Is Jimi Hendrix really the best guitarist of all time?

If you make a search like "best guitarists of all time", there is one name that will almost always appear on the top of the list: Jimi Hendrix.

By this point it's pretty much a custom, if not outright a rule: The rest of the list is up to your opinion, but Hendrix must always be put on the top. If not, you are just an ignorant fool who doesn't know anything about anything, especially guitar music. There might be a few lists out there that dare to not put him on the top (or even the top 10), but those are extremely rare.

But the thing is: Objectively speaking, is he really the "best" or "greatest" guitarist of all time?

In terms of playing skill and technique, quite arguably and objectively no. Not by a long shot. There have been many guitarists after him that in every measurable way, objective and subjective, are better than him, in terms of skill and technique. If we expand the definition of "guitarist" wider than just electric guitar, then arguably on classical guitar there have been much better guitarists long before Hendrix (one good candidate would be Francisco Tárrega, and a good contemporary candidate would be Paco de Lucía. There are many, many others as well.)

However, when people make these lists, they are not merely talking about raw skill and technique. Well, at least not when talking about Hendrix. In his case the definition of "best" and "greatest" is expanded to mean something like "the most influential guitarist who most innovated and contributed to the art and technique of electric guitar."

Sure. Hendrix was a great innovator. While he is not the only guitarist who has invented, developed and refined new ways to play the electric guitar, he came up with a lot of the craft, a lot of the innovation, and in many cases he either did it first or greatly improved on more primitive playing techniques. He also was one of the first to use electric devices to affect the sound of the guitar, ie. apply real-time sound effects to the guitar. In fact, he had a close friend who developed a lot of the effect pedals that he used (and are still in use today in one form or another.)

But does that make him "the greatest guitarist of all time"? Well, here's where the big subjectivity of that question kicks in, as it depends heavily on how you define "greatest" or "best".

If such lists were named "the greatest innovators of electric guitar playing" then I would have zero problems in having Hendrix on the top. No question about it. However, "the greatest guitarist of all time", without further qualifiers?

The entire concept of "greatest", without further qualifiers, is so ambiguous and up to definition and opinion.