Jimi Hendrix: The Most Influential Guitarist Of All Time?
Published January 03, 2004
From Robert Johnson and the macho posturing of "Me & The Devil Blues" to the boastful swagger of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" isn't a very long journey. Not chronologically or stylistically. To hear Jimi getting down & dirty on the acoustic guitar is to complete a full circle, from the Mississippi Delta to the South Saturn Delta and back again.
When Jimi would play the blues he wasn't so much calling up riffs from memory as he was channeling the ghosts of Patton, Brown, Johnson and others working their wicked magic in tumbledown juke joints all across the south. Like the best of these Pre WW 2 bluesmen Jimi's voice and guitar became one and the same, something at once both primodial and post modern. Hendrix brought the blues into the present without losing any of the urgecy, intensity or artistry which gives all good music it's timelessness. Blues was just one of Jimi's many influences.
From an early age Jimi soaked up the music around him just like a sponge. Jazz, Rock and Roll, Folk, Surf, Soul, Rhythm & Blues all became a part of his musical vocabulary. Having learned these styles until he could play them all backwards, forwards, blindfolded and in his sleep, he proceeded to then toss them out of the window and incorporate the shattered remnants into a style wholly, completely his own.
His influences included musical catalysts such as Robert Johnson, B.B. King, T- Bone Walker, Les Paul, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Chuck Berry, Link Wray, Muddy Waters, B.B King, Kenny Burrell, Albert Collins, Guitar Slim, Jimmy Nolen and many more. Taking the lessons he learned from these cats (showmanship as well as musical) he liberally mixed them with sheer volume, feedback, distortion & eastern drones. Topping that all off with his charismatic personality and raw talent and you have a combination that IMO can't be beat.
To give credit where credits due, Jimmy Page, Lou Reed, Jeff Beck, Mike Bloomfield and a handful of others had been experimenting with distortion, feedback, volume and other effects before Hendrix burst onto the international scene with his LP "Are You Experienced?" in 1967. But Jimi combined all these and more causing a serious re-evaluation by all guitar players on the scene, forever changing the way that the guitar would be approached. His influence has reached further into the musical psyche than anyone ever has before or since.
![Dark Magus: Live At Carnegie Hall [2-CD SET]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61RR4S5A7GL._SY90_.jpg "Dark Magus: Live At Carnegie Hall [2-CD SET]")
- Jimi Hendrix: The Most Influential Guitarist Of All Time?
- Published: January 03, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Classic Rock and Oldies
- Writer: HW Saxton
- HW Saxton's BC Writer page
- HW Saxton's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
I adore Jimi, but I don't think that "most influential guitarist of all time" is necessarily a good thing.
You may be right David.I was really just
trying to come up with an angle on Jimi
that hasn't been driven into the ground.
I dig his playing alot and listen to him
often,but I don't neccessarily think he
is the best player ever.Certainly,Jimi
mops up about 90% of the competition but
I don't really think that there is any
such a thimg as THE BEST guitarist ever,
since it all based on personal taste and
taste is relative and all that jazz.
Everybody's always talking about who is
the best player,fastest,etc.I take this
all into consideration when I'm judging talent but for me the longevity and the
depth of their influence is just as,if not maybe more important than their chops are.
Thanks for reading,much appreciated.
I saw Hendrix on film way back in the late '60's. 75% of the time his back was to his audience while he played to his amplifier. I know that he knew his way around a guitar,but I am not convinced he was the greatest player of all time. As has been said, it boils down to personnel taste. In my opinion, one of the greatest and most influential guitarist's of the 20th century was Les Paul, without a doubt.
Chet Atkins was no slouch, and if you wanted speed, Roy Clark would give anyone a run for their money! Of course, there was also Stevie Ray Vaughan.
If you were to ask all the "OTHER" guitarists named - and many not named (like Pete Townsend or Duane Allman) - I strongly suspect that they would capitulate to Jimi (I've heard MOST of them do so) - IF that's way it goes down, and I fervently believe it's so, SUBJECTIVE judgment aside - IF THEY humbly admit to Jimi's excelling supremacy, who are we to refute THEM - sure we are allowed OUR opinions but I think you'd agree, theirs holds more weight - and "I" submit THEY would ENTHUSIASTICALLY yield.
Jimi Hendrix had something designed in his DNA (NOT GOD), but GODlike, at least in his guitar playing prowess. His inspiration, and influence will live, live on, in the souls of countless musicians to come and perhaps so on 'ad infitem.'
Ah...here's a point for you to totally disregard. It is all
a matter of taste. As HW Saxton so righteously proposed. How to you quantify, qualify or even
define ART. Hendrix IMHO, was the greatest. But, that's just my opinion. See now, hear now...speed doesn't make you the greatest. Tone doesn't make you the greatest. Your influences don't, Its an amalgam all
all these parts, but overshadowed by the "song" or the
"muse" itself. And like him or not, Hendrix was influenced a great deal by Dylan. So there was the songwriting aspect as well. Frankly, there was a point where I got tired of Hendrix. Oversaturation on radio and TV (the twenty/thirty year anniversaries...this and that. But sometimes, now
"Wind Cries, Voodoo, Crosstown etc..." will pop up
on the radio, and just go "Hmm...that guy was really
fantastic, And it still sounds fresh. There are by far faster, cleaner and more "studied players" and many different geners. And I dig lots of them. But
so far, Hendrix is the high-water mark when referring to electric guitar playing in the context of popular music. There's No throne to be knocked of. Lets hope he and his disciples continue to influence future generations.
(see also Eric Johnson, Angus Young, Pete Townsend, "Keef" Richards, Karl Lubbering (who...you'll find out!!!) They all have distinct attributes to offer.
Jimi Hendrix expanded the range and vocabulary of the electric guitar into areas no musician had ever ventured before. Many would claim him to be the greatest guitarist ever to pick up the instrument. At the very least his creative drive, technical ability and painterly application of such effects as wah-wah and distortion forever transformed the sound of rock and roll. Hendrix helped usher in the age of psychedelia with his 1967 debut, Are You Experienced?, and the impact of his brief but meteoric career on popular music continues to be felt.
Jimi Hendrix is the best guitarist of all time.
1. pedro...thats from the official Jimi hendrix website and 2. hendrix is the most influential guitarist of all time, any band that uses harder distortion and fuzz are in one way or another linked to hendrix in one way or another
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/11405)
very nice HW, thanks!