John McLaughlin.

"Jimi was a beautiful guitar player. He wasn't very schooled, he had a limited knowledge, as far as musicial harmony is concerned. But he had such an imagination that he made up for it. And that's what makes things happen, because if you get a guy with all knowledge and no imagination, he doesn't play anything. Knowledge helps, but I'm not saying knowledge is it. I don't know what this talk is, like Jimi's some kind of god. He's just an ordinary guy. I mean, he's just like a nice, loving, sweet person - that's all. He's just like one of your friends, you know ? He wasn't pretentious or anything. He was just a guitar player, that's all he was. That's all he ever wanted to be. I mean, he got spaced you know, but we all were spaced in our own way. But he was still into the blues. My impression of Jimi was of strength, really. He was strong, and that meant something. To me, he was soulful. There must have been a better word for it. What I mean is that he was dynamic. He could do things with the guitar that nobody had done before. In other words, he was a revolutionary, but he still had a lot of soul, and that's what makes things work. If you don't have that, you can't make anything work. I think Jimi has had an effect on most contemporary guitar players."