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Jimmy Page vs. Jimi Hendrix


Marmalade_Skies

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They're almost always mentioned in the top 2 or 3.  Jimi Hendrix was incredibly talented.  Has a blues/jazz/improv way of playing that was very akin to the black artists of the 30's-50's.  He was just really soulful and poetic with the guitar.  But unfortunately, he died way too young, and I don't think his catalogue matches up with Page's for that reason alone.  Page proved to be far more versatile and wide-reaching with the kind of music he'd play, between loud, soft, soothing, aggressive, he mastered just about every angle of guitaring.

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As much as I love Page, Hendrix single handedly invented modern rock guitar and, anyone who can tune a Strat mid song, dive bomb like hell and then tune again without nary skipping a beat while improv abound has my vote.

Hendrix was Apollo come to human form.

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Neither. Jimmy Osmond. :P

23 hours ago, IpMan said:

As much as I love Page, Hendrix single handedly invented modern rock guitar and, anyone who can tune a Strat mid song, dive bomb like hell and then tune again without nary skipping a beat while improv abound has my vote.

Hendrix was Apollo come to human form.

 

21 hours ago, chef free said:

Apples to Oranges!  Jimi was the '60's, Page was the '70's!  Anyway, mere mortals shouldn't argue which of our rock Gods is "best".  That's really out of OUR league.

Bingo again guys! 

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On 4/3/2016 at 1:59 PM, IpMan said:

As much as I love Page, Hendrix single handedly invented modern rock guitar and, anyone who can tune a Strat mid song, dive bomb like hell and then tune again without nary skipping a beat while improv abound has my vote.

Hendrix was Apollo come to human form.

While singing, chewing gum and smoking a cigarette!

Edited by chef free
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3 hours ago, middlezep said:

Hendrix wins.....,ok theres nothing wrong with being a loser

Especially when Hendrix is the winner. As a guitarist I could not even get in the same building as Hendrix, nor could many, so Page coming in as runner up is pretty damn impressive IMO.

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On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 8:15 PM, middlezep said:

Hendrix wins.....,ok theres nothing wrong with being a loser

Who said that Jimi Hendrix is the winner and Jimmy Page is the loser?  You?  What credentials do you have to state that Jimi is the winner over Jimmy? 

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Hendrix never achieved his full potential for one obvious reason.

We'll never know what he would have released or what direction he may have taken musically. Just as we will never know what Page would've done had Zeppelin continued.

They are / were very similar and totally different all at the same time.

Both exceptional players innovators and influential and affected by drugs that contributed to their declining creative output and health.

Appreciate the fact they contributed great music and the legacies they left behind.

Who's better? Who cares?

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jimmy-page-sitar.jpg The last time I listened, page was playing sitar before George Harrison, laying down some interesting riffs with The Yardbirds, and other countless bands as a session player, was really impressive with the bow, 12 string, banjo, light & shade, madolin, and acoustic guitar. Am I the only one who gets tired or annoyed of hearing about how Jimmy Page was not particularly inventive, very sloppy, too loud, all over the place and so on? Each person has their fav for some it's Hendrix for others its Page and for others its Beck and so on. For me it's Page hands down every single time

Edited by Charles J. White
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  • 4 weeks later...

I don't know why people keep saying Hendrix "invented" electric guitar. Seems to me like Hendrix took a lot of inspiration from both Clapton and Beck, and besides that, how can one say that Hendrix "invented" electric guitar when there's guys like Chuck Berry. Seems like a wild overstatement to me.

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17 minutes ago, Balthazor said:

I don't know why people keep saying Hendrix "invented" electric guitar. Seems to me like Hendrix took a lot of inspiration from both Clapton and Beck, and besides that, how can one say that Hendrix "invented" electric guitar when there's guys like Chuck Berry. Seems like a wild overstatement to me.

Reinvented is probably more accurate. Before Hendrix, Clapton was God. But all he really did was master Chicago blues and play it well. He wasn't and still isn't capable of the diversity and imagination Hendrix showed in 4 short years. It's not just about skills but employing originality in applying them combined with fearless delivery. Comparing Chuck's "Johnny B. Goode" with Jimi's version clearly shows the fresh ideas and approach he brought  A lot of people don't hear it, but that doesn't change the facts. He set a new standard which still exists today.

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On 5/5/2016 at 5:27 PM, Badgeholder Still said:

Reinvented is probably more accurate. Before Hendrix, Clapton was God. But all he really did was master Chicago blues and play it well. He wasn't and still isn't capable of the diversity and imagination Hendrix showed in 4 short years. It's not just about skills but employing originality in applying them combined with fearless delivery. Comparing Chuck's "Johnny B. Goode" with Jimi's version clearly shows the fresh ideas and approach he brought  A lot of people don't hear it, but that doesn't change the facts. He set a new standard which still exists today.

Admittedly, I'm not a huge Hendrix fan and so have not listened to his material as extensively as I have Zeppelin's, but I just have never been all that blown away by him. Personally I think Jeff Beck was a much more inventive and influential guitarist than he gets credit for, probably since he never had quite as high a profile as Hendrix or Clapton or Page. But I also think that, to a certain extent, Page gets shorted as well. Everyone knows what he did with Zeppelin and the influence that had on everyone that came after, but few people know or think much about what he was doing during his studio years, helping to shape the sound of British rock from "behind the scenes" as it were. And it's also clear that Hendrix was himself influenced by what some of the British guitarists were doing during the 60's. Maybe I'm just a fanboy, but I think if we're going to say that Hendrix "reinvented" rock guitar in his time, then I think Page "reinvented" it again in his.

Totally agree with you on Clapton though. He does what he does well, but that's ALL he does. Dude bores me to tears.

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"Totally agree with you on Clapton though. He does what he does well, but that's ALL he does. Dude bores me to tears. "

That's the only part of what you said I would agree with.

We really shouldn't compare the 2, both solid choices,  Balthazor give the Hendrix catalog more of a listen, you may like what you hear.

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4 hours ago, The Rover 75 said:

"Totally agree with you on Clapton though. He does what he does well, but that's ALL he does. Dude bores me to tears. "

That's the only part of what you said I would agree with.

We really shouldn't compare the 2, both solid choices,  Balthazor give the Hendrix catalog more of a listen, you may like what you hear.

To me the consummate songs which scream Hendrix at his peak are Voodoo Chile & Machine Gun. This is stripped down Jimi, playing jazz influenced blues without all the flash and effects he made commonplace on Are You Experienced & Axis: Bold As Love. This was Jimi moving into a new phase, reinventing himself. His next move was a collaboration with Miles Davis which was sadly cut short and never come to fruition. If you listen to Machine Gun in particular you will see exactly where Beck & Robin Trower got their direction & inspiration from for their amazing 70's solo catalogs, they just took different aspects. I would say the whole of the Band of Gypsies album is pure brilliance.

Page & Hendrix, two fantastic guitarists. Its like comparing chocolate to mocha...it's ALL good!

Edited by IpMan
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13 hours ago, IpMan said:

To me the consummate songs which scream Hendrix at his peak are Voodoo Chile & Machine Gun.

I just listened to both twice each, and I guess it's just a matter of taste, but they just don't do much for me. Hendrix often comes off to me as noise and slop. But perhaps it's like Picasso, some people look at a Picasso and see genius, others see noise and slop.

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On 5/6/2016 at 4:33 PM, Stairway is NOT stolen said:

I vote Pagey. Hendrix is a better player technically, but they are both musicians, and a musician is only as good as the material he writes.

Page is a better Songwriter imo.

 

3 hours ago, Balthazor said:

I just listened to both twice each, and I guess it's just a matter of taste, but they just don't do much for me. Hendrix often comes off to me as noise and slop. But perhaps it's like Picasso, some people look at a Picasso and see genius, others see noise and slop.

Just gonna leave these here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Balthazor said:

I just listened to both twice each, and I guess it's just a matter of taste, but they just don't do much for me. Hendrix often comes off to me as noise and slop. But perhaps it's like Picasso, some people look at a Picasso and see genius, others see noise and slop.

No worries, its all subjective in the end:D

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Everyone is forgetting a VERY important fact - Jimi had his own vehicle to do what HE wanted; where as are our Jimmy was a member of a band, a true democracy in 1967/68 with the Yardbirds, but even at that point, Pagey was already doing many of things that very few including Hendrix were doing. Further to my point from wiki:

 

" yet Relf and McCarty wished to pursue a style influenced by folk and classical music; Page wanted to continue with the kind of "heavy" music for which Led Zeppelin would become iconic. Dreja was developing an interest in photography. By March, Relf and McCarty had decided to leave but were persuaded by the other two to stay at least for one more American tour.

The group's final single was recorded in January and released two months later. Reflecting members' divergences, its A-side, "Goodnight Sweet Josephine", was in the same vein as their Mickie Most-produced singles of the previous year, while its B-side, "Think About It", featured a proto-Zeppelin Page riff and snippets of the "Dazed" guitar solo. It did not enter the Hot 100.

A concert and some album tracks were recorded in New York City in March and early April (including the unreleased song "Knowing That I'm Losing You", an early version of a track that would be re-recorded by Led Zeppelin as "Tangerine").[14] All were shelved at the group's request but once Led Zeppelin became successful, Epic tried to release the concert material as Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page. The album was quickly withdrawn after Page's lawyers filed an injunction.

On 7 July 1968, the Yardbirds played their final gig at the College of Technology in Luton, Bedfordshire.[15] Rolling Stone magazine announced the break-up by saying that "Jimmy Paige [sic] intends to go into solo recording work"

 

Pagey work in the 60's is featured all over the place as a session player (again taking orders from record executive types) Clearly Page had decided that he was going to be pushing the boundary. And this is Page on Sitar again something which Hendrix didn't do, from track 2 on-wards Page has the entire album littered with Sitar:

 

 

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