.... Looks like the world of “let’s pretend” on hand-held electronic devices is returning the favor....
Let’s see them do something comparable to Voodoo Child (a slight return) on one of those.
Hendryx was very influential and pioneering in the use of special effects and the latest black boxes. He was a good guitarist, no doubt. But I think there were quite a few who were better. I saw Buddy Guy several years back in a small club and remember thinking he was. I’m not a great guitarist but a certain proportion of the popular acts - were pretty much hacks. Oftentimes they didn’t play on their hit records. Session musicians. That’s one reason they couldn’t pull off their songs live in anything like their studio releases. Maybe it’s boring for the performer to make a live performance that sounds just like the record - but the audience usually expects that, or something reasonably close.
What’s amazing is how bloody rich some of those guys became in the 60s, that business model is REALLY dead. That whole scenario of being a juke box hero seems dead and buried as far as “rock and roll” is concerned. Nice work if you can get it, and a lot of those guys busted their ass and really paid their dues, and are still out on the road.
Learning how to actually play an instrument is too much work. It takes a long time to become REALLY proficient, nobody wants to do that, and with digital electronics, they don’t have to. Doc Watson said “after about ten years I began to learn the lead line” to “Deep River Blues”. Nobody can play it like Doc, because he played it for 50 or 60... No effects.. no backwards tape delay and fuzz boxes. Hendryx couldn’t do much with an acoustic. Mississippi John Hurt had a smooth way of playing. When he was “discovered” they took him to a guitar shop and said pick out whatever you want. Instead of the top shelf Martin or Gibson, he chose a no frills Guild. The guitar itself is important, but not as much as people make it out to be.
I guess my point is, the really good guitarists and musicians in general, don’t make very much money. Course they don’t usually end up drowning in their own (or somebody else’s) vomit either, so there’s that.