Why is Hendrix so revered amongst guitarists?

randomhandclaps

Drew_fx said:

I asked the missus who the best guitarist was. She ummed and aahhhhed. Said she didn't know many guitarists. I pressed her on it, and her answer was John Frusciante.

She's fucking with you.  If she's really Japanese she would have said Dave Hill without even pausing for breath.

GuitarMonkey

Reminds me of the conversation in "White Men Can't Jump".

Sambostar

NO.  Not at all   Steve Marriot was a legend from word go.  Same with a lot of other white musicians of that sort of period.  I think the thing is that Hendrix came from a more gospel, soul, R&B background and trained in that, where as the white guys trying to do a similar thing had a completely different musical upbringing and experience, so the two were basically parallel styles of music, even though one was effectively trying to emulate the other.  Jimi to me, the way he effortlessly does whatever he wants to do is far more soul in a way and his playing far tighter.  He definitely combined the elements and reigned pure freedom down from his fingers and thumb.

Sambostar

And there were some really BAD black RNB and soul singers about who couldn't keep a beat or sing that well.

Drew_TNBD

randomhandclaps said:

Drew_fx said:

I asked the missus who the best guitarist was. She ummed and aahhhhed. Said she didn't know many guitarists. I pressed her on it, and her answer was John Frusciante.

She's fucking with you.  If she's really Japanese she would have said Dave Hill without even pausing for breath.

I don't even know what that means.

Sambostar

I've heard the Japanese are tone deaf, yer know, just like Aboriginals can't handle their alcohol and some white Irish/Scots can't handle their wheat, yer know, on genetic grounds.

Stick Country and Clapton up your arses!

monquixote

Drew_fx said:

randomhandclaps said:

Drew_fx said:

I asked the missus who the best guitarist was. She ummed and aahhhhed. Said she didn't know many guitarists. I pressed her on it, and her answer was John Frusciante.

She's fucking with you.  If she's really Japanese she would have said Dave Hill without even pausing for breath.

I don't even know what that means.

Put a fray bentos pie tin on your head and trim any hair that protrudes then wrap yourself in tinfoil and you will get so lucky. 

Sambostar

Jimi was playing a soul vocal and melody with his guitar and getting his subdued tones from practice backing up RNB and soul bands where as idiots like Crapton, with their ridiculous purist rationale of which they knew nothing about, who didn't get it at all, because they were so one dimensional and linear in their small, under experienced, but overly confident and exposed minds sought out 'Real' influences like Robert Johnson and translated their sound almost literally.  It's quite sad really.  The fact is that I reckon Jimi was just a sensitive type who absorbed music in a completely unliteral way and so out it poured as an unchained, free thinking and thus timeless, soul machine.

Drew_TNBD

monquixote said:

Drew_fx said:

randomhandclaps said:

Drew_fx said:

I asked the missus who the best guitarist was. She ummed and aahhhhed. Said she didn't know many guitarists. I pressed her on it, and her answer was John Frusciante.

She's fucking with you.  If she's really Japanese she would have said Dave Hill without even pausing for breath.

I don't even know what that means.

Put a fray bentos pie tin on your head and trim any hair that protrudes then wrap yourself in tinfoil and you will get so lucky. 

Hmmm. Did that. Still not sure what it means. Now I'm covered in puff pastry.

(sounds like a euphemism for jizz)

Fretwired

ToneControl said:

The OP's question was "why so revered?", and I reckon for me an artist with a  large volume of stunning work and excellent compositions would count for more than an artist developing a new style. Do many here feel the other way round then?

Not it wasn't. The OP's original question was why was he so revered by guitarists. He didn't even originally ask about other guitarists who claim to have been influenced by Hendrix and then he simply shot down people who offered comments made by the likes of Beck, Page, Townsend ... constant goal post moving.

And Brad Whitford recently said in a Guitarist interview: "Since the first time I heard Jimi Hendrix and right up until today, he's has been an important influence on me - on all of us."

And Joe Bonamassa recently said "I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix. Rock, blues-rock, heavy metal, any guitar stuff when you get right down to it - Jimi did it. He's certainly the guy who basically invented the blues-rock genre for guitar players.

"True, you could argue that Eric Clapton did it, and I love Eric Clapton like crazy, but Hendrix took it to the masses in a way that was unprecedented. And if you're a Fender guy, Jimi's your man.

"The one area where I'll say that Hendrix is underrated was his ability to use chord melodies. He used different inversions of chords and was able to make a three-piece band sound absolutely huge. From the moment Hendrix and the Experience came on the scene, power trios had their work cut out for them."

And Townsend said: "The thing that really stunned Eric and me was the way he took what we did and made it better. And I really started to try to play. I thought I'd never, ever be as great as he is but there's certainly no reason now why I shouldn't try. In fact I remember saying to Eric, I'm going to play him off the stage one day. But what Eric did was even more peculiar, he said, Well, I'm going to pretend that I am Jimi Hendrix!"

monquixote

Drew_fx said:

monquixote said:

Drew_fx said:

randomhandclaps said:

Drew_fx said:

I asked the missus who the best guitarist was. She ummed and aahhhhed. Said she didn't know many guitarists. I pressed her on it, and her answer was John Frusciante.

She's fucking with you.  If she's really Japanese she would have said Dave Hill without even pausing for breath.

I don't even know what that means.

Put a fray bentos pie tin on your head and trim any hair that protrudes then wrap yourself in tinfoil and you will get so lucky. 

Hmmm. Did that. Still not sure what it means. Now I'm covered in puff pastry.

(sounds like a euphemism for jizz)

This is where I reveal that it's all an elaborate pastry based equivalent of Rick rolling.

Drew_TNBD

I still cannot tell what it is yet, Rolf.

streethawk

Mate of mine is a very good metal guitarist, though he seems to play a lot more like Jeff Beck these days.

Anyway, he didn't rate Hendrix. He also thought the Pixies were shite and Marrilion were his favourite band.

I told him I went to see the Pixies when I was 15 and that they were incredible, he sheepishly said his favourite band at that age was Bon Jovi.

I strongly suspect that if some people on here heard my mate play they would think him a better guitarist than Hendrix. Also that their record collections are monstrously uncool. 

randomhandclaps

Drew_fx said:

I still cannot tell what it is yet, Rolf.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2011/6/2/1307029753990/Slade-In-Amsterdam-007.jpg

koneguitarist

Now that's a class band ! Such style and grace!

koneguitarist

And it was all going so well.

Facts, 

Jimi was a great guitarist. And influenced loads of players .

Was there better guitarists before him, yes. That's fact. People might not like those styles but undoubtedly there were better.

Are there better guitarists since. Yes. Steve Vai, Satriani, EVH etc, now you could argue that they were there only because of what Jimi did before, but let's be honest, it's bullshit. Yes he may have influenced them, but to say a whole generation of guitarists wouldn't have been good without Jimi, is just childish and an ill thought out ideal.

No excuses I love Albert Lee and he blazed a trail in the country world, would others have been that good without him? Obviously as there were players developing all the time. 

Same in rock, blues, country , classical or pop. Same as it always has.

Jimi was influenced by what went before in his upbringing, his work on the Caitlin circuit with Isley brothers and Little Richard etc he came to England with a style and absorbed the local stuff as well from Beck Clapton and the like, and lo and behold his style was born and along came the new messiah.

In fact you could argue that if he hadn't come to England and seen Clapton and co, then he may never have been the guitarist he was.

Guitarists have and always will be influenced by others that are around and came before them.

Like EVH was influenced by Jimi, but also by Clapton Beck Page Bloomfield the list goes on.

And long may this continue.

randomhandclaps

koneguitarist said:

Drew_fx said:

Nobody cares. Shut up. You old old man.

Yeah let's not facts get in the way that there were better players and guitars only started when Hendrix picked up a strat! L-)

It's quite perplexing that you have got to such an age and still haven't figured out that rating musicians as better than each other is entirely subjective. 

Did you mean "Yeah let's not facts get in the way that there were players that I personally think were better than Hendrix."?  In which case that's the start and the end of the thread right there.  Even then it's confusing because you state you opinion then call it a fact.  In reality you posed a question to which no contrary answer was going to be acceptable. 

It's a bit like rocking up in the middle of a Maasai tribe and asking "How the hell can you drink those cow blood milkshakes?".  Then whatever the response saying "Well I think it's gross!  Much prefer a bit of black pudding, myself!".

JAYJO

my main source of music was the radio or my mothers Johnny Cash or Kitty Wells albums. When i could afford an album it would be someone from the charts. I took a chance when i was about 16 and bought an album by Hendrix (double album and it took all my wages for that week). I played it and i was determined to like it, so i played it again and again and again and again (sorry for the quo quote!) but i still didnt get it. I couldnt make sense of any of it. I bought Wings over America the following week and loved it instantly. 30 odd years on and i can play Hendrix for a bit ie Wind Cries Mary and the usual . Imagine if Hank Marvin done that thing with his tongue!! Straight to jail!!  ha  

randomhandclaps

koneguitarist said:

 

Was there better guitarists before him, yes. That's fact. People might not like those styles but undoubtedly there were better.

How is this fact determined?  It might help everyone here if they knew what scale of measurement you were using so we could all reference the same one.  Also it would stop all these silly debates once and for all if others were more aware of the scientific scale used in the measurement musical talent.

 

koneguitarist said:

Jimi was a great guitarist. And influenced loads of players .

Was there better guitarists before him, yes. That's fact. People might not like those styles but undoubtedly there were better.

Cool.  So we know that influence and popularity aren't factor in this scale.

Fretwired

koneguitarist said:

And it was all going so well.

Facts, 

Jimi was a great guitarist. And influenced loads of players .

Was there better guitarists before him, yes. That's fact. People might not like those styles but undoubtedly there were better.

Are there better guitarists since. Yes. Steve Vai, Satriani, EVH etc, now you could argue that they were there only because of what Jimi did before, but let's be honest, it's bullshit. Yes he may have influenced them, but to say a whole generation of guitarists wouldn't have been good without Jimi, is just childish and an ill thought out ideal.

No excuses I love Albert Lee and he blazed a trail in the country world, would others have been that good without him? Obviously as there were players developing all the time. 

Same in rock, blues, country , classical or pop. Same as it always has.

Jimi was influenced by what went before in his upbringing, his work on the Caitlin circuit with Isley brothers and Little Richard etc he came to England with a style and absorbed the local stuff as well from Beck Clapton and the like, and lo and behold his style was born and along came the new messiah.

In fact you could argue that if he hadn't come to England and seen Clapton and co, then he may never have been the guitarist he was.

Guitarists have and always will be influenced by others that are around and came before them.

Like EVH was influenced by Jimi, but also by Clapton Beck Page Bloomfield the list goes on.

And long may this continue.

What is a 'better guitarist'?