Arcade Fire said:
I play three instruments, and one of them is the guitar - although I'm not that good at it! This is what I mean though - Steve Vai may very well be incredibly inspiring to people who are already good guitarists, but Hendrix, like Elvis, inspired and influenced people who'd never even been near a guitar.
I disagree. I started to properly learn guitar when I discovered Joe Satriani's music. I wasn't, and still am not, a guitarist, but his music still inspired me to better myself, and opened my eyes to a whole world of music I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Hendrix did nothing to influence me at all, unless you include the Hendrix influences in Satriani's playing.
My opinion on Hendrix is one of the more controversial ones, and I'm fully expecting to get flamed for my views here, but I'm not ashamed to say what I think.
In my opinion, he was, and is, totally overrated. Songs that get raved about (Woodstock improvisation, for example) sound pretty awful to my ears. Sure, I like a few of the classics (Voodoo Chile, Little Wing, Purple Haze, All Along the Watchtower) but he isn't really much of an influence on me, and his music doesn't really do anything for me either. Many people idolise his sound, but that's something else that I hate. The Strat sound he used a lot sounds thin and weedy, and half the stuff he wrote came from drugs rather than from a real creative intellect.
Sure, he may have been a great showman etc, but he was inevitably going to burn out before long. Even some of the biggest fans of Hendrix I know say that his later performances were sloppy, and that the novelty value of them had passed. If he hadn't died when he did, I don't think he would be as famous, and I think his career would have gone downhill.
Maybe I'm just the wrong generation to 'get' his music. I didn't discover it until sometime last year, shortly after taking up the guitar, but even from the start, I never really understood what all the fuss was about. Take the opinions in this thread, a lot of people say 'I don't like his music, but he was the best gutiarist ever' (paraphrased slightly). How can you say something so blatantly oxymoronic? You don't like the music...but you still think he was great? Why? You're simply following the hype without thinking for yourselves.
cleanbluesky said:
Hendrix was and is a massive inspiration for me. In excellent guitar player, who played guitar in the way it should be played (with taste) rather than pure speed, brilliant song writer, passable singer and brilliant performer.
Passable singer - lol
And this speed comment that many people are making...take another look at the Woodstock Improvisation, here's a link for you -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2460058168987804953&q=jimi+hendrix&pl=true
Now, doesn't that look like a pretty decent stab at playing fast? I would say so.
He may be an influence on a huge number of people, I won't deny that, but that doesn't necessarily explain why he is regarded as being so brilliant by people that don't even like his music. I accept that without Hendrix, we wouldn't have Satriani, Vai, etc etc, at least not in the way that we know their music, but who's to say that someone else wouldn't have hit on that sort of style before long? I just don't get it.
If he hadn't died like he did, at the 'peak of his career', then I don't believe that he would be as widely known as he is now. Indeed, it's more the name 'Jimi Hendrix' that people know, rather than the music. It's just hype, and people blindly accept that Hendrix = best guitarist ever. I can say the name 'Jimi Hendrix' to people I know, and they know the name, but not many know the songs, not many know anything about him.
I may have constructed a few circular arguements there, since I'm not sure how to phrase what I'm trying to say, but I don't think I'm the only one with a hypocritical arguement.
Begun, the flame war has.
tTz
" in the exact same fashion of when I first heard surfing with the alien.