Take THAT, you dirty hippie!

[stubhead]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxdVAJM1HY&feature=related

Not his best playing - I hear some chilling tiredness there, IMO. But interesting from a historical viewpoint. These guys were still operating under the pop music theorem, which said you had to tour nonstop and pump out singles constantly, because you only had a few years to make money. Jimmy Page was perhaps the first to catch on that the rules were changing. But we still might all be over at the unofficial accordion forum if Jimi hadn't blown up the cultural DNA.

(Like Zep, I consider Hendrix's studio output to be the reason he became what he is, posthumously. Mitch Mitchell is carrying the band here IMO.)

 

[Cagey]

Interesting piece of video. Very raw. Gotta love it.

I've always felt sorry for Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding, Buddy Miles and others who had to back up Jimi. Poor bastards never knew where he was coming from or where he was going. All they could do was sorta keep time and sorta stay in key for long periods of time while Jimi tried to see how far a Strat could go out of tune and still make interesting noises.

 

[xDave]

They did 2 shows that day. This movie has my favorite rendition of "Hear My Tran A Comin'".

 

[Cagey]

I listened to the "Hear My Train A'Comin'" version on there for the first 36 hours he played it, but eventually got tired of it and started fast-forwarding to other stuff. I like a jam session as much as the next guy, but there's a limit. Gotta wrap it up and move on.

 

[bagman67]

I listened to the "Hear My Train A'Comin'" version on there for the first 36 hours he played it, but eventually got tired of it and started fast-forwarding to other stuff. I like a jam session as much as the next guy, but there's a limit. Gotta wrap it up and move on.

Sacrilege!


But seriously - there's a lot of soloing that goes on out there in the wide world that could really be accomplished in far fewer choruses.  I've heard various artists remark to the effect that if you can't get it said in two (or three, or four, YMMV) choruses, it probably isn't worth saying.  Sure, Jimi was arguably the most profoundly influential electric guitar player the world has ever seen - but he was also tremendously self-indulgent.


However, there is the equally valid positio that it takes a lot of "unnecessary" playing to truly get the knack of concise, creative improvisation within a form. 


And of course this leaves out the fun you can have just following an idea with a couple other players who are willing to, as you're fond of expressing it, Cagey, "dare to suck" right along with you.


Bagman

 

[Cagey]

You're right in that it does take a lot of improvising to get good at it, but you don't have to foist it off on those around you. Nobody wants to hear you practice, they want to hear you perform, and there's a pretty big ratio between those two activities. You'll eventually get to a point where even your practice is mildly interesting from time to time, but hours of noodling is going wear just about anybody out.

 

[MikeW]

But another thing you gotta take in context is that a 'jam' like this just hadn't happened up until Cream, the Dead, Jimi, et. al. Even in the hardest jazz, there's still a strict form that you play over, it's not just 'gimme a G and go from there' like a lot of rock jams are.

Hell, even Jeff Beck - my favorite rock improv guy - still does it that way.

 

[xDave]

To be fair, that version of "Hear My Train A Comin'" is actually a medley.