Joe Satriani or Jimi Hendrix?

Dude, Satch has mad skills, don't get me wrong. But:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsgHyauIUZY

 

I disagree. What I'm trying to say is that Satriani is the best at his level (haha, I don't even remember who won the national championship this year so I used USC as the best even though I know they didn't win it), but Hendrix is the best at an entirely different level.

 

A true test of a great guitarist also has to include the ability to reach a mainstream audience. There are some fantastic guitarists who can play the most technical bullshit around but it doesn't mean anything if you can put it in a song that moves people (and I mean a majority of the people)
Thats why Rolling Stone has proclaimed John Mayer, Frusciante and Derek Trucks as the new school of guitar gods, and why the guys from Dragonforce are not on that list.

 

Rolling Stone Magazine Artist Poll
1Jimi Hendrix
2 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band
3 B.B. King
4 Eric Clapton
5 Robert Johnson
6 Chuck Berry
7 Stevie Ray Vaughan
8 Ry Cooder
9 Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin
10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones

 

Realistically Chuck Berry should be #1. The guy started the movement.

 

I see what you're saying but...False.

 

uhh okk...and the same is true of the test of all great musicians right? So Britney Spears, Kenny G and Celine Deon have been some of the greatest musicians of our time? I don't buy this "test" of your for one second. Ill give it up to Derek Trucks, the guys playing is tasty, but you really would put John Mayer on that list? dudes got skills, but hardly any originality (on his instrument) we all know he is a stevie ray rip off...

John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Kurt Rosenwinkel and cats like that are the best players around (the right blend of technique, musicianship and that other thing..) but I realize the music apparently is not appealing to most of the gen. population...curious to say the least.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA... priceless. I'm not fan of Satriani, and I'm not sure if even I would take that hard of a shot at him, but the point stands...

 

Cuz your crazy, Satriani blows my mind in every way. He just rocks.

 

Really not a fair comparison. Satriani's a great player, but Hendrix was among a handful of people who literally changed the way music was recorded. He came of age in a different era than Satriani, an era where recording technology was making huge quantum leaps, and had the opportunity to experiment with things that were largely mainstream by the time Satriani came up (things like multitrack recording, effects processing, etc.)
Polls like this are just plain silly. It's like listening to people argue over whether the Beatles or Stones were the better band. It's apples to oranges. Hendrix, Beatles, and a (very) few other artists really changed things on a fundamental level, by embracing the new technology and stretching it beyond its limits. Respect to Satriani and the hundreds of other good musicians out there, but there's just no contest.

 

When we talk about famous vocalists, we are working with a different set of rules because a big part of their job is purely a popularity contest. Britney Spears in no Alice Coletrane or Aretha she is product of placating a core audience.
With the amount of albums sold and his popularity Kenny G is a fantastic musician. His technicality is flawless and I forget the actual accomplishment but I think he has outsold most if not all of the jazz musicians and many of the rock musicians, he is in Billboard and Rolling Stone all the time. I just hate the music he plays. (and his cheesy soft jazz bs)

And by test, as I said this is only one of the factors I would consider to judge a great musician.

I find it curious that you think Derek Trucks is original as hell but John Mayer is not.. if he's a SRV "rip-off" then what was Eric Clapton, and who is Satriani... I'M not buying this "rip-off" bs for a second. Whether or not you like his music.

And Metheny and Scofield are fantastic musicians but they always play within their genre, unlike Miles and others who shaped the music to become different things creating fusion and hard bop and such. I would say the "test" includes Technicality, Popularity, and Accomplishments in the movement of their medium.

 

I like this answer.

 

I voted Satriani, because I think he's a much better guitarist than Hendrix ever was.

However (before the sentimentalists lynch me!), Satch will not likely be historically recorded as one of the original rock guitar pioneers in, say, 500 years. If there is any justice in the future, Jimi Hendrix will be at, or very near, the top of that list.

The music of the Experience and the Band of Gypsys is timeless. We don't know yet whether or not the same can be said of Joe Satriani.

Sorry to come across as wishy-washy. Obviously, we're talking art, and thus our votes are necessarily subjective (at least in part). That said, I can't imagine choosing Jimi over Joe for reasons of speed, accuracy, finesse or technique. Judging music-writing ability (specifically guitar, not lyrics) is an even more subjective undertaking, but again I'd go with Satriani.

Vocally, I prefer Hendrix to Satriani by about a 25 to 1 ratio.

Peacelove,
Aldousage