Why is Hendrix so revered amongst guitarists?

Lixarto

Ah, I believe The Bully In Chief can't be with us tonight, so perhaps we are allowed opinions after all.

O ho.

richardhomer

Joesa;453392" said:

they just lack the gentleness, flow and musicality of him. Rhythmically I don't think there's been anyone in the rock genre to match him. He is just so effortless and the amount of shit versions of Little Wing I've heard by other very good guitarists is testimony to that as far as I'm concerned 

I think you make some very good points - Hendrix was/is not really to my taste overall but I recognise the qualities in his playing that you describe here and I agree - there was a 'gentleness' about some of his phrasing that others miss by a mile.

Those subleties separate the truly great players from the majority. As @Gassage's recent live Gilmour thread shows, 'less' is undeniably 'more'.

In terms of playing an electric guitar/effects and amp as 'one instrument' I believe Hendrix lead the way at the time.

I don't think his significance can be overstated.

Elx

Joesa said:

I think you have to listen to other people playing Hendrix songs to get just how good he was. I've heard some great guitarists play Hendrix covers, Satriani, Vai, Marino etc. but they just lack the gentleness, flow and musicality of him. Rhythmically I don't think there's been anyone in the rock genre to match him. He is just so effortless and the amount of shit versions of Little Wing I've heard by other very good guitarists is testimony to that as far as I'm concerned. I would also say that while you can't compare his lead playing to the modern technical guitarist, his recorded solo's are mighty fine as well. I'm not a Hendrix fan-boy really but I'm surprised people are left cold by him. 

The thing is, you would get the same problem with any guitarist playing any other guitarist's stuff. It's the touch. And the touch is about everything that you are, and there is absolutely no way you can copy somebody else's touch. Not because one is better than the other, but because we are all different. And this is what's great about expressive instruments like guitars. How do you think Hendrix would sound if he was around and he tried to play Steve Vai's Tender Surrender? Chances are he would sound much worse than when Vai plays Little Wing Or let's say Satch Boogie, do you think Hendrix would manage? Probably not...Would that make him a bad musician. definitely not. Just different. So yes, it's true, when people try to copy Jimi they do sound like shit, not because Hendrix is god but because that's what you get when you copy other people. You sound unconvincing and poor compared to the original. And you deserve to sound like shit if your idea is to sound like anybody else That's why I don't like signature guitars...or amps. You're sending out a message that can backfire on you, and chances are it probably will

shaunm

To put this a different way are there any guitarists that had more influence musically, culturally and on fashion? 

viz

Tony Blair

shaunm

viz said:

Tony Blair

The only guitarist to murder more people than Leadbelly.

ICBM

shaunm said:

To put this a different way are there any guitarists that had more influence musically, culturally and on fashion? 

Sid Vicious.

And yes I know that is stretching the definition of guitarist well beyond breaking point .

But sadly for Steve Jones and Glen Matlock, if you ask any non-musician who was in the Sex Pistols, the answer will be Johnny Rotten and Sid.

Joesa

Elx, I wasn't suggesting that other guitarists were rubbish because they can't play Hendrix like Hendrix and I take your point that a cover will never be like the original. I just offered a bad example really. I just think he just has a quality I don't hear in anyone else good as they may be technically. My favourite guitarist is Uli Jon Roth so I do like a bit of technique! 

Teetonetal

I love the vibe in hendrix' records, but it's not just his guitar, his voice whilst limited in ability somehow makes the records... Someone said it about Bowie too on another thread. Hendrix singing his songs beats anyone else singing them imo. I also think he has a wonderful interplay between his voice and guitar parts. Then along with kramer he was innovative in the studio. Add it alk up and you get an idea of why he his held in high esteem. Live i have no idea, wasn't there!

Elx

Joesa;453469" said:

Elx, I wasn't suggesting that other guitarists were rubbish because they can't play Hendrix like Hendrix and I take your point that a cover will never be like the original. I just offered a bad example really. I just think he just has a quality I don't hear in anyone else good as they may be technically. My favourite guitarist is Uli Jon Roth so I do like a bit of technique! 

I never said you said they were rubbish anyways, you like Uli so you're a friend have you heard him playing Vivaldi on Metamorphosis? Try playing along to that, it drives me nuts every time I try, the touch and control are absolutely unbelievable...

Joesa

I'm not sure my rusty old blues licks would stretch that far! He played the Rollaston pub in Swindon a couple of years ago. Bloody hell!!

koneguitarist

shaunm said:

To put this a different way are there any guitarists that had more influence musically, culturally and on fashion? 

Musically yes, fashion no!

ICBM

koneguitarist said:

Musically yes, fashion no!

I would say the exact opposite .

I can't think of any guitarist who has had more influence musically, with the possible exception of Charlie Christian - and that's only because he was the first to play it as a lead instrument, his sound and technique has not had such a lasting impact.

Fashion - no, Hendrix did not have a great influence. He didn't really start any new fashions, he just exaggerated existing ones, and nothing he did wear has lasted until the present day.

Unlike Sid Vicious .

koneguitarist

You would )

ICBM

I would actually say Slash has now had more influence as a guitar fashion icon . (Though it pains me to say so!)

Ask any non-musician to draw a rock guitarist. Thirty years ago they'd have drawn Jimi... now they would draw Slash.

koneguitarist

Ok. Musically, Merle Travis. He even had a style named after him !

ICBM

So did Maybelle Carter .

Neither of them influenced guitar playing as much as Hendrix though.

koneguitarist

You are only thinking in the rock sense, Country music is bigger, much bigger and over 70 years later people are still Travis picking and will continue to do so. Chet Atkins an amazing player copied Merle same as countless others inc Scotty Moore who influenced George Harrison who influenced Jimi Hendrix !

ICBM

No, country isn't bigger than rock - certainly not in terms of cultural influence, even if it's probably more popular in the US. (But only in the US.) Hendrix influenced an entire approach to generating sound with an instrument - not just a guitar, even - Travis only influenced playing on a particular instrument in a particular genre really.

To me you can't really equate the two - they're different. Country may have produced guitar technique innovation, but rock produced by far the most sonic innovation and it's that which has had the greatest long-term impact. I'd say Les Paul was more influential sonically too - and he was really a jazz-pop guitarist.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that country had a great influence on the early rock'n'rollers too, but only as much - and possibly less - as blues and jazz did. If you listen to mainstream music today you hear more jazz and blues influences than you do country, although I don't deny there is *some* country there.

From a guitar point of view, to me it's quite simple - Hendrix did not play the guitar, he used the guitar as a tool to play a highly amplified sound... quite a different thing. He might not have been the first to try it, but he took it to an entirely new level and influenced almost every guitarist since either directly or indirectly - it's not just a guitar technique, it's a completely different approach to using the instrument.

To me that's why he is the greatest.

koneguitarist

To me, that shows a view that is based on your musical tastes rather than factual evidence, listen to early country music and you will see where blues and its style came from.

Country music by Jimmie Rodgers and the like was all about having the blues, where do you think the likes of Robert Johnson got his chordal progressions from, simplified country music played badly, by illiterates at a time when white guys were singing about lost love and lonesome blues, the black man of the time translated it to them selves. 

One of the biggest swing jazz bands around rivalling Glen Miller and the like was Bob Wills and his Texas playboys, country like rock or blues is not just a 3 chord trick but many forms, listen to some of Eldon Shamblins solo's very jazz blues. 

Where early Blues had one guitar, country was already expanding with Banjo and Fiddles as it had moved on. Listen to Hank Williams in 46-47, apart from the absence of drums it's almost rock and roll. 

When they were playing the Honky Tonk joints around oil wells springing up all over Texas these guys were ripping it up. Same as the Blues was starting to expand around the northern cities the south was gearing up for a harder edge of country and they called it Rock and roll.

I could go on ( often I do

) but to think one rock guitarist like Hendrix had more influence than any other when even he was watching what Beck and Clapton was doing and copying it is misguided, where as Merle Travis developed a whole style of playing that countless guitarists copied and are still developing to this day.

Right off to work ! 

Morning !