Few things start friendly arguments faster than a “who’s the best?” list.
Whether it’s the greatest guitarist of all time, the GOAT in sports,
or the player who can beat a video game in record time, rankings of virtuosity are everywhere.
They power YouTube essays, Reddit threads, Twitter wars, and late-night debates between friends
who are definitely not taking it too personally (sure).
But what exactly is virtuosity, and why do rankings and opinions about it feel
so personal and so endlessly debatable? This article digs into how critics, fans, and experts
think about virtuosity across music, sports, and gaming, why lists rarely agree, and how you
can build your own more thoughtful rankings without losing the fun.
What Do We Really Mean by “Virtuosity”?
The word “virtuoso” originally comes from the Italian virtuoso, rooted in the idea of
virtue, excellence, or skill. In modern usage, a virtuoso is someone with
exceptional technical ability in a particular fieldmost famously music, but
also in art, dance, sports, and even gaming.
From Concert Halls to Game Streams
In classical music, a virtuoso violinist or pianist is someone who can play incredibly complex
passages with apparent easerapid runs, huge leaps, tricky rhythmswhile still making it sound
expressive and musical, not just like a technical exercise. In other words,
speed plus soul.
The same idea stretches across other domains:
- In jazz, virtuosity might mean blistering improvisation that still tells a story.
- In sports, it shows up as seemingly impossible plays, perfect timing, and consistent dominance.
- In video games and esports, virtuosity appears in frame-perfect inputs, mind-blowing combos, or beating
a game in ways the developers never expected.
The common thread: virtuosity is where technical mastery and creative decision-making collide.
It’s not just doing something hard; it’s doing something hard beautifully.
Why Rankings of Virtuosity Are So Controversial
Rankings of virtuosity are catnip for list-makers and click-happy readers. “Top 10 Guitarists,”
“Top 100 NBA Players,” “Best Speedrunners Right Now”these lists attract attention because they
promise certainty in places where opinions are wildly subjective.
Objective Numbers vs. Subjective Vibes
Some aspects of virtuosity are measurable:
- In sports, we can track points, championships, win shares, or time records.
- In gaming, we can rank fastest runs, highest scores, and tournament wins.
- In music, we can at least hear when a piece is played cleanly or sloppily.
But the moment you ask, “Who is the greatest?” you leave the safe world of numbers and enter the jungle
of taste. Two people can look at the same data and still disagree because:
- They value different skills (creativity vs. consistency, power vs. subtlety).
- They grew up in different eras and feel loyal to certain players or artists.
- They care more about impact and influence than pure technical abilityor vice versa.
That’s why rankings are rarely neutral. They’re built on choices about what “counts” as greatness.
Music Virtuosity: Shredders, Showmanship, and Soul
Look at any major guitar, piano, or violin ranking and you’ll notice the same tension:
technical speed demons vs. players who aren’t the fastest but shaped entire genres.
Why Guitar Lists Never Agree
When big outlets publish lists of the “greatest guitarists of all time,” they almost always include
names like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, and Eddie Van Halen. Some players are
there for jaw-dropping technique; others are there because they changed rock history
with memorable riffs and songs.
Fans, of course, immediately jump in to argue:
- “This shredder is technically better than half your list!”
- “How is this innovative but less flashy player so low?”
- “You forgot my favorite underground genius entirely!”
The clash here is simple: one side equates virtuosity with speed and difficulty,
while the other insists that feel, tone, and originality matter just as muchor more.
Virtuosity Beyond Speed
Research and critical writing on musical virtuosity often highlight something important:
virtuosity isn’t just about playing fast; it’s about executing any musical passage
with ease, control, and expressive clarity. That includes:
- Dynamic controlplaying incredibly softly or loudly without losing quality.
- Expressive phrasingmaking even a simple melody sound alive.
- Stylistic authenticityhonoring the genre while still sounding like yourself.
So a slow, emotionally devastating solo can be just as “virtuosic” as a flurry of notesif it
shows mastery and deep musical understanding.
Sports Virtuosity: The Endless GOAT Debate
In sports, virtuosity shows up as dominance, resilience, and the ability to perform under insane pressure.
Think of buzzer-beaters, impossible comebacks, or records that stand for decades.
GOAT Rankings and Their Moving Goalposts
The acronym GOATGreatest of All Timehas become shorthand for these debates.
Entire articles, TV segments, and social feeds are dedicated to deciding who outranks whom in basketball,
football (soccer and American), tennis, gymnastics, and more.
But there are baked-in complications:
- Different eras had different rules, training methods, and styles of play.
- Some leagues expand, change formats, or adjust scoring systems.
- Longevity vs. peak performance is a huge tradeoffwho’s “better”: a dominant 5-year peak or a great 20-year career?
Even legendary athletes themselves sometimes roll their eyes at the GOAT question, arguing that focusing on
individual rankings can distract from the importance of the team or the joy of the game itself.
Virtuosity in Gaming and Esports
If you’ve ever watched a top-level speedrun or esports final, you know gaming has its own kind of virtuosity.
The precision, reaction time, and game sense required at the top level is staggering.
Speedrunners and Competitive Players
In speedrunning, virtuosity shows up as:
- Perfectly timed glitches and skips.
- Routes planned down to fractions of a second.
- Memory of every enemy pattern, item location, and backup strategy.
In esportswhether it’s a MOBA, fighting game, or first-person shootervirtuosity includes:
- Mechanical skill: aim, combos, movement.
- Game knowledge: matchups, maps, metas.
- Team coordination: communication and trust under pressure.
Here again, rankings can lean heavily on data (tournament wins, ELO ratings, records) but are still shaped
by opinions about era, competition level, and style.
Is Virtuosity Just About Practice? The 10,000-Hour Myth
You’ve probably heard the idea that you need 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at anything.
That catchy number has been popularized in books and articles, but it oversimplifies the research.
Studies of chess players, musicians, and athletes suggest that deliberate practice is
very importantbut it usually explains only a portion of performance differences. Other factors matter too:
- Innate talents, like reaction time or physical build.
- Quality of coaching and feedback.
- Access to resources, opportunities, and supportive environments.
- Motivation, mental toughness, and the ability to handle setbacks.
In plain English: yes, you probably have to work very hard, for a long time, to be truly great.
But there isn’t a magical hour-count where you suddenly become a virtuoso and confetti falls from the ceiling.
How Lists Actually Get Made
So how do big outlets, critics, and fan communities decide who makes the top 10or the top 250?
Usually, rankings mix three ingredients:
1. Criteria (What “Counts”?)
First, someone decides what matters most for this list:
- Pure technical skill?
- Historical impact and influence on others?
- Creativity and originality?
- Longevity and consistency?
Even the order of those priorities changes who rises to the top.
2. Data and Achievements
Rankings often lean on:
- Stats (records, titles, awards, chart positions).
- Expert opinions (coaches, critics, players, fellow artists).
- Fan voting and popularity metrics.
But data rarely ends the discussion; it usually just fuels more debate.
3. Taste, Bias, and Culture
Finally, rankings reflect the tastes and blind spots of the people making them:
- Generational bias (“our era was tougher”).
- Geographic focus (certain regions, genres, or leagues get more attention).
- Personal narratives (we love comeback stories and underdogs).
That’s why two “serious” lists can look wildly differentand why fans sometimes trust their own curated lists
more than any official ranking.
How to Build Your Own Virtuosity Rankings (Without Losing Your Mind)
If you’re going to argue about virtuosity (and let’s be honest, you are), you might as well do it thoughtfully.
Here’s a simple framework to build your own rankings:
Step 1: Define Your Domain
Don’t mash everything together. Create separate rankings for:
- “Most technically skilled.”
- “Most influential.”
- “Best overall blend of skill and impact.”
That alone will reduce a lot of confusion (“Oh, we’re talking influence, not just skill?
That changes things.”).
Step 2: Make Your Criteria Explicit
Write down what you care about and assign rough weights. For example:
- 40% technical skill
- 30% creativity and originality
- 20% impact on the field
- 10% longevity
You don’t need a full spreadsheet (unless you want one), but being explicit keeps you honest.
Step 3: Look at Both Numbers and Narratives
Use stats, titles, and achievements, but also factor in:
- Who changed how others play, write, or perform?
- Who inspired entire generations of fans or future virtuosos?
- Whose performances you still remember years later?
Greatness is more than a box score or metronome reading.
Step 4: Accept That Your List Is Personal
Own your bias. Your rankings are shaped by what you’ve seen, heard, and loved. That doesn’t make them useless;
it makes them human. Be open to adjusting your list as you discover new artists, athletes, and players.
Experiences and Stories: How Virtuosity Rankings Feel in Real Life
To really understand what “Virtuosity Rankings and Opinions” mean, it helps to zoom in from the big lists and
look at everyday experiencesthe kinds of moments that make you suddenly rethink who you consider “great.”
The First Time You Hear “Impossible” Played Live
Imagine walking into a small concert hall expecting a nice, pleasant recital. Then the pianist starts playing a
notoriously difficult piecesomething you’ve seen people struggle with in practice videosand it sounds
effortless. No visible tension, no panicked glances at the sheet music, just calm, fluid motion and
huge, rich sound filling the hall.
In that moment, your internal rankings shift. Maybe you always thought of greatness as something reserved for
world-famous names. Suddenly, you realize: there are “unknown” virtuosos, living in your city, teaching at nearby
schools, playing in local orchestras. That experience quietly rewires how you think about listsyou see how many
incredible performers never even get close to a “Top 100” ranking.
Watching a GOAT Debate at a Sports Bar
Now picture a different scene: a sports bar during a big game. The TV flashes a graphic:
“Greatest of All Time: Who Ya Got?” Immediately, people at different tables start throwing out names.
One group leans on statspoints, titles, MVPs. Another group talks about “killer instinct,” clutch plays,
and emotional impact. Someone brings up an older legend from decades ago that half the room has never seen live.
No one changes their mind, of coursebut if you listen closely, you can hear how different people define
virtuosity:
- For some, it’s pure dominance: “He just destroys everyone else.”
- For others, it’s artistry: “No one else plays like that.”
- For a few, it’s narrative: “He changed the game and inspired millions.”
You walk away realizing that rankings are really reflections of what people value most in their heroes.
Discovering a Speedrunner Who Changes Your View of Gaming
Maybe you’ve always thought of gaming as casual fununtil a friend sends you a speedrun video.
Suddenly you’re watching someone complete a game you struggled with as a kid in under an hour,
executing moves that look physically impossible. They reset the run if they lose a single second
off their ideal pace. Their focus is unreal.
Once again, your personal rankings expand. You might not know how to rank this runner against, say,
a famous musician or athlete, but you feel instinctively that what you just watched is virtuosity.
It makes your mental definition of the word bigger and more inclusive.
Seeing “Ordinary” Talent Up Close
Another experience that changes your view of virtuosity is seeing “ordinary” advanced skill up close.
A local teacher who can sight-read complex music, a high-school athlete whose footwork is sharper than what
you see from casual players, or a gaming friend who does inputs so fast you can’t even see their fingers move.
None of these people will ever appear in national rankingsbut it dawns on you that the difference between their
level and the absolute elite is a matter of degrees, not universes. That can be both humbling and inspiring:
- Humbling, because it shows how high the bar truly is.
- Inspiring, because it proves that greatness is built step by step, one skill at a time.
How These Experiences Shape Your Own Opinions
Over time, experiences like these quietly reshape your rankings. You might still love big, bold top-10 lists,
but you start to see them as conversation starters, not sacred truth. You become more curious:
- You look up lesser-known names that critics mention.
- You pay attention to how people in the field talk about each other.
- You notice the difference between someone who is just flashy and someone who is deeply, quietly in control.
Most importantly, you begin to hold two things at once: a love for spirited debates about “the best,” and a respect
for the countless virtuosos who may never make a headline but still embody excellence in their craft.
Conclusion: Embrace the Rankings, Respect the Nuance
Virtuosity rankings and opinions are never going awayand honestly, that’s fine. They’re fun, they spark passion,
and they push us to discover new artists, athletes, and players we might otherwise miss.
Just remember what those lists really are: blends of data, taste, and culture, filtered through human bias.
They’re useful, but not definitive. Instead of asking, “Who is the greatest, once and for all?” ask:
- “What do I value in virtuosity?”
- “Which performances actually move me?”
- “Whose skill inspires me to practice, create, or compete?”
When you treat rankings as invitations to explore rather than final verdicts, you get the best of both worlds:
the excitement of the debate and the deeper appreciation of what true virtuosity really looks like.
