Jimi or Stevie

**savoie2006** · 02-09-2009, 08:43 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Originally posted by Stumbleweed

Haha, Petrucci... I remember when I liked those wanky guitar players... can hardly listen to that stuff anymore. Technically impressive but gets a big meh from me. I like Liquid Tension Experiment though. I cannot stand the Dream Theater singer's voice, so that ruins anything on that front.

Petrucci is the best of that group though (Vai, Satriani, Eric Johnson, Yngwie, etc.)...

Seriously? Petrucci has incredibly fast fingers and chops, but is no where near what Satch is on a technical or creative side of things.
Dream Theater are solid, especially their early work. All of them are great musicians and their singer's voice fits the style of music.

**MC Fatigue** · 02-09-2009, 09:29 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

They're different guitarists. Neither of them is better than the other; they're two separate amazing guitarists who played in a different era, and played different music.

**headrulz101** · 02-10-2009, 09:56 AM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Originally posted by Timmay

They're different guitarists. Neither of them is better than the other; they're two separate amazing guitarists who played in a different era, and played different music.

That's what I was trying to say in an earlier post. You could prefer one of them, but you can't say one is better than the other since they both made great contributions to the guitar and to the music world in general.

And about Petrucci, Satch, Vai, etc. I'd say my favorite out of that group was Vai. Something about the tone he creates with his Ibanez guitars that makes me melt when I listen. In my opinion, his tone + chops make his music much more enjoyable for me than the others. I couldn't get into any Dream Theater stuff, and my time listening to Satch has come and gone. Vai though, I could listen to him any day!

Oh and I'm listening to Life Without You by SRV. What a beautiful song.

**Maxattax3** · 02-10-2009, 11:08 AM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Listen to "Little Wing" by both of them.

**Bornindamecca** · 02-10-2009, 12:48 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Originally posted by Maxattax3

Listen to "Little Wing" by both of them.

Who wrote that one?

**Maxattax3** · 02-10-2009, 12:50 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Jimi did it first. I think he wrote it.
Edit: yes Jimi wrote it...SRV crushes it.

**Bornindamecca** · 02-10-2009, 01:04 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

It's two different approaches. Everyone is going to like one version more than the other, but I don't hear a quantifiable difference in ability when they both play it. I like Jimi's call and response style versus SRV's arsenal of blues licks.

Jimi really impresses me with how he adds purpose, voice, and storytelling to every single note in his live versions of the song. Maybe I like it more because it's harder to do.

**Maxattax3** · 02-10-2009, 01:33 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

I really like both of them, Jimi and SRV are my 2 favorite guitarists. SRV has so much control over the sound he is making...it almost sounds too perfect. I love Jimi too, not knocking him...after all that song came from his brain haha.

I live in Austin so I have a little lean toward SRV thats all.

edit: I guess its like someone giving you a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley...either way its a Win.

**born_bad** · 02-10-2009, 03:40 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

I am a big fan of both and have to go with Jimi, hands down. Reason being is that SRV basically took Hendrix's blues style of playing and made it his own (and actually kind of refined and did it more cleanly), but Jimi created that style and also went beyond it. SRV basically does blues rock. Hendrix is much more versatile than that. While blues was the basic foundation of Jimi's style, it transcended genres at time.

Listen the live solo from the "Band of Gypsys" CD for the song "Machine Gun." SRV never dove into that kind of jaw-dropping insanity. It's not blues, it's not any genre, really.

SRV had his style (which he got from Hendrix) and played it kind of safe within that style. I'm not criticizing him for it, he did it so well there was no reason to do any more than that.

**Bornindamecca** · 02-10-2009, 04:04 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

^^^That's pretty much how I feel. I like SRV a lot, but it's easy to define him within the blues tag and leave it at that. It feels very safe for me.

**Stumbleweed** · 02-10-2009, 04:37 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

The blues is a safe artform by nature. I don't think it takes away from the ability (and especially the impact) of the guitarists within the genre though. I'd rather listen to someone playing the same pentatonic blues phrases with some soul and great tone than someone like Petrucci blowing up 24 frets with the most technically-impressive runs I can think of. Just a taste thing I guess.

Nobody could ever replicate what Hendrix did to the guitar, and that's why he's the GOAT guitarist. When Clapton craps his pants in awe after watching you live, you're on some other ****, plain and simple. Nobody can touch that. But it's a singular achievement, which in a way makes it less impressive to me for whatever reason... like he's a force of nature that by nature can never be matched and everyone else is just some fallible human with wiggling finger bones and a frontal cortex, y'know? It's like having two entirely different conversations when you bring Hendrix into "best guitarist" talks.

Meanwhile, Stevie somehow managed to distinguish himself from the maze of amazing Austin guitarists (and amazing blues guitarists in general, of which there were plenty in the late 70's early 80's) and basically revive the blues as an artform in mainstream America. Clapton finished that off with the Unplugged album, but that ground was all laid by Stevie.

As someone who has great reverence for the blues as an artform, Stevie was able to revive it and support some of the greats (tours like the BB King Blues Festival are a direct result of Stevie's influence in the 80's) solely by being such a great guitarist. Maybe it was luck, and Chris Duarte or any number of other Ausin guys should've been "the one"... but for whatever reason, Stevie was that guy, and I'll love him forever for it. If I didn't discover his music, I would've never been listening to T-Bone Walker at age 15, discovering jazz, etc. -- he was basically the musical cornerstone to my development. That's probably the real reason that I hold him in such high regard, though I do think he's the BEST blues guitarist ever, both in the raw ability sense and in the soul/grit/whatever you want to call it sense.

**Maxattax3** · 02-10-2009, 06:30 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

imagine if they were on tour together right now...

**ODogg** · 02-10-2009, 07:52 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Originally posted by Maxattax3

imagine if they were on tour together right now...

You just blew my mind!!

**DickDalewood** · 02-10-2009, 07:56 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

Originally posted by Maxattax3

imagine if they were on tour together right now...

Impossible. Worlds would collide. Heads would explode. The world we know would cease to exist! Too much greatness for one concert!!

**ZB9** · 02-10-2009, 08:28 PM

Re: Jimi or Stevie

classic interview Stevie Ray talking about Hendrix

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Jimi or Stevie

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