There's always time for a little Jimi...

Mitch sat in with my band in a Honolulu club in 1969 and was so immediately funky he burned the place up. Amazing, and our band got orchestra pit seating to watch the Experience a couple of nights...I'd already seen them in '67 (CA) and '68 (Hawaii) but from up close...whew...I met and hung out with Jimi a little (got his non working cassette player working somehow for which he was grateful...he said he had the receipt just in case) as he was vacationing from the road for a week or so. What an interesting character and really nice guy. He had a Gibson SG Custom and a Princeton Reverb for home noodling.

bdp24- I remember admiring the sparkle Ludwigs at the music store I took guitar lessons.
My older brother saw Jimi at Devonshire Downs. Being only 7, I was rockin the Chipmunks, and being confused by the weird sounds of the records he played-what was that Beatles thing?

Wolf- great Jimi encounter. Close enough to meeting a Classical master.I think Jimi was a "master" just a different period, and electrified.
I'm always fascinated watching Jimi.

Jimi had some advantages over other mere mortal guitar players, technique from soul music developed with long fingers playing all over the "chitlin'" circuit providing chops no white guy seemed to know about, utilized with an effortlessness coming from endless hours of practice and an obsession with the music around him at the time...the endless benefits of a curious mind. 

I saw a video where a guitarist analyzed Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He stated the obvious that SRV was faster, more precise and cleaner than Jimi. But then he said any competent guitarist could figure out and understand what SRV was playing, whereas, you could spend years trying to understand what Jimi would play.   Jimi’s real advantage over nearly all other guitar players is that they played notes, while Jimi made sounds, very musical sounds.

Thanks tablejockey. I really enjoyed watching that show. It was great to see Jimi performing and it's always a thrill to see Mitch playing as he's my all time fave drummer. I was always so glad that thy came together because Jimi deserved no less, and Mitch added so much to the music.