Jimi Hendrix

The one and only Seattle born Jimi Hendrix. Highly regarded as the greatest guitar player to have ever lived, Rolling Stone ranks Hendrix #1 on the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Hendrix was one of the first to truly inspire and innovate the electric guitar. How did he do this? Feedback. Previously known as a guitarist's most inconvenient foe (feedback), Hendrix used it and was the first to use it in a musical way. Hendrix was a master at manipulating the sound of feedback between the guitar and amplifier and creating a whole new sound to his playing. He also mainstreamed the use of the Wah pedal, which still to this day is used if you want "to sound like Hendrix".

Star Spangled Banner

"The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar."-Jimi Hendrix

Equipment: Hendrix played on right-handed guitars but switched the strings to mimic that of a left-handed guitar. The most iconic guitars he played were Fender Stratocasters. As far his amplifiers go he used Fenders, but he is well known for his love of Marshall Amps. Jimi experimented with many different guitars and amplifiers but ultimately, he was and still is the face of Fender Strats and Marshall Amps. 

Effects: Hendrix made the Wah pedal ( Vox Wah-Wah) famous without a doubt, even though may not necessarily be the first ever to use one. He also used a Univox Uni-Vibe pedal and a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, which is essentially a distortion pedal.  

Jimmy Page

One of the all-time greats, Jimmy Page was the guitar shredding master from Led Zeppelin; need I say more? English born Page, who before Zeppelin was actually part of a band called the Yardbirds which featured famous guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, is ranked the #3 greatest guitarist on Rolling Stones' "100 greatest guitarists of all time". Clapton and Beck are ranked #2 and #5 respectively.

Equipment: Page is known for his Gibson Les Paul guitars, and famously known for his double Gibson SG guitar featured on live version of Stairway To Heaven, The Rain Song, and The Song Remains The Same

Stairway To Heaven

Page is known for Marshall Amps, Orange Amps, and most famously his Vox AC-30. His effects feature famous pedals such as the Vox Cry Baby and MXR Phase 90.

Music Theory: The famous solo which has been outlawed in music shops all of over the world (See Wayne's World) is in the key of A Minor. Similar to the solo by Eddie Hazel, this solo is using mostly notes from the Pentatonic Scale. The difference in these solo's is simply, the key they're in, the rhythm and personal taste in improvisation.

Eddie Hazel

 

Hazel was a funk guitarist for the legendary band Parliament-Funkadelic. He was inducted in to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. His most highly regarded piece of music is his 10 minute guitar solo instrumental "Maggot Brain" named after the album title by Funkadelic. Before recording, producer George Clinton told Eddie to imagine that he had just found out that his mother had passed away, only to learn later on that she was in fact not dead.

Maggot Brain

Music Theory: This song (Maggot Brain) is in the key of E minor. Eddie lays down a backing guitar progression as follows: E minor, D major, B minor, C major. The progression resolves to an E minor chord. Since the song is in the key of E minor, Eddie solo's using the E minor pentatonic scale. This is one of the most popular scales to use in rock music, especially when laying down a guitar solo. He starts with striking the 15th fret on the b string which is a D note, and begins to bend the string up a whole step to the 17th fret (an E note, hence the key of E minor), which is where that ascending sound is coming from.  

TIP!! Eddie is putting an immense amount of vibrato in to his notes, which gives each note that singing and raw emotion quality. This is simple in theory, but difficult to master. In order to use vibrato, one must place their finger on a desired note. From that position, the string must be bent, but subtly, in an up and down direction. This movement will make the note falter, but not to the point of it reaching a note above or below its key. The point is to make the note swirl around without falling out of it's key. Once mastered, its up to the guitarist whether they want to play it fast or slow; both ways sound good, but it's truly personal and is good practice to find subtle ways to hone your own sound. 

Eddie was highly influenced by Jimi Hendrix, but without a doubt was his own player with his own sound. He has been under the radar for many years, but one listen from Maggot Brain and the solo from Super Stupid and it will have many checking their head and asking how they were so blind to the brilliance that is Eddie Hazel.

Super Stupid

David Gilmour

 

"Where would rock and roll be without feedback?"-David Gilmour

Known famously for his contributions to the legendary band Pink Floyd, Gilmour is one of the most respected guitarists in rock n' roll history and ranked #14 on Rolling Stone's 100 Geatest Guitarists of all time. Gilmour, like many other guitar icons has an undeniable sound when one of his guitar solos is heard (see Comfortably Numb).

Style/Technique:

Gilmour's distinct sound will be credited to his use of delay and other effects pedals to many, but according to David, he believes his sound is more organic than just effects pedals. In an interview with GuitarWorld Magazine Gilmour explains his guitar tone: "I think I can walk into any music shop anywhere and with a guitar off the rack, a couple of basic pedals and an amp I could sound just like me. There's no devices, customized or otherwise, that give me my sound. It comes off my fingers. It all comes down to personal taste, I guess".

Equipment:
When David took over the lead guitar role from former band member Syd Barrett in 1968, he used Selmer Amplifiers. He later started using HiWatt amplifiers in the early 70's.

 

David's most recognizable guitar is by far his Black Fender Stratocaster. This guitar has been used on legendary songs like Money, Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Comfortably Numb. According to Gilmourish.com, (a fan website dedicated entirely to the equipment and history of David Gilmour), David bought the Black Stratocaster at Manny's guitar store in New York during one of Pink Floyd's North American tour's in May of 1970.

John Frusciante

  

"I don't want to be on the radio. I don't want to be on Mtv."-John Frusciante

Frusciante is well known for his work as the lead guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, ranking #72 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time. John has had a very productive and successful career as a solo artist as well. John began playing guitar at the age of 12. He studied guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. When he was 18 he attended a tryout for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention but decided to leave last second due to personal goals.

Style: John's style is very unique; he grew up listening to everything from Jimi Hendrix to Funkadelic and Joy Division. There is a very noticeable Hendrixian influence on many of his solos. He also payed tribute to Eddie Hazel and his beautiful instrumental "Maggot Brain" on one of Frusciante's solo albums The Empyrean. The song is called "Before The Beginning".

Solo from Dani California Live

Live Jam

Before The Beginning

Equipment: John is known for his love of vintage guitars, most noticeably his 1962 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster . His most expensive guitar to date is a 1957 Gretsch White Falcon which costs roughly $30,000. This was given to him by his friend Vincent Gallo after John lost much of what he had owned to a house fire, from which he barely escaped.

Effects: John's go to effect is the wah pedal, which is an Ibanez Wh10. He owns several distortion pedals but his main choice is a BOSS DS-2 Turbo Distortion. He also uses an MXR Phase 90 which can be heard in the Californication album and Stadium Arcadium.

  

Solo Career: John has released 11 solo albums since 1994. In 2004 John released a flurry of  6 albums. His solo material sounds nothing like the Chili Peppers, and for someone to listen to his solo work expecting Chili Pepper influence, they might be disappointed. His vocals are very much like Cat Stevens, and the genres he plays range from acoustic folk reminiscent of Neil Young (Past Recedes), to something like a psychedelic space opera, if there was one(Unreachable). His solo work is unique and hauntingly beautiful if one can get passed his not so conventional vocals. He uses a lot of falsetto, and uses guttural screams similar to Kurt Cobain.   

The Past Recedes

 

 Unreachable

Frank Zappa

"Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is THE BEST".-Frank Zappa


The founding member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Frank is one of my personal favorite guitarists and my flat out winner for most unappreciated guitarist of all time, although he is ranked #22 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. He does not belong to any one genre of music because of his unequaled versatility as a guitarist and as a composer. Zappa's solos range from beautifully melodic avant-garde compositions (solo on Inca Roads) to growling distorted rock and roll shredding, (see Dirty Love).

 Dirty Love (solo at 1:12)

Zappa's unique guitar style stemmed from his deep-rooted understanding of rhythm. He grew up playing drums and didn't pick up a guitar until the age of 21. He blended his love of classical music, rock, and jazz to create one of the most exclusive sounds in history.

 
Effects: Used a Vox or Cry-Baby Wah pedal untraditionally, instead of using it to compliment his sound, he used it as a way of creating specific tones within his playing(see Willie the Pimp). One of the more interesting  effects he used, which is my personal favorite is the Oberheim Filter. This effect has a repetitive echo with a hint of wah and I personally associate it's sound exclusively to Frank Zappa (see Ship Ahoy). 

 (Vocals by Captain Beefheart)

Equipment: Frank was mostly associated with his Gibson SG, but he had many other guitars that he enjoyed using. One of his other well-known guitars was his custom Gibson Les Paul. It was programmed to have a wah-wah toggle that allowed him to achieve the classic sound of a wah pedal but was configured in such a way that like a volume knob every slight movement changed the the tone of the wah sound, instead of using the pedal itself.

Fun Fact: Frank owned the famous Fender Stratocaster that was burned by Jimi Hendrix, which he gave to his son Dweezil.

Frank Zappa was never too outspoken about his amps, but he did happen to prefer a few. The most recognizable were a Fender Deluxe, and Marshall from his earlier work on Freak Out and Over-Nite Sensation.

 “If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.”-Frank Zappa