besides me, who thinks hendrix was overrated??

it bothers me when i see these 100 greatest guitarists list come out and hendrix is always at the top. of course he was a great guitarist but the best? i really don't think so.
i think the reasons he gets awarded the top spot so often is cause he was black, he was a lefty, and he died so young. there were not a lot of black left handed electric guitarists around back then.

i also look at the body of work put out. hendrix only put out 5 albums. 3 studio and 2 live. now how can someone with such a small catalogue be rated so high up when say someone like zappa who has released 65 albums are lower on the rungs?

we also have to factor in the fact that hendrix was on mescaline and things like that a lot of the times he performed. he was good, yes but he made a lot of mistakes. he missed notes all the time.

he was not some great innovator of anything. he was shown tools by other guirarists and put them into his act.
yeah he picked with his teeth and set his guitar on fire but that to me does not make a great guitarist.

so i just want to know what you all think. i will forever think he does not deserve that number one spot.

reply to post by thing fish


I was going to post a similar thread about who you feel obligated to like but just can't. Hendrix is one of them. I mean, I can't name one of his songs that I actually enjoy. I have owned a few of his experience albums at various points of my life, but never really enjoyed them.

Can't say I disagree at all. I'm not a Hendrix fan, never have been.

I suppose a lot of his constant placement in top guitarist lists would have to do with his innovation for the time (at least that's what they'll tell you).

I've never found anything particularly innovative or special about him though.

And I'm with Karl, I can't name a single song of his that I actually like.

reply to post by Karlhungis


hendrix is definately one of those musicians that people freak out aboutu if you don't have em on a pedestal..
i have had his albums before but i just don't think they are that fantastic.

i watched a vid of him playing red house yesterday and it was ok. then i watched gary moore do it and gary completely owned it..blew hendrixes version away imo.

reply to post by nyk537


his 'innovations' really had nothing to do with actually playing notes though..he would act like he was humping his guitar or he would light it on fire. he would swell constant and loud feedback out of it....
to me those are all showmans tactics to hide how good you really are NOT.

lets do an experiment.
first, hendrix's version of red house.

it's good. check it out



now here is gary moore covering it....this is AWESOME...blows jimi away. check it out.



now gary can play guitar

Oh Boy. I must respectfully disagree with the previous posters.
Do I like him because he was black? Because he was a lefty? Because he died so young? It bothers me that these things were even mentioned.
Jimi changed music. Say what you will, but he did. He did things with an upside down Fender Stratocaster that no one ever even thought of. Ever seen the clips of him at Woodstock? NO ONE before hime came EVEN close. If he were still alive today, I can only imagine the joy he would give me ears.
I am a HUGE Jimi Fan.

A couple of songs to try listening to:
1) Hear My Train A'Comin (Jimi alone on a 12 string)
2) Fire
3) The Wind Cries Mary
4) Little Wing
5) 51st Anniversary.

The list goes on and on.

Remember this. Jimi was self taught. He was unable to read music. He single handedly changed the way that musicians viewed how to play. He was a pioneer.
Dead for several decades, and they still play his music on the radio on a frequent basis.
I for one think of him as an inspirations to music.

Oh and Thing Fish - nice post, but please remember. It's easy to copy an original and add a thing or two. He couldn't cover it if Jimi didn't play it 30 years previous.

[edit on 3-12-2008 by lombozo]

reply to post by lombozo


what did he do with an upside down strat that changed music? i'd like to know what you think on that one...also, i don't think jimi is a bad guitarist, i think he was fantastic but not the numero uno..i feel like he gets that top spot by default when people populate these lists.

doyle bramhall III is rocking the upside down strat as we speak and i think he smokes hendrix too.

i guess i am more into the notes coming out of the guitar than i am the theatrics. if he actually played sober things might be different but they're not.

just think of all the guitarists that had come after him and jimi is still number 1...no way man..not for me.

For his time, he was far ahead of it, the things he was doing musically on the guitar and playing with the fx, funky chord progressions and the songs he was writing in combination with his self taught gift, is why he is always at the top, it has nothing to do with him being black, or dying young, how absurd.


What is your measure for the greatest player? I think the combination of song writing, composition and overall skill, then think about this, Hendrix became the template for the many rock guitarists that came after him and caused many to emulate or develop their own styles based on his, it actually laid the groundwork for much of the hard and heavy metal guitarists to experiment beyond simplistic guitar playing, I really do not think the number of albums completed needs to be considered either, its quality not quantity.


I like the posting comparing the two and you say Hendrix version, but he actually wrote that song I believe and intended it to sound like that, it is a blues song, simplistic downsouth guitar sound, not intended for the overdistorted effected way played sort of like a rock song on the second video, it's easy to take an original song, throw more distortion on it and improvise it better, in my opinion it is unfair to even compare these two performances, after all the second video is a tribute to Hendrix, not a competition with the legend.



[edit on 3-12-2008 by phinubian]

reply to post by phinubian


frank zappa was using fx, funky chord progressions and was self tought. he showed jimi the wah wah pedal.

i think you need a solid body of work for one thing to be considered the greatest and jimi just don't have that.
i think his deal was more theatrics...

i still stand by what i said. if he was a right handed white dude that didn't die at 27 he would not be on the top spot all the time.


edit* jimi did his fair share of covering songs too.

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

edit*
i am going to use steve vai as an example. everyone here knows i think zappa was the best but i will use vai. after all, vai did go to the zappa school of music
anyway, look at someone like vai with the perfect technique. a true master/virtuoso on the instrument. trills, string skipping, legato runs, etc etc...
someone like that deserves the top spot. someone who has mastered the instrument..not just someone who rotated between the blues and pentatonic scale...know what i mean?

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

reply to post by thing fish


Dude. I dig your moxy, and conviction. Always stand up for what you believe. Whether I agree or disagree with you, I will always respect your opinion.
Now that being said.
You make my case for me if you will.
'How did Jimi change music?' you asked. You went on to state that many guitaurists who came after him smoke him.
Case and point. They came AFTER him. Jimi was the first. Stevie Ray Vaughan covered his music and was so unreal my jaw dropped, but he COVERED Jimi.
My point is this. It takes someone to change things and lead the way. Jimi WAS that man. He did change it.
Why do you think so many people STILL cover Jimi's music. Think about that for a moment. There's a reason for it.
Are there better guitarists today? Of course there are. I wouldn't even try to argue that. How much you want to bet though that Jimi was at least a small influence in their lives?
It takes one person to make a difference, Jimi made a difference, and is still highly regarded by the worlds leading guitarists today.
I look forward to your reply.

reply to post by lombozo


well the great guitarist of today probably grew up watching/listening to jimi. maybe it's just me but i don't see it. i could rattle off a ton of names that imo are better guitarists then jimi was.
i just don't see the fascination you know.
maybe i just missed the boat when it comes to him. i see someone who is all drugged out, missing notes and things like that. how does that make someone numero uno.

either way, as far as lefty's go, i'll take doyle over hendrix any day

edit* if there are better guitarists today like you just mentioned, why is jimi always on the top spot.?

why not vai, zappa, beck? you know, the better ones

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

edit* and if we are measuring by who changed things then robert johnson should be on the top of every list. even guitarist today site him as an influence...

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

check out this solo lombozo. the quality of the vid is fair..it's an improv of montana. frank is just using dorian patterns here but i love the way he phrases them...check it out




[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

reply to post by thing fish


In my new school opinion Hendrix WAS overrated. He was a good guitarist but nowhere even close to the greats of today. Influenced by Hendrix or not, musicians like John Petrucci (of Dream Theater), Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine, Satriani, etc. are vastly superior. IMO

The art of expression will always trump technicality.

i would urge you to check out a 'new' guitarist on the scene. his name is doyle bramhall. here he is with clapton...he is doing slide

www.youtube.com...

doyle plays lefty strung righty . he is amazing. he has also played with derek trucks who of course is a slide virtuoso

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

edit*
here is a much better vid

www.youtube.com...

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

If playing a guitar was a competition sport, I would have to agree with you fish, but Art/guitar is more a matter of style and aesthetics than speed and technical prowess.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....

"I would much rather hear a kid on a piece of _____ 6 string singing and playing from his heart than a kid

on a 3K Les Paul shredding like a maniac from lessons his mommy bought him. "

Hendrix just played it the way Hendrix wanted to and for that he deserves the utmost respect as does any artist that doesn't sell out to the God's of commercialism.

Jimi is and will always be God on a guitar.


He learned from men like Buddy Guy and Hubert Sumlin....took that raw blues sound and created something entirely all to it's own. I agree 100% with whoever said it isn't about speed or technique or how many notes you can squeeze out in 5 seconds, music is about art and it is about expression.

Look at a guy like David Gilmore for example, writes some of the most beautiful music ever written and says more in one single sustained note than most can put together in an entire song.

Then look at guys like Yngwie and Satriani...super talented...technical to the 10th degree and faster than a bullet...but cant write a decent song to save their lives. Nobody wants to hear 15 million notes chaotically arranged without any regard for depth or timing. Any fool can mimick these guys and learn to shred, but it takes real genius to innovate and to write great music.

Not taking anything away from your guys like Zappa etc but most people outside of the music community could give two s***s about Frank Zappa. Some of his music is downright awful. Hendrix was the ultimate innovator, he took the blues and the blossoming rock and roll and turned it into a sonic whirlwing of sound and images.

Pure brilliance. Forever loved and missed. Stevie Ray said that Hendrix was the only reason he wanted to learn to play guitar, and that in itself is magical.

I respect your opinion and your right to it, but I couldn't disagree more.




Edit to add: Doyle Bramhall isn't even close to being new. He was the rhythm guitarist in the Fabulous Thunderbirds with SRV's older brother Jimmy...also played in the Arch Angels with Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon from Double Trouble.

[edit on 12/3/08 by BlackOps719]

i think technique has a lot to do with it. i also agree with everyone who takls of the useless shredding..means nothing.

about doyle being new i just meant that his name is really just now starting to circulate. he has been around but he is getting more and more popular.

edit* i don't remember mentioning speed in any of my posts about this.
technique is always worth a mention.

[edit on 3-12-2008 by thing fish]

He wrote his own songs,kind of changed the way music was at the time,was magician on guitar,what more needs be said,he was an innovator