Thread: Rolling Stone names Hendrix best guitarist ever

Well... Is he, or isn't he?
http://news.yahoo.com/rolling-stone-...054130594.html

On the pop side, you'd think the likes of Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana would get some love in that department.

On the classical guitar side, Liona Boyd, Narciso Yepes and Alexandre Lagoya are also worthy of consideration...

Man, this is a very difficult one to answer and it shouldn't be as he was one of my main influences both on guitar and Mitch Mitchell on drums...wow,...they do this all the time, though, don't they? I mean, Jerry Garcia never got the props he deserved as he was extremely unique and influential in so many way to what is now the jam band scene.

I think that if you take Jimi's recordings and I'm talking about the studio ones...you can easily see why they would name him that. The solo on All Along The Watchtower...his beautiful clean tone from the Strat on Bold as Love, Little Wing, Wait Til Tomorrow...pretty much everything he laid down in a studio was revolutionary for the time and is still impossible to recreate because of the effect use and really because of the style itself. In these respects, sure...he deserves to be called the greatest guitarist.

That being said,...this list can easily change daily as there are so many fine contributors to the electric guitar since man first decided to put a pickup on it!

... And how about Robert Johnson, the King of the Delta Blues? He influenced all of these guys... I spoke of Johnson in my Chrionique du disque last month.

That's what I'm saying...this is a list that can change daily!

No arguments from me if the category is solely hard rock - Hendrix didn't just push the electric guitar itself to new limits but also the whammy-bar and amplifier, too. Until Eddie Van Halen came along in 1978 with a fresh approach (or should I say with a new box of tricks) all hard rock guitarists were eating Hendrix's dust - but after all this time Hendrix's legacy is the strongest and has aged the best. EVH on the other hand spawned a million hair-metal 'tapping'-obsessed fretw*ankers who painted his style right into the corner.

These lists mean nothing. Hendrix and Segovia both played the guitar, but they inhabited very different musical worlds.

I like Rolling Stone for their investigative/political coverage. Their music coverage is of very little interest to anyone who is into modern/progressive music.

Originally Posted by starthrower

These lists mean nothing. Hendrix and Segovia both played the guitar, but they inhabited very different musical worlds.

I like Rolling Stone for their investigative/political coverage. Their music coverage is of very little interest to anyone who is into modern/progressive music.

God bless Segovia, but what has he, or any other classical guitarist for that matter, got to do with Rock n roll?

THE VOTERS: Trey Anastasio, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Brian Bell (Weezer), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), James Burton, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Gary Clark Jr., Billy Corgan, Steve Cropper, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing editor, Rolling Stone), Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Rick Derringer, Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Melissa Etheridge, Don Felder (The Eagles), David Fricke (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), Peter Guralnick (Author), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band), Brian Hiatt (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Lenny Kravitz, Robby Krieger (The Doors), Jon Landau (Manager), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Nils Lofgren (The E Street Band), Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe), Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Brian May, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds), Scotty Moore, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Tom Morello, Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Brendan O’Brien (Producer), Joe Perry, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Robbie Robertson, Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Carlos Santana, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marnie Stern, Stephen Stills, Andy Summers, Mick Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Vieux Farka Touré, Derek Trucks, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Nancy Wilson (Heart)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/li...rists-20111123

If we are talking of guitar in general (and we're including jazz, blues, classical, flamenco etc) definetely no. I don't think he is one of the best regarding deepness of expression. He was a great guitarist and a great innovator, but to me guitarists like robert pete williams, lenny breau, ed bickert, tisziji munoz (who is influenced by hendrix) just to name a few are a lot superior as musicians, though far lesser known.
But if we are talking only about the importance and the influence on rock guitar (and not just about "greatness") he is probably the most important rock guitarist ever for the use of distortion, feedback and effects like wah wah. Though i prefer listening to guitarists like Duane Allman, Peter Green, Jerry Garcia and others.

Does anyone really care what those media whores think anymore?

Originally Posted by regressivetransphobe

Does anyone really care what those media whores think anymore?

Well it tells us something about the current state of music when they can't even put musicians on the cover anymore.

Originally Posted by Philip

Well it tells us something about the current state of music when they can't even put musicians on the cover anymore.

yup, they have unleashed the vortex to which all artistic and musical creativity has been sucked into the void. The future, is the sound of black holes.

Originally Posted by norman bates

If we are talking of guitar in general (and we're including jazz, blues, classical, flamenco etc) definetely no. I don't think he is one of the best regarding deepness of expression. He was a great guitarist and a great innovator, but to me guitarists like robert pete williams, lenny breau, ed bickert, tisziji munoz (who is influenced by hendrix) just to name a few are a lot superior as musicians, though far lesser known.
But if we are talking only about the importance and the influence on rock guitar (and not just about "greatness") he is probably the most important rock guitarist ever for the use of distortion, feedback and effects like wah wah. Though i prefer listening to guitarists like Duane Allman, Peter Green, Jerry Garcia and others.

In terms of importance and influence he's as strong a contender as anyone, but let's not forget about Chuck Berry. Although he's technically not as great as Hendrix, Allman, Clapton, Page, Beck or the rest of 'em, he's the one that is the most responsible for making the guitar the most dominant instrument in rock and virtually every rocker after him played Chuck Berry licks. Keith Richards has practically made a career out of it.

Jimi utterly revolutionized guitar playing and music in general, so even if today's kids can play more notes per second, which is absolutely meaningless, no can touch Jimi on the electric guitar in my opinion. I'm so thankful I got to see him just a few months before he died. Here's a picture from the concert:

Originally Posted by jhar26

In terms of importance and influence he's as strong a contender as anyone, but let's not forget about Chuck Berry. Although he's technically not as great as Hendrix, Allman, Clapton, Page, Beck or the rest of 'em, he's the one that is the most responsible for making the guitar the most dominant instrument in rock and virtually every rocker after him played Chuck Berry licks. Keith Richards has practically made a career out of it.

Yes, i totally agree.

Perhaps they should have referred to "the best rock 'n' roll guitarist" rather than just "the best guitarist."