Jimi Hendrix

[Mick-7]

I don't think that anyone who was not alive in the 60's when Jimi appeared on the music scene could possibly grasp how big an impact he had, especially on guitarists - pretty much shock and awe all around. No one had ever heard anything like his first album, "Are You Experienced."

[nyc chaz]

There are a few guitar players who upon hearing them, caused me to have a "road to Damascus" moment. Jimi Hendrix is one of them.

Here is my list:

John Lennon: I heard the Beatles as a young boy and I wanted to be a guitarist (and I pretty much have been since hearing them)

Eric Clapton: Hearing him with Cream made me want to be a LEAD guitarist

Jimi Hendrix: Hearing him made me want to learn more chords than the basics

Wes Montgomery: Hearing him made me want to be a jazz guitarist

Joe Pass: Hearing him made me want to be a SOLO jazz guitarist

Bireli Lagrene: Hearing him made me want to play Jazz Manouche

All six of those great guitarists changed my life and I owe them an un-repayable debt. I listen to them all regularly and frankly, I get Pissed off by the writings of mediocre guitar players who put down the great playing of these masters on forums such as this one.

But as they say, opinions are like assholes.....

Play on Little Wing....

That list would pretty much be my list growing up but i would have to substitute hearing Django for Birelli.For rock guitar,Hendix and Clapton pretty set the gold standard for generations to come and they established the Strat and Les Paul as the guitars everyone had to have.The one thing Jimi doesn't get enough love for is his writing as he penned many iconic rock tunes.

[Stringswinger]

That list would pretty much be my list growing up but i would have to substitute hearing Django for Birelli.For rock guitar,Hendix and Clapton pretty set the gold standard for generations to come and they established the Strat and Les Paul as the guitars everyone had to have.The one thing Jimi doesn't get enough love for is his writing as he penned many iconic rock tunes.

I heard early Django stuff back in the 70's and found it to be too old fashioned for my taste. I saw Bireli channel a later Django sound about 22 years ago and it drew me in. Having listened to Django's post war stuff, I now am a huge fan of Django.

And Les Pauls and Strats are still guitars that float my boat. Furthermore, you are spot on about the compositions of Jimi Hendrix. He was truly one of the greats.

[dasein]

I was born well after the 60's, long after many of his innovations had been absorbed into the mainstream (at least on a surface level). Hearing his music for the first time was a bit like watching Eisenstein's films for the first time. You watch "Battleship Potemkin" and you listen to "Purple Haze" and go, "This is cool, but why does everyone make such a big deal about it?" You don't initially realize that this where it all came from.

There was never a point I didn't really like his music, but when I was a young (re: dumb) teenager whose ambitions outpaced his skill, I would not have had him on my personal list of all-time greats. I wrote off the fact that he invariably topped everyone's list as more of a nod to his status as a historical innovator.

Thankfully, someone told me to check out "Band of Gypsies," and... oh man. The solo on "Machine Gun" alone absolutely floored me. I still think it's the greatest electric guitar solo ever played, in any genre. I later read that John Scofield feels exactly the same way. Even moreso than John McLaughlin, Sonny Sharrock, Tisziji Munoz, etc (all great players, don't get me wrong), Hendrix was able to channel that late Coltrane mega-watt spiritual intensity like no one else. The few bootlegs floating around of Arthur Rhames are the closest I've heard.

It wasn't until later (and many gigs later) that I also fully realized that Hendrix was almost certainly the greatest rhythm guitarist in the history of rock as well. Playing those parts really well, nailing the rhythmic and technical details, is damn near impossible. SRV came the closest.

He is one of the musicians, like Bird and Trane, where if a grown adult musician dismisses him, I known I can safely disregard just about any other opinion they might have.

[wolflen]

my yellow in this case is not so mellow

He wrote some classic songs

not jazz ..hmm..his solo on the "Wind Cries Mary" .. let a sax play that note for note

[nyc chaz]

I heard early Django stuff back in the 70's and found it to be too old fashioned for my taste. I saw Bireli channel a later Django sound about 22 years ago and it drew me in. Having listened to Django's post war stuff, I now am a huge fan of Django.

And Les Pauls and Strats are still guitars that float my boat. Furthermore, you are spot on about the compositions of Jimi Hendrix. He was truly one of the greats.

I get what you are saying about it sounding old fashioned which turned off a lot of my friends to him.I grew up with an uncle who had a huge 78's jazz record collection and from early on he would play them for me so that sound was never a turn off for me as i grew up with it.

[AdroitMage]

One thing Jimi had in common with jazz players is that he improvised when playing his songs live. He didn't play the rhythm guitar nor his solos 'exactly' the way they were on the recordings. He was nice and free with it and improvised somewhat like a jazz player. His music wasn't jazz so he didn't improvise as much as a jazz musician would, but the improv element is in there.

He did so much with just a Strat, a cranked Super lead, a wah, a fuzz face, and univibe its truly amazing. Then there's the Octavia on Purple Haze and here and there on other songs.

I think he would have explored some jazzier stuff eventually, but he just wasn't there yet.

He got so much out of so few effects. I would love to hear what he would be doing today with all the amazing effects we have today, both digital and analog. Can you imagine? Most of the pedal effects we all take for granted didn't even come about until about the mid 70s. Hendrix would be like a kid in a candy store with all the amazing tools we have available today and I'm sure the music he would be making with them would be mind blowing it would be so good.

[supersoul]

Hendrix was a great guitar player, but that's only a part of whom he was. To me it's his songs and lyrics that really live on, as well as his aura.
My favorite album is Axis: Bold As Love; it's all great tunes. The solo in Little Wing cuts off early. It could have been a long jam but he wanted the focus to be on the song itself; the melody, the chords, the lyrics.
Those "albums" that came out after his death are so tantilizing. Rainbow Bridge and Crash Landing are both full of great tunes. I think he was going into a new period after Electric Ladyland and Band of Gypsies, where he stretched out a lot, and it's a damn shame he died before he could finish it.
He loved Dylan. Hendrix's lyrics are just as good if not better than Dylan's. He did All Along the Watchtower better than Dylan.

[supersoul]

Not true, saw him when I was in high school at Winterland, in San Francisco (concert poster below) and he was supersonic - in his second set anyway, his first set kind of sucked, guess the inebriants had worn off or not kicked in yet, not sure which. He played a fiery version of Red House.

Mick, I'm jealous you got to see Hendrix.
Another friend of mine saw the Doors twice. The first time was great, the second time Jim was drunk off his ass and the show sucked.
That's how it goes when bands are taking risks; it can either fly or crash.

[Stevebol]

I might have heard Purple Haze on the radio and thought it was cool. What floored me was the SBB and Voodoo Child.
There's no one close on electric guitar and people will be listening to Jimi on and off until forever. The complexity of emotion, lyrics. He was a pretty good singer when he put effort into it.

I don't know if it was good or bad, getting a chance to be schooled in R&B. The mid 80's was an end of an era and I got a chance.
That was insane.

Hendrix was the biggest star in very turbulent times.

[Mick-7]

I think he would have explored some jazzier stuff eventually, but he just wasn't there yet.

Miles Davis really dug Jimi and word is they talked about recording an album together right before Jimi overdosed on a girlfriend's sleeping pills - such a senseless way to go.