Who was better: Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jimi Hendrix?

[The Ozzman]

Discuss

 

[Black Friday]

Both were equally talented, but I like Stevie Ray Vaughans style more.

 

[Einherjar86]

Jimi was an innovator. Vaughan was talented, no doubt; but he made pop/rock blues. It was very mainstream sounding music. I appreciate Hendrix more, due to his innovative playing style and his revolutionary technique of using distortion. He paved the way for all guitarists after him (metal guitarists included).

 

[razoredge]

Great equally important talent but the scale tips in different areas. Vaughan was a more skilled guitar player. He took Hendrix's thing to a higher level. Hendrix wrote better lyrics as a whole and was the origional innovator. He also experimented more where Vaughan stayed primarily into the blues. However Vaughan really took the blues improvisational guitar to its highest level. Not to say that currently there is not players pushing hard. Bonamassa's got it going on.

I dont get the Vaughan pop/rock blues statement ? Must be someones only heard the two radio songs off In Step

 

[Einherjar86]

I dont get the Vaughan pop/rock blues statement ? Must be someones only heard the two radio songs off In Step

Not quite.

Vaughan doesn't play traditional blues music. It's blues-infused rock. He doesn't play blues like Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters... real blues. It's great stuff; but it's mainstream, radio-friendly blues rock. Hendrix was way more influential, creative and innovative than SRV.

 

[The Ozzman]

Hendrix played blues-rock
Clapton played blues-rock

What's your point?

 

[Einherjar86]

Clapton's the same as SRV. His stuff with Cream was more original than his solo career; bits of psychedelia mixed in with the blues rock.

Hendrix played experimental, psychedelic progressive blues rock. He innovated the genre, made something entirely his own. He was a master of blues, jazz, everything; but he didn't play straight blues.

Listen to Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign. SRV pretty much ripped off that record. He didn't create anything wholly new.

 

[The Ozzman]

Where did SRV rip off that record?

 

[Black Friday]

This is a WTF? moment to be sure.

 

[Einherjar86]

The whole thing. The phrasing, playing style, technique... it all influences SRV. Some of the licks are lifted directly off that album. Vaughan was basically a stylistic mix of Albert King and Hendrix.

 

[razoredge]

OK, now theres a bunch of bullshit. Thats like saying Maiden and Priest were real metal and the new metal therefore isnt metal. Johnson, Wolf, Waters and the Kings played old blues, some of its so primitive and elementary its embarassing. Vaughan raised the bar and played far more progessively. You want to try to tell me Tin Pan Alley is not blues ? Your throwing the word "pop" in there just to devalue the best bluesman of recent times. TOTAL BULLSHIT ! Yes Stevie rocked, yes he threw some funk rythmns in there but "pop, mainstream radio-friendly"... get real. He played the blues of our generation. Then next you say he ripped King, but yet I suppose King was "real blues"... yet Vaughan rips him and becomes "pop blues" ? Not that Vaughan rips King, King is a joke compared to Vaughan, King comes off as an absolute guitar, song writing and lyrical moron compared to Vaughan. We've had these conversations on this board before, and everytime somebody pops up and says... "no, not the real blues"... well, your version of the "real blues" died in '64. There was no more room for just another low level blues song for the sake of "tradition". No different than rocknroll or metal, It just grew... Christ all mighty.... now Stevie Ray Vaughan wasnt a bluesman.... IMAGINE THAT

*** I have multiple versions of "Born Under A Bad Sign", all are interesting. Creams was the first I heard way, way back. Hendrix's is a simplistic jam with some great guitar improv., which is a good preview of where Vaughan adapted and solidified Hendrix's approach to the blues. Kings orgional version is OK, has the horn action going on. The best by far is Pat Travers... it drips with emotion, those that dont have it should find it and download it. Travers another great post elementary school blues... blues man.

 

[v2kv]

It's hard to say "who was better" with anything that compares musicians from different times in history. I like Jimi more just because of how innovative he was, and how into his music he was. I also think it perfectly reflected him as an individual.
I mean Jimi didn't have to talk to tell a story, in most cases the music did that for him.

 

[Einherjar86]

OK, now theres a bunch of bullshit. Thats like saying Maiden and Priest were real metal and the new metal therefore isnt metal. Johnson, Wolf, Waters and the Kings played old blues, some of its so primitive and elementary its embarassing.

Wrong. They played it with more soul and were far more innovative than Vaughan ever was. All he did was play what they played but cleaner and more rehearsed (lame). Listen to them more closely and you'll hear it. He lifts licks directly from their records. And your analogy is flawed. New metal sounds different than Maiden and Priest (at least, a lot of it does). Vaughan, on the other hand, plays pretty much the same style and technique that King did. All he did was rehash what old blues players did, but in a more refined manner.

Vaughan raised the bar and played far more progessively. You want to try to tell me Tin Pan Alley is not blues ? Your throwing the word "pop" in there just to devalue the best bluesman of recent times. TOTAL BULLSHIT ! Yes Stevie rocked, yes he threw some funk rythmns in there but "pop, mainstream radio-friendly"... get real. He played the blues of our generation.

He's one of the most radio-friendly blues musicians to ever play. That's why most people who get into the blues begin with SRV, and then move on to older, more soulful blues. And at that point, most people realize how much SRV rips off older players. He took the edge away from it. With SRV's playing there's not as much soul, and very little balls. There's loads of talent, sure; but there's none of the true angst and darkness of old blues.

Then next you say he ripped King, but yet I suppose King was "real blues"... yet Vaughan rips him and becomes "pop blues" ? Not that Vaughan rips King, King is a joke compared to Vaughan, King comes off as an absolute guitar, song writing and lyrical moron compared to Vaughan.

I rescind my earlier comments when I said to you "that's the dumbest thing you've ever said." This takes the cake. Calling Albert King a joke compared to Vaughan is like (to use an analogy, since you like them so much) calling Sabbath a joke compared to The Sword.

 

[SouthernTrendkill]

I like 'em both but Hendrix is much more mind-blowing for me and I like the more organic, sloppy style he has.

 

[Einherjar86]

I like 'em both but Hendrix is much more mind-blowing for me and I like the more organic, sloppy style he has.

That's the style I'm talking about. Older blues players had such a raw, dark sound. Sure, they made mistakes; but that's what makes the music so much more interesting and, as you say, organic.

Vaughan lost that feeling. He played in a much more refined, listener-friendly style.

 

[sceloporus]

I think my avatar speaks for itself.
But seriously, I think Hendrix is big time overrated.
SRV was just more talented, as a vocalist, as a guitarist, as a song writer, and as a showman. It is kind of difficult to compare artists from different decades but plain and simple, SRV was better.

 

[razoredge]

Thats the biggest crock of shit I have ever read Jarman, total bullshit. Vaughan was so raw the strat simply bled. The blues is the blues, you want to say SRV ripped off such and such a lick, well then they all ripped of such and such a lick. Vaughan smoked them licks off the strings and he would just go and go and go, off in a trance, TOTALLY feeling it. Sure he had his influences but every guitar player has. Its a well know public fact that his influences were primarily Hendrix and King, rip off is a word peeps use that cant come close to anothers talent. What now you going to tell us SVR had more rehersal time than Albert King ? Thereby making the blues "pop", thats pathetic. SVR is the most popular blues player because he smoked that fucking fretboard, his playing was so raw and balls to the wall. Far far more feeling than that lathargic old blues. Those guys just kept repeating the same ten 1/4 - .1/8th note licks. Vaughan had dozens of them strung together in a mind boggling heart and soul manor. No one can tease a note out of a guitar one moment and make it roar the next like SRV. Going back to find the roots is one thing but dont try to tell me one goes back to find the real thing. Going back from SRV is just that... going backward.

 

[razoredge]

Vaughans, no innovator ? Find me another Riviera Paradise, Find me another riff that comes close to Couldnt Stand the Weather, find me another rocker that comes close to Travis Walk, shit Cold Shot is reknowned for its chord chucking swing groove, everybody had to learn that one. Find me anybody that comes close to his live version with vocals of Little Wing. Your bullshit would draw rouse from Hendrix himself. Both Hendrix and Vaughan were humble about their playing, Albert King was a pompus ass and shuned them both, why ? because he was TOTALLY outshined. Their playing exemplified a guitar statement that was the equalivent of "well Albert that was nice, but this is how its done"

 

[The Ozzman]

The notes flowed from SRV in a way that hasn't been matched since him. He played with more soul than Hendrix. It's like the guitar was a part of him

 

[Einherjar86]

Well, you guys are entitled to your opinions. That is why the poll says "Who Was Better?" Better is all subjective. I think Hendrix (and all old blues) is way better. Vaughan is just too clean and perfect for my tastes. I like the raunchy, dirty, dark tone of Hendrix and older blues masters. And the guitar was a part of them too. It was the voice for their dark, twisted psyches.

Albert King didn't shun Vaughan. Go to youtube, you can find videos of them playing together. In his old age King lost it; he wasn't as good. But in his prime he was on par with Vaughan. No contest. And King was one of Vaughan's idols. There's no way his playing said what you think it does, razoredge. If anything, Vaughan was wishing he could play like King (and he was close).