If so, speak up now so I can blacklist you.

Being as famous as he is/was, there will always be people who think he is over-rated.
But he is one of the most influential guitar players and musicians ever, his sloppy blues/rock style will never be matched, Purple Haze, anyone?

Phew, I'm glad you don't think he's overrated. I was about to defend Hendrix to my death, if necessary.

Given that he basically just played a harder distortion level of blues scales on a left-handed guitar, I can't say that he's anything too special...but the fucker did right some good ol' classics and he could wail a fuckin' axe!

I really haven't listened it in the last 7 or 8 years. But when I was 15, 16 I really loved him. Don't think he's overrated at all.

He was revolutionary at his time and wrote some of the greatest songs of all time (All Along The Watchtower anyone?).

Blacklist me then. I play guitar and know he does nothing special. He may have been unique, but that doesn't mean amazing.

"Blacklist me then. I play guitar and know he does nothing special. He may have been unique, but that doesn't mean amazing."

He was a musical genius. Up there with Beethoven and Mozart in my books. Way ahead of his time, he had too much going on in his head, he just ended it all.

"He was a musical genius. Up there with Beethoven and Mozart in my books. Way ahead of his time, he had too much going on in his head, he just ended it all."

Just thought I should point out, Jimi didn't write all along the watch tower, Bob Dylan did.  I like the hendrix version better though.

Overrated? i dont know, but his music is not something i would listen to.

"Just thought I should point out, Jimi didn't write all along the watch tower, Bob Dylan did.  I like the hendrix version better though."

"Gizmo said:

"He was a musical genius. Up there with Beethoven and Mozart in my books. Way ahead of his time, he had too much going on in his head, he just ended it all."

There is seriously something special about the number 27. I mean Cobain, Hendrix, and Morrison all had made some revolutionary movement, yet they all unfortunately die at 27. Seems too coincidental to me."

"tmontana1004 said:

"Gizmo said:

"He was a musical genius. Up there with Beethoven and Mozart in my books. Way ahead of his time, he had too much going on in his head, he just ended it all."

There is seriously something special about the number 27. I mean Cobain, Hendrix, and Morrison all had made some revolutionary movement, yet they all unfortunately die at 27. Seems too coincidental to me."

Morrison was a fucking hack and wrote retarded dribble that sold millions because all the druggies at the time thought it was something special.  

Cobain wasn't anything special at all, but Nirvana just hit at a time when everyone was sick of hearing the same shit all the time on the radio...and if you go back and notice, Nevermind hit the charts at the same time that Debbie Gibson, Loverboy, and New Kids on the Block were hot.

Hendrix, on the other hand, wrote damn good songs...but as a guitarist, he wasn't anything special at all.  Stevie Ray was the same way:  nothing special.  Does that mean they were BAD guitarists?  Absolutely not.  It just means that they weren't anything special except to those that want to use their "revolutionary" status as something to tout around.

KoRn was revolutionary too, because they brought around nu-metal.

Pantera was revolutionary, because they brought around groove metal.

New Kids on the Block were revolutionary, because they popularized the "boy band".

Parliament were revolutionary because they put "funk" into every single home of America.

There are TONS of revolutions.  Despite that, going around and stating that someone is "revolutionary" does NOT mean anything other than the fact that a record label put out their album at the right time to cause it.

Hendrix should never even be considered in the same league as Beethoven and Mozart.  His music was ALWAYS amazing.  Even his worst symphonies and sonatas were better than almost anything you can listen to from the 1800s afterwards, especially modern day music.  Hell, even if you try to compare Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" against one of Beethoven's WEAKEST sonatas (op. 54 in F major, to be particular)...Beethoven STILL fucking rapes it, and that's only two movements compared to Mussorgsky's ten-piece!!!

Hendrix was "revolutionary", sure.  He was more of a showman than anything, though.  If you want some real guitarists from around that time, some guys who were REALLY wailing an axe and putting some soul into it, you should check out more Clapton.  The guy did blues scales as well, but his shit had S O U L!!!  Clapton = God.  Jeff Beck was another amazing guitarist.  Ritchie Blackmore had soul and rocked it hard as hell!

"

"I agree with everything that you said, except for the Morrison part. He's great!

Oh, and maybe Panter and Korn... because they suck."

Who's James Hendrick?

"zitosilva said:

"I agree with everything that you said, except for the Morrison part. He's great!

Oh, and maybe Panter and Korn... because they suck."

I dig KoRn up until Issues, because that album and everything after was just so...pretentious.  Before that, it was excellent.

Pantera is God, and to even down-talk them is blasphemy of the HIGHEST order.  Then again, as a born and bred Texan, I'm biased.  = D

There's a lot of people that dig Morrison and call what he did "poetry"...but honestly, when someone uses the word "poetry", I think of Whitman or Emerson or Wadsworth...not fucking Morrison.  What Morrison did was little more than a drug-induced haze of pseudo-intelligence.

Granted...his lyrics are better than 96% of what people come up with today, though.  =  /

"

Some of the licks and riffs that he brought forth from his fender stratocaster amaze me.  Seriously, trying to play his rendition of all along the watchtower, confuses the fuck out of me.

Smoke on the water, and voodo childe > your existance

@ Solid SnakeXx, Hendrix never made Smoke on the water.

however I will say this I do like Hendrix but I think some of his songs are a bit overdone but I do like his guitar playing.

As a songwriter, yes. As a guitarist, fuck no.

"Smoke on the water, and voodo childe > your existance
"

I don't see what's so special about him. When I hear anything by him just sounds like random jamming which is not, in my eyes, "good". Eddie Van Halen is one of the greatest guitarists ever for me and Hendrix doesn't make my list.

I don't really care about him at all. There are hundreds of better guitarists than he.

"Solid_SnakeXx said:

"Smoke on the water, and voodo childe > your existance
"

Isn't Smoke on the Water a song by Deep Purple?"

Well its wrong then, because that is definitely untrue.

"I don't really care about him at all. There are hundreds of better guitarists than he."

He's not overrated as a guitarist, but as a songwriter -- definitely.

"Smoke on the water, and voodo childe > your existance
"

Jimi Hendrix is amazing, not my favourite guitarist (Jimmy Page), but he's one of the best.

I always appreciated his music, and was awestruck by his guitar playing, but I never knew just how talented he really was until I saw his biography on VH1 Classic. That guy was to guitar what Einstein was to genius. His knowledge of music is much deeper than would appear on the surface.

I don't really see what's special but I never do with guitar based music.

"I don't really see what's special but I never do with guitar based music."

"HandsomeDead said:

"I don't really see what's special but I never do with guitar based music."

He was an amazing guitarist, but his songs were mostly meh. That's how I feel about a lot of guitar centric songwriters like John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and so on. They can play complex riffs and solos, but that doesn't make them good musicians. It makes them good guitarists."

Already posted on this topic, but my Mum thinks he was an Angel of music?
No arguments from me :P

People who claim he is overrated don't know shit about playing guitar.

Do I think his Guitar Playing is over rated? absolutely not.

I think the melody in his songs can be matched and beaten easily though...his songs (to me personally) just are not that fulfilling to listen to. This may sound just stupid to many people, but I have learnt and listened to the classics...and they just don't do much for me. I'm more more pleased listened to a Fall Out Boy, Andy Mckee or Angels and Airwaves record. They may not be classic, but to me they most certainly are.

-- God Bless.

He was a self-taught musical genius.  Just find some interviews that show what his peers thought of him.  They were all blown away...Clapton especially.    His music is still relevant today which speaks to his greatness as well.   See Jimmy Live at Berkeley for the proof of his phenomenon.

One of the greatest solo acts in the history of music you fool.