People argue that Hendrix was a great player "for his day." Bull*** Jimmy Page could play circles around him, and so could Jeff Beck (but maybe he was a bit later...) Hendrix was brilliant at creating sounds, but as a player, I think he is the most over-rated player in the entire history of the universe. And "for his day" - what's that supposed to mean?? Segovia was an awesome player "for his day," and guess what.... there's still not a soul who can touch him.
Did Hendrix create a totally new standard for guitar tone? YES!! Did he change the landscape of rock and roll forever? YES!! Did he play with a lot of emotion? YES!! I'm with you on all of these. Was he a great PLAYER?? I suppose the arguement here is more of the semantics of what a great player is. My definition, for the purposes of comparing more tangible things, is raw skill - technical ability, etc. Feel can't be measured....
If he's such a great player, why can many guitar players with only a few years of playing under their belt play a lot of his leads and songs? I don't know ANYONE, by comparison, who can play Fernando Sor's Theme and Variations on Mozart's Magic Flute as cleanly, and at the same tempo as Segovia. NOBODY!! Sure, this example is a bit outside the focus of the discussion, but it is a good illustration of what I mean by raw skill.
Feel... yes Hendrix had feel.... so do/did Jeff Beck (listen to the solo for People Get Ready...), BB King (so much feel and emotion in a single note.... ) I'd take BB King over Hendrix based solely on feel (and because of that, perhaps, is why I revere him...) but I believe that Hendrix was a more skilled player. I believe that Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were more skilled than Hendrix. (making sure to focus on players who were active in the same time period.)
SRV and Vernon Reid of Living Colour, also by comparison, never missed an opportunity to rave about how much of an inspiration Hendrix was to them. Funny, though, that both ultimately became WAY better players.
Chris
....flame at will
