Happy birthday, Jimi.

[GlennW]

Gone for 38 years and still THE MAN.

[Possum]

YEAH!

Jimi was a GOD to me when I was 18, I got to see him play and do his thing about six feet from my face. I got to touch his guitar in its case, alone in the equipment room afterwards, my buddy and I thought about walking out the door with it, when we did walk out the door (minus guitar) we ran straight into Jimi and managed to stutter out a few questions, he was humble, shy and answered our questions. He WAS on a mission "from God."

Occasionally on the local blues show they will sneak in some unknown jam with Jimi on guitar and I'll be thinking "wow that guy's got some chops and feeling....sounds kinda like Jimi, and it IS."

[Electricdaveyboy]

Yes,
every day James Marshall Hendrix is on my mind:

http://www.myspace.com/electricladyboyz

[Possum]

..

Aaaaah I see, yes you're a Hendrix fanatic! I've heard alot of amazing guitar players in my lifetime, but Jimi's solos are among the very few that send me into an altered state of conscioussness. As a kid with headphones on the passion in his solos would send me into outer space. Almost no one since Jimi has done that to me. Much of his playing was very simple stuff but songs like Little Wing just were just so incredibly different and never matched by anyone else. Of course he did some stuff that was real boring or even awful, at some jams he went to, but he changed guitar playing forever....

[greenfingers]

I got to touch his guitar in its case, alone in the equipment room afterwards, my buddy and I thought about walking out the door with it,

Me too. I got hold of his Isle of white flying V last year down in the volt of the hard rock cafe in London. I asked is they also had an famous amp's lying around anywhere. NO they said Like Possum i also had the urge to do a runner with one of his guitars. I think i would of had a good chance of getting away as well, that V's so light. Apparently you can't touch any of the stuff there anymore. They probly changed there polacy straight after I'd been there

Jimi's output of music in those short few years is beyond comparison, and his single coil sound is still my favorit by a country mile. I don't know how many times I've listened to his albums but i still get lost in the music once i put the headphones on. With "Mitch" just joining Jimi and Noel up there, I'm sure God is enjoying the music first hand.

[GlennW]

As a kid with headphones on the passion in his solos would send me into outer space.

Same here. I used to think of it as going to JimiLand or something like that, an audio/imaginary amusement park where everything was good, real good. I used to look forward to his new releases all excited and wondering where the solos would take me...and there's nothing to worry about, Jimi's gonna treat you right.

In general, with most everybody's stuff, if a song was a sandwich I'd think of the solos as the meat and the verses and the bread.

Jimi worked hard, had plenty of talent and emotion/feeling, but I think the key element which may have set him apart was his imagination. He was into space a lot, and I believe that was because he was shuffled around so much when he was growing up...so no matter where he was he could take his space friends, his own make-believe world, with him for solidity. And later he learned how to express that make-believe world on the guitar.

I had second thoughts about starting this thread because it doesn't have anything to do with pickups, but figured Jimi had something to do with more than a couple of you guys being here.

[David Schwab]

With "Mitch" just joining Jimi and Noel up there, I'm sure God is enjoying the music first hand.

I didn't know that Mitch Mitchell had passed away!

Now I know how my parents felt as they were getting older and the entertainers of their time were passing away. My mom who was a jazz singer would always mention to me when a favorite musician or actor passed away.

Makes you feel old!

I remember the day Jimi died.

[greenfingers]

I didn't know that Mitch Mitchell had passed away!

Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news. He was just in the middle of a tour celebrating Jimi's music. Billy Cox was playing Bass and Eric Johnson had just finished a stint playing with them. He was found in his hotel room and had apparently died of natural causes.

Now I know how my parents felt as they were getting older and the entertainers of their time were passing away. My mom who was a jazz singer would always mention to me when a favorite musician or actor passed away.

Makes you feel old!

I remember the day Jimi died.

Age ain't nothing but a number David But it always seams that the most talented, most important leave us way too soon, "the star that burns twice as bright lives half as long" .....Sad but true.

[Possum]

...

I wonder if you have read the book by Jimi's first band mate, I forgot his name at the moment, but its about Jimi's spiritual life and encounter with a UFO that saved his life. Cool book, he apparently told his friend at one point that he was going to die "next year at this time" and he did. Maybe he WAS from outer space or somewhere else I always thought he wasn't "from here."

If we had snagged that guitar and ran out the door, well there were two police cars parked right there and Jimi walked out at the same moment we went out, woulda been kind of embarassing...... At the concert there were only maybe 50 people there, Soft Machine opened and played way too long and too loud. Jimi played through two Dual Showmans, when the concert was over, everyone was so stunned no one could clap, almost every guitar player in town was there and not alot of other people. What a memory...