why does everyone say jimi hendrix was sloppy?

[GarysBlues]

No the Lagging behind the beat was done to give the riff a Sad Blues feel. And it appears on almost ALL his signature riffs. Thats what I referred to much earlier when I was saying it is done intentionally. The Tuning is a totally different issue. But ya it was a play it by ear situation with that in the late 60's with the tuning. Often when Hendrix was out of tune during a song the wall of distortion and feedback came out.

[Faber]

It's hard to deny that a good many of the the live recordings have some slobbiness. He was probably high as a kite

[fenderblender69]

i rarely hear a missed or wrong note in any of his playing, including the live stuff. his rhythm was always spot on, and he used tone as another paintbrush. i don't get it.

 

 

I don't think Hendrix was sloppy, however, I think the reason you would say he is sloppy is becuase if you've seen him in videos he kind of justs whacks away at the strings even during solos, what the people who think hendrix was sloppy don't understand, is that because Jimi's hand was sooooo big, he could play that way

[mohammadstatus]

he didn't tap

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHA, hes absolutely right.


alot of people complain because he played nothing like todays guitar "gods".


He didnt play like those damn dragonforce guys, but he paved the way.

my favorite guitarist (John Frusciante) was greatly influenced by hendrix and he isnt all that flashy either.
just goes to show that a floyd rose and Emgs arent always required to make great music.

[heem6]

You're thinking of Jimmy Page. It's currently hip to say he's a sloppy player.

When, in fact, he was a God between 1968 and say, 1977.

[Yngtchie Blacksteen]

You're thinking of Jimmy Page. It's currently hip to say he's a sloppy player.

Page definitely was a sloppy player live, it's silly to disagree with this. It's not like he was a train wreck, but he wasn't a clean player.

[ftngrave]

wow, very interesting thread. i've gotten into hendrix the last few years, and I mean gotten into IT. I think two things are pretty relevant.

One kind of already being said, that one has to consider the recording technology/capabilities of his time. I think this is also amplified by the fact that jimi was highly original and ambitious with recording techniques, so his recordings sound great, but I do think his vision for his RECORDINGS would have benefited from more time, better engineering, and simply modern technology. I mean, Are you Experienced was recorded so quickly it's incredible. mojo magazine did a great article and showed how it was done in a handful of days.

the other point i think is that jimi is really a chameleon on different songs. after initially thinking "no way" was he sloppy, i think he was on songs he wanted to be. this ties in to the fact that although he is my favorite guitarist, i mean hands down for the 60s and 70s, ironically he's a sort of da vinci in that he's also a great songwriter, producer, and almost something of a composer. and i really think he would have been more of a master at any of them if he hadn't cared so much about all of them, which is what makes him great. his versatility as an artist can be seen in his evolution over such a short period of time. Interesting that he seemed to be focusing more on songwriting before he died.

last case in point. I did listen to the first purple haze solo, and it could be called sloppy. then i switched to the wind cries mary. I've been playing that song for weeks and it's taken me much longer than I thought to sound as clean and right on as jimi. also, the solos in that song (i listened to it on headphones quite closely), show something about his style, especially on the whole first album. his rhythm soloistically kind of dictates everything else. you don't really notice until listening closely to all parts. there's a sort of mozart-esque slight offness to it, like illuminating the fact he's in the spotlight, but i think that a great solo in every moment makes you a little uneasy, you're just not quite sure where it's going to go or fall. maybe that's at the root of the debate.

anyway, in my journey of jimi I can't believe how much more I now like electric ladyland; that album's really a fusion; he almost throws the idea of a solo or part in terms of pitch out the window, everything's about the overall sound or texture of a part.

[Drich]

He played the way he did so people couldn't duplicate his music. He said it in a interview case closed.