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jimi hendrix...whats the big deal?


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Hey there stevejoshlay1 and thanks for coming back at me man.....

 

Ritchie Blackmore (<grin>who rocks your 70's boat<grin>) admits to being inspired by Hendrix, especially on the whammy bar, Ritchie said in an interview some time way back:-

"I was impressed by Hendrix. Not so much by his playing, as his attitude - he wasn't a great player, but everything else about him was brilliant. Even the way he walked was amazing. His guitar playing, though, was always a little bit weird. Hendrix inspired me, but I was still more into Wes Montgomery. I was also into the Allman Brothers."

 

When GM was helping me along, Jimi came up several times, always favourably. So I pass on to you words Gary passed on to me. Go listen to some Hendrix (Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland, Band of Gypsys), avoid the posthumus out-takes and the crappy bootlegs. Listen carefully and with an open mind and hear what Jimi is playing. You probably STILL won't like it, but there is stuff in there which is just so powerful good it ought to inspire you just a little bit.

 

Oh - and get some old Miles Davis (*****es Brew, Live-Evil, On The Corner) whilst you're doing that, and some Coltrane or Mingus - man, there is so much stuff to pick up musical inspiration from.....

 

.....and that's before you even START on the old Blues players.

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No worries man' date=' nobody has to like everything. That's cool.

 

[...']

 

All I have to go on are a handful of recordings, some live footage, and stories from people that got to see him for real.

 

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV74PsUo1dc[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

 

What I like about this video is that it highlights the strange depth of Hendrix. In the opening he has some bland banter and some very normal sounding strumming and tuning. He could be anybody. Then suddenly he hits that first explosive note and he BECOMES Hendrix. It's a metamorphosis.

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I don't think it's a fuss.....

 

But it's more on how you presented it[confused] ..... You knowing there are a ton of Hendrix fans' date=' and you basically state that those that like Hendrix basically don't have a basis for thinking he's good[confused'] ..... And the main reason Jimi gets the notoriety he does is because he died young[blink] ... Pretty chicken-sh** statement if you ask me.

 

This threads reminds me when a poster makes a thread about knocking RO, R9 and R8 reissue guitars...... And can't understand why people buy them, and questions their decisions for the purchase...... IMO a train-wreck of a thread in the making.

 

In a nut shell, you put the target on this thread so you're gonna have to deal with the rebuttals........ Or if you want, I can shut it down[cool]

 

I thought you were a moderator, not a troublemaker. Stop swearing, dude. No need for it. [biggrin]

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I have a few Hendrix issues myself, and over the years I've come up with explanations for most of them!

 

1: I think the reason I never really got into Hendrix was that even if I never really listened to him, he was always there anyway. He's just hard to avoid if you play guitar, listen to a lot of music, and hang out with other musicians and go see local bands and such. I think by the time I started to look back at older music and players, I was already tired of Hendrix's playing by hearing people copy licks, and most of all tired of the few songs of his that I actually think are any good because they've been played to death. So I just skipped him.

 

2: There definitely is a shove down your throat thing going on with Hendrix, more so than any other players. Sure he was talented, and maybe he even were the best ever, I have no problems seeing him win greatest rock guitarist ever type polls. But I really get annoyed by people, guitarists, other musicians and non musicians alike, who will yell HENDRIX WAS THE GREATEST!! and no matter what will claim that guitar began and ended with him. And there seem to be quite a lot of them, more so than for any other classic guitarist that I can think of. (maybe for Jimmy Page in this particular forum though!) I dunno, but I often feel that many people, whether they actually have a clue about guitar players or not, often just default to saying Hendrix was the greatest just because and not giving that much thought to why. But I also understand that beyond Hendrix's playing he was a very marketable persona, with the dressing like a pimp, smashing guitars and setting them on fire, humping the amp stack and all that, and that is what a lot of people will remember.

 

To sum it up, I think Jimi the legend outgrew Jimi the musician over the years, and that might not have been an entirely good thing.

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... But I also understand that beyond Hendrix's playing he was a very marketable persona' date=' with the dressing like a pimp, smashing guitars and setting them on fire, humping the amp stack and all that, and that is what a lot of people will remember.[/quote']

 

Which is probably why he quit doing it. Then he caught flack for simply playing and not hot-dogging. Go figure.

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