About musicians

Garion81 wrote: Reed Lover wrote: Gaston wrote: Why is Hendrix better than Howe?   All you have is opinions.   Gaston Tell us why you think he isn't Garcon.     Because he is Hendrix not Garcon.   Amazing how the deletion of one comma changes everything.

Ever thought of becoming a travel agent Garion? You got a talent for small print!

Certif1ed wrote: Richardw wrote: Segovia was undoubtedly a maestro of the guitar, but i'm not sure if he has influenced as many people as Hendrix. I don't know the answer to that. It's a difficult question to be sure. I've been playing the guitar for 20 years and i still can't believe the things Hendrix did. He was a one off as far as i am concerned. That's why I'm sticking to asking questions ATM - if I tried to analyse the three greats; Hendrix, Segovia, Vai (and any others that were offered here) - I'd be up all night, and it's my bedtime... I've only listened to a very little Django - his music did nothing for me; any albums he made stand out as being truly great, richardw ? Vai, soulless? Depends what you've heard by him, I suppose - listen to his work on "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch". He makes Zappa sound like a wannabee in terms of technicality (Duh!) and an almost tangible sense of someone really playing with his instrument... I love what he does on DLR's "Eat 'Em and Smile", too - the album may be one cheesey party album, but Vai really sounds like he's having fun - the only other guitarist I've ever heard doing that is Angus Young.

I mentioned Django as an example of a musician who, like Hendrix, had an enormous impact on his genre (jazz) despite a relatively brief career. There's a good case for arguing that  he, Segovia and Hendrix form a kind of holy trinity of 20th century guitarists. Sadly, he died too soon for anything other than rather scratchy recordings to exist, but his best work was done with Stefan Grapelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Many collections exist.

His achievement is remarkable because his left hand was badly burned in a fire, leaving him with the use of only 2 fingers. Despite this, he evolved a remarkable technique that is still influential today, and gypsy jazz festivals still take place all over Europe in his honour.

All:

There is a difference between "best" - i.e., most technically proficient, versatile, etc. - and "most influential."  From a technical standpoint, there are plenty of guitarists who rate high, within their genres: Django, Les Paul, Segovia, Hendrix, Howe, Holdsworth, Clapton, Allman, Beck, Vai, et al.  It is absurd to try to compare them, since the technique used in playing classical (e.g., Segovia) is different (some would say more difficult) than the technique used in playing even the most complex progressive music.  Indeed, one could argue that some of the country and bluegrass "pickers" are as technically proficient as anyone on your lists: Howe (among a few others) can do it - but not like those who "do it for a living."  And the technique used for playing blues (e.g., Clapton, Allman, Page et al) is somewhat "particularized" for that genre: many can do it (again, including Howe), but none do it as well as those who "specialize" in it.

As for "most influential," that is another matter entirely, but one which is also fraught with difficulty.  It is still genre-specific (for the most part): e.g., was Segovia (who predates all the rock guitarists) more "influential" than, say, Hendrix?  A silly question: of course he was, within the classical genre.

In this regard, one need only consider that every rock guitarist in your lists was, in turn, influenced by someone; i.e., none of them were "complete" innovators.  And although Django influenced some later guitarists, the guitarist who influenced more rock guitarists than anyone else - by their own admission - was Les Paul.  Hendrix, Page, Beck, DiMeola, Clapton, Belew, Gilmour, Townsend, Van Halen and about three dozen other major rock guitarists have all stated in one place or another that they listened to Les' records, and often stole licks directly from him.  Even Zappa and Fripp made comments about Les' influence on modern guitar playing.  And if you've ever heard Les at his prime - in the mid-40s to late 50s - you will hear what they were talking about: speed, precision, versatility, taste - Les had it all, miles above everyone around him.  (Note that many of these guitarists still make "pilgrimages" to NYC to see Les play on Monday nights; some of them even get up and jam with him.)

Setting Les aside, though, if "influence" is measured (at least partly) by the number of guitarists who often "sound" like someone else, or have picked up stylistic mannerisms, the three modern guitarists who seem to have had the most influence "down the line" were Hendrix, Page (even more than Clapton or Richards) and Gilmour.  Hendrix influenced everyone from Zappa and Fripp to the "hyper" set (Vai, Satriani, Malmstein, even Holdsworth to a degree).  Page's influence in blues-rock simply cannot be measured, as almost everyone after him has "learned" from him.  And Gilmour seems to be the "new" influence, especially in neo-prog, where his sound and style pop up almost everywhere, from Marillion to Spock's Beard, from Dream Theater to Porcupine Tree, from The Church to Ayreon.

I'm not suggesting that other guitarists were not influential in rock and/or prog.  Many were, to various degrees.  And I won't quibble if other names are mentioned.  However, if one listens to a wide variety of what we call "rock" - not just prog (but certainly within prog) - one can hear the influence of Hendrix, Page and Gilmour more than any three guitarists.

Peace.

Uh-oh...Reed Lover agrees with me...someone get the smelling salts...

Gaston wrote: I'm not here to give my opinion on a prog site where it's obvious Hendrix comes second to Steve Howe. But if I must.... The only reason I can believe anyone would pick regular guitarists over any prog guitarist is because they sing and play at the same time (unbelievably thought, since it's just chords)   It's the only reason. Howe is faster, reads music better, is more creative, has more style components and is better with time signatures. He was classically trained. Hendrix is a sloppy, rough around the edges, unprecise slasher.   Gaston

God damn hose head, how can you get more creative then Hendrix eh.

Rob The Plant wrote: There are so many talented musicians in and out of prog, how can we ever just say "The Best"?

Yep - it's the old comparing a variety of fruit argument.

Again.