Famous quote - who said it/how does it go.

heard it was asked of jimi, who said to ask garcia.

sounds about right.

I heard it was Jimi, who said to ask Randy California (from Spirit, played in a band w/Jimi for a while)

It was Jimi being asked, and the supposed reply was, ask Phil Keaggy.Phil has been asked about this and he says he don't beleive it to be true

I heard it was asked to Clapton and he said go ask Phil Keaggy.

I posted the question because I trip across some variation of this quote all the time (most recently Jimi naming Garcia and Jimi naming Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher) and I've often wondered whether it was true or merely apocryphal. I recently ran into a guy who lives in (nearby) Pasadena, Ca. at a local guitar shop. We were talking and he had an interesting variation on the story, insisting that the quote is attributable to Clapton. He provided 2 interesting details.

First, that David Letterman asked the question on his tv show.

Second, this fellow claimed that he had personally spoken with the guitarist cited by Clapton - who, after some prodding from a third party to their conversation - reluctantly admitted that the story was true. The guitarist in question had joined the ministry and was serving as the pastor at his local church! His name is Caleb Quaye and he was formerly guitarist with Elton John and later, Hall and Oates.

Can't be 100% sure it's true, but the guy who provided me with this account seemed pretty convincing.

BTW, other answers may be true, as well. I'm sure both EC and Jimi were asked the question more than once and variations of this may have been the preferred response of either or both.

I've always heard Jimi & Jerry...I thought it was the Dick Cavett show or something.

I remember seeing a Johnny Carson Tonight Show episode where Carson inquired of Hendrix about who was the greatest guitar player "today". Hendrix replied, Billy Gibbons, Phil Keaggy, and himself. At least that's what I remember.

There was another show on which Clapton was asked. He named Phil Keaggy.

At least this is what I recall but I was in about 8th grade at the time.

^^^Billy Gibbons doesn't get much love in here. I'll believe the opinion of a true guitarist over an audiophile any day.

Sloth,

This isn't the only place Billy Gibbons gets overlooked. When Rolling Stone mag did their list of 500 (500!) top guitarists some years back, BG was omitted completely. Very, very strange.

Marty