Rolling Stone names Hendrix best guitarist ever

Mazey

Mazey

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Legendary musician Jimi Hendrix was named the greatest guitar player in history on Wednesday by Rolling Stone magazine in a list compiled by a panel of music experts and top guitar players.

"Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage," said Grammy-winning guitarist Tom Morello in the magazine, citing Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" as key tracks.

Hendrix is joined by the likes of Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend among the top 10, in a list laden with rock 'n' roll icons spanning decades.

The panel of experts recruited to vote for their favorite guitar players included musicians such as Lenny Kravitz, Eddie Van Halen (who was voted No. 8), Brian May and Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys, along with a selection of Rolling Stone's senior writers and editors.

The experts also weighed in on their favorites, with Pearl Jam's Mike McCready calling Eddie Van Halen "a master of riffs" and Joe Perry praising Jimmy Page's "vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do."

The full list will be featured in a special issue with four special covers of Van Halen, Clapton, Hendrix and Page, and will be on newsstands and online at www.rollingstone.com on Friday. Rolling Stone's top 10 greatest guitarists follow:

1. Jimi Hendrix
.
2. Eric Clapton

3. Jimmy Page

4. Keith Richards

5. Jeff Beck

.
6. B.B. King

7. Chuck Berry

8. Eddie Van Halen

9. Duane Allman

10. Pete Townshend
 
Do people really pay attention to these lists? Music is subjective, nobody is better than the other as long as you can put you're emotions into sound. As far as I'm concerned, all of those guitarists do that...which in my eyes, make them equal. Then it just comes down to a matter of personal preference. Hendrix, is one of the best in my opinion...but it's just that, an opinion.

It's really more of a popularity contest for these magazines than anything else.
 
Guitarists don't all have the same style either, making it even harder to rank them. I highly respect Grant Green & Yngwie Malmsteen but could never say one is 'better' than the other.

In the world of business, everyone is trying so hard to screw the other person to get to the top of the food chain. Capitalism rewards this hyper-competitive mentality. However, when you're doing something for the love of it, and not profit, it's no longer about being the best. In fact, artists welcome playing alongside others because it boosts their own creative output and that, to me, is the beauty of art.
 
Lists are subjective yes. But Hendrix being number 1 is objective, IMHO. There simply hasn't been and probably won't be another guitar player quite like him, someone who has actually mastered the instrument outright. He was fucking zen with the guitar.. and until we get the next zen guitarist there simply is no one else worthy of comparison to him.
 
-=SS=- said:
Lists are subjective yes. But Hendrix being number 1 is objective, IMHO. There simply hasn't been and probably won't be another guitar player quite like him, someone who has actually mastered the instrument outright. He was fucking zen with the guitar.. and until we get the next zen guitarist there simply is no one else worthy of comparison to him.
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This I can agree with. The way he could express himself through his fingers, onto his fretboard and out of his amplifier is unbelievable. His soul was directly connected to his guitar. No barriers existed for him, he was able to simply express himself from soul to sound, nothing in between. That is what made him so great, that is why I absolutely love him more than any other guitarist I've ever listened to.
 
He is certainly one of the most innovative guitarists ever but not necessarily the best...

I agree that these lists are bogus.
 
I disagree about Hendrix being a peerless master of the guitar. He's a virtuoso live performer, and a transcendent musician in many ways, but his actual control over the instrument and the emotions stirring inside him left much to be desired. He'd definitely admit as much, and it's a shame he wasn't more decisive and in control because he would've produced stuff that would've blown his early records out of the water if he didn't kill himself, or allow himself to die, whichever way you look at it. His mindset was extremely self-destructive and lost leading up to his death. If only he didn't have such a scumbag for a manager and had better people around him, not just hangers-on and various flunkies, he might've made some truly amazing stuff.

I'm basing this opinion of mine off of the fact that Hendrix was quoted saying that he'd get really angry and frustrated at not being able to play what he knew he had inside of him. He was still a baby compared to all the potential he had within, of course, his "artistic childhood", if you will, remains better than most people's peak of creativity, but that's why Hendrix is a genius and we're not. He was blessed with a volcano of talent inside of him, and he could spew out amazing riffs and songs like nothing, but he died before he ever really consciously worked out a masterpiece that was up to his standards. Still...most "pop artists" aren't really artists, and he was, so that's saying something by itself.

As far as that list in concerned it's extremely biased and pointless, and is merely filler for the advertisements surrounding it in the magazine. It doesn't really inform the readers about anything at all, it just puts out the same few names that anyone with a passing interest in rock and roll knows about so they'd buy it and such. It probably works well in that regard....lol
 
i don't agree with rollingstone in their list making mania, but i agree that hendrix is the best. -shrug- his charming almost childlike demeanor, huge cock, awesome guitar skills. what more do you want? no one else is going to be that great, ever. i don't give a fuck about your technical metal and all that shit. hendrix made love to his guitar day in and day out, when most people were still trying to find out how to get up their guitar's shirt.

props to you hendrix, and rollingstone, stop it, now you're like the too old for the scene chick at the edge of the bar drinking too much and hoping someone takes her home
 
How often do they put out a "best guitarist evar" list, and how often does the top ten involve someone who isn't typically on Rolling Stone's top ten "best guitarists evar" list?
 
Jimi without a doubt wins the showmanship badassitude and kickassery catagory, but let's not rank him as the top technical player of ever. That title probably belongs to a 12 year old prodigy in Mongolia or something.
 
I see everyone already summed up any type of opinion I would have on this matter for me.

Why can't they just cleverly title it Rolling Stone's Favorite Guitar players?
 
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