Thread: Jimmy Page

Jeff Beck for me. I guess being a Blues player I'm supposed to love SRV but I don't. You can hear his roots too easily, Freddi King, Albert King, Drix, etc. I have a habit of judging guitarist on that. I liked Beck a lot more till I heard an old Danny Gatton tape, JB ripped him off big time. Gatton died young, never trained in music, played the most sophisticated licks I've ever heard, even though cowboy jazz is not for me.

Another who was more original than the rest was Albert Collins. One reason was that he played tuned to F, and no pick. Hard as shit to copy licks when a guitar is in F, if you're tuned to E.

I dislike all the fast lick finger trickin players like some already mentioned, and Eric Johnson is almost too clean to be human. Scott Henderson is a great one too.

Charlie Hunter, Steve Kimock of today are probably much better technically than any any of the rock "legends" but with Page and others, it was about the whole "show" Jimmy Page had the good looks, a rock star stage persona and had the luck of being in a band that became a symbol of a generation. Kind of the first post 60s heavy sound thing.

Good, sure, but so are thousands of others. But he was in the right place at the right time with the right talents.

Lucky Bastard

All the Brits that landed in America during the invasion were better showmen than we'd ever seen, but for Freddy and the Dreamers, Gerry and the Pacemakers and a few more. It's odd isn't it, Black American Bluesmen who didn't even have their likeness on the album cover (nobody wanted to a Black face in those days) were starving out gigs from South Chicago to the Delta Swamplands, with very few White people ever taking notice. Then some British White boys bought their records, copied some songs, added some flash and schoolboy dance steps, and sold what America couldn't be arsed with, if it came in black, back to the Americans.

Then all at once the Robert Johnsons, John Lee Hookers, and Little Walters found themselves with so many gigs, so much money and fame, they could finally afford the drugs it took to kill themselves off. Crazy world ain't it?

^ Robert Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband....John Lee Hooker made it to a ripe old age...82 I think.

Originally Posted by Accidental Ajarn

Charlie Hunter, Steve Kimock of today are probably much better technically than any any of the rock "legends" but with Page and others, it was about the whole "show" Jimmy Page had the good looks, a rock star stage persona and had the luck of being in a band that became a symbol of a generation. Kind of the first post 60s heavy sound thing.

Good, sure, but so are thousands of others. But he was in the right place at the right time with the right talents.

Lucky Bastard

Congrats on your first post out of issues and you didn't even mention America once.

Originally Posted by pluto

^ Robert Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband....John Lee Hooker made it to a ripe old age...82 I think.

Didn't feel it necessary to look up who died from drugs and who didn't. Sorry for being slack.

John Lee was lucky to live that long. He was sickly for a time, drank an awfully lot. Had a Blues bar in San Francisco and a whole lot of sinning going on there, not to mention the most stuck up motherfucker in the world he was.

Look at Keith Richards, a poor man with his life of abuse would have died at 30. Southern Comfort killed Janis. Swimming while intoxicated killed Brian Jones. Seems some people have more respect for them when they're in plane crashes or shot by a jealous husband, Sam Cooke, Peter Tosh.

The point is that sudden riches and fame seems to kill a lot of them. And do we ever get the true story? Like to re-opening of the real death of Morrison, family and/businessmen covering up the fact he died on a toilet seat in a night club then taken home to be put in a bathtub. Hendrix' case was no cover up, died from vomit.

Like anyone of many artists, they get a lot sexier after they're dead.

Back on topic, Jimmy Page: Never liked him much (apart from playing the best guitar solo of all times through a Fender Princeton), maybe I will after he's dead.

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

John Lee was lucky to live that long. He was sickly for a time, drank an awfully lot. Had a Blues bar in San Francisco and a whole lot of sinning going on there, not to mention the most stuck up motherfucker in the world he was.

I'll drink to that. He used to play cards in the 4 Aces (at least I think thats what the name was - I was usually a bit mashed by the time I got there) - a poker club at the end of the street I lived on in Oakland. You could see him there regularly until well into the early hours - and always with a whisky in his hand, and in his 70's. He didn't look too bad neither. When he died, his motorcade went past lines of people all the way along San Pablo Avenue from central Oakland to Berkeley. He wasn't that stuck up, and he had a lot of friends in the Bay Area.

Must have met him on a bad night.

Sadly for me it seems just about all my old teachers and make-believe peers are dead now, never to hear a lick I haven't already heard.

The Bay is a great place for music isn't it?

Keep in mind that you can find more stunning and brilliant players in Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd., trying out new guitars between their studio sets than you can ever imagine. In terms of technical proficiency, there are many players earning big bucks in Hollywood, just doing studio work. They don't want to tour, don't want to be in bands, don't want to be famous, just want to work, make money and play.

another Jimmy



LONDON - SEPTEMBER 03: Jimi Hendrix's 1965 Fender Stratocaster guitar shows it's burn marks at the Idea Generation Gallery on September 3, 2008 in London. The gallery will hold an auction of Rock and Roll memorabilia on September 4 in London. The guitar is valued at £500,000.
Photo: Getty Images




A guitar once set alight by Jimi Hendrix on stage is to be auctioned off after it was found in a garage where it had been left for 40 years.

The guitar was deliberately damaged by Hendrix after he poured lighter fluid on to the Fender Stratocaster and set it alight during a set at Finsbury Park in London in March 1967.

Auctioneer Ted Owens believes the instrument could sell for over £500,000.

The BBC's Martin Shankleman, a self-confessed Hendrix expert, played the guitar 'back to front'.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | BBC reporter plays Hendrix guitar

If the Yardbirds were the cradle of British rock musicianship then John Mayall's Bluesbreakers was the finishing academy viz Cream, Fleetwood Mac etc.

Peter Green's mental illness was a tragedy more poignant than any other in my opinion since his virtuosity was all the greater. Oh well.....

SRV's rendition of Little Wing the best track in the repertoire?

I remember the Bath Blues festival 1970 .....Pink Floyd etc., but for me Steppenwolf's performance was the best. Just dug out my copy of The Monster album ........oh to be a carefree drug crazed feckless child again.

For those of you in Thailand, BBC Int'l is running a good program on the burnt Jimmy Hendrix guitar found in the garage after 40 years. A nice piece and Mid referenced it above, Shenkelman played it not too badly for a piece of mangled junk. It's projected to go for over $1 mil, and it's not even a concert guitar, just a practice guitar.

I wonder if that SG Townsend smashed into his Marshall stack is for sale. I wonder what those splinters would be going for. And Ozzie's dove, I doubt it ever recuperated, eh?

I once saw Mott the Hoople as an opening act for John McLaughlin (Providence RI). Not a good match up. First two minutes of Mott and some jerk yells out, get da fuck outa here, and hurled a wine bottle from about the 15th row. Hit the lead guitar player right on the guitar. He grabs a mike stand, unplugs the mike, swings it around a couple of times and lets it fly into the crowd.

Then John, a spiritual man, comes on with an opening statement: Music was born from silence, might me pay homage with one minute of silence? The band lowered their heads. Then from about that 15th row comes the shout: FUCK YOU, I didn't pay 20 bucks for no fuckin silence!

That was a long time ago. I'd guess it's gotten worse.

I had the great pleasure of personally watching Townsend smash a beautiful SG on one of the Who tours. Best concert I ever saw and ever have seen. As you can guess, I'm over 50.

Never seen Jimmy Page live as I was just too young for that era, but went to the pictures with my school mates to see 'The Song Remains the Same' and it blew me away.... Still remember head-banging in our seats. It was shown with 'Carrie' starring Cissy Spacek, and that was a head banger too! I was 14 and it was an over 18 gig. Had to hide behind my taller mates with bum fluff to sneak in....Will never forget every moment. Same with Genesis, just a few years too late for the actual event. Did see Steve Hackett live though 3 times, all at Scumland gaumont.... Just thought I'd share that as I'm listening to Foxtrot, Genesis right now.

Originally Posted by chinthee

I had the great pleasure of personally watching Townsend smash a beautiful SG on one of the Who tours. Best concert I ever saw and ever have seen. As you can guess, I'm over 50.

I missed that concert. My bladder was leaking that week.

Originally Posted by Camel Toe

Originally Posted by chinthee

I had the great pleasure of personally watching Townsend smash a beautiful SG on one of the Who tours. Best concert I ever saw and ever have seen. As you can guess, I'm over 50.

I missed that concert. My bladder was leaking that week.

Actually, it was in Texas. A bunch of us drove down, drunk most of the way, and it was the most incredible concert of all time, and I think it's still ranked as one of the best concerts of all time. I'll try to research it for you.

Best for me, Bob Marley.

The best 2 live bands I have ever seen were"Foreignor" and "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers".
Probably the best concert I have ever seen was "Stevie Wonder" circa 1981 and the most disappointing concert was David Bowie circa 1987.

Favourite Dinner Show concert "Roberta Flack" and the loudest concert has to be "Slade" circa 1972.

Oh I forgot the "Roger Waters" concert in Bangkok. Totally shit and with the Thais still arriving 3/4 of the way into the show. Totally unimpressive performance IMO.

Loudest: Cactus

Ron Ashton, John Christ and Ed Mundell.

Originally Posted by pompeybloke

Never seen Jimmy Page live

Saw him play with The Firm opening for AC/DC at Birmingham NEC in 1985. They were shite.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

He is busting to come back to LOS but cannot sell his house!

I know. I think he was back in Taffystan for about 5 mins and thought "What the fek am I doing here?!?!" He'll be back soon, hopefully.

Jimmy Page is the best guitarist in recent history. Those of us who play guitar at a high level do understand this.

The rest of you, who put him down can suck my dick, including those of you who don't have a clue what it takes to play a guitar, such as the last poster.

I've been playing my whole life enthusiastically and can never achieve anywhere near what he achieved.

^ I see you're in cock mode tonight.

Even Jimmy Page is allowed to have the occasional crap concert, and this was one of them. Even you could've played better that night than he did. He was truly awful. But you know better, despite not being there.