--- title: Vannyboy's Top 10 Guitarists of All Time - Number 4 description: Vannyboy's Top 10 Guitarists of All Time - Number 4 - Tony Iommi - from the Rusty Playground Podcast image: https://therustyplayground.com/hubfs/IOMMI%20-%20SOCIAL%20SIZE.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://therustyplayground.com/vannyboys-top-10-guitarists-of-all-time-number-4#main-content) [![The Rusty Playground Logo](https://therustyplayground.com/hubfs/NAME---The-Rusty-Playground---HORZ-01.png "The Rusty Playground Logo")](https://therustyplayground.com) ## A Gen-X-Centric Podcast [![The Rusty Playground Logo](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/LOGOs/The-Rusty-Playground-Logo---200x200.png?width=150&height=150&name=The-Rusty-Playground-Logo---200x200.png "The Rusty Playground Logo")](https://therustyplayground.com) - [Home Base](https://therustyplayground.com) - [Episodes](https://therustyplayground.com/episodes) - [Blog](https://therustyplayground.com/blog) - [Home Base](https://therustyplayground.com) - [Episodes](https://therustyplayground.com/episodes) - [Blog](https://therustyplayground.com/blog) Top 10 Guitarists of All Time # Number 4 ## **Tony Iommi** ![04 - Tony Iommi 01 - 1000x660](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Top%2010%20Guitarists/_04%20-%20TONY%20IOMMI/04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2001%20-%201000x660.jpg?width=600&height=400&name=04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2001%20-%201000x660.jpg) Hey, **quick question**: What did you do when you were **22 years old**? I know what I did. I was **failing out of VCU** because my first real girlfriend **broke up with me** right before the year started and, being **hard headed and immature**, I replaced her with another girl in a **different town** so I was gone all the time. **Mattyman**, as far as I know, was **selling his body to the streets**. Do you know what **Tony Iommi** did when he was 22? Create a new genre of music. **That’s all**. And not only did he create a new genre, that genre was the **biggest, baddest genre** of them all: **Heavy Metal**. ![04 - Tony Iommi 02 - 1000x660](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Top%2010%20Guitarists/_04%20-%20TONY%20IOMMI/04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2002%20-%201000x660.jpg?width=600&height=400&name=04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2002%20-%201000x660.jpg) You see, Tony is nothing short of the **greatest heavy metal riff maker of all time**. Don’t believe me? Well, don’t take my word for it. [**Check it out for yourself**](https://www.musiclipse.com/2024/03/07/black-sabbaths-10-greatest-guitar-riffs-by-tony-iommi-ranked/#:~:text=The%20guitar%20work%20in%20%E2%80%9CIron,riff-makers%20of%20all%20time.), if you’ve got the guts! Besides his **incredible, innate ability** to create sounds so aggressive that he could make **Oppenheimer jealous**, Tony has a secret weapon…he’s missing the tips of **two of his fingers** on his right hand. **He’s left handed**. Which means that the fingers that make the chords and solos and stuff **are the ones missing**! So, Momma Iommi’s baby boy took a page out of [**Django Reinhardt’s**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt) book and created **leather finger tips**. This meant that his hand was a bit clumsy at first, so he worked with **5th chords**, lovingly called “**power chords**”. And why are they called “power chords”? Because those were the chords that Tony Iommi used to create what we now know as Heavy Metal, that’s why! **They bring the POWER**. ![04 - Tony Iommi 06 - 1000x660](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Top%2010%20Guitarists/_04%20-%20TONY%20IOMMI/04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2006%20-%201000x660.jpg?width=600&height=400&name=04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2006%20-%201000x660.jpg) Okay, in fairness, Tony **didn’t invent the power chord**. He wasn’t even the only guitarist to use it to create **heavy music**. But what Tony did do is fuse his **unbelievable ability** to write riffs that would make a **gorilla’s balls drop** with power chords and created many, many of the most famous riffs in all of music, heavy or not. [**Iron Man**](https://youtu.be/qS2cCyx7nM0?si=yGMf1eSgkYmxtYeE), much? [**Sabbath Bloody Sabbath**](https://youtu.be/mfTpjrzas5E?si=OoFHROtUxeiNiUzs), anyone? [**N.I.B,**](https://youtu.be/MiY2JsGXrtM?si=0gVnHRA59u6br-fj) y’all? ![04 - Tony Iommi 03 - 1000x660](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Top%2010%20Guitarists/_04%20-%20TONY%20IOMMI/04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2003%20-%201000x660.jpg?width=600&height=400&name=04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2003%20-%201000x660.jpg) And, **let me tell you a little story** about a song Tony helped write. When making their second studio album, which they were going to call “**War Pigs**”, they ran out of **original material**. The sound guy doing the recording said something like “Hey, you guys have like **2:50 seconds** of record left and like **20 minutes** of recording time left before you have to leave. Do you have another song we can fit in here or do you just want to **leave it blank**?” \*snort snort snort snnnnnnnoooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt\* Tony (**allegedly**) replied. “Give us a minute, mate.” So the drummer, **Bill Ward**, started to bang something out. Tony, **inspired by the drums**, just pulled the **second most famous metal riff of all time** out of the air, bassist **Geezer Butler** started writing the lyrics, figuring he’d just wing his bass parts, and one [**Mr. John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne started muttering nonsense**](https://youtu.be/PYSUFZnhRLU?si=q3mSJkKTPZLWJtkh) (this time **on purpose...allegedly**) into the microphone to get the vocal melody. A few moments later Geezer handed Ozzy the lyrics, Bill Ward mumbled “**1, 2, ah 1, 2 , 3, and…**” and the band put together a song **so incredible**, **so amazing**, **so lasting**, that the version you have heard since 1970 is the same one they wrote and recorded in 15 minutes. **It’s the 1st and only take**. It’s so great that the record company renamed the album from “**War Pigs**” to the title of this **spur-of-the-moment masterpiece:** “[**Paranoid**](https://youtu.be/0qanF-91aJo?si=m4pZk6tIgThzEjPo)”. ![04 - Tony Iommi 04 - 1000x660](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Top%2010%20Guitarists/_04%20-%20TONY%20IOMMI/04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2004%20-%201000x660.jpg?width=600&height=400&name=04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2004%20-%201000x660.jpg) Iommi’s ability to overcome **his handicap** is what led to the creation of his sound, **a sound heard around the world**, and a sound that has launched a million other bands. [**Metallica**](https://youtu.be/zbSjDVcZA2o?si=InA317CjS_Zga0BA), much? [**Anthrax**](https://youtu.be/U7qs40KJBMM?si=yenUweJmwisDPB8z), anyone? [**Slayer**](https://youtu.be/3soC6VADpcw?si=MhHf_GAl_liWqpXq), y’all? [**Rick Springfield**](https://youtu.be/oRu9nWY_ias?si=MHbp37fmjZFcHD6s), ma’am? **Wait**. Maybe not that last one. Toni has had **the good fortune** of playing in a band with two of the absolutely **GREATEST** voices in heavy metal history: **Ozzy Osbourne**, and **Ronnie James Dio**. ![04 - Tony Iommi 05 - 1000x660](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Top%2010%20Guitarists/_04%20-%20TONY%20IOMMI/04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2005%20-%201000x660.jpg?width=600&height=400&name=04%20-%20Tony%20Iommi%2005%20-%201000x660.jpg) Or, maybe **I should say** that they had the good fortune **singing for him**. Okay, **I’m going to stop now**, but I just want to close this one out by simply saying that **Tony created his own thing**, a thing so **amazing** and **different** that it’s been copied by a billion bands, none of whom **are as good**. He’s written some of the greatest metal songs of all time, including **THE** greatest metal song of all time (Iron Man), and what is widely considered **THE** greatest metal album of all time (**Paranoid**). And for that, he’s the **4th greatest guitarist** to ever live. [BACK TO LIST](https://therustyplayground.com/blog/vannyboys-top-10-guitarists-of-all-time) [![NAME---The-Rusty-Playground---HORZ-01](https://therustyplayground.com/hs-fs/hubfs/NAME---The-Rusty-Playground---HORZ-01.png?width=1290&height=154&name=NAME---The-Rusty-Playground---HORZ-01.png "NAME---The-Rusty-Playground---HORZ-01")](https://therustyplayground.com) The Rusty Playground is a fair-use podcast. We don't own the sampled materials in this podcast, just use them to inform and entertain. [Follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/RustyPlayPod) - Pages - [Homepage](https://therustyplayground.com) - [Episodes](https://therustyplayground.com/episodes) - [Blog](https://therustyplayground.com/blog) © 2022 All rights reserved.