10 Guitarists That Changed Rock Music Forever

There's no guitar player that has walked the Earth that hasn't been influenced by Jimi Hendrix in one way or another. Whether or not you even like the kind of idyllic sounds of the late '60s, the tones that Jimi would get out of his guitars is still something that we're having trouble trying to actually figure out. Though rock was always Jimi's calling card, his music can fit into any genre and work absolute magic.

While he only gave us 3 proper studio albums in his lifetime, there was a certain telepathy that Jimi had with his guitar whenever he played, channeling every emotion he had in his body into every lick. After being known as fairly shy and reserved whenever he was doing interviews, Jimi became a different animal every time he took to the stage, playing the guitar with his teeth and going so far as to light his guitar on fire in a ceremonial burning for the rock gods.

Jimi was never one for the spectacle though, and some of his brighter moments are when he tapped into the more mellow side of his catalog, like the beautiful melodies that he gets out of songs like Little Wing and The Wind Cries Mary. While the Summer of Love definitely had its place in time, listening to Hendrix's music is like seeing the light and the dark side of music mixing together.