Why is Hendrix so revered amongst guitarists?

richardhomer

^
Genius post!

Samgb

Also, vis a vis the whole 'mistakes' thing? What a load of rubbish. Mistakes/bum notes/missteps from someone pushing themself to the very limit of their ability and beyond are not a problem at all. Just as i admire someone who does just the opposite - complete discipline, control and concision. Both equally valid approaches.

Its handy for me as well - virtually everything i attempt is at the limit of my technique! 

imalone

Samgb said:

I always see Hendrix as the Jackson Pollock figure - i recognise that he completely changed the direction of his art from but i dont necessarily want to listen to him/hang one of his paintings on my wall.

I can see the value. I understand why he is revered. I very much enjoy certain aspects of his music - usually his mellower stuff or his more tightly structured singles. I cant stand the extended live 'jams' simply because i dont think he ever had a group around him that could match him. Not the Experience, although they were engagingly all over the place in a Cream's Younger Brothers kind of way. And certainly not the Buddy Miles later band who just let him crank himself stupid for ten minutes on every tune.

In terms of where he could have gone had he lived? I would have loved to have seen the Miles Davis pipe dream come to fruition(Bitches Brew with Jimi?), or maybe collaborating with Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye on those amazing early 70s albums? A shame because i definitely think he died when he was a little bit lost in terms of direction.    

Have a wis, though I think Jackson Pollock is possibly the wrong person to compare too. There are not many people who would want a reproduction of JP, but there are plenty of Van Gogh posters all over the world. That's the most obvious parallel I think, an artist whose work it's easy to dismiss as childish or facile but who really has enduring appeal and made the most of new technology to do something that hadn't been done before and make it look simple.

Evilmags

I would suggest people read Pamela DeBarres column in US Guitar Player. It would seem that Hendrix and Page had an effect on females that reached the parts that most guitarists fail to. It still shocks me that anyone could criticise him then listen to the cod blues wailings of Gary Moore, but there you go...

Heartfeltdawn

Elx said:

This...because guitarists are generally full of shit. I've never heard piano, violin or trumpet players talk bullshit like we do. It's got a lot to do with our insecurities...

Oh, they do. Go and hang out with an orchestra for a good amount of time and you'll hear plenty of it. 

koneguitarist

I thought this thread was dead !

richardhomer

koneguitarist;245024" said:

I thought this thread was dead !

Is there a 'Do not resuscitate' button somewhere on here?

kelvinburn

Sadly there was in 1970

ICBM

koneguitarist said:

I thought this thread was dead !

Who started it, anyway?

Samgb

Nothing wrong with this thread. It's good to discuss an artist who many would consider a sacred cow of guitar players and be refreshingly open about our misgivings. Who are we shooting down next?

imalone

I might have already said this back on page 4.678x10^8, but I think he's less revered among guitarists than among non-guitarists. I think on guitar forums and magazines I've more often seen people talking about Periphery or Opeth or Vai or Satriani. And the ubiquitous Joe Bonamassa doing the blues. None of them I've ever been much inclined to listen to. (Though I did pick up a soft spot for Dream Theatre way back.)

koneguitarist

ICBM said:

koneguitarist said:

I thought this thread was dead !

Who started it, anyway?

I dunno, some numpty!

DulcetJones

I was right in the prime impressionable age when Jimi hit the radio airwaves, me and my buddies were just grappling with learning to play Beatles songs and exploring guitar in general.  At that time nobody was doing what he was doing, his sound, his look, his onstage antics, he blew a lot of people away in a very short time.  Sure, there were better players around, and bands like The Who that had a big stage show but this one guy tied it all together with amazing tone, new sounds and a wicked stage show.

Fusionista

Zombie thread warning! But b****cks to it

Wis for @SamGB very well put and totally with @DulcetJones.  I can still remember when Jimi appeared on the scene and completely turned everything on its head.  Until then Clapton had been God, pioneering distortion and on-stage jamming which was HUGE after the plink-plunk standards of the early 60's (hats off to Dave Davies too, the You Really Got Me Riff was seminal).  What you got with Jimi was simply AMAZING - swirly, bangy, disorientating harmonic brain-wave interference.  It was he who broke the mould.  The looseness was part of it and NO-ONE to date has got close, even when they are copying him. It was all so unexpected, revolutionary and took guitar music to the next level.  It was like a fish crawling out onto the mud for the first time. OK some fish can walk even better now, but  it is no exaggeration to say that most of what you hear today could not have happened without that evolutionary metamorphosis which Jimi embodied.

jimmyguitar

Can I request that everyone goes on iTunes and looks up an album called 'last concert in Europe' and check out 'Red House'. That is the single best guitar performance I have ever heard.. It's perfect! It's at the Royal Albert hall but on a different night to the one which is usually heard. Trust me, do it!

not_the_dj

@jimmyguitar can you get that as a physical CD or is it a download release? 

jimmyguitar

not_the_dj said:

@jimmyguitar can you get that as a physical CD or is it a download release? 

I don't know, looked for it for years on CD but it's definitely on Itunes. 

Rox

With Hendrix, it's about feel.  You either get it or you don't.  There's a vibe just behind the note, a feel that he has that just connects with a lot of people.

I'd rather have this loose playing with feel than technical playing that's clinical. 

xSkarloey

Aaaaagggghhhhhh.

It's the revenge of the Necrothread...... 8-X

Wolfetone

koneguitarist said:

Most have never seen him play, only did a few good things in my opinion, his stage show was wild I agree. But what was so special? Serious question, let's debate the so called ultimate guitar hero.

He was an innovator just like Clapton was. Both of them, by today's standards are fairly mediocre but you probably wouldn't have had todays music without their influence.