10 Rock + Metal Guitarists Who Owe Almost Everything to Hendrix

November 27 would’ve been Jimi Hendrix’s 80th birthday if the legendary guitarist had lived to see the day rather than tragically becoming a member of the mythical 27 Club. He passed far before his time in 1970, having been in the limelight for just a few years but leaving an incredible legacy in his wake.

His death was just a year after his landmark performance at Woodstock 1969 where Hendrix changed the course of rock ‘n’ roll forever. The highest paid performer on the bill, Hendrix ripped into an electric fuzz-fueled take on “The Star-Spangled Banner” that has become a keynote in American music history (if not also the counterculture movement). It was a showdown that even Guitar World claimed was the “greatest performance of all time” in their 2011 tribute to the guitar god. It was a performance many modern guitarists recall seeing, saying it had an impact on their own playing, too.

To try to come up with a list of all the guitarists that have been influenced by Hendrix is a pointless task, as most who have ever picked up the instrument the past five-plus decades would say he impacted them in some way. The “Voodoo Child” renegade changed the game and has been called one of the greatest instrumentalists of all time. He was an early adopter and pioneer of distortion effects and the wah-wah pedal and, to use George Harrison’s famous words, brought emotion to his playing that made the guitar weep.

Hendrix, of course, has an obvious large hold on electric blues artists from contemporaries such as Eric Clapton and fusion artist Jeff Beck and in latter years, his influence has lived on in Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and John Mayer to the incredible Gary Clark Jr. But the musician also made his mark in many ways on rock and metal artists, too.

Before Hawkwind and Motorhead, Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister was a roadie for Hendrix, with Lemmy famously telling Bass Magazine in his final interview, as picked up by Guitar World, “He told me I was never going to be a good guitar player.” Countless rock and metal acts have also famously covered Hendrix, from Living Colour to Tom Morello, Red Hot Chili Peppers and even The Cure (Robert Smith is a big fan).

When it comes to the rock and metal guitarists who kneel at the altar of Hendrix, here are 10 that have bowed down when asked about what the guitarist meant to them.

Original Article