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WaywardSon 
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 23 2006
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 Topic: Hendrix-Greatest or Best
Posted: May 07 2006 at 10:58 |
According to a lot of guitar polls Jimi Hendrix is the number one guitarist without a doubt.
My question is
Was he the greatest (for revolutinizing how the guitar was played, a pioneer)
OR
The best ( There is no other guitarist better than him)
This should make for an interesting poll...
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ANDREW
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Posted: May 07 2006 at 11:22 |
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He's a great guitarist, an innovator, but in my opinion there are/were better guitarists out there.
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wolf0621
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Posted: May 07 2006 at 20:59 |
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If I could have voted twice, once each for the greatest & the best, I would have...Those who don't care for Hendrix have some company on these boards, I'm not one of them...A prediction (and no I'm not Nostradamus & don't have to be to predict this): A hundred years from now, players & others will still revere Hendrix, will emulate him, will "borrow" from him, he'll still be considered a pioneer & a guitar god. Most other current players will not...
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mithrandir
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Posted: May 07 2006 at 21:07 |
neither the greatest nor the best...
but the most iconic and recognized? ...definitely.
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DeepPhreeze
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Posted: May 07 2006 at 22:06 |
 Those who don't care for Hendrix have some company on these boards |
Because when you listen to prog you're automatically diversifying the talents you hear, and after a while you realize that there is a lot more to offer than just 'funk over blues' chords.
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mystic fred
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 03:26 |
when hendrix arrived on the scene in 1966 guitar-orientated rock music took a quantum leap, hendrix produced shock waves that still reverberate today. since he died there have been, and are, great guitarists and always will be in the future, but they will all revere hendrix for his technical virtuosity and his timeless music.
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wolf0621
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 13:39 |
DeepPhreeze wrote:
| Those who don't care for Hendrix have some company on these boards |
Because when you listen to prog you're automatically diversifying the talents you hear, and after a while you realize that there is a lot more to offer than just 'funk over blues' chords.
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Thanks DeepPhreeze for the enlightened response...Fortunately your ignorance precedes you as evidenced in the thread: Is Rolling Stone really this dumb?
Just to summarize your salient arguments for Mr Hendrix being overrated:
1) "Why does the mindless worshipping of Hendrix continue? Is there no justice?"
2) "And Hendrix really isn't the guitar-god people make him out to be. He's hyped because 1) he was black and 2) he wasn't a rich kid growing up
It's like rooting for the home team -- nobody knows why you have to do it, you just have to. Well, I call bluff --- Hendrix wasn't that great as a guitarist nor as a songwriter. Without Bob Dylan giving him suggestions he'd have been helpless.
I was reading Nick Mason's book on the entire history of Pink Floyd from 1964 forward and guess who was a big fan of Pink Floyd? Hendrix. He loved to hang out with Syd --- and he liked to share ideas with him as well. That meant technique, subject matter, tones, etc.
David Gilmour didn't take after Hendrix. He never wanted to play fast, or play 'funky' chords, or lay out complex progressions. Gilmour has the steadiest hand of any guitarist ever and should definitely have made the top 5. Hell, just for the famous guitar tones he pulled from his Strat, he should get an award. He pioneered the tape delay; no cheap gimmicks anywhere. He was a revolutionary in every sense of the word.
Clapton, on the other hand, is a second-rate guitarist. Even BECK was farther ahead than he was... and that's saying a lot."
3) (In response to: Me: Hendrix considered a guitar god because he was black & wasn't from a rich background? Then I guess there are a whole lot of guitar gods running around...)
--- by word of mouth, on every jungle gym, in every Elementary School. The hype around something/someone can only stand so long before people get sick of it."
You see, I've given you full credit (which you richly deserve)...Now to address your (ahem) arguments:
- Which is it...Did Hendrix play "just 'funk over blues' chords" or "lay out complex progressions"?
- "he was black"...Let's keep the racial angle to a minimum, this is a music-oriented board...Presumably your point is that Gilmour doesn't get enough love because he's white...
- "By word of mouth..."...Big difference between kids & teens idolizing one of their own because he/she can play an instrument vs other world-famous musicians revering Hendrix
- "He pioneered the tape delay"...Gilmour is not mentioned in any article re: invention of the tape delay. Who is? Terry Riley (50's & 60's), Steve Reich (mid-60's) & Eno/Fripp (early 70's)...Look it up...If you want to give any guitar player credit then give it to Les Paul...
- Gilmour is "evolutionary", not "revolutionary"...The difference is that people who heard Hendrix play recognized it as something brand new, a leap forward. Gilmour is very good, no doubt about it, but doesn't engender that same reaction (with good reason)...
- "Steve Howe and Steve Hackett have won more awards each for their guitar abilities than any of those musicians combined"...If this were simply a contest of most awards won, and that would be the primary/only gauge of talent then we could just count up the grammys & be done with it, or award the title to those with the most #1 records...
And oh yeah, should have replied with these little tidbits earlier:
- "Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd lists him as a major influence. When Gilmour saw Hendrix playing in a London nightclub in 1966, Gilmour said that nobody who saw that performance left the club not thinking that Hendrix would go all the way to the top." (from a Gilmour biography)...
- (From an interview w/Jimmy Haun/guitar player on Yes/UNION): Alan was great and Chris is a great guy. One night him and I stayed up and he told me a story about the early years with Yes, how they played a show with the then unknown Jimi Hendrix. When Yes went on, there were all these big names in the audience, Clapton, Townsend, Entwistle, and Chris thought to himself "Well, we must be making quite a splash to lure these guys." After the last song the audience went wild and Yes was very excited until they figured out it was really for the new sensation Jimi Hendrix.
HP: As you mention Jimi Hendrix... I understand you're also a left-handed guitarist, yes? ... and sometimes called Jimi, with a surname beginning 'H'... You've a few things in common with Hendrix! As a fellow lefty, has he been a special influence on your work?
JH: No doubt and he still is. His approach to playing electric guitar has influenced every electric guitar player since him, even Steve [Howe] (the guitar break in "Yours is No Disgrace")...
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WaywardSon
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Joined: April 23 2006
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 15:36 |
He influenced thousands and changed the way the guitar was played, so that makes him the greatest.
He probably was the best in the 60´s but now we have guitarists like Vai and Petrucci who are technically better without a doubt.
Thats why I say he is the greatest but not the best.
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eddietrooper
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Joined: February 27 2006
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 15:40 |
RycheMan wrote:
He influenced thousands and changed the way the guitar was played, so that makes him the greatest.
He probably was the best in the 60´s but now we have guitarists like Vai and Petrucci who are technically better without a doubt.
Thats why I say he is the greatest but not the best. |
I agree 100%.
There have been two revolutions in the electric guitar history:
1- Jimi Hendrix
2- Eddie Van Halen
Both of them changed the way that thousands of guitarists played their instruments. No one sounded like them before each of them.
But certainly there are technically better guitarists nowadays.
Edited by eddietrooper - May 08 2006 at 15:41
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WaywardSon
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Joined: April 23 2006
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 16:03 |
^^^^
I remember reading that someone said Hendrix revoltionived guitar playing and Eddie Van Halen Evolutionized guitar playing
And then in 1980 the world was introduced to Neo Classical when Malmsteen released his debut  |
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Certif1ed
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 16:28 |
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There's one man that really revolutionised electric guitar playing.
That man was Lester William Polfus.
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The important thing is not to stop questioning.
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wolf0621
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Joined: April 07 2006
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 17:15 |
eddietrooper wrote:
RycheMan wrote:
He influenced thousands and changed the way the guitar was played, so that makes him the greatest.
He probably was the best in the 60´s but now we have guitarists like Vai and Petrucci who are technically better without a doubt.
Thats why I say he is the greatest but not the best. |
I agree 100%.
There have been two revolutions in the electric guitar history:
1- Jimi Hendrix
2- Eddie Van Halen
Both of them changed the way that thousands of guitarists played their instruments. No one sounded like them before each of them.
But certainly there are technically better guitarists nowadays. |
Can't agree 100% about there being only 2 revolutions in electric guitar history. Assuming that Eddie Van Halen's two-handed tapping qualifies as a revolution, then I'd also nominate Stanley Jordan's playing style as a revolution in so far as being "new" & unique. Eddie's style obviously caught on to a much greater extent, but that's most likely a function of the add'l cool factor of Eddie's sound & the fact that playing entire simultaneous rhythm chords while playing lead lines the way Jordan did was much harder to do...Actually, both styles can probably be traced back to Dave Bunker, the father of the Touch guitar (in the 1950's) & a player named Jimmie Webster...
And no matter what the definition of "revolutionary" is, Les Paul has to be counted as one...
For me, the term "best" has to encompass more than just technique. If it were only about that, then there are hundreds of classical, flamenco & jazz players (and yes, rock players too) who're "better". There's tone, feeling, "space", arrangement, effects, sound pallette, intensity, improvisation, control, musical choices, phrasing, etc...Considering all of that, it's still Jimi for me...
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WaywardSon
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Joined: April 23 2006
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Posted: May 08 2006 at 17:58 |
And Ritchie Blackmore for me 
At the end of the day everyone hears different things, but youré right, it´s more than just technique, tone arrangements etc..
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FragileDT
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Posted: May 09 2006 at 14:21 |
wolf0621 
My anger was rising after reading DeepPhreezes statement about Hendrix (as it did in the Rolling Stone thread as well.) It is evident that DeepPhreeze has not studied Hendrix's material. If you have, some of it is very incredible. If there were a choice to choose the best genre of guitarists, no doubt would it be blues oriented rock (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, Clapton, Peter Green, Scofield...) Prog guitarists are generally more about how fast you can play, than how emotional (with the exception of Gilmour and Hackett.) I hate when prog fans glorify prog guitarists when overlooking the true masters of the instrument.
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One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless Compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity
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FragileDT
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Joined: June 20 2005
Location: United States
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Posted: May 09 2006 at 14:22 |
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One likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless Compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity
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oliverstoned
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Joined: March 26 2004
Location: France
Status: Offline
Points: 6308
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Posted: May 10 2006 at 05:25 |
Not only he was a fantastic guitarist but also featured a fabulous rhytmic section (Cox and Mitchell)
as Miles Davis pointed out!
These days, i listen again and again to "In the west", very rare live with its excellent "Voodoo child", "Little wing" and "Red house" covers.
Edited by oliverstoned - May 10 2006 at 05:28
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wolf0621
Forum Senior Member
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Posted: May 10 2006 at 07:15 |
oliverstoned wrote:
Not only he was a fantastic guitarist but also featured a fabulous rhytmic section (Cox and Mitchell)
as Miles Davis pointed out!
These days, i listen again and again to "In the west", very rare live with its excellent "Voodoo child", "Little wing" and "Red house" covers.
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Mitch Mitchell is a vastly underrated drummer. After Hendrix, he basically vanished. Cox was a better bass player than Redding (obviously since Redding wasn't really a bass player to start with) but I don't think Mitchell & Cox had enough continuous playing time together to jell as well as they might have...
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reality
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Posted: May 10 2006 at 18:27 |
wolf0621 wrote:
DeepPhreeze wrote:
| Those who don't care for Hendrix have some company on these boards |
Because when you listen to prog you're automatically diversifying the talents you hear, and after a while you realize that there is a lot more to offer than just 'funk over blues' chords.
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Thanks DeepPhreeze for the enlightened response...Fortunately your ignorance precedes you as evidenced in the thread: Is Rolling Stone really this dumb?
Just to summarize your salient arguments for Mr Hendrix being overrated:
2) "And Hendrix really isn't the guitar-god people make him out to be. He's hyped because 1) he was black and 2) he wasn't a rich kid growing up
3) (In response to: Me: Hendrix considered a guitar god because he was black & wasn't from a rich background? Then I guess there are a whole lot of guitar gods running around...)
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It was you deepPhreeze who played the race game that everybody accused me of following! Shame on you!
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Kord
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Posted: June 18 2006 at 08:23 |
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the greatest
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[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Genesis_Group.jpg" border">
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Philéas
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Posted: June 18 2006 at 15:15 |
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The greatest, but not the best. Still an all-time favourite of mine. Without him I wouldn't be here.
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Hendrix-Greatest or Best
