Jimi Hendrix

Few guitarists have left a mark on rock music as indelible as Jimi Hendrix. Born in Seattle in 1942, Hendrix cut his teeth playing on the chitlin circuit backing R&B acts before relocating to London in 1966, where manager Chas Chandler helped him form the Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. That lineup became one of the most explosive power trios rock has ever seen.

Hendrix's playing was genuinely unlike anything before it. He weaponized feedback, coaxed wailing sustain from his Stratocaster, and blended blues, psychedelia, and hard rock into something entirely his own. Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland remain essential listening, with tracks like Purple Haze, Voodoo Child, and All Along the Watchtower demonstrating a range that still floors guitarists today. His Woodstock performance of The Star-Spangled Banner alone cemented his place in cultural history.

Hendrix died tragically in September 1970 at just 27, but his influence never faded. From Eddie Van Halen to Stevie Ray Vaughan to Prince, virtually every rock and blues guitarist who came after him bears his fingerprints. He didn't just change guitar playing, he expanded what anyone thought the instrument was capable of doing.