Like I say, I’m not a Jimmi fan, but there was never a better ‘feel player’. He was if anything extremely sloppy from a technical standpoint and could not hold a candle to someone like Steve Vai or Eric Johnson who are so clinically precise it’s almost inhuman.
But that technical precision is why Vai, who is my favorite guitarist hands down because of it, will never replace JH in the pantheon. Because that sloppy playing as some would call it, was filled with feel, groove, heart, soul, call it whatever. No one had it like he had it.
Personally, I go more for the technical stuff just because it’s more my thing. But JH music was alive because of his looseness. Not that the Vais’ of the world have no feel because they do. It’s just that if feel is a finite resource, Jimmi got 90% of the universal supply and the rest had to divide up the other 10.
And most people are drawn more to feel players than pure shredders. Sure JH could fly across a fretboard. But the way he played resonated with a lot of people, pro and fan. And moreso than anyone I could think of, even if I’m not one of the guys that worships at his altar as a player.
I’ve played since the 80s just for fun and like every other guy out there I ‘felt’ that I had to study Hendrix. Unlike most it was for about 5 min. because it just aint in me.But it did in fact reach into the VanHalens and a trainlength of other guitarists, pro and hobbyist on an educational level.
As to the subject of bands not listening to each other, I don’t understand how you can think that at all. Every guitarist mag, interview and album liner notes namechecks their influences. Hell their have always been dedicated articles and columns, entire special issue magazines dedicated to exactly that.
Just from my own perspective/Hendrix, as I said, I’m more a Vai guy and his playing was more of what I looked to. But I immeadiately think of Hendrix when I’m trying to write/play something with feel. Not copy what he did or play what he did since I can’t anyway. But it has informed my direction and approach. Even with my electronic/synth stuff. And I am willing to bet the vast majority of guys who ever picked up the instrument would say the same.
Fine, I agree with you pretty much on Hendrix and feel players. Isn’t Keith Richards, a rhythm guitarist in his band (that unofortunately for itself hired another rhythm guitarist after their 2nd lead guitarist departed) a feel player?
So bands listen to each other? Maybe that’s how I end up liking some (those who listen to their predecessors and folk root musicians), and dislike those who only listen to their contemporaries. I disliked the Dreadful Grape for their musical boredom, but I could hear that Garcia had listened to a lot of old stuff and not just to Buffalo Springfield. Who does Jack White listen to? We pretty much know who David Byrne listens to, and it ain’t Pink Floyd, that’s for sure.
There are two sources of popular music in my fave theory: folklore, and city craftmanship. Blues, bluegrass are folklore, obviously, Broadway, Tin Pan Alley are city craftmanship (for lack of a better term, or perhaps we can say, city or country.) Burt Bacharach, however good he was, was city, a classically trained musician, that is trained on previous centuries court music, not the street and village music, made rootless city music. Jimi Hendrix came from the folk tradition. So did Carl Perkins. Iron Butterfly, to use an extreme example was as rootless a band, as you they come. It showed in their pretensions like a sore thumb. The Stones remembered their roots, the Beatles, especially the post-Beatles, not so much. I prefer the rootsy music, if you will, and the roots are not always so obvious, but they are felt. Pop, Broadway are throwaway stuff. Everybody’s all time favorite Terry Jacks. German schlager tradition, that Fiji can tell you more about. Why is contemporary country coming out of Nashville so bad as most of us agree)? Because it is rootless, hack music.
No, he's not everyone's cup of tea. Never was. Even in his heyday, when the top rock guitarists of the world were prostrating themselves at his feet, there were some who just didn't 'get' his music. It's one of the nicer aspects of humans -- we're all unique, and no two of us have the exact same tastes or considerations on things.
Before you dismiss Jimi's technical proficiency, you might want to give a listen to his albums, 'Cry of Love', and 'War Heroes'. The work he did on those disks was the gold standard of technical perfection in electric guitar work for decades. There's no question that guys like Steve Vai and Eric Johnson were inspired to greater heights of technical perfection by him.
As to the subject of bands not listening to each other, I don’t understand how you can think that at all. Every guitarist mag, interview and album liner notes namechecks their influences.
Did I really say that? Whatever I said, I surely didn't mean to make that claim. I don't think I've ever seen an in depth interview with any well known player who didn't cite their musical influences. Most of the greats were very humble when it came to that sort of stuff. They were all too happy to give props to their own heroes.
Hey, speaking of Eric Johnson. I love that guy's music, but haven't heard from him in a dog's age. Is he still recording?