Favorite Jimmy Hendrix'?
 

Talking about dead artists, I was listening to Hendrix today on my walk. I hadnt listened toa CD since I was in college 50 yrs ago when I listened to him a lot. My favorite tune then was Purple Haze because of the experience of listening to it, today I liked Foxy Lady. He certainly was experimental and is my favorite guitarist. He was not the best player though. Plenty of more adept players then and now. Anyway what is you favorite Hendrix tune and why?

"All along the watchtower" . . . even thought it's a Dylan song.

Little Wing, strong second is The Wind Cries Mary. Just incredibly beautiful guitar work on both of these.

Oh, and it's "Jimi", not "Jimmy".

For me it's a six-way tie:

*Little Wing - live version Royal Albert Hall 1969 - a beautiful song with massive performance energy.
*1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) - super examples of the unearthly sounds he could create.
*House Burning Down - humorous lyrics with anthemic playing. What a combination.
*Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - an in-studio 'jam' on a completed album cut that became rightfully legendary.
*Drifting - like Angel, a softer ballad, but with exquisitely gorgeous playing.
*In From The Storm - a preview of where he was heading, some progressive elements.

It's funny to hear people dismiss Hendrix from a vantage point 50 years after his death. Hendrix wasn't revolutionary for electric guitar because he was more technically advanced than anyone else on the planet.

He was revolutionary because he brought a suitcase full of new techniques and approaches that no one else was using and wove it into an instantly identifiable sound.

These days 9 year old players can 'out-Hendrix' the real thing. But none of them would be doing anything if Hendrix didn't invent it first.

I happen to prefer pioneers over those who come afterwards. Doing anything original in life involves huge amounts of courage, drive and vision.

There's a lot of Hendrix that I like - here are three:
Manic Depression
Love or Confusion
The Burning of The Midnight Lamp
There is also a lot of stuff that was less than inspired. I attribute that largely to the insane touring schedule and a contract that called for new albums on a regular basis.
And while to say that he wasn't the best guitarist is true - there is no "best" - he was very gifted. Some of the "best" guitarists of his time were completely blown away by his playing. They watched him do things that they could never conceive of. He was his own thing for sure.

Another big Hendrix fan here. As for greatest? There are many players since who could blow him apart technically, though without his "feel", but as a creative and inspirational artist, there are few like him. Like Zappa, who drew on many facets of classical music, including the various odd modes I always think of when I listen to his guitar work, Hendrix absorbed and and synthesised many styles and was so creative in his use of jazz guitar techniques which are still used in rock today: it's easy to see the development of Wes Montgomery > Hendrix > Billy Corgan.

Tough to pick faves, but I'd have to go with 'Burning Of The Midnight Lamp' or almost any track on Axis Bold As Love.

Red House. His blues talent really shines here.

My favorite version is the one on Hendrix in the West.

You summed up the way I feel perfectly.

Interesting that there doesnt seem to be any agreement. I know favorite is a personal thing but I thought there would be some overlap. And I curious why you like what. One responder said he like a song cause it highlighted his blues skills. We know that he came out of blues and did a lot of flash to separate him from the million other blues players. Maybe I shouldnt like him as much as I do cause he did a lot of cheap tricks like playing the guitar with his teeth or behind his head but there are a lot of songs that when you strip away the **** are really good and novel. I wish he had had the wisdom to see he went too far with the "effect" and just let the music speak for itself.

For me, it’s either “The Wind Cries Mary” or “Castles Made of Sand”.

What I love about Hendrix, almost more than anything else, is his glorious sense of melody. Every one of his most famous compositions has a tune that you can sing, and get stuck as an ear worm for the rest of the day. Whether it’s his more gentle stuff, or the harder side, it’s the same.

Here, let me plant one for you.

“Crosstown Traffic”

See what I mean?

Not a fair question at all. Too many to choose from. "Bold as Love", "Hey Joe", "Wind Cries Mary", etc. Not just for his incredible guitar work but for the entire trip. Had the opportunity to see him once in concert. Soft Machine was the warm-up band. That whole night is kind of fuzzy but I think he opened up with "Killing Floor" and then onto "Foxy Lady". And if he dropped his pick, he'd just pluck those strings with his teeth. An exciting show! And how do you play the guitar behind your head??

Jimi Hendrix has been my favorite guitarist for most of my life. I don't listen to him so much any more, but I probably have 30-40 or more cds of his, from all the standard releases to bootlegs.

It's hard or impossible to pick a single song, although I might. One of his great abilities was that he didn't think in terms of specific notes per se, so every take and every live performance was different, like all the greats. Some of his live performances were mind-blowing, and others are kind of painful to listen to. Not so much musically, but because he is obviously in a bad space, strung out or withdrawing, or just not digging it, but, in my opinion, just not there physically, which kind of equates to musically.

It's hard for me to rate a lot of his tunes because I've heard them so much. Purple Haze, for example. It's a great tune, seminal, but if I never heard it again that'd be ok. I've heard it hundreds of times. I did hear a cool cover recently, by a band that obviously knows it and can take it the next level.

By the way, I feel I should mention I intentionally misspelled Jimi in my signature, because I think it's funny. So I hope you didn't base your spelling on that.

Anyway, I dig the covers now that we are into the next generation of Jimi. Nguyen Le did and album of covers (Purple) that is pretty awesome, but for sure not everyone's cup of tea. I love the King Crimsonesque bit around 3:00

The "where's the 1" intro and wah'd solo are epic.

If I had to pick one, it'd probably be Little Wing. Perfect tone, fantastic fills. It's just too short. The Hamsters do fine longer cover of this.