Another Question for Guitar Players

[Circus Ascendant]

but the most overrated guitarist of all, I think is Jimi Hendrix.

Yeah, same here

Thank you.

Overrated, overrated!?!!?

The guy could play the guitar with his teeth and behind his back! How is that overrated?

You clearly don't play guitar.

I'll add my weight to the "Hendrix = Overrated" camp and also throw a Herman Li in there. Underrated? Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora, I think.

 

[gremily]

Paul Gilbert

Overrated or underrated?

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I think he's great but here's why many disagree.
1) He didn't really make woodstock go crazy, he was one of the last to perform, most had already left.
2) His death makes everyone see what he could have been, not what he was.
3) A huge amount of his music were covers from other artists.
I hope this helped.

Hmmm... my forte is more classical music, but the three songs of Hendrix which stand out in my mind would be 'All along the watchtower', 'Voodoo child' and 'Machine Gun', all of which contain insane guitar which I have trouble finding a song to match. Even Jimmy Paige going nuts during the stairway to heaven solo doesn't match it, especially watchtower and Machine Gun. I didn't even know a guitar could do that until I heard them...

All along the watchtower is an example of a song he covered actually.... not sure about machine gun.
Voodoo Child is awesome, I still can't play that as fluidly as I would hope to.

 

[Inverse Skies]

All along the watchtower is an example of a song he covered actually.... not sure about machine gun.
Voodoo Child is awesome, I still can't play that as fluidly as I would hope to.

Google or Youtube machine gun, he plays it live and it is nuts. I have never heard anything like it.

 

[The Shade of Time]

Paul Gilbert

Overrated or underrated?

Underrated

He in my mind doesnt get enough for what he does

check him out hes now a solo artist but all he realy has now is a collum in a monthy guitar mag

 

[Berethond]

Paul Gilbert

Overrated or underrated?

Underrated

He in my mind doesnt get enough for what he does

check him out hes now a solo artist but all he realy has now is a collum in a monthy guitar mag

He's awesome. Me and my friend play Burning Organ in our jazz band.

 

[Low Frost]

but the most overrated guitarist of all, I think is Jimi Hendrix.

Yeah, same here

Thank you.

Overrated, overrated!?!!?

The guy could play the guitar with his teeth and behind his back! How is that overrated?

And Randy Rhoads could play guitar with shoes, dictionaries, coat hangers and telephones. Way back in the day, he used to give impromptu guitar lessons whilst on tour, and I was fortunate enough to have a few of these with him while he was at the Hotel Bethlehem. Never could get him to use G.I. Joe figures. He would just laugh.

 

[SoonerMatt]

Overrated:
Yeah, I hate to say it, but I have to say Jimi Hendrix is.

Underrated:
Buddy Guy and John Fruscianti.

 

[gremily]

I think Toni Iommi is underrated and Tom Morello is overrated.

 

[Berethond]

but the most overrated guitarist of all, I think is Jimi Hendrix.

Yeah, same here

Thank you.

Overrated, overrated!?!!?

The guy could play the guitar with his teeth and behind his back! How is that overrated?

And Randy Rhoads could play guitar with shoes, dictionaries, coat hangers and telephones. Way back in the day, he used to give impromptu guitar lessons whilst on tour, and I was fortunate enough to have a few of these with him while he was at the Hotel Bethlehem. Never could get him to use G.I. Joe figures. He would just laugh.

Yup. And Stanley Jordan can play two guitars at once.

 

[Ago Iterum]

Tom Morello is way over-rated, and s for the whole Jimmy Hendrix thing, he's not over rated because he was one of the best for his time.

But you can't compare him with most of todays guitarists, because general skill level seems to have risen over time.

And whoever was saying that playing guitar behind your back is really hard, it's not. I can play it backwards and upside down on the back of my head, it's not as hard as it sounds.

 

[Gaskell]

I think, without a doubt, I am the MOST under rated guitarist ever

 

[cynicalBastage]

Ok, the question "who is the greatest guitar player" is a dumb one. By what standard are you judging? To quantify the value of one guitarist vs another is a subjective one based on aesthetic preference, WHICH IS TO SAY PERSONAL TASTE. Now if you just used this as your basis of comparison you'd go with who the most people like, well its my experience that there are far more tasteless idiots who don't know there ass from a hole in the ground than those whose opinion i'd value over the feces i just scraped off my boot on your door step.

How could you compare Django Rhienhardt and Andres Segovia? You could say John Williams is the greatest classical guitarist technically, but you may find his sound drab and boring. Compare Pepe Romero trying to play flamenco to say Juan Maya, oh he's technically magnificent but lacks soul. So it boils down to taste.

At his time Django was refered to as the greatest jazz guitar player in the world, and Andres Segovia the greatest classical guitarist in the world. Paco de Lucia is considered by many to be the greatest flamenco guitarist of all time. How to decide, you can't. Its like saying Dali is superior to Van Gogh.

Here's a moment many consider to be the pinnacle of acoustic guitar. Again how do you compare bucket head to either of these guys, you can't. Even in this video, Paco's technique is far and above John's but john is a superior musician who's better? Can't objectively answer a question like that.

crap i don't think this embed worked just youtube Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola's Mediterranean sundance any of those names and title of song should work.

So aside from pointing out that this is a retarded question just shinning some light on you uncultured twits. If your going to talk about a subject like this do a little more homework or something, arguing about the validity of Jimi Hindrix give me a break. Just scrape my gums with a rusty spoon while plucking my eyebrows for gods sake. (i think i watched too much zero punctuation for my own good, damn you *waves fist*)

seriously aside from me being a dick. here are some names of some of my favorite acoustic artists. love em hate em i don't care just youtube the names and see how varied this area of music really is: Tomatito, Django Rheinhardt, Alvaro Pierri, Baden Powell, Ramon Montoya, or for something completely different Michael Ammott from Arch Enemy. If anyone even mentions the guitarists from Dragonfoce i'm going to caugh up a teste (oh crap i just mentioned that band i hate *cough*.... *splat*... damn)

Oh, and to answer your question: Yngwie Malmsteem (while i don't mind jimmi, acutally i don't pay him much mind at all, Yngwie is the A typical solo'ing self gratifying wanker that makes me hate most solo guitarists.)

 

[Gaskell]

but the most overrated guitarist of all, I think is Jimi Hendrix.

Yeah, same here

Thank you.

Overrated, overrated!?!!?

The guy could play the guitar with his teeth and behind his back! How is that overrated?

You don't actually believe that about the teeth do you? He just used hammer-ons and pull-offs.
As for behind the neck, its really not hard.

Yeah, but he pioneered this style of flamboyancy and stylistic playing
I am fully aware that he did not come up with it, but prior to this it was all chuck berry style riffing, and simplistic finger work, hendrix was able to use a detuned instrument and play it by ear, without retuning
I think that perhaps you are simplifying the issue somewhat

 

[Gaskell]

The issue is being overly simplified
I think the fella who posted a full essay before me had it right, it's all personal taste and preferences

I don't think Jimi Hendrix is an amazing guitarist in comparison with contemporary guitarists like Eric Johnson, or Steve Vai, but I prefer to listen to him because he has more soul, or at least I think so
Anyway, who wants to listen to someone fret wanking for ten minutes, get a bit of Thurston Moore on
He's a genius

 

[Zamn]

Jimi Hendrix is getting hard time in this thread, I think alot of the criticism misses the point. What made Hendrix great wasn't techinical skill (although he had that in spades), it was that he was an incredibly talented musician rather than just guitarist. More importantly though, he was the greatest innovator of the electric guitar. Listen to what came before Hendrix, and what came after. He changed everything. He was also the last great innovator of electic guitar, as John Frusciante (incidentally my vote for most underrated) said, the electic guitar as an instrument hasn't developed much since Hendrix.

 

[cynicalBastage]

i can't help it.. haha you should hear me talk.. oh wait i'll spare you.. lets just say i'm long winded.

ps. i'm a guitarist... if it wasn't obvious.

 

[Gaskell]

Jimi Hendrix ... ... as John Frusciante (incidentally my vote for most underrated) said, the electic guitar as an instrument hasn't developed much since Hendrix.

I can see what you mean, and I kind of agree with what you're saying, but though Hendrix did change what people thought they could do with electric guitars, the full scope of it is still being expanded. Just look at bands like sonic youth, mars volta and to a lesser extent the chillis, they are experimenting with everything, even the way it's strummed.

I would disagree with saying John Fruscainte is under rated, in my eyes the chillis only ever had one good guitarist, and now he plays with Janes Addiction

 

[Zamn]

Just look at bands like sonic youth, mars volta and to a lesser extent the chillis, they are experimenting with everything, even the way it's strummed.

People haven't stopped experimenting since Hendrix, it's just that very few of the major experiments have been successful. No one has developed a new way of playing the instrument that has really caught on since Hendrix, which is a bit depressing considering he's dead nearly 40 years now.

As for Frusciante v Navarro, Navarro is a great guitarist, but for me doesn't stand above the masses of great guitarists past and present. Frusciante is someone trying to push the instrument to new things and he's still a young man so I have high hopes that he'll be remembered as one of the greats one day.

 

[Gaskell]

You are aware people had experimented with the techniques JH uses, before he used them, feedback, pedal waah, detuning, stuff like that had all been done before, he just did it in a more mainstream way
Regarding no new ways of playing the instruments in the last few decades, could that perhaps be because the guitar was designed to be played in a certain way
to play it differently you'd have to fundamentally change the instrument, yes you'd have a new sound and a new way of playing, but you probably wouldn't have a guitar anymore