I was lying in bed thinking about this thread last night, wondering about calling Jimi a genius.
You got me going on that, White Knight.
When Jimi was alive I was also a big George Benson fan, and that's who I called a genius.
George Benson played a Gibson L5 and was instrumental, just scatting along with guitar solos, when I saw him.
He was a faster player, used more elaborate chords, just sat while he played, and he was a showman too.
I see George Benson as a genius on electric guitar, playing it all right in front of you, live and very alive.
I see Jimi as sitting there fixated on his mixing board, using tapes of recording to create his overdub symphony.
Someone sitting playing with technology, no matter how effective he was, isn't a live performance bringing it all.
Jimi didn't have as fast fingers, but his style did use more strings, being more bass heavy, than George Benson.
Jimi also held his hand up and around the bridge and tremolo arm, not being able to palm mute at all, a huge technique.
Jimi did so much you didn't really miss it, but it kept him from the kind of circular sweeping and muting that gives great tones.
What Jimi had that is still so enchanting, is his mixings of various guitar tones in a wide enough range to achieve, okay,
not symphonic, but orchestral depth. And it was interesting, very interesting, when he came out, having new tones.
I can't say I'm bored with Beethoven, or John Coltrane, but Jimi keeps the interest up in ways they never thought of.
It's headphones that make the biggest difference, and technologies those musicians didn't have, but that's not genius either.
What drives this for me today is an open mike performance I gave last night, surprising even me.
Everyone thought I was going to show up with my acoustic guitar and do a few tunes, but I wasn't feeling that way.
Standing at the back, I got into a couple of guys taking turns doing rap stuff, mostly imitating beats and making boombox beats,
and after being prodded enough to want to get up, I thought I'd try something new for myself, not just singing, but boomboxing it, if I could.
I wasn't even thinking songs, tapping my foot to give me a basic four-four, and subconsciosly getting my left foot like it was on a wah-wah.
I started breathing some beats, and started singing the lead guitar wah-wah for "Voodoo Chile", getting into a mix of percussion and lead guitar.
Then I threw in some lyrics, keeping beats going, and got more wahs happening, really getting into it.
Hendrix was so easy to translate this way, the beat, the fills, the melody, I kept going, and someone yelled "We created a monster".
That made me smile, and fall to the floor, moving my arm around like Jimi would wave his guitar, singing a wild wah lead solo.
I could have let the mike sit on the floor so I could sing into it and use that hand to make more beats, but I got up first,
starting to wonder what I was doing, until I looked around and saw everyone leaning over to watch.
Boomboxing Voodoo Chile convinced me of the basic structures of Jimi's music as being sound overall,
and enlivened me in a new way, strange as that is, listening to Jimi since 1968, seeing him in '69.
Maybe Jimi is a genius, and I'm not suggesting a choice between him and George Benson,
but, uh, is any of this worth further discussion?
"If I don't see you no more in this world, I'll see you in the next world, so don't be late, no, don't be late".
