Classic Rock Junkie wrote: Being the best of your generation doesn't mean much, nor warrant a top 10 spot. If everyone in your generation can play one guitar string, only one, and make it sound shitty, and you can play a chord, that doesn't warrant you a top 10 greatest of all time spot. Not only that, neither of them are the 'best' guitarists of their generation. Eddie Van Halen not only had talent and skill, he, like Hendrix, revolutionized how guitar was played, pushed it's limits, and redefined it, along with doing some of the best guitar performances of all time. Jack White and Cobain have brought nothing new to guitar playing (like Hendrix' use of wah wah and Eddie's unique tapping), have not invented any new style (maybe Kurt, but you can find his style derived from a combination of metal and early 80's punk, pretty much fused two old idea into a new, but not unique, style, Jack has done nothing), and unlike EVH and Hendrix who were both very skilled, Kurt and White both suck at guitar, you can take lessons and practice for a month and you'll be better than both of them, I'm not even joking here.
Also, White has about no influence on the guitar world (STRICTLY guitar world), and Kurt had little influence on actual guitar playing as well (Nirvana the band is very influential, and kurt as a figure for contributing to grundge, but his contributions to guitar playing and sound are almost null).
Clapton was the first one to use a wah wah:
When it came to pre-Jimi guitar heroes, Clapton was, well, God. Hell, when Chas Chandler told Hendrix he wanted to take him back to the U.K. and record him, the first thing Hendrix asked was, “Can you introduce me to Eric Clapton?” But by the time Clapton and Cream were to record their highly anticipated second album, Disraeli Gears, Hendrix had changed the playing field immensely—so E.C. needed to bring it. With engineer Tom Dowd (Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding) and producer Felix Pappalardi at the mixing desk, Cream were enjoying an embarrassment of riches for an English rock group—they got to go to America and record on an 8-track machine. Cream also brought their amps across the pond–big, bad 100-watt JTM Marshalls—although photos from the sessions suggest there were some small Fender combos used as well. Upon arriving in New York, the band holed up in Atlantic Studios and began recording a new tune of Clapton’s (with lyrics by Australian artist Martin Sharp), “Tales of Brave Ulysses.” During a break from tracking, Clapton hit Manny’s on 48th Street and purchased a Vox wah-wah. The rest, as they say, is history, as “Tales” is the tune that placed the wah in the collective brain of guitarists everywhere—especially Hendrix, who says that tune was the first time he heard the effect.
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/the ... 2007/26852
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