Jimi Hendrix

Hello there! Now I will talk about the guitarist known as the best of them all: Jimi Hendrix, the Guitar Hero. Even though I have just heard one of his songs and I don’t like him because he is one place above my man, I have heard as many people might have heard too that he occupies a big place in Rock n’ Roll history because he was the first guitar hero. He was the first guitarist who was seen like the best, like a God, and who really made people think guitar heroes could exist if somebody played guitar like that. He is probably best known as a hippie guy with spongy hair, but he is more than that.

He was born in 1942 and died in 1970 at the age of 27. He is also widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century. Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar. His innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form (jimihendrix.com).

When he was a teenager he became interested in music, as he was influenced by many major artists at the time including B.B. King, and Buddy Holly. His father told: “he used to be sitting at the end of the bed there and strumming the broom like he was playing a guitar". He also learned to play by himself because he was unable to read music, something that made him concentrate even harder on the music he heard (jimihendrix.com).

After playing with different bands, Jimi Hendrix met Animal’s bass player, who became his manager and later, manager of the band he would form that accompanied Hendrix. However, his first important task was to name Hendrix as Jimi instead of James. The band, Jimi Hendrix Experience, quickly became the talk of London in the fall of 1966 (jimihendrix.com).

The band's first single, "Hey Joe," spent ten weeks on the UK charts. The debut single was quickly followed by the release of a full-length album Are You Experienced. This album is considered one of the most popular rock albums of all time, featuring tracks like "Purple Haze," "The Wind Cries Mary," "Foxy Lady," "Fire," and "Are You Experienced?” (jimihendrix.com).

From demo recordings to finished masters, Jimi Hendrix generated a big collection of songs throughout his short career. His music embraced the influences of blues, ballads, rock, R&B, and jazz, a collection of styles that make Hendrix one of the most popular figures in the history of Rock n’ Roll (jimihendrix.com).

At his time guitar was used in its basic form, without the harsh sound of Rock n’ Roll, and nobody played his way then. He was almost the first to start playing guitar in a very different way than before, with a louder guitar that involved blues sound and fast playing, so he was innovative for that time. If you listen to this song you will believe me ;) Another good proof of that he is an excellent guitar player is that he made me like him when I did not before X)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAXW30mMAg&feature=related

Works Cited

“Jimi Hendrix Biography”. jimihendrix.com. Jimi Hendrix. Sony Music Entertainment, 2011. Web. October 27, 2011.

Edward Van Halen- My man

To me, he is the best guitarist ever :D. This guy is considered a guitar hero for many reasons regarding his playing, it is also considered a guitar God, and God himself by some crazy guys that comment on YouTube hehe. Also the one that taught Chuck Norris how to play guitar.. ;).

He was first known in 1978, when he was 23 years old and his band Van Halen made their first record, which included the solo “Eruption”. His guitar playing is known almost absolutely for that, basically it revolutionized Rock n’ Roll and guitar playing and many more things are said about it, but I’ll quote Guitar World Magazine: “When the wildly innovative instrumental was released in 1978, hit the rock guitar community like a hydrogen bomb. Two-handed tapping, gonzo whammy bar dips, artificial harmonics—with Van Halen’s masterly application of these and other techniques, “Eruption” made every other six-stringer look like a third-stringer” (guitarworld.com). In other words, no one had ever played like that before, with the same speed, precision and innovative techniques such as tapping, his most known. Today, he is considered by many music magazines as the second best guitarist ever, usually after Jimi Hendrix. (why!? D:)

But what I love about this guy,-- I mean, what a lot of people admire on him, is how his playing can reflect that he loves what he does and this has enriched his playing and composition of songs. He just smiles a lot… :) He has said XD, when they asked him what he thought about while playing onstage: “Nothing. It’s like having sex, actually, I swear to God. It’s definitely my first love”.

He used to play drums before, but then he switched with his brother Alex, who used to play guitar and is in the band too, when he was 12. He started to play at that age, and he would escape from school to go home and practice all day o.o, so he learned to play by himself, never took a lesson in his life (how the hell). One thing he did that not every guitarist has done, is that he built his own guitars, most of them, and they are so cool : D haha. He wouldn’t find a guitar he liked, so he made one out of the remaining pieces of different guitars that a factory had dropped, and painted it…and he made the most amazing and original guitar I have ever seen :D haha well, to me: The Frankenstrat (because it was made of parts just like Frankenstein ;). Then he made another one by cutting an Ibanez Destroyer with a saw o.o, The Shark.

At that time his playing was very innovative, so that Guitar World Magazine awarded him with the best guitarist of the year like three years in a row :) (1978-1980). His playing was very original because of the effects he created and used, for example animal sounds; he uses all these effects in the songs, something that no one did before, they just played the guitar very well. Finally, what I love about his playing is how well he does it and the feelings he transmits with it; his songs just make me happy—ok, I don’t know very well how to explain it myself so I will add this quote from Les Paul, very respected guitarist that invented o: multi-track recording, because he just says it perfectly!:

“Eddie’s finger tapping and vibrato work were innovative. It’s something he developed that made him different than all other guitar players. Extremely different. He mastered it very well. Eddie proves a fellow can create his own thing, something that´s recognizable. (..) It´s good to see someone out there that plays his way. That is what makes the man stand out from the boy. (…) It seems like he had his own thing going. And that alone, by itself, makes it very interesting. And the fact that he does it very well means he’s expressing a lot of things he had inside him that others don’t have. They just don’t play that way”

—Les Paul (Zlozower, Neil).

Awesome songs (maybe heavy too, hehe) I would recommend to prove all the subjective nonsense I have just said are: Unchained, Romeo Delight, Feel your Love Tonight, Mean Street and Beautiful Girls ;)

Works Cited

“50 Greatest Guitar Solos”. Guitarworld.com. Guitar World. January 29, 2009. Web. October 16, 2011.

Zlozower, Neil. Van Halen: A visual history 1978-1984. California: Chronicle Books, 2008.

Guitar Heroes

Also called guitar legends or guitar Gods. What are they? Well, the term does not refer to the Xbox game, it refers to very good, amazing guitarists in Rock n’ Roll history. As Rock n’ Roll has always been related to electric guitars, it is also related by many people to these guitar players. Guitar Legends are people who were born for that, first of all. The best guitarists, the ones that stand above the others; that can be due to several reasons, because they started a new playing technique, because they played with a new speed, because they sounded completely different to the rest, or just because they played really good.

World known and recognized guitar legends who have contributed to the history of music are:

·         Angus Young

·         Jimi Hendrix

·         Jimmy Page

·         Eric Clapton

·         Les Paul

·         Slash

·         Santana

·         Edward Van Halen

And some more…well, who would you like me to talk about in SECOND place? XD