Guitar World's 50 Best Albums of 2014

Despite a few nasty rumors to the contrary, the guitar is alive and well in 2014.

It survived the rise of the keyboard in the Eighties and the overwhelming bass-barrage of electronic dance music of the early 21st century and, as evidenced by the 50 selections below, shows no signs of waning in relevancy.

This year, for instance, we experienced new riffs and glorious runs by guys named Marty Friedman, Alex Skolnick, Joe Bonamassa and Eric Johnson. We also were treated to a healthy dose of Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter (RIP) and a slice of Satchel, Slash and Brian Setzer—not to mention Machine Head, Mastodon and Of Mice and Men and yes, even Sturgill Simpson.

Whether you're plugging into a vintage Vox AC30 with a medium-aged Nash Guitars TC63 or you just got your hands on an Axe FX and a new Ibanez eight-string, the guitar isn't going away any time soon.

Below, check out Guitar World's picks for the 50 best albums of 2014, as chosen by the editorial staff. The list features staff-consensus picks plus several personal choices from individual editors. Of course, we can't get or listen to every new release, so if you feel something is seriously missing, let us know in the comments below or on Facebook. And, in keeping with GW tradition, this top 50 list actually contains 51 albums. It's what we do. Enjoy!

As always, click on each photo to take a closer look. See you next year!

Check out the rest of Guitar World's 2014 year-end content (Note: More is coming soon!) right here. And be sure to take Guitar World's 2014 year-end readers poll to vote on the best album, best GW cover, best shredder, best blues guitarist, Guitar World MVP and much more!

See you next year!

Image 1 of 51