Why is Hendrix so revered amongst guitarists?

ElectroDan

EricTheWeary said:

Lixarto said:

ElectroDan said:

Garry Moore is on sky Arts right now playing Jimi songs

I like some of Gary's stuff (the Celtic rock, not the blues) but had to turn this show off.

So dull.

I quite like Gary and I quite like Jimi but that show is bloody awful.

It was terrible. The other one they keep showing with all the Thin Lizzy guys is better

shaunm

koneguitarist said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

koneguitarist said:

I Don't like Jazz, Punk, Classical, Funk, but I can see why people like it and it's relevance in music.

I just get the feeling with Hendrix that he is the best because every one said so at the time, so it must be true. 

We are allowed to look back in retrospect, and the real greats are still great. 

The truly great pieces of music are great for their composition, not for their time, hence Beethoven, Berry and the Beatles. 

I think you should listen again to the way in which Hendrix redefined the songs he interpreted - from Johnny B Goode thru several of Dylan's to Sgt Pepper - and if you still don't get it, then maybe you should stick to country "music". 

I have listened to his version of Johnny B Goode, and maybe people are right in how he influenced so many ( Pub guitar god wanna be's mainly ) guitarists.

I still don't get it, love country music, but I also love Rock are you only allowed one choice? 

:-\" I feel this way about Elvis and John Lennon - I don't get them, I get that everyone loves them but I can't think it's because of the music. The only Beatles songs I really like are the co wrote tracks. 

Phil_aka_Pip

koneguitarist said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

koneguitarist said:

I Don't like Jazz, Punk, Classical, Funk, but I can see why people like it and it's relevance in music.

I just get the feeling with Hendrix that he is the best because every one said so at the time, so it must be true. 

We are allowed to look back in retrospect, and the real greats are still great. 

The truly great pieces of music are great for their composition, not for their time, hence Beethoven, Berry and the Beatles. 

I think you should listen again to the way in which Hendrix redefined the songs he interpreted - from Johnny B Goode thru several of Dylan's to Sgt Pepper - and if you still don't get it, then maybe you should stick to country "music". 

I have listened to his version of Johnny B Goode, and maybe people are right in how he influenced so many ( Pub guitar god wanna be's mainly ) guitarists.

I still don't get it, love country music, but I also love Rock are you only allowed one choice? 

:-\" You don't need my permission to have as many choices as you like, which naturally includes the choice not to like something that most other people hold in high regard. BTW country is not the only thing I take the occasional swipe at ...

Alnico

shaunm said:

I feel this way about Elvis and John Lennon - I don't get them, I get that everyone loves them but I can't think it's because of the music. The only Beatles songs I really like are the co wrote tracks. 

I'm glad you mentioned Elvis and Lennon, it helps me make this point.............

We are all a by product of our era and our environment. If we choose to become a musician, it's difficult not to let that show through.

Hendrix's music is very heavily influenced by the blues scene he grew up in and spent most of his playing years in Chicago before he was anything more than one of local musicians. It was also influenced by the cultural shock of the 60's and his personal desire to innovate.

Elvis did exactly the same thing in the 50's taking his musical roots, his experiences growing up and his desire to do something different and he came up with an absolute musical revolution.

Lennon was a genius, however like most of his kind he was largely misunderstood but he followed the same pattern and did exactly the same as the others, leaning on his personal experiences, the influence of his environment and the cultural scene and his personal desire to innovate and create something new - although like the others not everything he (and they) did was actually good. This, in my opinion is the point...........

We all as musicians do things which are better than other stuff we've done. Some is absolutely shining and it's us at the peak of whatever we've got and some is just filler, it's just something else we did and we might be proud of it as it's our work but it's clearly not on par with 'X' or 'Y' which we did previously or that we still yet to do.

You don't have to look far to see this played out time and again..............

Aerosmith, Guns n Roses, Oasis, Sheryl Crowe, The Doors, Tom Petty................(purposely spanning a few different genres). They all followed the same formula and spoke their message based on their life experiences, the scene they come from and their own perspective on innovation. If you have no personal experience of what it was like to be on the dole in the late 80's very early 90's, in the north west (especially Manchester) then the music that Oasis has put out, especially in their early years will just be a tune that you either like or you don't..........but to some, it means more than that and any musical or technical discrepancy will pale to insignificance next to the feelings and the meaning behind the music..............

"Can i ride with you, in your BMW"........ doesn't seem so impacting these days however when that first came out, a BMW was nowhere near as commonplace as it is these days and for someone on the dole in North West Englnd, it was a million miles away from what they thought they could have, so it means something to some people.

Every one of the artists i have mentioned have had a background that influenced them, a message to convey and a crowd of people that 'Get' that message and a desire to do it in their own brand new and unique way. There will always be people who don't get it and that's really been happening for more decades than we realise.

For me, having grown up in Liverpool, Lennon is one of the Musical Gods and his words and music really resound with me, especially 'Working Class Hero', however i'm aware that a lot of people who didn't see and experience what i did growing up there might not Get It.

The Hendrix debate is one that's being going on for decades in one way or another. If you don't get him, you don't understand what he was doing. That doesn't make you any better or worse than anyone else, it's just different taste and choice, without which we would not be the diverse and thoroughly amazing species we are.

koneguitarist

@Phil_aka_Pip Country has some serious shit stuff, mainly the Nashville sound stuff. But like most genres has good and bad.

There are amazing guitarists in every genre and time, country included, most relied on playing ability, Hendrix. was a combination of fashion, style performance, and his ability to play. But take everything else away apart from his guitar abilities and he suddenly seems quite ordinary.

And that to me is the biggest problem, we are looking back on his catalogue of work with hindsight of what has gone before and after.  

We have the benefit of YouTube and vintage performances so we can see stuff that was around at the time in different areas which at the time the other musicians couldn't. 

The speed and dexterity of Jimmy Bryant, the stage performances of T Bone Walker, the complex chordal work of Wes Montgomery, the power and attitude of Buddy Guy. All around before Hendrix, but has as been said, he took all the influences and packaged it in an exciting way for the time. 

Charismatic yes, flamboyant yes, greatest guitarist ? Not even close for me sorry. 

 

koneguitarist

Have a wisdom Alnico, well put.

DulcetJones

ICBM said:

But Paganini is also remembered, for his playing and not really his composition. He was something of the Hendrix of violin, by contemporary accounts - I think he even smashed a violin on stage, although I don't think he set fire to one.

I read an account of a performance he did with the London Symphony Orchestra where they were featuring something he wrote.  It said he came in for a rehearsal and played only the first note of each bar throughout the piece.  Then at the actual performance proceeded to rip though the song with all the notes causing the orchestra members to visibly gasp in shock thereby adding to the performance and the legend.  And another Hendrix point:  does anyone recall the line of strats that had dual whammy bar holes, one at the bottom and one at the top of the bridge because it was speculated that Hendrix was more able to manipulate the bar because he was playing a right hand guitar upside down.  

shaunm

koneguitarist said:

@Phil_aka_Pip Country has some serious shit stuff, mainly the Nashville sound stuff. But like most genres has good and bad.

There are amazing guitarists in every genre and time, country included, most relied on playing ability, Hendrix. was a combination of fashion, style performance, and his ability to play. But take everything else away apart from his guitar abilities and he suddenly seems quite ordinary.

And that to me is the biggest problem, we are looking back on his catalogue of work with hindsight of what has gone before and after.  

We have the benefit of YouTube and vintage performances so we can see stuff that was around at the time in different areas which at the time the other musicians couldn't. 

The speed and dexterity of Jimmy Bryant, the stage performances of T Bone Walker, the complex chordal work of Wes Montgomery, the power and attitude of Buddy Guy. All around before Hendrix, but has as been said, he took all the influences and packaged it in an exciting way for the time. 

Charismatic yes, flamboyant yes, greatest guitarist ? Not even close for me sorry. 

 

I must confess to being a total Jimi fan, him along with others of that era made me want to play. To me that is perhaps the thing. I love all the guys you've just mentioned and at thier particular skill they were pioneers, some may say light years ahead of Jimi. However, they didn't cross over to the main stream. 

Jimi, has been said to be ahead of his time which I totally disagree with. I believe he was the embodiment of his time. Had he been around at any other time we may never have heard him play but the 60's wouldn't have been what it was without him. 

It's funny isn't it because "greatest guitarist" does indicate that there is something that can qualify that title and of course, there's no way of doing that. Do I think he is the greatest? I probably do but due to music being subjective I can see why somebody would think he isn't. 

blueskunk

Who would have won in a fist fight though - Hendriz v Vai

Lixarto

ElectroDan said:

It was terrible. The other one they keep showing with all the Thin Lizzy guys is better

Yes, it is.

Phil is of course much better than Jimi.

Alnico

blueskunk said:

Who would have won in a fist fight though - Hendriz v Vai

If Hendrix had lived, what a stage show that would have made...................

Steve Vai in his 80's era alongside Hendrix having lived through the 70's and into the 80's.

Just imagine what Jimi could have done with a Floyd Rose 80's Rock Guitar ?

Drew_TNBD

I love Hendrix. Never really got on with Thin Lizzy. They're okay I suppose... nice uncle or aunts NYE party music.

blueskunk

He would have twatted stills though

koneguitarist

Johnny cash would have owned them all with a stare! >-

ICBM

Leadbelly was the hardest of them all though. Killing someone is the least of it - he could play barre chords on a Stella 12-string.

EricTheWeary

koneguitarist said:

Johnny cash would have owned them all with a stare! >-

give almost everyone mentioned so far ( Thin Lizzy members, Cash, Hendrix) were junkies they would have only faced off over the last snort of cocaine. :ar!

Lixarto

blueskunk said:

He would have twatted stills though

Yeah right.

xSkarloey

That dude in the black suit who hangs around THAT crossroads at midnight and tunes your guitar...now that is one serious mutha. He would have owned the whole lot of them. And I ain't just talking about owning their asses baby, I'm a talking about owning their SOULS... 

[Exits cackling demonically]. 

  

)

ToneControl

Phil_aka_Pip said:

koneguitarist said:

I Don't like Jazz, Punk, Classical, Funk, but I can see why people like it and it's relevance in music.

I just get the feeling with Hendrix that he is the best because every one said so at the time, so it must be true. 

We are allowed to look back in retrospect, and the real greats are still great. 

The truly great pieces of music are great for their composition, not for their time, hence Beethoven, Berry and the Beatles. 

I think you should listen again to the way in which Hendrix redefined the songs he interpreted - from Johnny B Goode thru several of Dylan's to Sgt Pepper - and if you still don't get it, then maybe you should stick to country "music". 

that's not very friendly is it?

usedtobe

robinbowes;451807" said:

ICBM said:

I could ask "why is Roy Buchanan so revered among guitarists?", because I genuinely don't understand why his hideous squealing meandering unmusical soloing is considered good. But I'm OK with that .










I'll see your Roy Buchanan and raise you a Rory Gallagher.

R.

Get out!