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Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero
Highlight

Friday 24 September
10:05pm - 11:35pm
BBC4

Forty years after Jimi Hendrix's death, no guitarist has come even close to
matching his virtuosity. Preceded by a short Rock Shrines film of fan
tributes, here's a celebration of his musicianship. It enlists a wide range
of his contemporaries - Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Eric Burdon, longtime
girlfriend Kathy Etchingham and his brother Leon, among others - to tell
his story. It's a familiar tale of manager Chas Chandler spotting the
guitarist/songwriter in New York and bringing him to Britain, the launch
pad for a brief, incandescent career. But lesser-known nuggets include
Micky Dolenz recalling the tour when Hendrix opened for the Monkees. It's
all interspersed with concert footage, but never quite takes flight as the
sounds and sights of Hendrix feel rationed.

http://www.radiotimes.com/

 

And Guitar Heroes at the BBC following that. Includes Santana, Mark
Knopfler, John Martyn and someone I've never heard of

--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

for once, we agree on guitar-related issues.

He wasn't a patch on Jaco Pastorius.

 

Ignoring the fact Jaco was a bass player, if you study his playing
you'll find he had a selection of licks he loved to do, that sounded
great, but not a lot else.

I'm a fan but he was just a good, solid jazz bass player.

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

Facebook yesterday, Google tomorrow.

 

I wasn't.

<fx: shocked and saddened>

You'll be telling me next that Django Reinhardt was just a "good,
solid gypsy-jazz guitar player"

 

I accept that Satriani, Vai, et al may be technically better guitarists but
you have to consider how Hendrix compared to his contempories. He was
*clearly* the most versatile guitarist of his generation. The technicians
who followed merely developed what Hendrix invented.

I'm not a particularly big fan of Hendrix but I'd far rather listen to
anything by him than the preening, soulless crap spouted by Vai, Malmsteen,
etc.

 

which is why I put in the attribution, as it is such a subjective topic.
For me, some of JH's work was interesting but I'd rather listen to Albert
King. However, King was still playing in his 60s and much of his best stuff
was produced in middle age. Sadly, as with SRV, we never got to find out
how JH would've developed.

 

'kin ell - you must be even older than me.

Yeah, I hit my drug hazed adolescence a few years after Hendrix landed but I
remember hearing Hey Joe when it came out so **** off grandad.

 

Last week, my local rag did an article on him and invited comments. I
wrote this:
"I was in the army, stationed in Monterey in '67. I went to Monterey
Pop and saw Hendrix's 1st concert in the States after his stint in
England. It was mind-blowing. I, and many others there that night, had
never heard anything like it. We'd heard about this American musician
who had taken London by storm, but we hadn't heard any of his music
yet. My jaw was hanging open and I was trying to figure out if what he
was doing was really good, or just outlandish. When he played the
National Anthem, I wondered whether to salute or not. The showmanship
- masturbating the guitar between his legs and setting it on fire -
was interesting, but the music was just amazing.
After Monterey, I was stationed in West Berlin. I saw Hendrix again in
the fall of 1970, a week or so before he died. He was just a shell of
the performer he was at Monterey. It was a lousy performance and
everybody knew it. He was just going through the motions. FWIW, at
that same concert Canned Heat played before Hendrix. When CH took the
stage, "Bear" Hite announced that Alan Wilson, their guitarist, had
just OD'ed the day before. Canned Heat was a blues band, and I've
never heard anyone play the blues with such emotion as those guys did
that night. A few days later, Hendrix OD'ed. Strange days."

As for virtuosity, that ain't the same as creativity, originality, and
talent. I doubt that Hendrix himself would ever have claimed to be a
virtuoso. Tommy Emmanuel is a virtuoso, but his music has no soul and
no creativity.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19417828@N08/5023387259/

(ws)

 

I've known a number of widdly players of the Vai and Malmsteen ilk, not
one of them could do Hendrix remotely like Hendrix. They're very
mechanical and soulless in comparison - more like AI playing the
correct notes without the human touch.

--
Veggie Dave
http://www.iq18films.co.uk

"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim
that Jesus was not born of a virgin." Cardinal Bellarmine

 

the best Hendrix covers I've heard are SRV's versions of Little Wing &
Voodoo Chile and Albert King's version of Red House

 

looks nothing like me.

And I've never owned a raincoat. OK, maybe once.

 

Hamsters?

 

It's not meant to *be* you.

 

<fx: looks sheepish>

yeah, I realize now.

 

Indeed, it's a ludicrous statement. Hendrix was a revolutionary
musician and played a pivotal role in the history of music, but to
concentrate on his supposed "virtuosity" is to miss the point. He was
technically a very good rock player for the time, but there were other
more accomplished players around. The magic of Hendrix was in the
unique mix of elements, with his overall concept of sound, texture and
composition (not least using the studio as a compositional tool) at
the forefront. Focusing exclusively on any player's technical ability
is always misleading.

Oh, and when anyone starts going on about the supposed presence or
lack of soul (or that other chestnut, "emotion") in a player, I
usually click the "delete" button pretty quickly


adrian

 

Well, some performers do seem to get a bit emotional. Whether that is
necessary to give a good performance is a moot point. However, as far as
emotion is concerned, some music, like other art forms, has the ability to
provoke an emotional response from *me*. I see that as a good thing.

 

If you can't discern the difference between technical proficiency and
emotion, soul, feeling or whatever you want to call it, you've got a
lousy ear. A person can play the same piece two days in a row, hit all
the right notes, yet it sounds completely different. One day he's on,
the next he's just going through the motions. What do you call it?