Jimi Hendrix smoked Eric Clapton

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Eric Clapton manager went backstage after that incident and said I didn’t know how good he was
 
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Hendrix Changed guitar. Light years beyond Clapton. Jeff Beck had nothing but great comments for Jimi as he was truly special and different. He could write songs, sing great and play his ass off. His natural ability to take the Curtis Mayfield rhythm stylings and make them his own in the context of blues and rock is absolute genius. Jimi had it all.
 
Growing up, in my town, there wasn't a person who didn't think Hendrix wasn't the best ever. Obviously I'm old, but if you live it, Hendrix = guitar king, Beatles = best band. Not questioned. Then the 70's showed up and screwed your mother.

It wasn't until the web came along that I was finally convinced that some people thought Hendrix was meh.
 
Clapton was a chameleon of sorts.

Throughout his career, different bands, and I'll go out on a limb and say different styles within "his style".
Clapton stayed relevant enough, throughout how many years and had enough hits to have a solid career.
Clapton is a great player and has a great voice. Inspired countless guitar players.
All his "eras" are good, if not great.
Longevity and some smokin' tunes!

I love everything about Hendrix!
Unfortunately he passed way too young to see how his playing and career would have evolved.

They both have their deep cut tracks that are phenomenal, but Clapton's radio "hits" I dont tire of like I have Hendix'.
Maybe its not a fair contest considering career length?

We can always do a deep dive comparing Hendrix' three albums, "Blues" album and live Band of Gypsys and pick four Clapton albums and one live?
We could pull from Hedrix' posthumous albums as well, great material.

Ok, Im prepared to be flamed! :banhim:
 
Love me some Jimi.

Jimi once told the Chicago horn section their guitar player ( Terry Kath) was better than him.
 
Hendrix was obviously more experimental and wild and I love both. It think Eric was more refined and while not as groundbreaking, was still killer in every sense of the word. Hardly ever overplayed and said a lot with less activity. I do not think Jimi "Smoked" Eric all day etc. They played differently and in different styles. I will also take Eric over Mike Bloomfield too. I think I liked Eric's phrasing better and restraint vs Jimi's wildness at times. Jimi did more with tones and sounds for sure. His arrangements were more inventive as well.

A better question to me is: What would Jimi had done if he would have lived? Would he have been confined to his persona / image he built? Would he have changed or evolved? He started to around Band of Gypsies. Eric certainly did that and was successful in every decade really. Of course, give me the Cream era over it all, but he had 70s and 80s and 90s hits etc.
 
Always liked Jimi (and The Beatles), since I was a little kid (I was alive when they were still around). My uncle, Vietnam-era vet, was into music, and that's how I learned about Hendrix, Cream, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, The Who, and so many others I vaguely remember listening to Disraeli Gears (I remember the album cover) with my uncle and his girl friend, I was in the backseat of his '69 GTO convertible, and kept asking him to play Jimi. I was a little kid, but my earliest "guitar hero" memories were Jimi, and though I didn't know his name at the time, Blackmore.

Fast forward, I thought Cream was ok, but Clapton was never a fav guitar player; still isn't. Much rather listen to Jimi, Ritchie, Holdsworth, and many others before getting to Clapton.
 
Maybe someone can help me out here...I'm quite honestly not very familiar with Clapton's work beyond the radio staples but I once heard a solo track from him on the radio (never heard it before or since) that had an absolutely incredible lead solo with some of the tastiest phrasing I'd ever heard from anyone. The only way I could narrow the search down is that it sounded very much like it came from the 80's, judging from the production and overall vibe. I probably heard this sometime in the 90s so any of his work post 2000 could be ruled out.
 
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