeshifting – 2020 |
|
Rock Player of the Year |
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| Warren Haynes – 2015 | Jeff Beck – 2016 | Joe Bonamassa – 2017 |
| Jeff Beck – 2018 | Derek Trucks – 2019 | Edward Van Halen – 2020 |
|
Jazz Player of the Year |
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| Al Di Meola – 2015 | Robben Ford – 2016 | Allan Holdsworth – 2017 |
| George Benson – 2018 | Robben Ford – 2019 | George Bernson – 2020 |
|
Blues Player of the Year |
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| B.B. King – 2015 | Joe Bonamassa – 2016 | Buddy Guy – 2017 |
| Joe Bonamassa – 2018 | Buddy Guy – 2019 | Joe Bonamassa – 2020 |
|
Country Player of the Year |
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| Brad Paisley – 2015 | Vince Gill – 2016 | Glen Campbell – 2017 |
| Albert Lee – 2018 | Marty Stuart – 2019 | Brad Paisley – 2020 |
