Jimi was cool but he was no where NEAR the greatest guitarist of all time.

He was early, I will give him that. And with fewer electronic toys the tome had to come from shear volume and feedback, which was impressive.

But if you PLAY THE GUITAR you can tell that he was primarily a pentatonic player and, aside from a great rhythm/lead style his stuff is pretty ordinary for electric blues.

Technical ability, timing and offstage persona--all of which are/were right up there at the top, his MELODY was actually pretty so-so.

Little Wing is probably as good as it ever got, and most of the flashy playing stuff was either tacky (teeth, behind the head nonsense) or scalar.

Prince, on the other hand, manages to stay melodic for more of his total playing time than anyone since Miles, and maybe even more than him.

Ask ANY guitarist--this is what is HARD TO DO.

Improvised playing on some of the aftershow boots show this best.

It may not matter to casual listeners or to historybooks (where being dead young helps, as long as it is your own vomit that is), but to OTHER GUITAR PLAYERS this is what is what.

Not to sound condscending, but unless you play you should be careful of opinions.

And ANYONE can pick up the guitar.

In fact, everyone SHOULD.

You sort of forgot that a lot of things we might take as "cliches" now were more or less invented by Hendrix. Or, even if others like Clapton had used some of those ideas before, Jimi took them to a new level.

You're right in the sense that Jimi's "melodic" highpoint was perhaps "Little Wing" and that his solos relied on pentatonic scales a lot. I know when I used to study his songs that many of his solos are based on the same ideas and they often "feel the same" when you play them (your fingers repeat the same patterns, your hands tend to be positioned in a certain way on the fretboard, etc.). So, yeah, I know what you are talking about, but unlike many of Jimi's followers he himself never was corny like them. His sound was raw, emotional and to the point. Just listen to the music and the type of songs he used his guitar playing on. It's tasty. It's not some sort of AOR bullshit that Clapton and the likes came to be known for.

It's not just the solos you should be listening to in any case. The intros, the riffs and the multitracked guitars are where it's really at - I've always loved the intro to "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)", for example. Prince has never used the guitar for things like that. Jimi could do entire arrangements with his guitar, whereas Prince has always relied on other instruments to flesh out his songs.

Why should we stop comparing Prince to Hendrix though? Prince has obviously appropriated Jimi's playing style on numerous songs - "Dreamer", "Fury", "The Ride", "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man", etc.

A contentious topic!

I much prefer Prince.

who cares.....maybe he'll release the hendrix cover album he DID record if he keep talking about it....

[Edited 5/27/14 14:13pm]

When you compare guitar players you cant compare only one

aspect of their playing.

Prince and Jimi are great rhythm guitar players but i think

Jimi was a better rhythm guitar player and more interesting.

Listen to Jimis rhythm guitar on Castles Made Of Sand

,Little Wing,The Wind Cries Marry,Can You See Me .Hendrix was an extremely underrated rhythm guitar player.

Its not true that Jimi was primarily a pentatonic player.

Yes when you analyze Purple Haze solo it sounds pentatonic,

but in the context of guitar solo accompanied with harmony it becames E dorian mode.

Lots of Hendrix stuff is modal.

And btw pentatonic scale is present in 99 % of guitar solos

in popular music.

Jimi Hendrix redefined Electric Guitar.He used it in a way no one did before him.

Everything he did no matter if it was blues based lick,indian scale or use of feedback sounded so organic.

After seeing Hendrix play Clapton was crying in the cab thinking his career was over .

Peter Towsend and Jeff Beck also were there that night.

Beside them whole world was stunned and influenced by that silly hippie

If there was no Jimi there would be no rock guitar the way we know it.

Jimi Hendrix was pure magic and this topic cant be serious.

If you are serious than you are either crazy or under educated outside of PRince music wirld

Hendrix and melody don't even need to be discussed. He was a composer of recorded textures and moods, it wasn't about writing catchy or melodious tunes. That a lot of his vibe was drug fuelled and inspired is also relevant in terms of appreciating his impact and his contribution, coming at a time where so many got into recreational drugs -- he owns the template to that state of mind, on guitar.

Because he came (and died) first, his imagination and creativity can never be denied. His achievement in terms of being a black rock guitar god in those days -- well you just have to admire how much talent it took to vault over all those other greats and land there in his number 1 spot for... 40 years now.

I love how well Prince plays and what he can do, he can be considered one of the best guitarists ever in terms of versatility, but aside from being far more melodic he didn't come up with anything that is truly his, guitar wise. He could outplay Jimi on his head upside down over two beautiful Russian acrobats, he still would not be considered better than Hendrix, and that's just history.

just go ahead and play Dreamer .. then play Voodoo Chile .. then sit and wonder why you made this thread now that you know how utterly ignorant you are of the monolith gap in guitar talent between prince and hendrix .. hendrix rules prince in every way possible on guitar .. and hendrix always had a pretty top notch band .. prince band sounds like it is drowning and barely breathing on these songs .. hendrix band were all top caliber musicians almost equal to hendrix .. prince no longer surrounds himself with that level of musician and his level has peaked at repetitive and mundane .. predictable and often muzak sounding

It's a weird premise considering Hendrix was one of the originators to create the language Prince uses. Prince will always be associated with his most obvious of influences.

thebanishedone said:

When you compare guitar players you cant compare only one

aspect of their playing.

Prince and Jimi are great rhythm guitar players but i think

Jimi was a better rhythm guitar player and more interesting.

Listen to Jimis rhythm guitar on Castles Made Of Sand

,Little Wing,The Wind Cries Marry,Can You See Me .Hendrix was an extremely underrated rhythm guitar player.

Its not true that Jimi was primarily a pentatonic player.

Yes when you analyze Purple Haze solo it sounds pentatonic,

but in the context of guitar solo accompanied with harmony it becames E dorian mode.

Lots of Hendrix stuff is modal.

And btw pentatonic scale is present in 99 % of guitar solos

in popular music.

Jimi Hendrix redefined Electric Guitar.He used it in a way no one did before him.

Everything he did no matter if it was blues based lick,indian scale or use of feedback sounded so organic.

After seeing Hendrix play Clapton was crying in the cab thinking his career was over .

Peter Towsend and Jeff Beck also were there that night.

Beside them whole world was stunned and influenced by that silly hippie

If there was no Jimi there would be no rock guitar the way we know it.

Jimi Hendrix was pure magic and this topic cant be serious.

If you are serious than you are either crazy or under educated outside of PRince music wirld

Thank God, the voice of reason! Some people here really have no clue, or are just baiting.

funkaholic1972 said:

thebanishedone said:

When you compare guitar players you cant compare only one

aspect of their playing.

Prince and Jimi are great rhythm guitar players but i think

Jimi was a better rhythm guitar player and more interesting.

Listen to Jimis rhythm guitar on Castles Made Of Sand

,Little Wing,The Wind Cries Marry,Can You See Me .Hendrix was an extremely underrated rhythm guitar player.

Its not true that Jimi was primarily a pentatonic player.

Yes when you analyze Purple Haze solo it sounds pentatonic,

but in the context of guitar solo accompanied with harmony it becames E dorian mode.

Lots of Hendrix stuff is modal.

And btw pentatonic scale is present in 99 % of guitar solos

in popular music.

Jimi Hendrix redefined Electric Guitar.He used it in a way no one did before him.

Everything he did no matter if it was blues based lick,indian scale or use of feedback sounded so organic.

After seeing Hendrix play Clapton was crying in the cab thinking his career was over .

Peter Towsend and Jeff Beck also were there that night.

Beside them whole world was stunned and influenced by that silly hippie

If there was no Jimi there would be no rock guitar the way we know it.

Jimi Hendrix was pure magic and this topic cant be serious.

If you are serious than you are either crazy or under educated outside of PRince music wirld

Thank God, the voice of reason! Some people here really have no clue, or are just baiting.

Thank you ,ten years ago here on org i was making similar

ignorant posts like others on this topic but i came to my senses with time.

Nobody can mess with Jimi.There are lot of stuff in popular coulture

that are overrated but Hendrix

is not one of them.

He took a world by storm and left too early but the legacy is here,evident in every rock guitar solo since.

thebanishedone said:

funkaholic1972 said:

Thank God, the voice of reason! Some people here really have no clue, or are just baiting.

Thank you ,ten years ago here on org i was making similar

ignorant posts like others on this topic but i came to my senses with time.

Nobody can mess with Jimi.There are lot of stuff in popular coulture

that are overrated but Hendrix

is not one of them.

He took a world by storm and left too early but the legacy is here,evident in every rock guitar solo since.

That is right, Jimi was a true original and his innovations and incredible gifted skills on the guitar cannot be ignored or dismissed. Prince is a great guitar player and one of my favorite artists but not in the league of Hendrix when it comes to influence and genius on the guitar. No one does in my opinion.

Revolution said:

Being first doesn't equate to being better....Naismith could not dunk a basketball like jordan [Edited 5/27/14 19:07pm]

*
Yes, but the fascination with dunking has completely eroded the holistic skill-set of eighty percent of the people playing college and professional basketball. What makes Jordan and James great is that unlike the myopic hype of an ESPN highlight clip, they both developed every aspect of their game, which is rooted in the foundations created by Naismith. As such, it's just damn silly to try to create an "objective" rating of two masters when one couldn't have existed without the other. There could be no Jimi Hendrix without B. B. King and Buddy Guy, especially since Hendrix stated that King is the greatest guitar player. And, there could be no Prince without King, Guy, Hendrix, Santana, Eddie Hazel, and many others. It is impossible to create "objective" measuring criteria for people who lived in different eras. At best we can be objective enough to appreciate each person for what did/accomplished/created in their era while still having a "subjective" favorite. Prince is my favorite guitar player, but I don't have him in the top ten of my list of "best" guitar players; yet, I realize that no matter how "objective" I try to be the criteria for my list will be rooted, in some way, on my subjective notions of what defines quality playing. The bottom line is that Jimi Hendrix was great. Prince is great. One person's greatness does not in any way diminish the other person's greatness. I'm just glad that I'm able to enjoy them and others without the silly need to say that one is "absolutely" better.

thebanishedone said:

funkaholic1972 said:

Thank God, the voice of reason! Some people here really have no clue, or are just baiting.

Thank you ,ten years ago here on org i was making similar

ignorant posts like others on this topic but i came to my senses with time.

Nobody can mess with Jimi.There are lot of stuff in popular coulture

that are overrated but Hendrix

is not one of them.

He took a world by storm and left too early but the legacy is here,evident in every rock guitar solo since.

All fair responses, but I am NOT trying to quantify better.

Nor am I trying to mess with history, or the judgements it makes (rightly or wrongly).

My point is just that MELODY is what matters in rhythm AND solo playing, first and foremost.

As a player I can tell you that it is the ONE thing you really CANNOT "learn" or "fake."

I can play many of the Hendrix solos just by rote repetition.

The melodies are good, but they take a back seat to the technique that Jimi was exploring.

He wanted to see what could be done with the electric guitar.

Music was really only a secondary concern.

OK, Hendrix was great in so many ways and was clearly THE innovator on the guitar.

But Prince is THE CONSUMMATE MUSICIAN (guitar included) BECAUSE HIS MELODIC SENSE IS UNMATCHED on anything he plays.

At least IMO.

I was just thinking about this the other day. I see it like this, Jimi pretty much laid out the framework for how most people play guitar today. He was innovative for his time. Had Jimi lived past 27, who knows what else or how high his level of skill and creativity could have reached.

Prince has taken what Jimi has done and made it his own. In that sense, Prince has surpassed Jimi in playing becasue he is still here with us creating new tones and perfecting his craft of playing.

I'm sure when it's all said and done, Prince will be ranked as one of the best and I'm talking top 5 best guitarist to ever play.

Stimpy said:

thebanishedone said:

Thank you ,ten years ago here on org i was making similar

ignorant posts like others on this topic but i came to my senses with time.

Nobody can mess with Jimi.There are lot of stuff in popular coulture

that are overrated but Hendrix

is not one of them.

He took a world by storm and left too early but the legacy is here,evident in every rock guitar solo since.

All fair responses, but I am NOT trying to quantify better.

Nor am I trying to mess with history, or the judgements it makes (rightly or wrongly).

My point is just that MELODY is what matters in rhythm AND solo playing, first and foremost.

As a player I can tell you that it is the ONE thing you really CANNOT "learn" or "fake."

I can play many of the Hendrix solos just by rote repetition.

The melodies are good, but they take a back seat to the technique that Jimi was exploring.

He wanted to see what could be done with the electric guitar.

Music was really only a secondary concern.

OK, Hendrix was great in so many ways and was clearly THE innovator on the guitar.

But Prince is THE CONSUMMATE MUSICIAN (guitar included) BECAUSE HIS MELODIC SENSE IS UNMATCHED on anything he plays.

At least IMO.

Can you replicate the same feel and raw intensity of Jimis playing?

Hendrix was much more melody based than Prince.Princes rhythm playing is riff based.Hendrix was a muh more compleh rhythm player than Prince.Hendrix played rhythm and lead lines at the same time

We can stop comparing Prince to Hendrix when he stops dressing like him.

Stimpy said:

thebanishedone said:

Thank you ,ten years ago here on org i was making similar

ignorant posts like others on this topic but i came to my senses with time.

Nobody can mess with Jimi.There are lot of stuff in popular coulture

that are overrated but Hendrix

is not one of them.

He took a world by storm and left too early but the legacy is here,evident in every rock guitar solo since.

All fair responses, but I am NOT trying to quantify better.

Nor am I trying to mess with history, or the judgements it makes (rightly or wrongly).

My point is just that MELODY is what matters in rhythm AND solo playing, first and foremost.

As a player I can tell you that it is the ONE thing you really CANNOT "learn" or "fake."

I can play many of the Hendrix solos just by rote repetition.

The melodies are good, but they take a back seat to the technique that Jimi was exploring.

He wanted to see what could be done with the electric guitar.

Music was really only a secondary concern.

OK, Hendrix was great in so many ways and was clearly THE innovator on the guitar.

But Prince is THE CONSUMMATE MUSICIAN (guitar included) BECAUSE HIS MELODIC SENSE IS UNMATCHED on anything he plays.

At least IMO.

That's just your preference on it. I don't think melody has to matter the most in solos and it certainly doesn't matter the most with rhythm guitar playing. Why would it? A rhythm guitar is supposed to have a rhythmic function first and foremost. I'm not following you with that comment. I know that many players are able to back up the vocal melodies really well with their choice of harmonies, but that's actually something that Jimi did really well. Prince's rhythm guitar parts are often quite minimalist and aggressive, aren't they?

Regardless, I do consider Prince the most tasteful melodic soloist on the guitar. He just makes it work really well in the context of his own music.

One thing that cannot be denied - Prince has a bigger range than Jimi did, in that he can play guitar in many more styles.

give me a break .. prince is horrible at melody on guitar .. he thinks he is santana .. santana blows prince out of the water .. his melodies on guitar are boring and go nowhere 99 percent of the time .. jimi played rythm and lead at the same time .. thus giving his solos a somewhat rythmic feel .. still his melodies are far better than ANYTHING prince lays down on guitar .. prince is good at rythm guitar and playing scales .. that is it .. his solos are all the same go no where and are interchangeable save for the purple rain solo which he apparently decided he didn't want to play anymore and stuck to piano for PR for a while .. which is one of his dumbest moves ever .. melodically on guitar solos prince is a giant snooze .. just listen to hendrix or santana and you will hear how far prince needs to grow to stand next to these 2 legends .. please stop acting like prince is the greatest ever just because he wore assless chaps a few times and still looks cute with 12 tons of photoshop touch ups .. get real!

Militant said:

One thing that cannot be denied - Prince has a bigger range than Jimi did, in that he can play guitar in many more styles.

.

Like what? I think Prince has the ability to play stuff that Hendrix would have considered too bubble gum for, maybe that's what you mean.

funkaholic1972 said:

thebanishedone said:

Thank you ,ten years ago here on org i was making similar

ignorant posts like others on this topic but i came to my senses with time.

Nobody can mess with Jimi.There are lot of stuff in popular coulture

that are overrated but Hendrix

is not one of them.

He took a world by storm and left too early but the legacy is here,evident in every rock guitar solo since.

That is right, Jimi was a true original and his innovations and incredible gifted skills on the guitar cannot be ignored or dismissed. Prince is a great guitar player and one of my favorite artists but not in the league of Hendrix when it comes to influence and genius on the guitar. No one does in my opinion.

Truth. Before Jimi, no one played like him. After Jimi, many tried (and pretty much failed). No other rock guitar stylist imo has been as good or better than him either imo.

Prince, while a great guitar player, is very much 'just' one of the many who came after Jimi, who loved Jimi (and Santana, among others). Without Jimi existing, P's lead rock guitar playing would be impossible.

There are very very few things I feel are indisputable in the worlds of music. I would never say the Beatles or James Brown or Miles Davis or Prince were THE greatest (though they are all among the greatest), but for me, Jimi's pre-eminence as the greatest rock/ fusion guitar player is one of them.

You may say Jimi was 'limited' (if I could play lead and rhythm as brilliantly as Jimi could AND at times simultaneously, I would take that kind of 'limited' ) or you may not like his sound or musical style or songs, but all I will say in response to that is -

Machine Gun (Band of Gypsies album), Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), All Along the Watchtower (both Electric Ladyland). These cannot be argued with imo.

Rock guitar reached its ultimate zenith on those three tracks imo and has never been equalled before or since, let alone bettered and almost certainly never will be.

If there is a God, he/ she/ it spoke through only one guitar player and his name was Jimi. The rest, however good, are disciples or 'false prophets' in comparison .

treehouse said:

Militant said:

One thing that cannot be denied - Prince has a bigger range than Jimi did, in that he can play guitar in many more styles.

.

Like what? I think Prince has the ability to play stuff that Hendrix would have considered too bubble gum for, maybe that's what you mean.

Prince has played a lot of great jazz guitar licks over the years (A Love Bizarre, Mountains, Xpectation album just to name a few). Never heard Hendrix do that.

Nothing bubblegum about that.

TrevorAyer said:

give me a break .. prince is horrible at melody on guitar .. he thinks he is santana .. santana blows prince out of the water .. his melodies on guitar are boring and go nowhere 99 percent of the time .. jimi played rythm and lead at the same time .. thus giving his solos a somewhat rythmic feel .. still his melodies are far better than ANYTHING prince lays down on guitar .. prince is good at rythm guitar and playing scales .. that is it .. his solos are all the same go no where and are interchangeable save for the purple rain solo which he apparently decided he didn't want to play anymore and stuck to piano for PR for a while .. which is one of his dumbest moves ever .. melodically on guitar solos prince is a giant snooze .. just listen to hendrix or santana and you will hear how far prince needs to grow to stand next to these 2 legends .. please stop acting like prince is the greatest ever just because he wore assless chaps a few times and still looks cute with 12 tons of photoshop touch ups .. get real!

sounds like you have personal issues with Prince, are you an ex girlfriend?

ethanthomas said:

TrevorAyer said:

give me a break .. prince is horrible at melody on guitar .. he thinks he is santana .. santana blows prince out of the water .. his melodies on guitar are boring and go nowhere 99 percent of the time .. jimi played rythm and lead at the same time .. thus giving his solos a somewhat rythmic feel .. still his melodies are far better than ANYTHING prince lays down on guitar .. prince is good at rythm guitar and playing scales .. that is it .. his solos are all the same go no where and are interchangeable save for the purple rain solo which he apparently decided he didn't want to play anymore and stuck to piano for PR for a while .. which is one of his dumbest moves ever .. melodically on guitar solos prince is a giant snooze .. just listen to hendrix or santana and you will hear how far prince needs to grow to stand next to these 2 legends .. please stop acting like prince is the greatest ever just because he wore assless chaps a few times and still looks cute with 12 tons of photoshop touch ups .. get real!

sounds like you have personal issues with Prince, are you an ex girlfriend?

someone has to speak up when prince fans are this level of ignorant of good vs mediocre playing .. i love prince for what he does but he is not that impressive on guitar and to place him above jimi is simply groupie worship and has nothing to do with prince actual ability .. my issue is only with what people these days find acceptable in music when music as a whole .. including prince output .. has gone so downhill and is not even worth listening to .. sure there is good music if you dig deeper but what is celebrated by popular culture these days is so horrible and crappy and then u try to say its as good as hendrix .. or crazy statements like PRINCE PLAYS GOOD JAZZ ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .. this mcdonalds junk food culture for the ears makes me sick .. people need to have better taste because our culture has zero taste for anything good anymore .. its all cheap garbage .. get your heads out of the garbage can people ... and dont try to pull jimi into the garbage with all the rest of the crap you think is so great

TrevorAyer said:

ethanthomas said:

sounds like you have personal issues with Prince, are you an ex girlfriend?

someone has to speak up when prince fans are this level of ignorant of good vs mediocre playing .. i love prince for what he does but he is not that impressive on guitar and to place him above jimi is simply groupie worship and has nothing to do with prince actual ability .. my issue is only with what people these days find acceptable in music when music as a whole .. including prince output .. has gone so downhill and is not even worth listening to .. sure there is good music if you dig deeper but what is celebrated by popular culture these days is so horrible and crappy and then u try to say its as good as hendrix .. or crazy statements like PRINCE PLAYS GOOD JAZZ ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .. this mcdonalds junk food culture for the ears makes me sick .. people need to have better taste because our culture has zero taste for anything good anymore .. its all cheap garbage .. get your heads out of the garbage can people ... and dont try to pull jimi into the garbage with all the rest of the crap you think is so great

Trevor is an excellent songwriter and musician. He knows what he's talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M70-HyKl3xU

paulludvig said:

TrevorAyer said:

someone has to speak up when prince fans are this level of ignorant of good vs mediocre playing .. i love prince for what he does but he is not that impressive on guitar and to place him above jimi is simply groupie worship and has nothing to do with prince actual ability .. my issue is only with what people these days find acceptable in music when music as a whole .. including prince output .. has gone so downhill and is not even worth listening to .. sure there is good music if you dig deeper but what is celebrated by popular culture these days is so horrible and crappy and then u try to say its as good as hendrix .. or crazy statements like PRINCE PLAYS GOOD JAZZ ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .. this mcdonalds junk food culture for the ears makes me sick .. people need to have better taste because our culture has zero taste for anything good anymore .. its all cheap garbage .. get your heads out of the garbage can people ... and dont try to pull jimi into the garbage with all the rest of the crap you think is so great

Trevor is an excellent songwriter and musician. He knows what he's talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M70-HyKl3xU

i heard Trevors music.i respect his song writting. But his voice is out o tune and so is his guitar.

i respect you Trevor but if you criticize other guitar player at least bother to tune your guitar

at least i don't butcher my vocals with auto tune like some other vocalists we all know