Why is Hendrix so revered amongst guitarists?

ToneControl

streethawk said:

I think this explains a lot.

"I don't practice, I jam, I'm constantly trying to create - which is why I make a lot of mistakes".

Isn't that tension what makes a great rock guitarist different from, say, a great jazz guitarist who plays within the confines of his learning?

no

Rock players typically play much safer - sticking to very basic pentatonic blues scales, Jazz players learn more theory, so can do stuff that is more complex. Some rock players to learn more of course.

Not bothering to learn the theory about what scales work where, and then failing when you try to wing-it is a bit amateurish, and not something to celebrate

Fretwired

randomhandclaps said:

Tonecontrol I think you've hit the nail on the head.  All of those people in this thread who have said they understand Hendrix's reverence have failed to take an objective view.  Every comment is solely based on their personal opinion which is clearly misguided by an idol worship.  Vai, Van Halen, Frusciante, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Prince, Frank Zappa, Richie Blackmore, Joe Satriani, Duane Allman, Yngwie, Pete Townshend,  Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck,  Brian May,  Tom Morello, Dave Murray Marcus Miller, George Clinton and Miles Davis - all those guys who have gone one record describing Hendrix as a phenomenon are indeed utterly clueless hero worshippers.

Meanwhile this thread benefits from the fact that there are at least a couple of open minded musical illuminati who can see through all of that crap.  You guys are f'ing geniuses and we salute you.  I envy the time you guys must save.  In my work I spend so much time listening to music thinking "What do I like about this and what do I not.".  It would be a fantastic tool to be able to interpret art with such clear scientific parameters on what makes something good or bad.  For me the time it would save would be staggering.

Funniest self-congratulatory post of the year.

:-)  @randomhandclaps have a wisdom ...

xSkarloey

This is getting very pompous and snobby. 

Please, please, please stop it. 

Otherwise I'm going to pull a muscle in my side. 

)

ToneControl

streethawk said:

----------------------------------------------------

@ToneControl Some people can recognise Hendrix's qualities and influence despite not even particularly liking his records. That's a mature stance.

Also, your literature analogy speaks volumes (pardon the pun). You don't appreciate Rock music in quite the same way most of us do. 

A live gig is not a piano recital.

How many times do I need to say he was a great player - in the studio, and a sloppy, out of tune great player on stage, so it's arsey to try to imply I am immature. DBAD

I've attempted to explain that when I listen to music, there are things that can interrupt my staying immersed in the music, here's a list:

• crackling records
• Loads of constant mains hum
• out of tune instruments
• sloppy playing
• bad mixes
• People shouting and wooping constantly over the top of the music

Plenty of people have different opinions about how gigs should go, you seem to think there is just one way, and you know what that is and that you speak for "most" people - where's your proof?

I have always been able to find artists who play well live, even back before the 60s. I don't want to hear artists that are constantly out of tune and make mistakes all the time. That's my choice. Nothing to do with feeling superior to other people, as RHC claims. I'm not going to be bullied into "liking" poor playing because someone else thinks it's cool,

streethawk

@ToneControl

I'm just saying that you have a jazz listener's sensibility. There's nothing wrong with that but I do believe that the majority of guitarists on here are coming from a different place, musically speaking - so there's no point trying to deconstruct their perfectly valid opinions. 

I'm not implying that you are immature, rather that they are not immature. 

ToneControl

streethawk said:

@ToneControl

I'm just saying that you have a jazz listener's sensibility. There's nothing wrong with that but I do believe that the majority of guitarists on here are coming from a different place, musically speaking - so there's no point trying to deconstruct their perfectly valid opinions. 

I'm not implying that you are immature, rather that they are not immature. 

No problem, just explaining what stops me enjoying some music sometimes

streethawk

ToneControl said:

streethawk said:

@ToneControl

I'm just saying that you have a jazz listener's sensibility. There's nothing wrong with that but I do believe that the majority of guitarists on here are coming from a different place, musically speaking - so there's no point trying to deconstruct their perfectly valid opinions. 

I'm not implying that you are immature, rather that they are not immature. 

No problem, just explaining what stops me enjoying some music sometimes

Alright Rain Man, keep your hair on. 

Dave_Mc

Elx said:

@Fretwired, Vai did not replace Vandenberg, he picked up an injury while practicing piano

Hang on a minute, screw the Hendrix debate, how do you pick up an injury while practising the piano? That's much more important. I occasionally play piano too and want to avoid it. He wasn't playing roadrunner covers or something, was he?

viz

This is the actual footage of it happening:

randomhandclaps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QtSyr6yW9U

viz

Can't believe I got there before RHC for once!

Elx

Dave_Mc said:

Elx said:

@Fretwired, Vai did not replace Vandenberg, he picked up an injury while practicing piano

Hang on a minute, screw the Hendrix debate, how do you pick up an injury while practising the piano? That's much more important. I occasionally play piano too and want to avoid it. He wasn't playing roadrunner covers or something, was he?

In preparing to enter the studio for the recording sessions, he injured his wrist performing isometric piano warm up exercises and was unfortunately unable to contribute lead guitar work to the album Slip of the Tongue.

Elx

Whatever isometric exercises may be

PolarityMan

He's certainly no Johnny Marr.......

Panama_Jack666

We almost went a whole year of TheFretboard before this thread raised it's head. *Sigh* I s'pose it had to happen!

Danny1969

You gotta hand it to GaGa, when she fell she kept her legs up nice and straight and kept the mic pinned to her mouth, quite impressive I thought :0)

randomhandclaps

 

PolarityMan said:

He's certainly no Johnny Marr.......

LOL.  Certainly an essence of deja vu.

koneguitarist

Thought that bit about fact would get everyone !

Name the qualities a guitarist has to have to be considered great?

Great guitarists who could play rings around Hendrix were around long before him, were they better in my view far superior, even though some of them I don't like. I don't dislike Hendrix, just think he's overrated due to the vast amount of poor quality footage of him playing live where he is at times atrocious. Some of it was down to drugs, some of it wasn't it was the way he played. So this beggars the question if he could not do it live, then it was just a guitarist editing all the bad bits out in the studio to make it sound good. The way we all do right? The footage I put up of Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West was live more than 10years earlier and they were joking about as they played more complex material. The biggest problem I have is that most that have seen Hendrix in real life were as stoned as he was, and didn't notice how out of tune he was. And now everyone accepts Hendrix as the greatest because enough people have said he was. Now with the hindsight of the internet and YouTube, we can see how good he was with his contemporaries at the time and without Rose tinted glasses. Can you imagine if Jimmy Bryant had turned up with a Fuzzbox in London during Mid 60's, Hendrix would have been nothing , well apart from setting fire to his guitar ! Which after some of the noise he made with it, in hindsight does not seem such a bad idea in retrospect?

Fretwired

koneguitarist said:

Thought that bit about fact would get everyone !

Name the qualities a guitarist has to have to be considered great?

Great guitarists who could play rings around Hendrix were around long before him, were they better in my view far superior, even though some of them I don't like. I don't dislike Hendrix, just think he's overrated due to the vast amount of poor quality footage of him playing live where he is at times atrocious. Some of it was down to drugs, some of it wasn't it was the way he played. So this beggars the question if he could not do it live, then it was just a guitarist editing all the bad bits out in the studio to make it sound good. The way we all do right? The footage I put up of Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West was live more than 10years earlier and they were joking about as they played more complex material. The biggest problem I have is that most that have seen Hendrix in real life were as stoned as he was, and didn't notice how out of tune he was. And now everyone accepts Hendrix as the greatest because enough people have said he was. Now with the hindsight of the internet and YouTube, we can see how good he was with his contemporaries at the time and without Rose tinted glasses. Can you imagine if Jimmy Bryant had turned up with a Fuzzbox in London during Mid 60's, Hendrix would have been nothing , well apart from setting fire to his guitar ! Which after some of the noise he made with it, in hindsight does not seem such a bad idea in retrospect?

I have to say that in all my years reading posts on various guitar forums that's the biggest load of twaddle I've ever read. Big on assumptions and as usual low on facts and missing the point by a country mile.

koneguitarist

Fretwired said:

koneguitarist said:

Thought that bit about fact would get everyone !

Name the qualities a guitarist has to have to be considered great?

Great guitarists who could play rings around Hendrix were around long before him, were they better in my view far superior, even though some of them I don't like. I don't dislike Hendrix, just think he's overrated due to the vast amount of poor quality footage of him playing live where he is at times atrocious. Some of it was down to drugs, some of it wasn't it was the way he played. So this beggars the question if he could not do it live, then it was just a guitarist editing all the bad bits out in the studio to make it sound good. The way we all do right? The footage I put up of Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West was live more than 10years earlier and they were joking about as they played more complex material. The biggest problem I have is that most that have seen Hendrix in real life were as stoned as he was, and didn't notice how out of tune he was. And now everyone accepts Hendrix as the greatest because enough people have said he was. Now with the hindsight of the internet and YouTube, we can see how good he was with his contemporaries at the time and without Rose tinted glasses. Can you imagine if Jimmy Bryant had turned up with a Fuzzbox in London during Mid 60's, Hendrix would have been nothing , well apart from setting fire to his guitar ! Which after some of the noise he made with it, in hindsight does not seem such a bad idea in retrospect?

I have to say that in all my years reading posts on various guitar forums that's the biggest load of twaddle I've ever read. Big on assumptions and as usual low on facts and missing the point by a country mile.

What facts would you like backed up and what are the assumptions ?