Did I ever say Edge had shitty technique? No. He's a stellar fucking artist, I just don't think he can shred the way some other great artists can.
Everyone has their weaknesses. Jimmy Page's picking is so sloppy he's hitting other strings than he means to half the time. Dave Gilmour can't get his hands to move overly quickly and it's said he even had to get someone else to play the classical part on "Is There Anybody Out There?" because he couldn't get his left hand to move fast enough. That didn't stop either of them from making some of the best music ever. And Edge's lack of technical playing ability (remember now, I'm not saying he's not good, he's great - what I am saying is that he's doesn't have spectacular speed or scale knowledge or anything like that) does not mean that he is not a fucking brilliant artist - I don't think there's anyone (at least not anyone sane) who would deny it. What Edge is missing in speed and crispness he makes up for in the ability to improvise, and knowledge of what sounds good. He doesn't just go up and down a Major Added 5th Myxolydian mode for 10 minutes; he plays what he needs to and it's short, concise, and great.
And in regards to Hendrix (someone said something about him) - made crappy music? How much Hendrix have you listened to? Purple Haze and Watchtower? Anything else?
When it comes to Hendrix, it's not about the music he made during his lifetime (although I think you really need to go back and take a listen to something like Voodoo Chile, something non-mainstream). The music he made was fucking great, but it's about the fact that the man changed literally EVERYTHING about the guitar. Before Hendrix, guitars were in the back of the arrangement, playing chords, or playing surf guitar. The exception was the Who, the Stones, and some of the psychedelic bands, but at that point they weren't really doing anything major with the guitar. Surf guitar consisted of sliding double-stops back and forth for 3 minutes.
Then Hendrix comes along, and uses feedback in with the melody. He uses wah-wah. He distorts his guitar, brings it right up to the front of the mix, completely shreds a solo, improvises, throws in blues arrangements, sings while soloing, then to top it all off, he sets the fucking thing on fire, and then smashes it to pieces. That was UNHEARD-OF in 1965 (when Hey Joe came out as a single). That kind of thing was completely and totally revolutionary, not only in the showmanship of his playing and stage antics, but in the addition of effects, the use of feedback, the distortion, the blues elements...this was all new. Hendrix has had more influence on rock guitar than anybody else. Ever. Period. That is not even an item you can debate, and if you think you can, you're an idiot. Hendrix changed music. That's why he's so special. Not the songs themselves. But what the songs meant to music as a whole.
What is a "the best guitarist" at the world ?
