“Jimi Hendrix, bless his heart — how I wish he was still around — almost inadvertently ruined guitar,” the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told the San Diego Union-Tribune 40 years later. “Because he was the only cat who could do it like that. Everybody else just screwed it up and thought wailing away (on the guitar) is the answer.

On Monday, September 18, 2023 at 8:16:59 PM UTC-7, rec.music.beatles wrote:
> “Jimi Hendrix, bless his heart — how I wish he was still around — almost inadvertently ruined guitar,” the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told the San Diego Union-Tribune 40 years later. “Because he was the only cat who could do it like that. Everybody else just screwed it up and thought wailing away (on the guitar) is the answer.

Yeah, but did any of the real wankers of electric guitar (say, Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads) even purport to take their cue from Hendrix? I think they imagined themselves as being in the Clapton tradition -- though Clapton himself once summarized EVH with: "He can't play."

I remember when I couldn't go into a music instrument shop without hearing aspiring guitarists mimicking EVH or Rhoads, and bassists slapping & popping.

On Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 8:34:07 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:
> On Monday, September 18, 2023 at 8:16:59 PM UTC-7, rec.music.beatles wrote:
> > “Jimi Hendrix, bless his heart — how I wish he was still around — almost inadvertently ruined guitar,” the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told the San Diego Union-Tribune 40 years later. “Because he was the only cat who could do it like that. Everybody else just screwed it up and thought wailing away (on the guitar) is the answer.
> Yeah, but did any of the real wankers of electric guitar (say, Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads) even purport to take their cue from Hendrix? I think they imagined themselves as being in the Clapton tradition -- though Clapton himself once summarized EVH with: "He can't play."
>
> I remember when I couldn't go into a music instrument shop without hearing aspiring guitarists mimicking EVH or Rhoads, and bassists slapping & popping.

I guess you're a little young to remember them trying to play like Hendrix in 1967-1971, when EVH was still in Junior High School.

On Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 8:20:00 AM UTC-7, rec.music.beatles wrote:
> On Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 8:34:07 AM UTC-4, Norbert K wrote:
> > On Monday, September 18, 2023 at 8:16:59 PM UTC-7, rec.music.beatles wrote:
> > > “Jimi Hendrix, bless his heart — how I wish he was still around — almost inadvertently ruined guitar,” the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told the San Diego Union-Tribune 40 years later. “Because he was the only cat who could do it like that. Everybody else just screwed it up and thought wailing away (on the guitar) is the answer.
> > Yeah, but did any of the real wankers of electric guitar (say, Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads) even purport to take their cue from Hendrix? I think they imagined themselves as being in the Clapton tradition -- though Clapton himself once summarized EVH with: "He can't play."
> >
> > I remember when I couldn't go into a music instrument shop without hearing aspiring guitarists mimicking EVH or Rhoads, and bassists slapping & popping.
> I guess you're a little young to remember them trying to play like Hendrix in 1967-1971, when EVH was still in Junior High School.

How old is the quote from Keith? He claims to be talking about "everyone else," not a mysterious "them" from 1967 - 1971.