Who is the best rock guitarist out of these four?

1. Hendrix - his imagination took the guitar to a new level. Basically in a class by himself.

2. Page - Lightning fast fingers, sweet bluesy licks early in career. Showed versatility thoughout...

3.Clapton - great blues guitarist. Loved him with Cream (my fav at the time), but he has had some "clunker" tours.

4. Beck - never a fan, but talented. I disagree with poster above though - I'd say he is too disciplined for rock. He wants to play in too many times in the same song (my opinion).

jimmy page was def the best. he made the songs come alive and had a great chemistry going on with robert plant. he is the one of the few gutairist that could pull being extremely complex and have it make sense while sounding perfect.

jeff beck is my favorite songwriter out the bunch. he was def an innovator and trend starter. he is a great guitarist but he doesn't belong ranked up with the other three.

hendrix played with raw feeling and was the only guitarist i know that could go way off beat/key and still make it sound great by coming back perfectly. i really don't know how he played some of his stuff. that was his best quality for me about how much of a natural he was.

eric clapton fine tuned the blues. he can definitely play guitar alongside anyone else in the world...i just don't enjoy his songwriting as much as the others. blues gets old after a few million times. he is the best straight forward blues guitarist....that's white. he proved it time and time again. i love his guitar work he did with george harrison.

Eric Clapton - 1

Jimmy Page - 2

Jimi Hendrix - 3

Jeff Beck - 4

Before Jimi Hendrix - Guitar was an interestig instrument that was part of a band.

Hendrix made it into a virtuosic force unto itself.

A person could argue any of those four to be the 'best' by whatever criteria, but for rock-n-roll guitar, Hendrix did more for the instrument and the medium than the other three combined.

And that is a hard thing to say, I love those other three too!

Clapton - Longevity and a comfortable style. One of the VERY FEW white English guitar players to truly understand the blues, and probably only through his long years of tribulation.

Page - sloppy player, GREAT innovator for the compositional side of layered rock-n-roll guitar playing. His studio work is masterful.

Beck - a true 'guitar player's guitar player' - one of the few of that generation'[s guitar players to steadily get better over the years. Probably technically the best player of the four.

Jimi Hendrix ~~ Is so overratted...Years ago, I heard a bootleg cassette with Hendrix and he asked if "Eric" was in the audience...He wanted his guitar tuned!!! Can't even tune his own guitar!!! That's no guitar hero

Eric Clapton ~~ For what he does he is the best

Jimmy Page~~Very sloppy player...Led Zep was just stoner rock.... "load up the bong and put on stairway mannnnnn

Jeff Beck~~ He is the best player of the 4... Jeff is a great player

As for the best guitarist ever...

STEVE VAI

Jimi Hendrix

Jimmy Page, mainly cause he's not only amazing on the electric, but also on the acoustic.

All 4 are awsome guitarist, but Clapton kinnda sticks out cause he can sometimes do some really cool blues.

Why no David Gilmour?

DAMMIT!!!!!!! sigh

Hendrix is the best but Pagey is my Favorite.Hendrix's voice is like nails on a blackboard to me.

Far as my critiques go................

Jimi Hendrix....in a class totally by himself

Jimmy Page.....unparralleled master of the riff

Eric Clapton.....when he's on no equal when hes not hes mediocre

Jeff Beck...scary talented too undiciplined for rock

Out of THESE FOUR, I prefer Jimmy Page

PAGEY!

However, that being said... Each person is an entity unto themselves. Each one has something that sets them apart from the others. But why in particular THESE FOUR?

Why not (from the classic era) Joe Walsh, Joe Perry, Lindsey Buckingham... I mean, the list could go on and on...

But out of those 4, PAGE...

Ouch! You would have to put in the four greatest guitarists of all time, wouldn't you? Kinda hard to choose between the four, but there is one you're missing, that was just as good as these four . . . Randy Rhoads.