Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt: the 10 guitarists that blew my mind

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Prog titan on the players that inspire his work

10. Bert Jansch

“I don’t even know what this style of guitar is even called, it’s pretty out there, but definitely on the folky side. His work in Pentangle had a folk sound for sure. He was great on acoustic, I don’t actually know if he ever played electric guitar.

“Unfortunately, he passed away some years ago. He came up with such amazing things he even ended up inspiring guys like Jimmy Page, which says a lot I think. Apparently, he was the inspiration for Nick Drake’s open-tunings, which in turn would end up being a big influence on me…”

Amit Sharma
Amit Sharma

Amit has been writing for titles like Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Guitar World for over a decade and counts Richie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan and Jeff Beck among his primary influences. He's interviewed everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy to Slash and Jimmy Page, and once even traded solos with a member of Slayer on a track released internationally. As a session guitarist, he's played alongside members of Judas Priest and Uriah Heep in London ensemble Metalworks, as well as handling lead guitars for legends like Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols, The Faces) and Stu Hamm (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, G3).