vocals, 1942–70) This left-handed Seattle, Washington native taught himself to play by flipping over a $5 acoustic guitar and copying licks from blues, R&B and rock’n’roll records. Hendrix apprenticed on the R&B circuit, backing up Little Richard among others, and mastered techniques from the stuttering ninth chords of James Brown sideman Jimmy Nolen to the epic ...
With his pioneering use of fuzz, feedback and distortion in tandem with a God-given talent, Jimi Hendrix expanded and redefined the range of the electric guitar, and in so doing he became one of rock’s greatest superstars, all within the space of just four years. Changing Names Born in Seattle, Washington, on 27 November 1942 ...
Jimi Hendrix remains the most innovative and influential rock guitarist in the world. He changed the way the guitar was played, transforming its possibilities and its image. Other guitarists had toyed with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned these and other effects into a controlled, personalized sound that generations of guitarists since have emulated and embellished. He was ...
replace equivalent instruments in other types of music, especially jazz and folk ensembles. Virtuoso electric-guitar players became a new phenomenon, the astounding development of guitar technique by Jimi Hendrix inspiring a succession of imitators. The Hawaiian guitar was a natural entrant into American country music, its ability to slide between notes complementing the similar techniques of folk fiddlers. ...
the electric guitar. The advent in the late 1960s of very loud blues-influenced rock music saw the flowering of the solid electric guitar, led by the hugely influential Jimi Hendrix playing a Fender Stratocaster. The popularity of electric guitars was renewed in the 1990s and into the 2000s with the success of groups like Nirvana, Oasis and Radiohead. Electric ...
, it is a direct ancestor to the different types of current popular music we know and love today. Without the blues there would have been no Beatles or Jimi Hendrix, no Led Zeppelin or Nirvana, Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis, James Brown or Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd or Frank Zappa, Oasis or Blur … the ...
and Eastern-tinged music were superseded by the vocal histrionics of Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker, as well as the blues-based hard rock of bands like Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Breaking with the pop tradition of producing catchy, radio- and jukebox-friendly three-minute songs, these acts indulged themselves and their followers with far lengthier numbers that were often ...
, in 1981. Adrian Frederik ‘H’ Smith was born in Hackney, East London, in February 1957. At school, he was drawn to the rock-guitar sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore, and so set about learning how to play. While at school, he became friends with Dave Murray, and the two would play in Stone ...
Bad Sign (1967), with its magnificent title track, was acclaimed as one of the most stirring blues albums of the late 1960s. Its influence on Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix was soon evident. King was the first blues artist to play San Francisco’s famed Fillmore, opening up a new audience, and the resulting album, Live Wire/Blues Power ...
‘Born Under A Bad Sign’ into Cream’s repertoire, introduced King to white listeners. In 1964 King was invited to open a series of shows for Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, which solidified his reputation with the rock audience. King’s popularity remained strong until the late 1970s, which was an especially difficult time for ...
1953, Lifeson grew up in Toronto and received his first guitar at the age of 13. He drew inspiration from the usual crowd of guitar heroes, like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and in the autumn of 1968, he formed his first substantive band, teaming up with drummer John Rutsey and bassist Geddy Lee, and ...
, King was able to secure gigs at important venues such as the Fillmores East and West, while high-profile admirers such as Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Winter helped King to reach the rock audience. His star rose, and then soared when the song that would become his signature tune, ‘The Thrill Is ...
starting high school, Corgan began to learn guitar on an imitation Gibson Les Paul. His father, a musician, suggested that Billy listen to Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix but refused to teach him to play; consequently, Corgan was self-taught. His early influences were the mainstream rock of Queen, Boston, ELO and Cheap Trick, along ...
Gates’. Gibbons grew up in Houston, Texas. In the 1960s, he formed the psychedelic group The Moving Sidewalks, which recorded Flash (1968), and opened for the Jimi Hendrix Experience during the Texas leg of Hendrix’s first American tour. He formed ZZ Top in 1969 with bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard. They released ZZ Top’s First Album ...
manner. Guy is a master of dynamics, allowing a song to drift towards oblivion before suddenly bringing it back to a crescendo of intensity. Notable fans have included Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Guy is essentially a live performer who has found it hard to channel his unpredictable virtuosity into the confines of a recording studio. George ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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