Eddie Van Halen Dismisses Jimi Hendrix Comparisons

Hendrix when he first went to London did rip off the best of Townshend, Clapton in particular (Hendrix used wah wah after Clapton), Jeff Beck not so much. Clapton really was the truth behind distorted guitar tones ... listen to the Bluesbreakers album made way before Hendrix showed up.!

Marshall amps were first used by Clapton and Townshend for example ...
Hendrix had a great ability to copy and pilfer and that's what he did.

Clapton summed it up... "he does his entire act and repetoire in an hour"

Hendrix was supposed to be the Rock Django Reinhart even changing his name from Jimmy to Jimi just to grab attention.
(his managements idea though)

And compared with a guitarist like Django Reinhart none of these come near ... Hendrix is at the bottom of the pile including Townshend who ironically is pretty proficient today!
Eric Clapton was much better and truely gifted but limited to blues but today is like washed up amateur. He may as well do backing for Val Doonican or Tom Jones .. Van Halen is comparatively superb and a great talent.

Van Halen definitely more influential than Hendrix.

Hendrix himself was modest and would agree with a lot of what I've said OK.

only losers with no soul wud think EVH is better than Jimi... oh that wud be EVH lol!

When Hendrix first went to play in England, Pete Townshend, who had been late to see the show, caught Jeff Beck leaving. Beck told Townshend that this guy Hendrix had stolen all their stuff. Beck's opinion changed after Hendrix wrote some really good songs and became more well known. But in reality, Hendrix without all the press and brand new zowie pedals being created at the time was way below Jeff Beck in playing ability/ All Hendrix did was show the aforementioned new zowie pedals and amplifier modifications as they came out. The '60's was a revolution in guitar technology at the time.

Edward Van Halen came and introduced a completely new style and sound to the electric guitar world, one that ot his day has not abated in influence. Influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Allan Holdsworth, he took his influences and made an entirely new, most personal sound out of them. Without Edward, there would have been no Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Jason Becker. That would have been quite a loss.

Jimi Hendrix without all the flash gear was a hyper amped, second rate Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy. It's just that Hendrix was in the right place at the right time.

EVH never has been nor will he ever be in the same league as Hendrix, clapton or any other guitar god from the 1960s era.
he is a 2nd generation technician.

What Jimi played was pure emotion and soul. He could play with a feel and grove unlike any other. EVH's playing was merely technique, albeit excellent technique with fast, accurate fingers. What a self absorbed jack-ass.

hendrix reinvented the sound and eddie came along and got him a little niche...big deal. hendrix was a consummate bluesman that wrote song after song that eddie had to work on like some crazed delerious rocket surgeon to put out some half assed riffs. big deal. hendrix invented the shit. plus he was an artist that oozed creativity...not some california screwball wit an ill temper. la is full of nuts...screw nutty space brainers from CA

Eddie is a douchebag. Hendrix didnt need to do crap to get his tones....a strat (with single coils not some jacked up humbucker) an old fuzz box, a wha, phazer, a rotovibe and a marshall. Do you want me to list all of eddies effects and crap he did to his amps in the early days??? Hendrix was not a slave to his guitar or had to get the right "tone" and all those lame exuses eddie comes up with. Hendrix could play more than powerchords and made that strat do WHATEVER he wanted it to do without all that tweaking....and go on youtube and you can find PLENTY of bad performances by mr EVH....hes a crackerjack has been that inspired a bunch of hairfarmers and has one top hit song "jump" whoop tee dooo!

Eddie was the greatest technician, but Hendrix's style stemmed from the kind of guitar playing that is the blues: he followed in the footsteps of the Isley Brothers (whom he gigged with in the beginning), Isaac Hayes (who wrote the Shaft theme), & Curtis Mayfield.

Hendrix's style stems from the foundation that rock guitar was built on. The man couldn't even even read music, just like many of the very first blues artists. His greatness is what it is, just as Van Halen (1984 rules!!!) is what it is. Jimi is kinda the father, Eddie is the son.

one of the biggest differences between Jimi Hendrix and Eddie van halen was distortions.

Jimi hendrix was a amazing guitar player, but most of his music would be nothing without distortions, drugs, and many different effect boxes.

Eddie Van Halen is also a amazing guitar player, but on the other hand Eddie had his standard distortion and a phaser effect, and on keyboard Eddie used a few different sound and they were all simple but sounded good. And instead of messing with effects, Eddie customized his guitar with self-wound and waxed pick ups, bridges, and self replaced frets and he kept changing things until he heard something he liked.

Not only me but many friends, family members, and fellow students have listened to most of Van Halen's and Jimi Hendrix's songs (because 99% of todays music sucks) and most of them agree that Van Halen sounds better because almost all of their music sounds good (not most, all but 2 or 3), Personally i think Jimi Hendrix is a great guitar player but i havent found one of his songs that i can listen to without getting annoyed. Ive listend to almost all of the two bands songs and most of Van Halens music is good sounding.

If you think about what the two bands did for music, Jimi Hendrix inspired people, Van Halen Changed the way that rock, metal, and pop music was played. Van Halen was one of the bands that made Metal music marketable, Jimi Hendrix made rock'n'roll more popular but that was really it.

If it was only the two guitar players then i think Eddie would be the superior guitarist. As musicians Jimi could play guitar and sing, Eddie could play guitar and keyboard/piano, Im not sure who would win here.

Van Halen also Played more music genres(pop, rock, metal) and with many more people(Michael Jackson, Sammy Haygar, etc.) Jimi Hendrix played at wood stock and with Eric Frampton. i think van Halen wins here too.

finally, Jimi Hendrix was more "Use effects with a great guitar player and its gonna be good". Eddie Van Halen was more like "If it sounds good then it is". Jimi came first so people are probably going to side with him, but Eddie is more talented (i think). Anyway i could go on but i dont think its ever going to be settled mainly cause Hendrix is dead, but it is gonna be like a Coke vs Pepsi thing.

P.S. I prefer Coke

Eddies got a wild hair up his butt about Hendrix because he wants to considered THE rock guitarist. Hendrix was the architect of the modern rock guitar sound. Eddie built upon that with years of modern technology on his side. To paraphrase Lemmy,get over it Eddie you'll never be as good as Hendrix.