Hendrix Voted Greatest Guitarist Ever

Rolling Stone assembled a team of top guitarists and industry experts to vote on the greatest 100 guitarists of all time and few will be surprised to find '60s legend Jimi Hendrix topping the list. Eric Clapton came second and Jimmy Page third, with Keith Richards and Jeff Beck also in the top five. BB King, Chuck Berry, Duane Allman, Eddie Van Halen, and Pete Townshend made it into the top 10.

"Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage," writes Rage Against the Machine axeman Tom Morello. "His riffs were a pre-metal funk bulldozer, and his lead lines were an electric LSD trip down to the crossroads, where he pimp-slapped the devil." It's hard to imagine what Hendrix would be doing now, Morello notes. "Would he be an elder statesman of rock? Would he be Sir Jimi Hendrix? Or would he be doing some residency off the Vegas Strip? The good news is his legacy is assured as the greatest guitar player of all time." (More Rolling Stone stories.)