Former Red Hot Chili Peppers star John Frusciante has been voted the best guitarist of the past 30 years in a BBC poll.

The 40-year-old rocker, who quit RHCP in 2008, beat Slash (second place) and Muse's Matt Bellamy (third) to the title.

The poll, aptly dubbed Axe Factor, was held on the BBC6Music website where over 30,000 music lovers had their say.

BBC 6 Music presenter Steve Lamacq said of the poll result: "There's an underlying madness about their work, but with the renewed interest in these guitarists, thanks to various computer games, this is a very timely and revealing litmus test of who our audience really admire.”

The Smiths, Modest Mouse and The Cribs' Johnny Marr came in at fourth spot and said he was privileged to be in such great company.

"The greatest accolade is for people you respect to respect you and to influence you," he told the Beeb.

"But I can't think about it too much because you would need to have some gargantuan ego to analyse it. I'm just very grateful and try not to screw up."

The full top ten was as follows:

1. John Frusciante - Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Slash - Guns n' Roses
3. Matt Bellamy - Muse
4. Johnny Marr - The Smiths
5. Tom Morello - Rage Against The Machine
6. Kirk Hammett - Metallica
7. Jonny Greenwood - Radiohead
8. Prince
9. Jack White - White Stripes
10. Peter Buck – R.E.M.

(by Scott Colothan)