Speaking Of Talent - Jimi Hendrix

[Mixstar]

I don't see a lot of discussion about Jimi on here so what are your thoughts?

When he first emerged I was in two definite minds but I warmed to him and his style quite quickly. A friend of mine learned all his tunes as they came out so goaded me a bit/lot to get in to them. Looking back, I believe he was a huge part of the innovative blues/rock movement at the time and influenced many who followed him to try out new stuff. He certainly introduced me to cry babies and I'm certain electronica was spurred on by him. The mental thing is I started playing guitar before him but I obviously went backwards and he high went skywards

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Love his stuff. I especially loved how everything was in service to the song. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking, what about all those long solos? You have to realize that was the culture of the time. When one played live, one did those "extended versions" of the songs (cf. Song Remains the Same, Made in Japan, etc.), but his studio output was tight.

 

[László]

I remember being blown away by Hendrix when the first album was released in the US, and at the time I was still playing keys, so it wasn't just a guitar player thing to be into Hendrix; the guitar sound was wonderful, the songs were really well-written, everything was cool as could be.

If it was just about the guitar playing, I don't know if we'd still be listening to these records 50 years down the road.

One thing about the band was that the drummer, Mitch Mitchell, was jazz trained, and as with The Who, the drums followed the song expressively, as opposed to just laying down a bombastic groove. That was actually a feature of a lot of music back then, and it's fallen out of favor for some inexplicable reason.

 

[Huggy Love]

the drums followed the song expressively, as opposed to just laying down a bombastic groove. That was actually a feature of a lot of music back then, and it's fallen out of favor for some inexplicable reason.

Automation (DAW,MIDI,Drum Machines) and it's influence on listeners since their invention. But that's another conversation not for this thread.

As for Jimmy, I've heard too many people over the years talk about how god gifted he was like some bolt of lightening came out the sky and hit him as a kid and all of a sudden he was a musical genius. What Les mentions about Mitch Mitchell also applies to Hendrix and is even more telling to me. Like Miles Davis listened to classical music and other things at home rather than his jazz peers, Jimi listened to all kinds of other music forms and was very passionate about it. From what I've read he had some very eclectic tastes and I'm sure this fed his musical muse to create easily the most influential guitar music of that time.

Folks talk about "gifted" and that's cool, but to me Jimi just loved music more than most people, ate, slept & $#%ed it every day until he was so good and became the ultimate shooting star of rock.
(Would have been cool to hear him on a PRS)

 

[ozboy]

His songwriting, rarely gets enough credit. "the wind crys Mary" has some of the most poetic lyrics in all rock music, according to me . "Little wing" another short gem of a song, beautiful lyric, chord changes much copied solo. Of course that stuff is not what Jimi is famous for, thats more like "fire" or "all along the watchtower" but shows how much more to him there was than meets the eye at first glance.

 

[IKnowALittle]

Hendrix is the consensus #1 pick as the "greatest" rock guitarist by the experts. I've never seen, heard nor read a credible argument that would convince me otherwise.

 

[bodia]

I think his time on the "Chitlin Circuit" did more for his "development" than anything else. Crazy talented musicians, and showmen, to learn the ropes from. Not trying to take away anything from his talent, just saying he went to a great "school" with awesome "teachers." I always loved the mellower of his songs over the more psychedelic ones.

 

[Blues Trucker]

When Hendrix hit I was 2. When I "discovered" him he'd been dead,like, six years.
Hendrix ruled, still rules, and will rule till the end of time.
This isn't my opinion. Its just a fact of life.