Metal Reviews

the greatest muscian ever. i know hes not the greatest guitar player ever, but he did revolutionize the guitar and inspire millions of musicians, tell me what you think of Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, and sadly his last release Electric Ladyland.

I have never really listened to full length albums by Jimi Hendrix, but I do like a lot of the songs I have heard. When I was in my classic rock faze I was into him.

Not a huge fan, I prefer most other guitarists of that time period (Beck, Page, Clapton, even Harrison).

Heard the other day that he got out of army service by pretending to be gay, so they kicked him.

The music's pretty good, although I'm not sure that I prefer his 'Along The Watchtower' over Bob's.

Hendrix is awesome!

Honestly, I don't see how someone can prefer George Harrison as a guitarist, but then each to their own I spose... :roll:

Pfft.

He may not have been able to touch the other guys mentioned for pure speed or technicality but we all know where nothing but technicality gets you, it's gets you Yngwie Malmsteen (in case you were wondering, yes, that's bad). He was one of the early guys to work with Indian music in western popular music, he wrote some classic songs (Taxman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps - props to Clapton of course on the soloing, Something, and Here Comes the Sun), and did his own bit of experimenting with guitar recording and breaking in new sounds and techniques with stuff like And Your Bird Can Sing and Tomorrow Never Knows. He may not have been as largely regarded for his innovations as Hendrix was, but considering he came years before and his music is IMO much more timeless and by far more well-crafted, I would definitely listen to him over Hendrix given the option and consider him the better songwriter if nothing else.

Obviously it all boils down to opinion but it always seems to me that Harrison gets the shaft when it comes to this era of guitarists because he doesn't measure up technically.

Crosstown Traffic is my favorite Jimi Hendrix song. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was one of the first bands to transfer sounds from speaker to speaker, left to right, or right to left. Makes you dizzy sometimes, but it def enhances his amazing guitar skills.

do you think if LSD wasn't invented, Jimi would have not existed? or would have been less "amazing"?

You could say that about a lot of bands/artists in that time. The music scene of today would be a lot different without it!

Sure. When the Beatles were at their peak you would get articles criticising Harrison for his lack of technique, but then this was hardly the point, as we all know. But even disregarding this as a comparison, I still think Hendrix's songwriting is better than Harrison's. Bold As Love, Manic Depression, Little Wing... IMO these are better melodies than even Lennon and McCartney were producing, let alone George Harrison. Honestly I think that, despite the plaudits he gets as a guitarist, he remains underrated as a songwriter.

And I think the beauty of Hendrix's guitar playing is not in his flashiness or virtuosity, but in the energy he managed to channel through the instrument. With Harrison, the guitar was usually a means of conveying a chord sequence or a melody, but with Hendrix (as with Jimmy Page, who you also mentioned) it was like it had a life of its own. It can be really wild and distorted, but he also knows when to sit back and let a melody take precedence.

Anyhow, I'm off on holiday so I'll see you all (kinda) in about a week.

I worship the man! His playing was magical. Really, that's the only way i can describe it. Like he was connected to some higher plane of existence or something...

Not the best player technically (although pretty impressive!), but his playing had spirit.

he was also left handed and played a right handed guitar for a couple of years. and he was also the man

He always played a right-handed guitar that was stringed left-handed.

Not a big fan of this guy... Prefer Beck and Page

I'm a big Hendrix fan, but Beck and Page slay too.

I respect him for his contributions to the music world, but I feel he's a little bit overrated. He used a lot of shock value to become a household name like simulating sex with his guitar, setting it on fire, wearing LSD headbands, etc. etc. At the time this type of stuff had never been done before so I think it attracted a lot of people to it that otherwise wouldn't have noticed. Now, I'm not saying he's a hack or anything, but there were better guitarists at the time. But, he did have an insane amount of balls to do all of that stuff, especially being Black. At that time he could have easily been shot for doing such things, not to mention breaking into the "White Man's Business." Racial tensions in America were quite high back then.

Hendrix and Page may have been great musicians, but technically they were so goddamn sloppy! Of course, they may have been high or drunk all the time, or both, but if they actually cleaned up their playing they would have been 50 times better!!

It's rant time...

At times they were sloppy, at times they were masterful. But their playing never lacked soul. Hendrix and Page may have fucked up a note here and there, but they still kicked ass!

These days it doesn't even matter if you can play your own shit. Pretty much anything can be fixed using modern studio technology. Fuck all this triggered, MIDI-quantized, overprocessed, sterile crap! Gimme real music!

he also used to play with his teeth, behind his back,etc and practically invented the guitar solo. Shame he died and couldn't go on to create more great and innovative music.

I guess you prefer Stratovarius or Edguy over Hendrix.

My favorite remains Axis Bold as love,but are you Experienced andElectric Ladyland are masterpieces as well!