Was Hendrix that good or even a genius?

[Jimi75]

Hey poeple of the fret,

This much can be said upfront:
I am a Jimi fan through and through. I had the big luck to meet Noel Redding as well as Mitch Mitchell and have spent some time with them to know what they had to say about Jimi. They said that you can not imagine how overwhelming he was. However, I'll try not to fall into the usual Jimi praise and old stories. I just thought about what a musician/guitarist has to do/reach to meet with Jimi's efforts (and also efforts of many other players out of Jimis era). Think about the fact that you only have 4 years to achieve what Jimi achieved.

-At the time you start playing the guitar there are no Steve Vais or Eddie van Halens. Your influences consist of some old blues guys that play the 12bar Blues up and down. Also some white boy Blues (Elvis).
- You start from zero. No youtube, no tabs, no records most of the time just radio
-Great musicians of all different genres call you a musical genius
-Being a lefty doesn't make things easier...knobs in your way...all the time.
-Going to a foreign country and revolutionizing the scene in that country. Imagine you make players like Beck, Clapton (called GOD at that time), Townshend and many others drop their jaws and those guys fear losing their jobs.
-You are under 27 years old…talking mental maturity...and you got the Blues down like no other...
-You are a very good singer
-You are a great lyricist and songwriter
-You have 4 years to record 4 Milestones that will change not only the guitar world forever
-You write at least 2 of the best guitar solos ever throughout your career
-You revolutionize recording technology (Flange, delay) listen to the Song Are You Experienced
- You revolutionize at least 4 technical devices Fuzz, Wah, Vibe, Guitar
-You foresee things like Drum & Bass beats (Gypsy Eyes)
-You will do something completely new and I mean completely new. Something that
has never been heard that way before and you are commercially very successful.

I am sure there are more points. Sure, Jimi managed to play some paralyzing lame and long solos, he had his uninspired moments, he was sloppy at times, but we have to set his achievements into the context of that time he was active. Sure a Steve Vai or Eric Johnson are way better guitar players technically, but Jimi really came with something new. Imagine being a young musiscian at that time (check the charts of 1966 or 1967...oh my god) and then comes this guy and you hear something new and beautiful for the first time.

Hendrix was the complete package. It wasn't only his guitar playing, but his vision of music, his relation to music. I still know only very very few poeple that are able to play Little Wing with that special touch. Think of the chordal stuff he did. Little wing, Castles Made Of Sand. This was so many lightyears ahead of what the rest did. If you have the chance to listen to studio bootlegs out of the time Jimi recorded Axis Bold As Love, you will hear rhythm play like also today almost no one can play with such attitude. He had the best tone, not only at that time - still today his tone is the most quested for guitar tone! Think of the guitar sound on the Band Of Gypsys album.

I think no other guitar player has been more influential than Jimi. Just listen to R&B music and how the guitars are played on modern records. It's all Jimi. The Hendrix chord, iconic looks, hey...how many Strats did Fender sell due to Jimi? Clapton and Beck switched to the Strat because of Jimi.

I think, and this is just my personal opinion, in 50 or 60 years, when nobody is talking about Steve Vai or other guitarists, Hendrix will still be there and his music will still be one of the big reference points in guitar related music and pop and rock culture.

So no matter what other poeple think, what the prog geeks say and so far and so on, Jimi Hendrix was a musical genius that in modern rock music has to be set as high leveled as some of the classical composers.

I salute players like Mark Knopfler, Scotty Moore, Rory Gallagher and many more, but Hendrix was so much more complex, deep, complete and innovative. I intentionally exclude SRV, but that's maybe a topic for another thread :-)

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share your opinion and experience with Jimi's music, or shall I say...let the beating begin (time for the big Bonamassa revenche *lol*)?

[sumitomo]

Nice write up Jimi!!!I'm still amazed on how good Hendrix did on stage with all the rocket fuel and whatnot that was running through his veins.I remember picking a guitar up one time when I was fueled up ready to head to Mars and the damm thing kept melting in my hands then would reappear again.Sumi

[Spudman***]

I think Jimi was good. I don't know about genius, but I have no problems saying that he was innovative, creative, inspired and driven. He certainly paid his dues prior to becoming the front man for his own group, and he gained tons of experience from that in his effort to be recognized. As he was given freedom to be outlandish and creative as a sideman I'm sure that prepared him for the next inevitable step which was to become recognized as an artist. Take Jethro Tull for example, like Jimi in the beginning they were playing blues tunes like Jimi was, but after gaining some degree of success and given more rein they became an incredibly creative musical force. I feel like this was Jimi's path as well. He just happened to be clever enough to examine all that was available to him and put it to new creative use.

[marnold***]

It is undeniable that Hendrix changed everything. There are very few people or groups you can say that about. The Beatles and Sabbath come to mind. I really wish I knew what kind of music he would have put out as a, say, 50 year old. I have kind of a love/hate relationship with him. Some of his stuff is among my all-time favorites (e.g. All Along the Watchtower, Purple Haze, Spanish Castle Magic). But when he gets into the really freaky psychedelic stuff I'm reaching for the track changer. I've got a couple of Hendrix compilations and that pretty much meets my Hendrix needs.

In many cases, though, I prefer hearing SRV's interpretations of Hendrix than Hendrix himself. That is probably due to the fact that the first time I ever heard Little Wing, for example, it was SRV's version. I might very well feel different if it had been the other way around.

[Robert****]

I completely agree. I would like to add that Jimi had SOUL like no other guitar player. He played from his heart, and out came wonderful expressions that changed how we think about guitar today. That soul (as I see it) is something rare in guitar players today.

By the way, I personally think he didn't write any solos - basically just improvising. He had some direction for the solos worked out perhaps, but I doubt he worked them out in complete detail.

So yeah, I would say he was a genius, even more than a "guitar god". He wrote and created music that changed everything, and he did it so quickly and in such a mind blowing, using his guitar as his main way of expression (although I think he was great singer too).

[Rotor]

Couple things I've heard over the years:
Jimi hated singing, he was brutally shy.
Jimi was bored to tears, that's why he did things like playing behind his head or with his teeth.

I 'discovered' Jimi in '76 or so at the impressionable age of 14. As has been stated, no body had ever done what he did to a guitar. He was, and always will be, the first. You have to give him credit for that. Fan??? Oh yea!

[hubberjub***]

Hendrix was an innovator with a natural musical ability. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for advancing the guitars place in music. That being said, I have never been the biggest Hendrix fan. Technically speaking, there were better players (both in his day and today). Hendrix' style wasn't about technique, it was just someone who possessed an almost spiritual connection with his chosen instrument and had an amazing ability to express emotion with the guitar.

[ZMAN]

Up until Hendrix I had listened Jazz and Blues thanks to my mother. We had the beatles and Rolling Stones the Animals etc. until THAT DAY! My buddy who was a bit of an album collector. He worked Downtown for the news paper as a type setter and was next door to a record store. He was always able to be the first one with an album. He called me almost breathless and said I HAD to come over IMMEDIATELYr and listen to an album. First of all the picture on the jacket blew me away. Are You Experienced changed my life. I had never heard anything like that and I knew I would be a guitar player some day.
Hendrix did things with a guitar I had never heard and I remeber hearing about his audition for the Isley brother. He played the whole set and won the job, and he only had 3 strings on his guitar an nobody noticed!
Later in life the Drugs took over and he became mediocre. Who knows what might have happened to him if he had done as Clapton did and kicked the drugs.
One thing though is that his first 4 albums are worth listening to again. I try to once a year. I always brings a lift to me and a smile to my face.

[pedalbuilder***]

I don't really think there's a question here, is there? Whether it's to any individual's personal taste or not, the man did so much (which you've done a nice job of summarizing) that it can't be denied that he was one of the great musicians of the 20th Century, and there are credible arguments that he was the greatest rock/blues/psych guitar player. Most people I've ever met who deny Hendrix's genius have only listened to bits of it - a lot of people don't know the breadth of the music he produced in his short time. So - to answer my own question, and yours, - no, there is no question that the man was a fantastic player, a genius and a legend.

Side Note: I happen to own an amp that was once used by Joey Dee and The Starlighters, and rumor has it that Jimi played this amp during his short fill-in stints with that band. It's my favorite piece of gear because of it's possible brush with that much mojo (it doesn't hurt that it sounds great either!) . . . true story? Who knows - anybody who would know has passed away. Fun story? Yeah!

[Commodore 64***]

He might be a guitar god/genius/visionary, but after 1 or 2 songs I've had enough for a month or so.

[tremoloman***]

Watch/listen to these and you be the judge.
*NOBODY* played like this when this was recorded... he was in a league of his own.







If it weren't for Jimi I never would have picked up the guitar.

[Commodore 64***]

OK Johnny B. Goode and VOodoo Chile were pretty damn good.

[msteeln]

I don't think his drug use was nearly the hindrance to him that his total rip-off mis-management was, that is what stifled his progress and may have been his ultimate demise. Jimi could handle the drugs, he couldn't handle anyone impeding his desires. Chas Chandler became Jimi's biggest professional asset, but his linking Jimi to mafia-minded Jefferies was the hugest mistake. Yet dispite the hassles he, like a fine wine, kept getting better with the few years he had. Too bad in so many ways that he became a victim of his own success.

Without even listening to his music but instead merely hearing the accolades virtually every great guitarist has to say about him puts him above all others. 'Genius' is tricky ground, but as an insecure child growing up in Seattle's hotbed of killer players he was certainly claimed by music and driven from an early age to get a guitar sound going that was first equal to what he listened to via his dad's blues record collection & radio hits and then push it beyond the norm as only a few others were at the time, which along with his 'distracting' ways helped get him kicked out of more bands than he was ever in. There were artists he admired for their flash/innovation and he was always looking to stand out similarly, starting with optimum abilities, then his own stylish things like more hair than others, flashy dress points, showmanship and feedback (which both took him years to perfect far beyond annoyance), but it wasn't until mid '66 when he met Linda Keith who shared her most current UK records and LSD with him that he seriously started getting past the staid conservative R&B confines of the day, then heading off to England and actually hearing/seeing the British guys going nuts is what handed him the license to truly be a Wild Thing and with it the crown of the all-time guitar King, all the while quickly developing the sense to produce records and concerts that give legit reasoning to say 'genius', whether factual or not. Basically, he was the right guy at the right time, dedicated to his visions, and worked his butt off to accomplish what he did. And the world has never been the same.

Like Jimi said, "most people don't get it, and some never will".

[msteeln]

OK Johnny B. Goode and VOodoo Chile were pretty damn good.

Oh oh, we may have a convert, I hope that doesn't max your quota for the year!

[Katastrophe]

Was Hendrix that good or even a genius?

Yes.

The man was an innovator and added to the guitar lexicon in so many different ways that we take for granted today, and he did it in an incredibly short time.

I think, though, that if Hendrix were alive today and clean, he'd be into jazz / fusion type stuff. He was headed that way musically.

[mapka]

I just want to add that as a man he seemed very cool also. Every interview I ever saw with him he seemed genuine and down to earth, never like a pompous ***. This may have been one of his downfalls also. Musically, I cannot think of any current "mainstream" players that even come close (I don't mean people like Vai, Rory Gallagher, Bonomassa, etc.)

[R_of_G]

Exposure to Jimi's music (as well as Sly Stone's) changed the way Miles Davis approached his music. Miles bringing in guitarists like Sonny Sharrock and Pete Cosey are directly resultant from Miles' love of Jimi's playing. Had Jimi lived longer, it may well have been him on some of those sessions as he and Miles had become friendly and began to discuss projects they could do together. Unfortunately Jimi passed on before they could do more than hang out and play a few times. Regardless, to have that kind of influence on a musician and bandleader the caliber of Miles suggests to me that the genius tag is aptly applied to Hendrix. Maybe he wasn't the most technically accurate or smoothest player in his day but he was certainly amongst the most innovative.

[sunvalleylaw]

screw smooth, technical and accurate. Give me someone that says something and emotes. Miles certainly didn't start out as the smoothest or most technical either. But he sure said something. Given where the world was when Hendrix was playing, I will say genius.

[bcdon***]

I intentionally exclude SRV, but that's maybe a topic for another thread :-)

Speaking of SRV and Jimi, how about this?