Popular music magazine Rolling Stone has named American musician Jimi Hendrix as the greatest guitar player of all time, followed by British guitarists Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page in second and third place.
Experts from the industry, including guitarist Tom Morello, met with the editors of the magazine to vote on the best guitarists. Also topping the list are Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, BB King, Chuck Berry, Eddie Van Halen, Duane Allman and Pete Townshend.
“Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be,” said Morello. “His playing was effortless. There’s not one minute of his recorded career that feels like he’s working hard at it – it feels like it’s all flowing through him.
“The most beautiful song of the Jimi Hendrix canon is "Little Wing." It’s just this gorgeous song that, as a guitar player, you can study your whole life and not get down, never get inside it the way that he does,” noted Morello. “He seamlessly weaves chords and single-note runs together and uses chord voicings that don’t appear in any music book.
Hendrix was a lefty who played a right-handed guitar, and had a revolutionary approach to the electric guitar, the recording studio, and the stage.