The Acoustic Jimi Hendrix
The White Josh Gibson
I don’t think it’s a revelation to anyone when I say that historically, musicians are a more accepting lot than athletes when it comes to gender identity and race. These days, I think everything has to do with money so I don’t trust anyone’s “woke1” status to be honest. It’s the same as eco or green or LGBTQ+ branding bandwagons: follow the money, find the genesis.
Whew, I’m a little bitter this morning. It’s all because of football (socker) though so I’ll just leave a link here if you wanna mess with my OCD fanalyst shite (shit).
I remember reading many years ago that Neil Young called Bert Jansch the “acoustic Jimi Hendrix” and I became one with the matrix upon realizing that two of my heroes were even aware of each other, let alone that one counted the other among his greatest influences. I always thought Neil meant that Bert shreds on an acoustic the way Jimi does on an electric and that may be the case but this past week I’ve discovered something else.
I’ve never really bothered with playing lead guitar. I’ve played lead guitar with no real preparation or skill and it was obvious but other than that pretty much nothing. One of the main reasons (excuses) for this is that I have always, always had great guitarists that wanted to play music with me so it would have been a waste of my time to even try and hone that skill. Most of these players were there helping me work on my songs so to take my off of that ball would of been stupid as well.
Ramble on, sing my song. I’m getting to my point, promise.
I bought a dirt cheap Squier Stratocaster a couple of weeks ago because I’ve always wanted one but I’ve always had too much respect for those aforementioned guitarists who all played Strats so I stuck with Telecasters, Les Pauls, hollow bodies…
But I’ve been itchy for new guitar challenges and none of “my” guitarists are anywhere to be found so I decided to put some time in with Mr. Hendrix and see what I could pick up from what I consider to be the greatest guitarist of all time with my silly $150 guitar. I have learned a lot by the way but I have learned nothing really.
However, I think what Neil also meant was how viciously both of them play their guitars. Learning to play either of their songs is a sloppy, thumb-stretched, string-muting rollercoaster based as much on feel as on theory and technique. They also share amazing trill speed with their fingers. What a weird sentence. They’re also both so fun to try and emulate but it will be a long time before anyone has to endure my “Hendrix” moves the way they do my “Jansch” ones.
And that collective sigh might’ve cooled the planet down a degree or two.
I totally forgot! The entire impetus for this piece was what if Neil Young called Jimi Hendrix the Electric Bert Jansch. What a hoot. Actually it sounds like something racist great uncle Eric Clapton would say now that I think about it.
What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding?
—BB
I love me some woke. I hope that’s obvious. I’m saying it’s like Eddie Vedder’s $15 corduroy jacket inspiring $1,000 versions. It has jumped the shark and become a mematic scar on our collective blah blah.