would Jimi Hendrix even rate in the top ten guitar players today?

Do people actually still play guitar today?

Hendrix would still be my #1, simply because no one in 2016 is doing anything as groovy as Hey Joe, Purple Haze, Castles Made of Sand, Freedom etc.

Sad state of affairs really.

By no means as far as technicality goes. Stylistically, well, that's where he'll always remain inimitable...

S.W.B being another case in point:

He was never any good, the stuff he did was new and innovative. A true cult figure.

:birdie:

never, he was an awful guitar player. he was very innovative for his time, but only on the one album he put out in 1967, the other two albums he put out during his life were basically retreads of his original work where everyone else was moving forward and exploring new ground and new sounds.

today his songs are taught to beginner guitarists because the riffs are so basic and straightforward.

people who don't PLAY guitar erroneously believe he is some sort of magical "guitar hero" or something because rolling stone magazine tells them to with thier stupid "top guitarists ever" lists, which are basically fully of shit and politically motivated.

If he hadn't died of a drug overdose and wasn't black? he'd be remembered as just another dude who put out a few influential albums during a time when music was rapidly evolving.

but to answer straightforward basically any intermediate guitarist today would literally blow the dude off the stage.

oh yeah and there are bootlegs of clapton playing that hard - fast modern rock sound before hendrix put out his first album so maybe you might make the case that he wasn't even really the influential one in the first place.

He shouldnt be rated only as a guitarplayer.
He was a singer songwriter.
Like TafkaPrince.
Bu he would amaze us as all as a top 3 player
based on personality,timing and phrasing.

It's 10% what u play and 90% how u play it.

hendrix wouldnt even be on a list of the top 50 best guitarists i have heard at a technical/musical level if i included guitarists since 1970.

That being said, he is still one of my top ten guitarists of all time because of how influentially amazing he was...even though im not that big of a fan of hendrixs music. I like a lot lf tunes he did though and i wish i nad 10% of the ability he had.

He is arguably one of the 5 most influential guitarists of all time imo. amazing for a poor as shit african american guy who couldnt read music.

I would say yes he would be in the top 10. Who would be 10 people you rate higher?

Dimebag Darrell
Eddie Van Halen
Tony Iommi
Eric Clapton
Gary Moore
Kirk Hammet
Marty Friedman
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Derek Trucks
Randy Rhoads
Mark Knopfler
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
David Gilmour
Ritchie Blackmore
Lou Reed

All better than him.

As a technician he didn't even rate in the top ten back in the 60's.

But he was a monster player, songwriter, innovator. His influence spans generations, and will continue to impact upcoming players for years.

I've played as a side man with grammy winning, multi-platinum selling artists. I've played with some of the best players in the world. They've ALL been influenced by Jimi Hendrix. And yet, most of the people who I work with would not be able to hire him for gigs.

Chops wise I could play circles around Hendrix, but who the fuck am I? Ya know. Jimi was the man. And even people who try to simplify what he was, and what he did, and what he contributed are not only wrong, they themselves can not escape his influence.

Rory Gallagher better than all the above.

You wouldn't be able to ask that question if it wasnt for Jimi Hendrix

Nice!

Fuck you all dumbasses.

SRV admired Jimi, tried to emulate his sound and almost could do it.
Jimi died at the ripe old age of 27.
He was playing in clubs for Sam and Dave and other bands when he was 17 years old.

What were you maestros playing when you were 17?

Oh that's right, COD 4.

Again, fuck you all. Idiots. You wouldn't know a fine guitar player from a dick up your ass.

nobody really gives a shit one way or the other. you don't need guitars for rap. rock music is DEAD. By the way, real guitar virtuosos like Sabicas used to make fun of shit guitarists like Jimi boy and Elvis on stage and would make the whole crowd laugh. You probably never saw that because the media did a great job of keeping people like you stupid.

:crazythumbsup:

the experts say he couldn't play very well, but he innovated the use of various effect stomp boxes to dazzle and obfuscate the musical incompetence

Considering you left out Jason Becker, the greatest guitar player the world has ever seen.

Your list means jack shit.

When they were planning the line up for Woodstock, nobody wanted to follow Jimi.
He played dead last.
Any musician knows what that means.

Modern twerps and your effects machines and technical bullshit make me want to hurl.
There were not even any electronic tuning aids when Jimi was playing.
They had tuning forks. He didn't use them.
Ya'll are waay off the mark here.
Jimi took music to places nobody had dreamed, he used gimmicks, but then all bands do.

Some of your great players are repetitive monkeys, like Dime bag. His racket gives me a headache.

Most of you on here have no clue what guitar playing is. He would have progressed even further than his 13 years of playing had he lived. He was a technical genius anyone that says different is an idiot who doesn't know how to play. I've been playing since I was 10, I will be 49 next week, I challenge any of you to a guitar duel, those are the best. Shredders are NOT the best players! Jimi was asked what it's like to be the greatest guitar player in the world and Jimi replied, "I wouldn't know, ask Rory Gallagher.

He was on Dick Cavet's show. Dick said, Jimi, being the greatest guitar player in the world..
Jimi corrected him, said "I'm the best guitar player sitting in this chair."

Jimi was the real deal, a natural.

You mean today there's a lot of guitar players that mimic older famous guitarists. With no talent to even create a lick or riff let alone a solo or song of their own?

Mimicry of another musicians work is not a talent at all./

As for your question, well if Hendrix Was transported to today, he would upgrade his equipment, since he was on the cutting edge of equipment at his time and was the first to be able to utilize so much distortion and sustain in his sound, thanks to expensive custom built prototype amps.

In terms of his playing, he was so advanced in his use of chords and embellishments of the chords, and very original and inventive with his song writing, and he was an adept at improvisation of guitar long solos, its hard to imagine he would not rank somewhere in the top 10 of todays players... With todays music influences, recording equipment, mixing equipment etc, it might propel him into the top 5 if he was around today.

He would definitely be on a list for style and stage presence but he was a beginning level guitar player for sure.

:according:

He is one of the names that if cited by another musician as an influence, you know the guy is a wanker or amateur.

Same for Bohnam for drummers, claypool for bass, etc..