TOP GUITARISTS OF ALL TIME,ONE"S OPINION

zaphod777 · Post by **zaphod777** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:14 am

A little touchy about our heroes are we?

I like them both....... for many reasons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT86jjGz60k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsEEW7ShpnM

and a little Dr. Know, thrown in for good measure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOAHFwrq ... ed&search=

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:28 am

Hey, zap... guilty as charged.

zaphod777 · Post by **zaphod777** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:30 am

Hey, zap... guilty as charged.

We all feel a bit overly passionate, at times, about those who have influenced and moved us. Passion and music go hand in hand.

Hendrix is always toward the top of my list of greats. but, he is just one of the multitude of twangers that I think of as "Great".
And,
Hendrix helped build the foundation, we all stand on today. I owe him a drink for that.

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:03 pm

I'd be more than happy to join you on that one.

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:51 pm

fillmore nyc wrote:I'd be more than happy to join you on that one.

+1 but, I'm not quite ready to meet him!

toner · Post by **toner** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:51 pm

I will choose Hendrix over Fripp any day, so no argument there.

However, his comments about Hendrix could be interpreted as "copying every minute thing Jimi did on the guitar isn't as valuable to young guitarists as appreciating the emotion and soul within in his music; his function was not just as a 'guitar player'."

Maybe I'm being too optimistic but I don't think his comments were totally negative.

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:47 am

[quote="toner"]; his function was not just as a 'guitar player'."quote]

The word "just" is key there. I could buy that.

zaphod777 · Post by **zaphod777** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:59 pm

copying every minute thing Jimi did on the guitar isn't as valuable to young guitarists as appreciating the emotion and soul within in his music

I think that is what he tried to express.
If your trying to "be" like Hendrix, then copying his "techniques" is missing the point. One would have to learn how to express there own "emotion and soul" through the instrument. Not to say Hendrix tunes arent chock full of techniques/ideas that can only make us play better, but, to reach his level of expression would take far more than just physical mastering the things he played.

Although much less vocal, Fripp has a similar dislike of the music industry as Zappa did. Unlike Zappa, who would readily, loudly, express his disdain of whatever pop drivel was flooding the airwaves at the moment, Its unlike Fripp to say anything negative about other musicians, he seems to have a very pro-musician/anti music industry stance.

Discipline Global Mobile
King Crimson guitar guru Robert Fripp has said that "Music exists DESPITE the music industry, not BECAUSE of it." He started DGM to counteract this, with some of their business aims including helping music to come into the world which otherwise wouldn't; to "operate in the market place, while being free of [it's] values" and "to be a model of ethical business in an industry founded on exploitation, oiled by deceit, riven with theft and fuelled by greed."

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 5:20 am

As far as Robert Fripp is concerned,the one brilliant album Twentyfirst Century Schizoid Man,or in the Court of the Crimson King,is the zenith of Bob's career for me,the league of crafty gentelman is just that,I refuse to take him seriously after that,no way do any of these comparisons to Hendrix,hold any creditability,as Jimi took all sorts of music we knew and melded it into a super incredible vision of space travel and other worlds,and his lead guitar playing still inspires awe in me to this day.
Yngwie dosen't criticise Jimi for having sloppy technique,he was absolutely inspired by Hendrix as was I as a young lad and he made all the things that we dreamed in our heads,possible on a stock Stratocaster,with the most horribly maintained Marshall amps in the history of the modern age of music.I learned so much for Jimi and have always thought as him as the real 'guvnor of rock guitar,EVh changed the tone chasing aspect of rock and flawless and tight rhythm playing,mixed in with great leads made you want to stop and listen,plus the Roth factor is often overlooked,

yngwie308

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:54 am

Well I have alway's loved Hendrix, since first hearing him (Uli Roth's work, which was often described as ''Hendrixy', got me into it second party so to speak). I do however completely agree with Fripp's analogy as being meant in a positive way, just like how Mclaughlin would talk of Hendrix, saying the jams they had were alway's over 'simple' chord changes. Mclaughlin would temper that statement with words like 'beautiful' and rhythmic in describing Hendrix. As for Hendrix's technique, well it wasn't, to me, what made him great. See, he could pull out some very technically demanding licks (Woodstock "Izabella" outro or BOG's "Machine Gun") that were unorthadox in how he played them (using his thumb, and just man handleing them). I hear a little Mclaughlin in those repeated "stacked" pentatonic runs, though ,through Hendrix's hands ,they became more savage and visceral. I also hear hendrix at times play bad and his licks come off wrong (Ilse Of White) He relied so much on "feeling" it, that he had a hard time playing when he didnt feel it. Like some players just have to remember scales and fabricated licks to play, that was opposite of Hendrix. His playing was as deep emotional as well as intellectual as one could be.

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:49 pm

Tone Slinger you make an excellent statement regarding 'feel' playing ,as that is the type of playing that I do,I never have practised or properly played out,but when I pick up any of my guitars,as I first taught myself,it is an exciting adventure,this dosen't always make for the best technique,in my case,but I still get the buzz of travelling up and down the fingerboard,and feeling the notes,that's why Jimi is so special.'
He is the master of feel players.
Machine Gun and the whole Band of Gypsys album,but especially Machine Gun the whole thing the rhythms and the tone and when the first solo kicks in,is always magical and makes my hairs rise !
One unusual thing about Machine Gun is that Jimi is tuned down a
whole step,not the usual half step that he normally preferred for live performance.In fact ,on the opening cut Who Knows,he's tuned down a half step,and tunes down an additional half step while introducing Machine Gun.(Tuning down a whole step was often used by Hendrix after this point,one example being the Atlanta 7/4/70 show;Jimi's disciple Stevie Ray Vaughn,also tuned down a whole step for many of his live performances.)
Tuning down a whole step definitely adds to the heaviness of the tune.
This analyis is courtesy of the brilliant Andy Aledort,who is the master Hendrix transcriptionist and interpreter.
yngwie308

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:10 pm

I'm going to have to vote for Paul Gilbert here. The guy is phenomenally brilliant across many styles.

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:02 pm

Necrovore wrote:I'm going to have to vote for Paul Gilbert here. The guy is phenomenally brilliant across many styles.

While I would agree that Paul Gilbert is a very technically gifted guitarist, I dont think that he, like most of his "shred peers", gets the recognition his level of playing deserves. Lots of people know who he is, but I dont think, as great a player as he is, that he will ever achieve the status of "legend". Hendrix obviously is beyond legendary. Ritchie Blackmore, Johnny Winter, Jorma Kaukonen, Duane Allman, David Gilmour, and more recently, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen all deserve the moniker of "legend". Somehow, after its all been done for a couple of decades, the newer players, as phenomenal as they are, seem to be missing "something" compared to their predecessors. I hear so many young guitar players, whose primary exposure to this art IS the newer breed of players, downplay the significance of the founders of rock guitar. Its really sad that our culture fosters such an "instant gratification" frame of mind, in that everything has to be neatly packaged, all of it has to fit in a 3:05 songframe, and it had BETTER be the fastest, most technically difficult phrase the world has ever seen. It really sucks, and IMHO, is one of the reasons so much stuff these days has a 15 minute shelf life, and everything, including people, families, and jobs, seem to be expendable at the drop of a hat. This probably seems like somewhat of a rant, considering the initial topic of this thread, but you caught me at a "WTF" is wrong with the world mood. Apologies in advance.

, but

!!!!

toner · Post by **toner** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:38 pm

A lot of it comes down to the record companies. Most of the general public will consume whatever is heavily advertised. I'm a little surprised that any kid would even want to pick up a guitar these days, considering most of the current music. They're more likely to learn looping and synth programming.

There is still hope though! When I was giving a lot of lessons a couple of years ago I would regularly have kids bring in Jimi, Cream, SRV, ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, etc. and they were genuinely interesting in learning to play it!

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:10 am

toner wrote:A lot of it comes down to the record companies. Most of the general public will consume whatever is heavily advertised. I'm a little surprised that any kid would even want to pick up a guitar these days, considering most of the current music. They're more likely to learn looping and synth programming.

There is still hope though! When I was giving a lot of lessons a couple of years ago I would regularly have kids bring in Jimi, Cream, SRV, ZZ Top, Black Sabbath, etc. and they were genuinely interesting in learning to play it!

Hey, toner...thats great to hear that younger players are still into learning Jimi's, etc riffs. I was recently talking to my nephew and his friend (both beginning guitar players, about 14 years old), and they were telling me how they "hated" Pink Floyd, but loved "the guys who play guitar in Avenged Sevenfold". They didn't even know their names, but they were "the best" and I wasn't "down with whats happening in new music". I dunno, maybe they're right. I try to have my ears open to new, unique things, its just that, with painfully few exceptions, I dont hear that happening today. I totally agree with you that kids these days would be hard pressed to even consider guitar as a form of musical expression, with what is being rammed down their throats in advertisement, and just generally what is available in modern music. I suppose its more or less like when computers started affecting different industries. Some people complained that things aint what they used to be, and some people jumped on the bandwagon, and rode with it. I guess Im still in the complaining stage when it comes to music, and Ill probably turn into one of those old guys that sits on the boardwalk at some old folks home, crabbin' away about the good old days, and how kids these days dont know jack. (seems like Im off to a good start already!!)

, and a little

, but still