Hendrix...

Cols

longjaw said:

poopot said:

why is he considered one of the greats?.

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

You must be desperate for attention with this and the Clapton thread - it's a bit pathetic to be honest.

It worked though, onto the second page of the thread within an hour and a half.

It’s a pointless discussion; if you don’t see what’s special about a certain guitarist no amount of explaining will change your mind.

munckee

Cols said:

longjaw said:

poopot said:

why is he considered one of the greats?.

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

You must be desperate for attention with this and the Clapton thread - it's a bit pathetic to be honest.

It worked though, onto the second page of the thread within an hour and a half.

It’s a pointless discussion; if you don’t see what’s special about a certain guitarist no amount of explaining will change your mind.

It is a forum for discussion to be fair

lukedlb

I believe that Hendrix's legacy continuing to be appreciated goes beyond any of the other guitarists mentioned in this thread due to the range of his ability. Although Jimi was by all means a great guitarist, there were other contemporary guitarists far more expert than he was. What put him above them was his imagination. Moreover, his lead playing, rhythm playing, composition, lyrics, song writing, song interpretation, singing, bass playing (and other instruments including the harpsichord and paper comb), harmonic understanding, production skill, command of both instrument and amplification, grand exponent of fx pedals as well as fx experimentation in the studio (thru zero flanger, stereo panning, leslie guitar, echo experimentation), magnetic performance as well as magnetic playing, intelligence, wit, charm, sexual attraction, individuality, humility, humanity, not to mention his cultural and social significance as an afro-american, ex-soldier, anti-war protestor, young man with the skill and awareness to pull all this off between the age of 24-27, all of this and more is what makes Hendrix relevant and undeserving of 'overrated'.
The distance in development he covered between purple haze and his final recordings, whether they be Machine Gun or Straight Ahead over that self-same 4-year period puts to shame the lifelong career of Clapton. I don't believe Peter Green's misfortune prevented a development as potent as Jimi's.
Careers such as Stevie Wonder's or Prince's begin to compare, yet I firmly believe his career, had he lived beyond 1970, would have gone beyond any of our expectations. I mean, he didn't even get to properly use his own recording studio. Who knows what he would have come up with had he changed management, stopped touring, and holed himself up in the studio, rather than suffering the stress and poor health of being pushed to the limit.
I don't believe he would have gone into jazz-fusion as he had already done it. Silliness and gags just weren't part of that scene and I can't imagine Jimi enjoying it for longer than he did. He already did soul and funk and certainly was a precursor to funkadelic with his electric church routine and band of gypsies. His sonic experimentation may have pushed his recordings and perhaps encouraged his live performances to include larger bands and symphony orchestras. Classical music no doubt would have had a significant influence on him. But here's the thing: Jimi was an artist who not only absorbed everything around him but also included everything about his life and identity to create and produce his music. His love of comic book heroes and sci-fi were as relevant as the vietnam war and muddy waters. as relevant as the distant mother he loved and the women he made love with. While I cannot predict what we would have done, I firmly believe that it would have been a lot.

lukedlb

not_the_dj said:

lukedlb said:

soma1975 said:

I should add, I named my son Hendrix so am probably a bit of a fan. 

I got to name my son James as he was born on Jimi's birthday.

My 10 year old is a Jimi 

As much as I wish, mine isn't a Jimi, at least not yet. Strangely, he's a James-Z (I guess cause his italian classmates stress the S, and so at home I stress a Zee instead).

lukedlb

soma1975 said:

lukedlb said:

soma1975 said:

I should add, I named my son Hendrix so am probably a bit of a fan. 

I got to name my son James as he was born on Jimi's birthday.

Internet High Five. 

Back at you.

Kittyfrisk

Philly_Q said:

Once upon a time there were three billy goats, who were to go up to the hillside to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was "Gruff".

On the way up was a bridge over a cascading stream they had to cross; and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll, with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker.

So first of all came the youngest Billy Goat Gruff to cross the bridge.

"Trip, trap, trip, trap!" went the bridge.

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll....

+1

lukedlb

ESBlonde said:

Context is eveything. Judging 50 years after the event means you need to understand the immediate impact of a black, long haired guitarist, wearing unseen fashionable clothing, playing a 100w marshall at full chat, and controlling it all like no one had ever done. I doubt most people reading this have ever heard a 100w marshall all the way up, it's an increasingly rare experience and not to be confused with a stadium concert sound system (which didn't exist then). There are plenty of yootoob vids of people doing it for the first time if you want to get some idea.  Watch this near the end, the guys eye lids show him whincing!

So this young fella was revolutionary in small venues (by todays standards), at a period in history when way out was cutting edge and most teenagers still wore what their parents did (ignore the headlines, that was in fact the reality). Kings road was very very elite.

Everybody, but everybody else came after. They may be technically better, having had the interveening years to develop thier chops COPYING the man that did it all first. There were better guitarists like Chet Atkins and Les Paul way before Hendrix, but the whole flower power revolution defined the man.

Over rated? You had to be there (I'm told).

ESBlonde is right. Playing with a Marshall stack is something to be experienced at any volume level. There's nothing quite like it. Once you've done it, you will understand my shoulder shrug to any modern gear, however incredible a modeller or amp it may be.
You know, somebody should open a museum dedicated to Hendrix and Marshall stacks....
Now, who do I know who could do this?
Here in Bologna, Italy?
About a block from where I live...?
More about that after the summer.

Majorscale

Comparing Jimi to modern guitarists is like comparing Roger Bannister to Mo Farah. Things have come a long way in the intervening decades so it's not a level playing field, but those groundbreakers did it first and that's why they are so special.

SlopeSoarer

If Hendrix or whoever floats yer boat it floats yer boat. If we all liked the same things the world would be a boring place: )

Caffeine_Vampire

Good player, very rhythmically interesting. Placed within the context of his peers he’s not overrated. 

I hate this shit. Listen or don’t listen to the guy but don’t suggest he’s not a significant part of the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll. 

The boy could play. 

guitartango

Caffeine_Vampire said:

Good player, very rhythmically interesting. Placed within the context of his peers he’s not overrated. 

I hate this shit. Listen or don’t listen to the guy but don’t suggest he’s not a significant part of the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll. 

The boy could play. 

And he didn't need 15 pedals to create a good tone, amazing guitar player

axisus

This is like saying why is Roger Bannister famous for running a mile in under 4 minutes ... lots of people have done that?

stonevibe

https://i.imgur.com/s6jMiNe.jpg

poopot

lukedlb said:

You know, somebody should open a museum dedicated to Hendrix and Marshall stacks....

I know he used marshal gear... I’m sure I read somewhere that he used a little 5e3 for some recordings... I have one of them... here it is on my kitchen table...

lukedlb

poopot said:

lukedlb said:

You know, somebody should open a museum dedicated to Hendrix and Marshall stacks....

I know he used marshal gear... I’m sure I read somewhere that he used a little 5e3 for some recordings... I have one of them... here it is on my kitchen table...

Nice amp. Is that your Gran in the background?

poopot

lukedlb said:

poopot said:

lukedlb said:

You know, somebody should open a museum dedicated to Hendrix and Marshall stacks....

I know he used marshal gear... I’m sure I read somewhere that he used a little 5e3 for some recordings... I have one of them... here it is on my kitchen table...

Nice amp. Is that your Gran in the background?

Lenny kravitz

Clecko

What really grabbed me about Hendrix was the way the boundaries between rhythm and lead playing suddenly seemed to disappear. And lots of his playing is disarmingly beautiful. 

lukedlb

lukedlb said:

poopot said:

lukedlb said:

You know, somebody should open a museum dedicated to Hendrix and Marshall stacks....

I know he used marshal gear... I’m sure I read somewhere that he used a little 5e3 for some recordings... I have one of them... here it is on my kitchen table...

Nice amp. Is that your Gran in the background?

Every time I challenge my mate's Marshalls with a 'didn't jimi use a .... amp on that recording', he goes and messes with the Marshall superbass or lead or P.A and gets the very same tone.

thegummy

relic245 said:

What was so great about Einstein? Any Bsc physicist knows more about the universe, matter and relativity than he ever did. (that is true)

What was so great about Roger Banister? Any decent club runner can run a mile in 4 minutes. 

Are we going to devalue these people as well?

What was great about Hendrix was that he did something that no one had ever done before.  In fact, he was doing things that other people didn't think were possible. 

When you judge it against the players of today then sure, he would be nothing special but that (IMHO) is totally missing the point. 

Pretty sure the OP was tongue in cheek or a jestful troll but that is a superb answer anyway.

Interesting to think about the runners example though. Unlike physics or music, it's not really building on an existing knowledge base is it? It's still just running as fast as one can, yet still people get better as time goes on. I suppose it's partly to do with sports science and nutrition whereas back in the day the athletes would just be eating the same as everyone else; so will the improvement tail off now that they know about nutrition or will people just continue to get faster?

lukedlb

guitartango said:

Caffeine_Vampire said:

Good player, very rhythmically interesting. Placed within the context of his peers he’s not overrated. 

I hate this shit. Listen or don’t listen to the guy but don’t suggest he’s not a significant part of the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll. 

The boy could play. 

And he didn't need 15 pedals to create a good tone, amazing guitar player

Just one: a fuzz
I mean two: a wah and a fuzz
I mean three: and an octavia
Sorry, I meant four: a univibe as well
On stage...

In the studio, a leslie (footswitch) and an echoplex (footswitch) whether used as a pre-amp or echo fx. And double tracking, reel to reel effects.

But no doubt, throw any guitar at him, even a 12 string acoustic and he'll make it sing.