Curious

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:19 am

I clicked a banner ad for Gibson guitars advertising Billy Gibbons' signature Les Paul. What I found was this article claiming Jimi Hendrix as the most influential guitarist of the 20th Century.

I found this curious, because Hendrix preferred Fender Strats... he did play a Gibson V, but he was predominantly a Fender player. Also, I think the most influential guitarist of the 20th Century was Chuck Berry - the creator of the genre.

Cpt Matt Sparrow · Post by **Cpt Matt Sparrow** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:43 am

Hi Paul,

I would agree that Chuck Berry was certainly one of the founders of rock n' roll, but in my opinion it wasn't a single handed affair. What is problematic when trying to pin point exactly where a genre comes from is that it is never 'cut and dry'. What I mean is that before Chuck blues musicians had started to 'electrify' (to much cntroversey too) their music. An uptempo blues is of course the early blue print of rock n roll and then a whole can of worms opens up at this point as each step of any evolution has facets of another style that blend into it.

Based on the sheer flamboyance that is still associated with the electric guitar today- ie excessive vibrato, whammy dives, feedback, legatto, distortion, mysticism and even the rebellious nature of rock, that includes the cliched 'sex drugs and rock n roll' in a literal sense, Hendrix in my opinion invented it...the rock guitar we know and love today.

There is a great passage in the Clapton autobiography 'CLAPTON' where he describes how music simply changed when Hendrix became known. Also Paul, the amount of people that cite Hendrix as an influence is just huge. I hate going along with the crowd (as I am a stubborn rebel too at heart hense me being here LOL) but I love Jimi as much and in some ways more than RR.

Matt

McLowery · Post by **McLowery** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:15 pm

I think Jimi Hendrix's innovation lies with the fact that he intro duced the genre to heavily distorted guitar that oozed with infinite sustain an feedback. His flamboyance and his confidence in his ability I'm sure helped too. But when you listen to a guitar that is overdriven to the point of meltdown you are listening to only a variation of the guitar tone Hendrix created through his Marshalls and the multitude of fuzz pedals he had people design for a specific sound he heard in his head. Very little has changed in that tone since.

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:51 pm

True, Jimi is huge when it comes to influencing the style of hard rock and metal guitar. Chuck Berry was the beginning of rock 'n' roll guitar, period. All rock influenced music - from the early 50's rockabilly to the current slew of country music - owes a debt to Chuck. Not all rock music has wild guitar, but it all has the attitude of rebelliousness.

The reason I frown on Jimi being called the Most Creative and Influential Musician of the 20th Century is because he adapted and changed a form of music already in place. Chuck Berry (and the others of his era) took blues and country and created a new form of music.

I love Jimi. I've got everything he's recorded (that has been released) and many DVDs of his shows... he was the shit in his day. He just wasn't the most important of the century.