Eric Clapton vs. Jimmy Page vs. Jeff Beck vs. Jimi Hendrix

[Phil59]

All four where highly influential to me.


Clapton
I liked his early period with Cream, a strong establishment of what the sound of blues and rock would sound like after; I think his best solo was really Sunshine of Your Love.
He seems to have peaked early and gradually forgotten how to play as time went on after that, can't stand anything he's done since the early 70s.


Page
I liked the first Led Zep record the best. Page went on to show that he was very prolific in different styles, if a bit sloppy, and opened a lot of avenues for rock to progress into different directions, but those weren't my directions.


Beck
I liked Rough and Ready (1971), had some jazz influence. Some of his other early stuff I liked, but he kind of went down a path of inventing and adopting a collection of peculiar techniques to make odd sounds and sound effects that I just don't appreciate.


Hendix
Not sure what was going on with him. I had a record he did in 1966 that was horrible, as in he did not sound like he knew how to even play the guitar yet. But just a few years later was Band of Gypsies, which I think was his best playing... transcendent playing, awe inspiring playing, I can't say too much the degree to which I loved it. Somehow he had not only mastered the guitar but invented a whole new way of playing the instrument that transformed the thing into a mystical musical experience.
I have yet to hear anything played by anyone since that even breaks the seal on whatever magical influence he invoked on that record.


So, in summary, I liked the early work of Clapton, Page, and Beck, but all three drifted into areas that did not hold me. From my perspective, the profile of all three peaked early and eventually lost the bubble. In contrast, Hendrix grew more amazing with time and peaked shortly before he passed.



If you haven't heard the Band of Gypsies,

give the whole thing a listen and let me know what you think...

Well said. I mostly agree. Clapton peaked early. Led Zeppelin I is my favorite even though derivative and less creative than what followed. Hendrix was unique, and I was at the Band of Gypsies New Year's Eve show. Beck never did it for me.

[Phil59]

IMVHO.....

There were better Rock players in their era (Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner to name just 2). Hendrix was special cos he made you really feel something, but musically and technically was quite limited, despite what his rabid fans will say. Clapton and Page, box pentatonic noodling.... but quite good at it and could write tunes to suit.

Beck was always more adventurous and cleverer, even dipped into Jazz fusion in a good way (mostly). Heck, for Blow by Blow alone, I say he wins ...

There may have been "better" but I was focusing on the most acclaimed. I will check out your two faves, although the fact that they're both associated primarily with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed suggests an obscure, narrow, esoteric view.

[Phil59]

I thought this was a JAZZ guitar website.

I thought this was a jazz guitar website where many of the people playing jazz guitar now (1) played other kinds of music in their lives and/or (2) have been interested in other kinds of music in their lives.

[Phil59]

I'm not going to pick one, but I remember back in college my guitar-playing friends and I thought of Beck, Clapton, and Hendrix as the triumvirate of rock guitarists - whenever one of them came out with a new album, he became the "best". Of course, the other guys didn't know much about my triumvirate: Charlie, Django, and Wes.

Yes, they were the triumvirate of rock guitarists in the 1960s. But you were a man ahead of your time. I am older and wiser now. My guitar duo now is Django and Charlie, followed by Wes.

[Papawooly]

Okay... a Stevie Wonder son dedicated to Roy... IMHO the best song recorded by JB..
I would wager that the playing on this song has as much "jazz" as "rock" but
is incredible nonetheless.

Also, can't believe nobody has posted a Joe Beck video yet (it's a jazz site no?)

[jaco]

Can't remember where I read it, but Miles and Jimi were planning on recording together. Miles is telling Jim about the diminished scale and Jimi says " Miles, i don't know the diminished scale". Miles in his raspy voice says "don't worry, I'll show you".

[snoskier63]

Yes, they were the triumvirate of rock guitarists in the 1960s. But you were a man ahead of your time. I am older and wiser now. My guitar duo now is Django and Charlie, followed by Wes.

I’m with Phil. They were some of my heroes growing up, along with Alvin Lee, Terry Kath of Chicago, and Steve Howe. My new heroes are Barney Kessel, Jimmy Bruno, Frank Vignola, Tommy Emmanuel, Jimmy Raney and Joscho Stephan, to name a few.

Of your original list Beck was probably my favorite guitarist, but Zeppelin my co favorite band.

[stevus]

Preferences are likely generation dependent, especially for those, like me, who grew up in the 1960s. My heroes were John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (with Eric Clapton) and (Fresh) Cream, then Jimi Hendrix, Electric Ladyland in particular. Jef Beck, in fact only for his first single Hi-ho Silverlining and Truth. Led Zeppelin/Jimi Page was a little too late for me and too loud. Bought their records, but never connected to that, as I already had moved to different kinds of music.

I think it makes a difference in preferences wether you grew up with these guys and your musical taste was formed by them. I still can listen to Bluesbreakers and Fresh Cream. The original vinyl records of course!

[Greentone]

I was pretty guitar aware at an early age because both my father and mother played. By the time I was four or five, I was glued to the TV, watching local phenom, Roy Clark, tear it up on the Jimmy Dean Show in Washington, DC. Clark--in that pre-Hee Haw era Clark was a Fender toting hot guitar picker.

We moved to SoCal and I watched Joe Maphis and The Collins Kids each week. I knew that I needed a Mosrite double-neck guitar to be for real. I'd also see the other hot-shot solid-body, SoCal players regularly on regional TV shows. (This was all in the pre-Beatles era.)

Then two things happened: (1) the British Invasion, and (2) my father said, "You really need to be listening to the jazz players--Kessel, Ellis, Montgomery, Mottola, Caiola, Django, and Charlie Christian (were some of the ones he picked out for me). A third thing: I moved over from baritone uke and tenor banjo, to the guitar as my hands got large enough to deal with a six-string neck. I began studying guitar. Right away, I noticed that the songs by the Beatles had a lot in common with the show tunes that the jazz guitar guys were putting through their paces. Lennon/McCartney songs weren't "Gloria" by The Them, in terms of structure.

Things were coming along just fine--I was learning my parent's Great American Songbook stuff and they were learning Beatles tunes--and then, BAM! I got a radio that had both AM and FM bands. The first time I tuned in an FM station, I heard a song "Hey Joe," by Jimi Hendrix. Uh, oh. This was seriously different. The guitar was looser, louder, and way more soulful than anything I had heard to that point. It made _all_ of the Brit Invasion stuff sound too on the beat. It was like growing up on a diet of George M. Cohan and then hearing Louis Armstrong. Time feel just gets altered.

I investigated Hendrix more. All I can say is that it was like getting my first stack of Wes Montgomery records as a kid. GROOVE!

Hendrix was different than Wes, but he felt like a logical extension, to me.

SO...how about Charlie, Django, Wes, Hendrix? (and make some room for Steve Cropper and the incredible feeling of the huge dot that he, Booker T, Duck Dunn, and Al Jackson put on the third beat in every measure).

[jaco]

My former teacher Larry Coryell had jammed with all these guys, opened for Zep at some show in NY. He was friends with Jimi and had some great stories. I do remember him saying "Eric was very jealous of Jimi"...From interviews I've seen I think the others were in awe of Jimi.

[Phil59]

My former teacher Larry Coryell had jammed with all these guys, opened for Zep at some show in NY. He was friends with Jimi and had some great stories. I do remember him saying "Eric was very jealous of Jimi"...From interviews I've seen I think the others were in awe of Jimi.

TERRY REID (rock vocalist): We were all hanging out at The Bag O’Nails: Keith, Mick Jagger. Brian [Jones] comes skipping through, like, all happy about something. Paul McCartney walks in. Jeff Beck walks in. Jimmy Page. [Ed’s note: Page denies having been there.] I thought, “What’s this? A bloody convention or something?” Here comes Jim, one of his military jackets, hair all over the place, pulls out this left-handed Stratocaster, beat to hell, looks like he’s been chopping wood with it.
And he gets up, all soft-spoken. And all of a sudden, “WHOOOR-RRAAAWWRR!” And he breaks into Wild Thing, and it was all over. There were guitar players weeping. They had to mop the floor up. He was piling it on, solo after solo. I could see everyone’s fillings falling out. When he finished, it was silence. Nobody knew what to do. Everybody was dumbstruck, completely in shock.

[lammie200]

...Right away, I noticed that the songs by the Beatles had a lot in common with the show tunes that the jazz guitar guys were putting through their paces. Lennon/McCartney songs weren't "Gloria" by The Them, in terms of structure.

... The first time I tuned in an FM station, I heard a song "Hey Joe," by Jimi Hendrix. Uh, oh. This was seriously different. The guitar was looser, louder, and way more soulful than anything I had heard to that point...

One thing that you have to give the Beatles is kudos for variety. Hardly any of their songs sound like each other.

I always thought that the way Hendrix played "Hey Joe" was all himself until I heard the original Billy Roberts version. All that trickery is in the original. Hendrix heard that and reused it. Not knocking it by any means. In fact, I think that it is pretty cool that he thought so much of the guitar in the original that he would copy it.

[Greentone]

Billy Roberts on YouTube sounds great. However, I understand that the version we hear there isn't the original version of the song. It's the version Roberts played _after_ he heard Hendrix--he borrows Jimi's arrangement of "Hey Joe" thereafter. Who wouldn't?

As I understand it, Roberts originally played a version that was closer to folk/bluegrass.

Still, cool song. I must have performed this one a thousand times.

[lammie200]

Folk rock singer Tim Rose’s slower version of the song (recorded in 1966 and claimed to be Rose's arrangement of a wholly traditional song)^[8] inspired the first single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.^[7] The ex-bassist for the Animals, Chas Chandler, who was now focusing on managing other acts, had also seen Rose performing the song at the Cafe Wha? in New York City and was looking for an artist to record a rock version of "Hey Joe".^[39][40]Chandler discovered Jimi Hendrix, who had also been playing at the Cafe Wha? in 1966 and performing an arrangement of "Hey Joe" inspired by Rose's rendition.^[40] Chandler decided to take Hendrix with him to England in September 1966, where he would subsequently turn the guitarist into a star.^[39] Rose re-recorded "Hey Joe" in the 1990s, re-titling it "Blue Steel .44"^[41] and again claimed the song as his own arrangement of a traditional song.

Not sure what any of this means except that I have not heard any other versions except for the Roberts and Hendrix versions, and perhaps, the Byrds version. I may try to dig for the other versions for the heck of it.

[archtopeddy]

Eariler when I said the history of electric guitar can be said in four words -- Charlie Christian, Jimi Hendrix, I was throwng a wink and a nod at Miles Davis who allegedly said the history of jazz can be said in four word -- Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker.

Then I find this quote from guitarist Mike Stern who played with Miles in the 80s: "Miles loved Hendrix. Jimi and Charlie Christian were his favorite cats as far as guitarists are concerned." Funny, huh?

Anyway check out this 2001 Jazz Times article called Jimi Hendrix Modern Jazz Axis. Some interesting stuff here.


Jimi Hendrix: Modern Jazz Axis - JazzTimes

[Litterick]

TERRY REID (rock vocalist): We were all hanging out at The Bag O’Nails: Keith, Mick Jagger. Brian [Jones] comes skipping through, like, all happy about something. Paul McCartney walks in. Jeff Beck walks in. Jimmy Page. [Ed’s note: Page denies having been there.] I thought, “What’s this? A bloody convention or something?” Here comes Jim, one of his military jackets, hair all over the place, pulls out this left-handed Stratocaster, beat to hell, looks like he’s been chopping wood with it.
And he gets up, all soft-spoken. And all of a sudden, “WHOOOR-RRAAAWWRR!” And he breaks into Wild Thing, and it was all over. There were guitar players weeping. They had to mop the floor up. He was piling it on, solo after solo. I could see everyone’s fillings falling out. When he finished, it was silence. Nobody knew what to do. Everybody was dumbstruck, completely in shock.

Kevin Ayers, who also was there that night, recalled, "All the stars were there, and I heard serious comments, you know 'shit', 'Jesus', 'damn' and other words worse than that."

[Jabberwocky]

For a moment I thought they formed a live band with a hologram Hendrix...like Beck, Bogert and Appice. Beck, Clapton, Page and Hendrix (holo).

[DRS]

Why is this in the Guitars, Amps, and Gizmo section and not the Players section?

[lammie200]

Billy Roberts on YouTube sounds great. However, I understand that the version we hear there isn't the original version of the song. It's the version Roberts played _after_ he heard Hendrix--he borrows Jimi's arrangement of "Hey Joe" thereafter. Who wouldn't?

As I understand it, Roberts originally played a version that was closer to folk/bluegrass.

Still, cool song. I must have performed this one a thousand times.

Found a couple of versions by the Leaves and one by Led Zeppelin. I think that this Leaves version might have been pre-Hendrix. Probably the coolest version of the song that I have ever heard. The Led Zeppelin version aptly illustrates the difference between Hendrix and Page. No comparison IMHO. I wouldn't go as far to say that Page is a one trick pony, but his horse is a lot smaller than Jimi's.

Note the mis-credit for the songwriter on the single label.

EDIT: I added the Byrds' version which I find somewhat uninteresting. I have never been a huge Byrds fan anyway.

[patshep]

Page all the way, because he did more styles and played on good songs...
I love all of them, but Clapton became boring in the mid 70s, Beck just doesn't have albums I want to hear, and Hendrix is a close second, only second for me because Page had more different things going on... great acoustic folky stuff... amazing recordings all that... where Hendrix was pushing the guitar into new territory, he was too high to play sometimes and didn't have nearly as good of a band

[ccroft]

Why is this in the Guitars, Amps, and Gizmo section and not the Players section?

Maybe it should be in Other Styles?

I personally never really liked these guys that much the first time around. Hendrix deff influenced players that influenced me though. His sound and 'abstract expressionism'.

My vote goes to Jimi. We covered Third Stone in a band that billed itself as Live Jazz Exorcism. That was exciting!

I think I'm not qualified to comment on the others.

[blackcat]

Pointless.

And as someone here said - what is it doing in this section of the forum anyway?

[Hep To The Jive]

Yea, it's kinda pointless, we can only talk who we prefer, but their place in history is not a question, in that they are equally immortal.

I can only add this... British rock of that era rules and was more influential and exciting than American. Even Jimi's band was 2/3 English!

[Phil59]

Pointless.

And as someone here said - what is it doing in this section of the forum anyway?

A few people have complained that this thread is in the wrong place. A previous thread in this section morphed into a discussion about Jimmy Page and others. It inspired me to start this thread. Shame on me for not switching to the correct section!


A frequent poster on this site has this as his signature quote: "Learn to be indifferent to what makes no difference."--Marcus Aurelius. A wise thought!

[Peter C]

This thread is in the wrong place, and in the wrong forum. I would guess that a lot of the people frequenting said moved on from the world of Marshall stacks and pentatonic wailing some time ago. At least one guy here never even heard (of) them, which is fine. IMO.