22 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time

The single most enduring sound of the late 20th century won't be the gun barrel or the sound of outrage, nor will it be the disinterested click of the mobile phone or the white noise of television: it will be the singular sound of a guitar string vibrating. That glorious sound is the currency of creativity, and has been used as a tool of love, of outrage, of despair, speaking a million words in a single, beautifully unifying language, and for good reason millions of pounds have been spent listening, watching and sharing those sounds. But without fingers, the sound of the string is nothing: without players the guitar is silent. And despite the millions of pickers and sliders across the world since the first instrument was picked up, only a select few have managed to tame the sound to such a degree so as to warrant the label of genius. They turn that iconic voice of the guitar into something personal, something entertaining and something entirely irresistible. They defy the idea that a guitar is nothing more than a guitar, and it is by their hand that the history of modern music, from the earliest days of Blues through to more modern anthemic stadium rock, has been shaped. So who qualifies as those icons of string and sound?

The God of Gods. As Lemmy says, there is simply nobody as good as Hendrix, period, and it's hard to resist that logic.

Taken tragically young, Hendrix was a master of personality infused guitar playing, the ultimate master of the solo and one of the most effortlessly gifted men ever to pick up a guitar. Will there ever be anyone better? Don't count on it.

Key Track: "Purple Haze"