Rock guitar has arguably been ruled by three kings: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page. These are indeed the cream of the crop, the musicians willing to explore and create new sounds in the birth of a new genre. But the debate that reigns: is who is better? The best of the best, of course, is completely opinion-oriented and is decided individually by personal musical preference, but that does not mean we can’t explore each guitarist and their different styles and maybe help make it easier to pick among the three.
Their has been some debate on singing vocals and playing lead makes you the better guitar player. Im going to go ahead and take the opportunity to clear this up. Yes, Jimmy Page is out of the loop here, but Vocals though makes it seem your more prolific on guitar, considering your multi-tasking, isn’t exactly an incredible feat. Most experience guitar players will notice being able to sing and play comes fairly quick, if you practice that is. So I won’t put any handicaps on Jimmy for not being vocally inclined. Also I plan to ignore their worst or sub-par musical efforts, I’ll only reference to their best work and that’s what I will compare.
Eric Clapton will be the first to discuss. This man has many notches in his belt. Being of The Yardbirds, Cream, and having an amazing solo career as well. Nick named “Slowhand” Eric is an incredible blues talent, while still being able to cross into rock genres, pop, and even reggae. He’s cited many of the blues greats as his influences such as Robert Johnson and B.B. King. And yes, his influences do show in his music, but he’s managed to blend and transform to produce his own authentic sound. His music also driven by a life of tradegy. From the untimely deaths of his close friends Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Or when he lost his son, Conor, when he fell from the 53rd-story window of his mother’s friend’s New York City apartment. His life has been plagued with grief, and always he’ll turn to his guitar for expression.
It’s fairly easy to tell that your listening to a Jimmy Page riff. Dynamic in structure and sound; atomic in presentation. It seemed almost every Led Zeppelin song would have a timeless riff, heavy verses, and a remarkable solo. Interweaving tracks of Guitar through hours of meticulous studio work gave his music a sound of it’s own. Not being afraid to experiment either his music ranged from acoustic and folk songs to reggae and funk. Having produced everyone one of Led Zeppelins music he had a very created and abstract mind, not being hindered to push the envelope in terms of creative success. Often called the forefather of heavy metal music, Jimmy Page indeed wrote the foundation and guidelines to creating Metal as it is now.
Known usually as the greatest guitar player ever, Jimi Hendrix was an outstandingly fascinating person. The left-handed gun slinger was so original in his approach with guitar that a very few have managed to even come close to capturing his very unique style. Hendrix strove to combine what he called “earth”, a blues, jazz, or funk driven rhythm accompaniment, with “space”, the high-pitched psychedelic sounds created by his guitar improvisations. Within this strange collaboration was this free-willed, unrestrained, musical treat that was Jimi Hendrix.
