The greatest rock guitarist? First these honorable mentions:

The Holy Trinity of rock guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, all played at separate times for a group called the Yardbirds . Eric (a.k.a. " Slowhand ") was recruited from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers ; He went on to form Cream, the seminal power trio. Jeff Beck has an expressive, lyrical guitar style; a true instrumentalist who isn't afraid to cover tunes like Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat." Jimmy Page, a former session player, is the best acoustic soloist of them all, but it was his hypnotic, heavy metal guitar genius that would later propel Led Zeppelin into the stratosphere of super groups.

Other figureheads include many of the original American bluesmen . I'm partial to Lightning Hopkins as a precursor to rock, and Big Bill Broonzy could roll with the best. In the 50s, Scotty Moore, Elvis's guitar man, gave us rockabilly. Today, John Mayer is rocking in the old-school tradition. He honors Stevie Ray Vaughn rest his soul a guitarist who was never at a loss for the next note. And when you're talking Texas blues legends, Johnny Winter comes to mind: a slide-guitarist whose licks ring out like jigs and reels on Texas twin fiddles. ZZTop's Billy Gibbons is a guitar slinger with impeccable harmonic overtones. Elsewhere, The Stone's Keith Richards proves that you don't have to be good to be great, but Aerosmith's Joe Perry shows that it doesn't hurt.

But enough about the nominees - the envelope, please...Brothers and sisters, we have a tie.

I saw Jimi Hendrix play in Detroit. Sitting front-row stage-right, I could have tied his purple shoes together but they didn't have laces. He chatted-up the girl I was with and sipped from her Coke between numbers. I remember thinking "he's just a kid," even though I was still in high school myself. He electrified the music scene. His style was unorthodox. He played left-handed and upside down with fingers that seemed long enough to wrap twice around the neck. His musical sensibilities were otherworldly, finding sounds never before heard at a time when other rock guitarists were just strumming bar chords.

Jimi was a showman who worked his magic on stage as well as in the recording studio. With a wang bar and the electronic feedback of his Marshall stacks, his trademark "Fat Strat " sound was just an undertone of the sonic ecstasy that he induced by choking the strings or strafing them on the mic stand. It is a sound that echoes

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Assessing who is the greatest rock guitar player of all-time?
We want to hear your view. Write now!