With The Band: Science Confirms Guitarists Are Sexy, Here Are Our Favourites

Well it’s official: guitarists are sexy. Granted, this is something that we’ve known for a while but now science has confirmed it.

Researchers from the University of Bretange-Sud and the University of Paris-Sud enlisted the help of a man and got him to approach 300 women and ask them for their phone number. Sometimes the man was carrying a guitar case, sometimes he was carrying a gym bag and sometimes he was empty-handed.

Unsurprisingly the man’s chat-up success rate was the highest when he was carrying the guitar case, with women happily giving him their phone number.

The findings of this study were published in the noted journal Psychology of Music.

This isn’t the first time that the pulling power of the guitar has been tested. In a seperate story, Israeli researchers sent 100 female college students a friend request on Facebook from a man they didn’t know. Half of the students received a request that had a picture of the man holding a guitar as his profile photo and half of the students received a picture of him without a guitar.

Researchers found that 28 per cent of the women accepted the friend request when the man was holding the instrument.

So what is it about guitarists that just does it for us? According to the French researchers, being able to play an instrument is “associated with physical and intellectual abilities” and also, the guitar is a classic symbol of rock star status and this tends to “imprint on a woman’s mind the attractive concepts of wealth and status.”

Fair enough. Anyway, all this research got us thinking about guitarists and here are our eight favourite ones...

1. Chris Cornell:

That hair, that body. Chris Cornell we love you. Chris is best known as the lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist for Soundgarden and the former lead singer for Audioslave. He’s like a fine wine – he just keeps on getting better with age.

2. Matt Bellamy:

Matt is the lead guitarist for Muse and aside from being super-talented, he’s also super-attractive. The best thing about Matt? He gets really into his performances. What a legend.

3. Simon Neil:

Simon is the lead guitarist for the epic Biffy Clyro. He’s incredibly talented and remember that song that Matt Cardle from the X-Factor absolutely butchered? Simon is the guy who wrote it (his version is way better). ‘Mon the Biff!

4. Stephan Jenkins:

No idea who he is? Go to YouTube and search for the song ‘Semi-Charmed Life.’ Now is his name ringing any bells? Yes, Stephan is the lead guitarist/vocalist for the old school band Third Eye Blind. He was hot back in the 90s and he’s still hot today.

5. Lenny Kravitz:

Lenny Kravitz is a man who is synonymous with epic guitar solos. He won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, smashing records. Not only is he a brilliant musician but as this picture shows, he’s also been blessed with a great body.

6. Jon Bon Jovi:

He’s the man who brought us ‘Shot Through The Heart’ and he looks like this. We have nothing else to say.

7. Gavin Rossdale:

Gavin was one of the poster boys of 90s rock and was named one of the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader back in the day. He was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Bush. Despite the fact that Bush went their separate ways back in 2002, he still performs as a solo artist.

8. Caleb Followill:

Caleb is the lead singer and guitarist for the Kings of Leon. Soft-spoken, sexy and full of talent, he’s just amazing.

9. Danny O’Reilly:  

Danny is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for The Coronas. He gives us hope for homegrown talent. Just look at him. No, seriously... look at him.