Talking to as many players as we do here at Guitar World, we, thankfully, don't hear too many guitarists ringing bells heralding the doom of their instrument. For our part, the Guitar World team – for all our different tastes – are united in our belief that the future of the guitar is incredibly bright, and that the Debbie Downers and cynics are in the minority.
Just look at the guitarists who defined 2025. There were plenty of household names in the headlines, sure, but the year was also highlighted by the emergence of a plethora of young players who are changing the game in pop, grunge, hard rock, folk, punk, prog... you name it.
Even in the early months of 2026, we've been amazed by the meteoric rise of Jacob Deraps, the YouTube shred superstar and Van Halen fanatic whose performance/interview at Guitar World HQ a couple months back lit up the internet.
Deraps stands out to me in particular because I admittedly have never been the world's biggest Van Halen/'80s rock guy (I'm fully aware this is blasphemy, given my line of work), and yet, I couldn't get one of the original riffs he played for us during his visit out of my head for days. Days! We titled our video Jacob Deraps is here to rescue hard rock for a reason – we genuinely believe it.
So, along those lines, which up-and-coming guitar player do you think is going to lead the instrument into the future? Who's doing the most in their genre? Who just plain has the most impressive chops?
Let us know in the comments below.
