Thanks. I know it borders on sacrilege for some of you, but I just feel that Jimi gets a little too much credit. Was he an innovator? Yes. Was he great? Yes. Was he one of the all-time best? Yes. But THE absolute best ever? No. I'll reach for a CD of one of the other six guys I listed before him (Beck, Vai, EVH, Clapton, Gilmour, and Vaughan) before I reach for a Jimi CD. That's my criteria for picking the best.
Did you see Hendrix live? Have you read what Clapton, Beck and others said about him? When I saw him live I was fixed on his play..... what he did was beyond conventional guitar solo. He played the neck of the guitar like it was a dreamscape- improvision-creativity-technical chording- precision- chaos- he played for the sound and it was the most unscripted artwork I have seen... I may be over the top here because I was wasted (back then), but it was incredible rock guitar- over the top- Pali gap, hey baby, Dolly Dagger, red house, little wings, electric ladyland, wind cries mary..... I think Hendrix can only be appreciated if you saw him live, do a whole set. He was unique and he was rock.
I would personally put SRV at the top, but that's me. That guy could do anything. I still can't believe he is gone.
Wow, I can't believe I've never heard of him or that band. I need to check it out on Napster right quick.
I agree. I love Hendrix and without him SRV may not have had the same style. I'd say SRV #1, Hendrix #2 - but like you say, that's just me. SRV was a more polished player. And when he played behind his back, on a soundtrack, you couldn't tell. OT - We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando a couple of weeks ago and what a bunch of cool stuff they had. Guitars from Clapton, Elvis, Lennon, McCartney, Slash along with Twisted Sister, Heart (heart shaped), etc. They had different displays on each floor. I meant to check them all out but I didn't take the time. But one thing they had that I was most envious of was the Jimi display - psychedelic outfit and guitar. I'd give all my baseball memorabilia - past, present and future for that guitar. OT2 - I'd highly recommend the hotel. The pool was great - white sand beach and a 260' water slide. The service and people there are outstanding. And Fast Pass made you feel like a king and you could do a park in just a few hours leaving you to enjoy other things the rest of the day.
hehe I'll never understand the affinity and worship squandered on guitarists whose only offer to music is 'shredding' up and down a fret board... it's the most unispiring/hollow use of a versitile instrument i've ever witnessed in all of music...
Some really good players on there. Lynch deserves to be on that list way more than a few I see (MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore).
I don't know about "best" but I think Hendrix and Van Halen are the two of the most innovative electric guitar players ever. Hendrix and Van Halen both came along and played the guitar unlike anyone before them. I really started getting into guitar in the '80's and Hendrix was always a mystery to me. I just didn't get what the big deal was about his playing. A friend of mine even wrote on one of his school books "40 guitar players better than Hendrix". It wasn't until later, after I really started to listen to Hendrix in the context of his times, that I realized that the reason a young guitar play may not find Hendrix so special NOW is because EVERYONE plays like Hendrix now. Or at least their playing is derived from players who learned from Hendrix. It's like saying "What's so special about a P51 Mustang? It's not even super-sonic." Actually, even by today's standards Hendrix could actually play and improvise on his guitar compared to some of today's hacks. I think Van Halen is similar to Hendrix in that he came along and played the guitar in a very different and unique way. And I'm not talking about the two-handed tapping thing (although that plays a big part). Eddie nailed what heavy, distortioned rock guitar should sound like (brown sound) and his playing doesn't sound like anyone elses. One of the main differences between Hendrix and Van Halen is that EVERYONE copied Hendrix but almost no one sounds like Van Halen. Maybe because when Hendrix came out there were fewer "guitar hero's" to emulate. Who knows... FYI: Hendrix is one of my favorite guitar players along with Eric Johnson, the Edge and Alex Lifeson. I just admire Eddie and enjoy some of his songs.
I agree. I obviously grew up listening to Hendrix, what sets him apart is not that he is the fastest soloist ever or he did more than any other guitarist has ever accomplished musically. What sets him apart is what he did to 'rock' guitar. He just flat out blew the doors off in 1968-69 for rock music and he was continuing to take his play forward till he died. Clapton was the guitar god at the time that Hendrix came on the scene and Hendrix just had these guys scratching their heads. He was playing rock music lead guitar in a way that attacked and shredded and blended and flowed like artwork- long before all these other guys were to be inspired by this type lead work. You will find few major rock guitarist who dish Hendrix, most feel he was way ahead of his time and most were inspired. To me its like Michael Jordan- his reputation has exceeded his actual play in some ways and there have been others that have jumped further, won more rings and even may be better players (Lebron?) But he will forever be Jordan. He broke through with some stuff and lifted the game. That's how I view Hendrix as a rock guitarist.
As usual, Bob Finn* represents. I never really cared for Alvin Lee/Ten Years After, though. Bob, how did you like Michael Bloomfield, and did you ever listen to Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown?
I think the absence of Van Halen's influence in today's music is very telling. If you go and listen to 80s rock guitar, EVERYONE sounded like EVH. Even Randy Rhodes and Yngwie owed alot of their style to EVH. It used to be you couldn't even go into a guitar store without hearing some half-assed version of "Eruption." But the 90s alt rock explosion seemed to have killed just about all of EVH's influence in rock music. Even as 80s rock has become less reviled, you still don't hear anyone borrowing from (or even ripping off blatantly) his bag of tricks. I can't think of a single significant band from the past 15 years that uses his technical and sound innovations, except maybe the Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan's solos mostly). It seems that most of his tricks and gimmicks were just that - tricks and gimmicks. He really doesn't seem to have contributed any innovations that work outside of Van Halen-style party rock. His best innovation is probably his "Brown Sound," but he just one of several players (Ritchie Blackmore for example) who realized that your guitar amp doesn't need the treble knob dimed to sound good. Eventually, I think EVH will be seen less of a great innovator and more of one of the great personalities on the instrument, similar to (but probably more significant than) Stevie Ray Vaughn or Eric Johnson. These players didn't necessarily do anything to expand the universal potential of the instrument, but they played in a fantastically expressive and instantly recognizable style.
You are probably giving something away about your age. Maybe you just know someone old. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket.
the problem with VH is that his playing has no soul. it doesn't mean anything or emote. take someone like angus young, number 50 on that asinine list, as a point of comparison. nobody would argue that angus is as technically proficient as eddie but there is no doubt who has bigger, hairier, stinkier balls.
An interesting and unknown story is that Randy California, later of Spirit, played in some early west coast bands with Jimi when he was making his transition from R&B sideman to rock god. The Hendrix 'style' was developed from their onstage interplay and if you go back and listen to some of that stuff, there are some rareities around, you can't tell which player is Hendrix and which is California. How about some love for: Albert Collins Paul Barre' (Little Feat) Skunk Baxter Freddie King I saw a In Studio on INDH the other night with Joe Bonamassa. He was opening for BB King at 11 and had a record contract at 13. Now he doesn't have the most soul or originality in his style (he says he steals from all the best) but dam that boy had all the technical chops you could imagine. He went through 6 or 7 top gutarist and just nailed their style. For the record SRV is my #1.
digitaldreamdoor also has lists for other music things such as greatest bassists, drummers, keyboard players, groups, etc.
