Posted on 11/23/2011 9:26:13 PM PST by This Just In
Rolling Stone names Jimi Hendrix the ‘Greatest Guitarist of all Time,’ followed by Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page The rest of the top five are Keith Richards and Jeff Beck
BY Jim Farber
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, November 23 2011, 3:44 PM
Yes, he’s experienced.
Jimi Hendrix has been proclaimed the “Greatest Guitarist of All Time” by a panel of musicians wrangled by Rolling Stone Magazine.
Though dead for more than 40 years, Hendrix’s fiery and distinct style clearly continues to inspire, and intimidate, six-string pluckers the world over.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Agree both tie at number one.
Alvin Lee (Ten Years After)
Jeff Beck.
“Rolling Stone’s ratings are based on the ages and exposure to music of the existing generation that read that publication.”
BINGO!!
1) Jimi
2) SRV
3) Page
4) Gilmour
5) Iommi
6) Angus
7) Blackmoore
8) Lifeson
9) Allen Collins
10) Townsend
Admittedly, I haven’t heard every recording of Hendrix but what I have heard just grated on my nerves. To me, it was alot of noise. He is not #1 on 3cats list.
I never "got" Jimmy Page. He was horrible live. Sloppy (perhaps drunk or stoned), totally unimpressive. He was a great studio guitarist though. Richards' greatness comes from his rhythm playing---probably one of the top rhythm guitarists of all time. Harrison probably rates because he was neither an innovator nor a technician but a "bridge" between Chuck Berry and the new sound.
An interesting challenge is on the "Abby Road" album in the guitar jam just before "The End." There are three guitars, according to the Beatles' biographer Jon Gould, and Harrison, McCartney, and Lennon were all playing lead, trading off. See if you can figure out who is who!
Getting back to Clapton and Beck: I got the sense after I heard Clapton with Cream live that at some point you heard everything he could do. It totally fit whatever he was playing---and that was the greatness of Cream, in that since they were all soloing all the time, the genius came in the mix of the three, not any one guy in particular. But every time I heard Beck, I got the feeling that "this guy is really holding back. He's teasing you with what he can do."
Hendrix was awesome the first time I heard him circa 1968---he had just come out with the Experience. But a year later, he just couldn't get it together, none of the rifs really were as good, and he appeared stoned. The audience was screaming for "Vanilla Fudge," who opened for him, 10 minutes into his set. It was sad.
Stevie was a total copier. Good, but couldn’t even get the essence of Hendrix at times. Like Clapton, after a while, you heard everything he had. I’d rank him #5 or 6.
NFW!
Personally, I couldn't stand Townsend as a guitarist.
If you want a current excellent Christian guitarist who doesn't go for a lot of distortion or tricks, listen to Lincoln Brewster. He played with Michael W. Smith and Journey for a while. Super.
As a contemporary of Kaukonen, who saw him at least once live, I never got the high regard with which he was held.
John Petrucci deserves a mention.
I think Vaughn has too much Clapton in him. The only guy who doesn't do this is Beck, who not only doesn't play it safe, but unlike Hendrix and Winter, "gets" whatever weird thing he goes for.
BTW, Clapton said of Beck, Hendrix, and himself that Jeff Beck was the best.
As well as Bill Nelson. He’s fantastic. Manages so many styles.
Les Paul.
Try Highway Chile, 51st Anniversary, Killing Floor, Mannish Boy, Can you see me? I don’t live today, Red House, Hear my train a comin’...
Sorry FRiend, but yer out to lunch on this one.
No he wasn't. Jimi could do things with a guitar Duane (or anyone else) had never even imagined much less accomplished. A biographer listed some 210 odd sounds Hendrix invented and used in his playing vocabulary. No one was more appreciative of Hendrix than fellow musicians. He blew them out of their shoes and they said so to anyone who would listen. When Jimi was playing clubs in NY, early on, a top session player (whose name escapes me) would leave the studio, step across the street and see the unknown Jimi playing things he admitted he couldn't do (if he'd thought of them in the first place). Hendrix was two things: A virtuoso (a more physical accomplishment) and a spellbinder ( a more spiritual thing). That voodoo of knowing how much silence to put in between the notes is the rarest thing in musical accomplishment. Allman, like Les Paul and Eric Clapton etc had it (in spades) but recognized that Hendrix owned it.
And I am a git fiddler meself.
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