Jimi was the best of his genre in terms of being a musician 1st, guitar player 2nd. Based on guitar playing alone, he is NOT the best guitar player, and he would be the first to admit that. When he was alive, he felt SRV was light-years ahead of him, in terms of ability and musicianship. Since his death there has been much debate on who was the best guitar player of all time. One thing to keep in mind is that, yeah, he died at age 27 and probably would have progressed as a guitar player even more... BUT, he died, so you cannot assume that he would have progressed further and you have to take him how he was. A very good guitar player, an amazing musician/songwriter/vocalist who had a knack for writing kickass songs. This doesn't make him the best guitar player of all time. It makes him one of the greatest musicians of all time, and people are confusing that with "Oh, he must be the greatest guitar player ever." I can name a ton of guitar players who are better, some of which are technical players, like Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Buckethead, Django Reinhart... some that I feel are better musicians in terms of musicianship (not factoring in the technical aspect), like SRV, Clapton and Jimmy Page. Along with Hendrix, Clapton and SRV are the only two players that compare to him, since they were all great guitar players, writers & vocalists, etc. Calling a guy the greatest guitar player ever, because you feel you like his music better means nothing... and that's what people do. They judge a guitarist based on there own personal opinions based on their likes and dislikes in terms of musical taste... and not solely on guitar playing ability. Most people can't even make a qualified decision if they've never picked up a guitar and studied it in depth to really understand why I am saying these things. BQ: Opinionateur BBQ(yum): "Little Wing" Jimi died at 27... it's practically common knowledge, because so many famous/amazing musicians have died at that age, it ended up almost becoming a curse. It's called the "27 Club". It includes: Jimi Hendrix Brian Jones (an original Rolling Stones member) Janis Joplin Jim Morrison Kurt Cobain Robert Johnson (one of the most influential guitar players ever, said to have revolutionized Blues and which lead to rock n roll back in the 1930's) as well as many others.