Was Jimi overrated??

[King Elvis]

Since this garnered so much response in one of my other threads it was suggested that I start a poll so here it is...

Do you think that Hendrix is overrated. I am not asking if Hendrix was a great player or whatever, but, are you tired of seeing him everywhere and are others either just as deserving or even more so of the glory??

[esactun]

I used to think he was overrated until I started paying him more attention. Jimi rocks.

[VOXVENDOR]

In my opinion.... His songwriting, groove and riff creating ability is UNDERrated.... He was awesome with that stuff!

But in a playing sense, I think he was way overrated....

[6gun]

no way he's overrated!!!!! and i'm not his biggest fan, but i appreciate fully what he did for the instrument.

[jet-rocker]

He was very creative, willing to experiment, he would find ways to get the sound he wanted.

That is 100 percent missing from most modern shredders--where playing an axe is an act of masturbation. Jimi made sweet love to his instrument.

-Jett

[TexRoadkill]

If you want to talk about over rated let's talk about Elvis.

[powderfinger]

guitar playing is all about originality, feeling, and writing ability.........he's top notch in all of these

[djc]

Originally posted by TexRoadkill
If you want to talk about over rated let's talk about Elvis.

Damn straight. Of course he was a little before my time.

I think Hendrix was great. Listen to the riffs of his song "Castles Made of Sand". Great stuff.

[Trotter]

Thanks Elvis for starting this poll. I think Jimi more than earned his place in music history. True, there are a lot of players out there that can play his riffs, but I say there is a huge difference in just reproducing something that has already been done, and taking rock guitar playing to a much higher level.


Long live the memory of Jimi!

[King Elvis]

OK NOW WAIT A MINUTE!!!
This poll is not to attack anybodies credibility as an artist. I was simply asked on another thread to start this poll since there was a lot of question about Jimi's relevence today. I am not disputing the fact that Jimi is a great guitarist. Like I have said before, Jimi is featured prominently in my own collection so...

As far as the comments about Elvis, he was never overrated as a MUSICIAN because even though he could play a number of instruments he was not a master of any of them. So to say that Elvis was a musician is not true. Elvis was a singer and a song stylist and if you have ever listened to anything other than his hits you would beable to hear that. Now if you were here telling me that Jimi was a better vocalist than Elvis Presley I would tell you that you were drunk!!!

[djc]

I'll drink to that.

[Aaron Cheney]

I've been saturated with all things Hendrix my entire life. I grew up in Skyway, WA, a neighborhood south of Seattle, literally a stone's throw from where Jimi grew up. Everyone knew the house, and most of us met Al, his dad, at one time or another. Skyway is on a hill overlooking Renton, WA, and from there you can see another hill call the Highlands neighborhood. Hendrix was buried in a cemetery at the top of that hill, right off Old Cemetery Road.
My entire life as a guitarist I've been deluged with Hendrix. All my peers in the neighborhood all knew his licks and practically worshiped him. Up until around my 30th birthday I didn't even know guitar cases came without Hendrix stickers on them!
Even after all this, I still can't get enough of his music.

Today's players are much faster and cleaner, but for his time he was as good as anybody. Moreover, in those days you didn't just walk up to the local GC and have your choice of 25 different flange pedals and mountains of rack gear. Many of Hendix' sounds were achieved the old fashioned way. Either that or they were completely new for the time and Hendrix pioneered them.

But beyond that, I think Hendrix' genius lies not so much in his playing or his fabulous tone, but in his unique ability to comunicate emotion through his playing and songwriting. There is no way you can listen to Foxy Lady and not bob your head to that groove! No way you can't feel the poiniancy of "Castles Made of Sand". No way you can't feel the tense awareness of "All along the Watchtower". Or the rowdy sexuality of "Fire". Or the delicate reverance of "Little Wing". Or the vastness of "Third Stone from the Sun". Or the defiance of "If 6 was 9"

Very few musicians can convey the depth and weight of emotion on any instrument or in any style that Hendrix did with his music.

I only wish the flood of posthumous releases would end. I think all they do is dillute the body of work he issued during his life.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

[scottboyher]

Jimi was good but if you want to ask the specific question "Is Jimi Over Rated As A Guitar Player", yes.

There is much more to a Jimi Hendrix song then the guitar IMHO.

[philboyd studge]

Ya know, I think I'll dig out my old Guitar Player magazines and see what they thought about him when he was alive.

[stonepiano]

Originally posted by Aaron Cheney
I only wish the flood of posthumous releases would end. I think all they do is dillute the body of work he issued during his life.

diluted body of work would be accurate. When the mp3 craze first struck around 94, someone posted every jimi album available on my college's intranet and I grabbed em all to "soak in the genius." Maybe it's the nature of such highly touted material but I found enough for greatest hits album. That's about it. That's about all I'd ever care to listen to. Guitar heroics? yeah. Innovation, sure. Bottom line, I'd more likely reach for the discs of artists he inspired instead. Tastes obviously vary.

I'll still stick by my original OVERrated comment on the other thread.

[King Elvis]

Originally posted by Aaron Cheney
Very few musicians can convey the depth and weight of emotion on any instrument or in any style that Hendrix did with his music.

I only wish the flood of posthumous releases would end. I think all they do is dillute the body of work he issued during his life.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

Thank you Aaron, now that was some good info and insight. I agree with you on the last part. Back in the '70s and '80s when Alan Douglas had control over Jimi's stuff he released a bunch of crap that Jimi himself would never have wanted released and it hurt his image. Now the family has control and they are doing it the right way with Eddie Kramer and all but all we need is the original albums re-released with better sound.

[James Argo]

Here's my two cents...
JIMI is overated ? NO. Big N O. He's been good. He's been great. But, what I hate are guitarist who said that he was hard influenced by Hendrix sooooo muuucccch, but not reflected by his work. NOT EVEN CLOSE. I read many article about several guitar player (yes, even the famous ones) said that they are really influenced by Hendrix, and that's why they adapt Hendrix style in their work. Seems like they're very proud to be Hendrix minded guitarist. Go check their album... BLAH... not even Fender there. Not even Vox wah. Not even "dirty emotion" solo here and there. Not even a shit about Hendrix I could tell. So what the hell is going on ? Was putting a name Hendrix in your influenced list makes you more "cool guitarist" ? I dunno. You hear me Malmsteen ? You're hiding behind Hendrix's name for your sake, and that's not cool.

[stonepiano]

James, if yer talking to me, all i was saying was that I'd rather listen to SRV any day of the week over Jimi.

then again, you might be talking to someone else....

[James Argo]

You ? hmmm... no, you're in Chicago. I'm talking to someone Swedish.

[Tom Hicks]

"If all the hippies cut off all their hair
I don't care,I don't care
If 6 turned out to be 9
I don't mind,I don't mind..."

No Jimi= no Van Halen,Stevie Vaughn,Eric Johnson etc.He was incredibly important to changing the "vocabulary" of guitar-playing chops and set the stage for the generation that followed.

"Well,I stand up next to a mountain
Chop it down with edge of my hand
I pick up all the pieces
...tiny islands in the sand"

Geez,I miss psychodelic lyrics!

[Even]

All things considered Jimi is great. Clever, creative, inovative the whole deal. As a guitar player I can totally respect the mans gift as a player and master of effects that didnt even exist.
I think what urks me about the mans repor is when it comes from idiots. What I mean by that is from people who say "hey how about Jimi..... now theres a god" when I know they are saying it because they want to talk to me about guitars and probably only know 5 tunes by the dude. You know the dopes, the 20 year old kids at work who think 80's rock is considered "oldies". These same kids who blink at you stupidly, when you fall for the conversation bait and mention other greats like Steve Morse, Allen Holdsworth, Jake Lee.

[King Elvis]

Are you talking about Jake E Lee from Ozzy's band in the 80s??

[Aaron Cheney]

I love psychadelic lyrics too. They sound funny at first, but really they do a better job of portraying emotion than most of the "ooh baby" fluff we hear everywhere.

"You see loneliness staggering on down the street,
Footprints dressed in red...

The Broom is drearily sweeping
Up the pieces of yesterday's life...

...Will the wind ever remember
All the names it has blown in the past?
With the crush of old age and it's wisdom
It whispers 'No, this will be the last'. "

Pretty heady stuff.

But then there's always:

"Click - BANG, what a hang. Your Daddy just shot poor me!"

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com

[Even]

Jake Lee, Born Jake Lou Williams.
Guitar on Ozzy's Bark at the moon and later The Ultimate Sin.
Split and formed the group "The Badlands"

[AlexHerd]

I think that by today's standards of guitar playing he is not "the greatest" But no one played guitar like him in his day. Some people may consider him overated because most decent guitar players can play his songs. But, he's such a pioneer. Jimi ROCKS!!!