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Guitar playing is not a contest. Music is about beautiful combinations of sounds, not arrogant displays of technical ability. It's about feeling. I don't mean to knock technical virtuosity. There are some awesome shredders out there, but there are also some really fast, technical guitar players who play very bland, soulless music. Sometimes people with very basic musical skills have made really great music. There are great guitarists from every genre.

It's all a matter of taste, but here is a partial list of some great/virtuosic/innovative guitarists, for peoples reference. It is not meant to be comprehensive, it's my humble opinion and is in almost no particular order:

1. Jimi Hendrix- the favorite of many, including me. Awesome tone, rhythm, and feel. Pioneering, experimental, and masterful use of effects, feedback and distortion. He has a million imitators and a lot of them sound pretty good.

Some artists who might be of interest to fans of Hendrix are

Robert Johnson (Hendrix' favorite)- old time blues singer who played a 12-string acoustic guitar fingerstyle with a slide which famously sounds like more than 1 guitar.

Eric Clapton- Some geniuses with spray paint expressed their conviction that he was God before Hendrix came along. Cream is the best of Clapton.

Buddy Guy- Electric blues guitarist who Hendrix probably owed more to than he did to Johnson. Hendrix was also influenced by many other blues artists like Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Albert King. (That could be another list. Go google "the blues", and check those guys out)

Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top)- Who Jimi called the "greatest living guitarist"

Robin Trower- A British psychedelic guitarist who has been compared to Hendrix.

Stevie Ray Vaughn- who wore his Hendrix influence plainly on his sleeve.

In another class are what I see as experimental visionaries carrying on similar explorations of the instrument in some way or another:

Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)- Another favorite of many. You probably know his work.

Also
Robert Fripp- of the awesome King Crimson.

Frank Zappa- wacky experimental composer, excellent guitarist

Joni Mitchell, and also Lou Reed, and Thurston Moore- who all explored alternate tunings

David Gilmour- of Pink Floyd.

Carlos Santana

Jerry Garcia- of the Grateful Dead

Tony Iommi- (Black Sabbath.) One of the first to detune. Best riffs ever.

Eddie Van Halen- Who became the new Hendrix in the late 1970s with his innovative use of two hand tapping.

Vernon Reid(Living Colour)- one of my personal favorites, called

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