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Fri 10 April 2026 15:45, UK
The topic of the greatest guitarist of all-time is, technically, subjective, like anything related to music. But it’s also not at all, and if we’re all honest with ourselves, the answer is Jimi Hendrix.
As many greats have also etched their names into folklore forever due to their technical prowess on a six-string, Hendrix was in a league of his own. He’s the first guitarist that most people would name if asked to name one, who continues to possess a synonymity with the instrument like no one else.
While setting fire to guitars and dying in tragic circumstances admittedly played a role in adding layers of mystique to Hendrix, his talent was the central facet of his legend.
Don’t just take my word for it, take Neil Young’s. Like me, when it comes to the greatest guitarist of all, he simply can’t look beyond Hendrix, who he was fortune enough to witness in all of his glory. While he’s seen countless icons at similar proximity, none have moved him like Jimi.
Their paths crossed at Woodstock Festival together in 1969, which was a crazy weekend from beginning to end. Even the simple task of getting to the location in Bethel was an obstacle for Young, and Hendrix rescued the day, birthing an anecdote that the Canadian would dine out on for eternity.
(Credits: Far Out / Wikimedia)
Both of them were placed on the same charter plane to get them to Woodstock, which should have made it a straightforward journey, if the pilot didn’t fly to the wrong airport.
Thankfully, they did make it to Woodstock eventually, courtesy of a stolen pick-up truck that was parked up at the airport, which, at the time, they saw as their only option. For Young, that journey was the highlight of the entire weekend rather than anything to do with the music, once recalling, “So it’s the three of us in this stolen pickup truck trying to get to the Woodstock concert to play—Jimi, Melvin (Belli) and me. That’s what I really remember about Woodstock.”
That wild trip to Woodstock remains his overarching memory of Hendrix as a man, which matched the high esteem he already had for him on the basis of his talent. While the 1960s were awash with guitar legends, nobody could compete with the sheer magnitude of Hendrix’s unwavering ability.
“Hendrix was the best at being able to do his expression with his guitar,” Young once recounted in an interview with the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2005. “I’d say, out of the ’60s, as far as someone taking the guitar to another place, Hendrix was number one. No other guitar player even came near Hendrix in the way he handled playing rock ‘n’ roll in a trio, guitar, bass and drums.”
Young then detailed the reasoning why Hendrix, along with his band, remains unmatched, “He was so unique, he had his own place. It was the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Out of all the trios, there was nothing like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the way they all played together, the bass player, the drummer, it was all three of them together that made that sound.” That’s perhaps the key to Hendrix in itself; he was effectively a soloist and a bandleader, combining searing skills with bona fide hits.”
Heaping praise upon Mitch Mitchell, Chas Chandler and Noel Redding for unlocking the full potential of Hendrix, Young insisted, “Jimi wasn’t the same when he played with other bands. It was what happened when he played with those guys that made him free enough to express himself and to go to those places he went.”
Those places that Young mentioned continue to amaze and inspire even more than half a century later. The Jimi Hendrix Experience marked a progressive change in music, a force for hope, which seemed too good to be true, and brought the guitar to new heights.
While there are haters for every artist or band, whether Hendrix is on your heavy rotation or not, it’s impossible to say with a straight face that he didn’t have otherworldly talents.
But, as Young expertly pointed out and is often forgotten by many, Hendrix wasn’t alone, and wouldn’t have become the greatest guitarist to ever live without Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding and Chas Chandler. They were the perfect foil that provided him with a platform to take centre stage and thrill the world, ensuring a formidable collective legacy that can never be erased.
