Jimi Hendrix Truely Is/Was The Greatest Guitarist

“There is a reason why Jimi always tops the charts wrt greatest guitarist who ever lived. Sure there are those who know their scales and can run up and down them with lightning-fast speed, but when it comes to intuative playing and creativity, Jimi is in a class among himself.

He could play the guitar, and I DO mean play the guitar, anyway he wanted to. Left and right handed, upside down, behind his back, strung upside down, under his legs, with his teeth, with his elbows.....i could go on. Noone else was doing this type of "Schtick" at the time. And his use of feedback was unheard of at the time...as others were simply using it to enhance their sound, Jimi experimented and used AT COMMAND as many different types of feedback coming from every source he could figure out to create a sound like no other. Even using feedback from his guitar while it was onfire sounds rather off the wall, but it worked and noone dared to even think of doing something like that. He was a true genius in the sense of guitar creativity and paved the way for future guitarists and how they play their instrument...and he made such an impact that most will agree that he was, and still is, thought of as the greatest guitarist who ever lived.


LONDON, UK (Guitar News Magazine) - Rock icon Jimi Hendrix has been voted the greatest guitarist of all time in a poll by a leading European guitar magazine Tuesday. (2002-08-07)

Top 100 Guitar Solos Of All Time: Jimi Herdix's songs listed three times in just a top 20. Having said this, a dispute over best guitarist of all time can be ended.


Does "Jimi Take Over" when it comes time for choosing the greatest guitar player of all time? Readers of Total Guitar magazine think so, and have voted the psychedelic rocker who recorded such hits as "Fire," "Foxey Lady" and "Purple Haze" the greatest guitar player ever.

The Greatest Guitarist of All Time: Radio KVGL Poll AND Rolling Stone Poll

CAN I GET A WITNESS???”

“Sure there are those who know their scales and can run up and down them with lightning-fast speed, but when it comes to intuative playing and creativity, Jimi is in a class among himself.

Totally agreed, Buddurdude. His creativity made for music that remains popular and has passed the test of time. Too bad noone around him stopped Jimi from his downward spiral. Imagine what other music he would have still been putting out.”

“I disagree, he was defintely one of the best, but in playing skill there are several guitarists that top him. Vai, Satch, Ywengie (however you spell his name) probably top him in playing ability, IMO.”

“"Vai, Satch, Ywengie..."

Yeah, but those guys don't have the "soul".

I saw Eric Johnson here at the First World Guitar Congress at my university with my 18-year-old son and two other boys, all guitar players.
The guy has amazing chops, as do two of the boys, but we all agreed that we don't need to see him again.......too much flash, no soul.

Dick Dale(67) and his 12-year-old son played the opening set sittin' in chairs with plugged-in acoustics and no band.
WOW!!!!
John Schofield was #2 and knock-out.
Dick Dale was simply the best, though.


I don't believe Jimi was on a downward spiral.
He had an amazing tolerance for barbiturates and booze, a sometimes deadly combination.

Jimi fans should hear the BBC Sessions.
Much of it was pre-wah-wah, like Are You Experienced and Axis Bold As Love.
The early stuff was just a small tube amp, probably a 20 Watt Fender Blackface Deluxe Reverb and a Stratocaster driven hard into overdrive and the hands of a real artist.

BBC Sessions.....

When I listen to my copy of Are You Experienced that I bought in the Spring of '67, it never sounds dated.....it is the best of his work.
(I took care of my LP's)”

“Wait till Nigal gets wind of this thread!”

“The amp was driven hard, that is.

Those amps have real sweet "natural" overdrive beginning at about 6 of 10 on the volume.

Jimi Page recorded the first Led Zepplin album with a Fender Telecaster and a 20 watt Supro amplifier driven hard.”

“Yeah, Nigal is full of wind. >8^P~~”

“You guys have obviously never heard of Tiny Tim. THAT guy could tip toe through some riffs, man. Duuuude, no doubt. Jimmy who?”

“Introducing the greatest guitarist of ALL TIME...



Mr. Keith Partridge.”

“for any blues/southern/texas rock fans it would have to be stevie ray vaughan”

“jimi used to go and watch dick dale play all the time when he (jimi) played in little richard's band....dick's surf music was a huge influence on jimi....”

“i'll give jimi his props but, in my opinion, stevie ray was better.”

“Andres Segovia, Mark Knopfler, Mike Campbell.....???”

“Hey Baume66...a few days ago while listening to the CDs of Jimi at Woodstock the thought came to my head...What if Jimi had played a banjo? lol”

“haha. go here and click on the heavy metal banjo download. this guy is getting it. he plays an altered gibson rb-250 5 string. i have heard a few others he has done.”

“here is his nowhere radio web page. he has a number of tunes on there.

here is his homepage.”

“If Jimi had picked up a banjo, he would have played the hell out of it!

Stevie Ray is one of my favorites, but where do y'all think he got his style?

.....the hats, the hippy-dippy clothing and the sound.”

“Jimi is the greatest ever and anyone who disagrees is insane (so don't listen to them).”

“Sooooo, you're sayin' Nigal is insane?”

“Isn't that pretty obvious by now?”

“Yes, but he's fun to play with!”

“I like Roger McGuinn, he plays a wicked twelve-string.”

““Vai, Satch, Ywengie (however you spell his name) probably top him in playing ability, IMO."

Yeah, but these guys never killed themselves with drugs so they aren’t as cool or mystical. LOL! I love Satriani and have seen him many times live (drove 4 hours last time) but I’m not sure he’d be called better per say. Jimmi was his greatest influence btw. Malmstiene is just apples to oranges. He’s faster for sure but his classical background puts him in a whole other realm but, yes, I’d call him better too.

Vai…now you have hit on someone head and shoulders above the crowd. Talk about someone who really CAN do and play anything he chooses. I never heard Jimmi attempt anything outside the realms of rock, blues or just distortion. Vai constantly pushes his level of competence by playing and writing music considered outside of his sphere. His live album “Live in an Ultra World” was a double live CD and each song was written in a different cultural sphere. One minute you are listening to him play a sitar on a Turkish song and then the next he’s doing a French ballad. Vai has played with the Tokyo Symphony for a show called Strings of Fire where he played probably the most complicated composition of music ever written.

The Jimmi fans can try and try all they like to convince me he was a gawd but it’ll never wash. Going beyond his over rated playing I simply don’t respect him as a person. He was a drug addict that died because of his vain self pleasure. I loved Kurt Cobain (go-bang). He was no guitar gawd but he was very good at what he did. But he was an idiot and wasted his life. He gets no respect from me.

To suggest that just because someone doesn’t like something means they are too stupid to understand it is asinine.”

“i'm with salebored about knopfler and campbell....two of the most innovative guys around today....

campbell (tom petty band) is probably (imho) the most underrated guitarist of our time....plays some absolutely blistering solos at their live shows and doesn't hog the limelight....

knopfler's duets with chet atkins were absolutely amazing....since chet is gone knopfler is the leading candidate to be king of the finger pickers....”

“Eddie Van halen and Jeff Beck where purdy good too.....

Didn't Hendrix play Upside down ?”

“My OPINION is the only one that counts and you are all a bunch of poo poo heads!!!! ;-)



Mike Campbell IS underrated. His work with Petty made Petty the superstar. He wrote, with Don Henley, two of my most fav songs of all time, The Boys of Summer and Heart of the Matter. Henley's career was headed into the crapper untill those hits.”

“i have all of knopfler's stuff. neck and neck (with atkins)is a great album. he is extremely innovative and can make a song out of anything. he is probably the most overlooked for being great that i can think of.”

“snafu
Jimi played straight lefty on a right handed guitar that was strung left-handed.
Coco Montoya plays upside-down and so does Dick Dale(his 12 year old son plays straight righty).

Nigal can't even spell "Jimi".
And I don't believe Jimi was a "drug addict", just a user.
Maybe it was Jimi's white girl friends that bothers ya. >8^P~

The boys and I saw Johnny Winter last year in a small joint.
Now there's a drug user who's barely coherant or alive.
They had to help him to and from his chair.
He was "on" but kinda slow.

One of my favorites is Robert Cray.....another Fender Stratocaster player who's guitar has the sweetest natural sound.

Give a listen to Rory Gallagher's BBC Sessions, you guys.”

“"Nigal can't even spell "Jimi".
And I don't believe Jimi was a "drug addict", just a user."

"addict", "user", dumbazz". Call it what ya will he died for his drugs and that's a waste.

"Maybe it was Jimi's white girl friends that bothers ya."

Why would this bother me? Color means nothing to me. Unless of course you are trying to simply muddy the issue of talent (or the lack thereof) by trying to suggest I don't like inter-racial dating. If so it's one of your weaker attempts at redirection.”

“Zapppp!!!!

Razzzzz!!!!

I'll never change your mind about anything, ya big doodoo head! >8^]”

“"Vai…now you have hit on someone head and shoulders above the crowd. Talk about someone who really CAN do and play anything he chooses......"


I'd add Randy Rhodes to this list as well. If he completed his life, he would have been the end all, be all. F----in` master.

I'd take either Vai to Rhodes to the fight, between 'em Rhodes hands down.


Sad thing: As an artist, you are rarly ever truly *known* as a creditible artist while you're alive.

They always shine that hallo up a little :)”

“Randy was awesome and we will never know what the extent of his talent truly could have been because his career didn’t span a great variety or time frame. If he could have performed outside the venue of a “band” he could have been stunning. It’s when guitarists are able to do what they want outside of a band they really shine. Nuno Bettencourt is a great example. He was good with Extreme but I never knew how great he was until he left and did his first solo that I saw just how great he really was. When Vai stepped away from Zappa and David Lee Roth he really showed what he could do with his CD Passion and Warfare. Even back in the day…did anyone know what Clapton was truly capable of when he was with bands?”

““I'll never change your mind about anything, ya big doodoo head! >8^]”

Not when you try to convince me with weak arguments like “You don’t like him cause he dated white girls.”.”

“Don't hate me 'cause I'm a jackass.

Mick Abrahms was a hot $h!t.

Nils Lofgren is another great player from the D.C. area but I was never crazy about his material.

Nils dropped out of Montgomery County high school at 16 to seek his fortune in NYC.

I saw his band Grin at a Montgomery County youth center in '69....hot!

Two other D.C. boys, who killed themselves intentionally with firearms instead of drugs, were Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan.”

“click on this. it will download a guy jamming on a 5 string banjo.”

“try this.”

“well, it's obvious you guys have never heard Tony Rice.”

“Tony Who?”

“the greatest flat picker ever.”

“he was also an awesome singer before he lost his voice.”

“Heck yeah! And I have a friend up here who can imitate him pretty good too. It's amazing to sit in a jam session w/ him and listen to him play.”

“Its obvious none of you cats never heard of Monster Mike Welch or Smokin' Joe Bonamassa!

Yet more Masters of the Stratocaster!!!”

“"well, it's obvious you guys have never heard Tony Rice."

Ah YEAH! He is only one of the greatest recievers to ever play the game and he is definitely the greatest 49er ever. DUH!”

“I think its pretty reasonable to call Hendrix a drug addict, he was arrested at least once for Heroin and a drug overdose led to his death. Many of his biographers consider him an addict.

I also think it reasonable to consider him the greatest guitarist ever, but I ain't no musician so my opinion don't count for much there.”

“"....but I ain't no musician so my opinion don't count for much there."

Yeah, you and Nigal both.

Thanks pedxing, I never heard about any heroine use, but find it very believable.

A lot of those guys snorted heroine but didn't take it IV.
Eric Clapton admitted snorting in an interview.

Playing at that level requires 4-8 hour per day practice and can be quite painful.

That's what is meant by selling one's soul......that's all some of these people do.

Some don't have much of a life outside of music.”

“Anyone ever hear of Buckethead?

Now that dood is an underrated, imo.”

“Bo Diddley was the the modern guitar king,you know.”

“""....but I ain't no musician so my opinion don't count for much there."

Yeah, you and Nigal both."

Sha right! A person don't need a driver's licence to know when someone's a shltty driver Tom. I love music more than just about everything else and a person doesn't have to be a musician to know what they like and dislike or even as a judge of talent. And like I've said before, if this is a valid point you should shut your pie hole about Bush until you become president.”

“Have you ever seen the John Carpenter movie "Ghost of Mars Budder? Buckethead and Anthrax did all the music for it. Very good.”

“Nigal, you are such a weenie!

>8^P~~~~

There is no accounting for taste.

But as Duke Ellington said, "If it sounds good, it is good."

Have another twinkie and rock on!”