Jimi Hendrix is considered the greatest guitarist ever not only by his fans but by several other musicians. Paul McCartney one of the most popular musicians stated that he admires Jimi Hendrix. Well, not only McCartney but there are other many artists who are actually inspired or influenced by Hendrix. He is not called one of the greatest for anything.
Hendrix came out of nowhere and changed rock n roll. His songs like Purple Haze, Little Wing, and more are very popular. Furthermore, his cover of All Along the Watchtower was also a massive hit, even the original creator of the song Bob Dylan stated that he was overwhelmed by Hendrix’s version.
As mentioned there are many artists who are and were inspired by Hendrix, we can’t talk about every artist so in this piece we will talk about how Hendrix inspired Pink Floyd’s frontman and singer David Gilmour.
David Gilmour gives his opinion about Jimi Hendrix
David Gilmour is one legend himself who is also considered the greatest guitarist. And as a fan, we always love to hear another artist complimenting and admiring others. Gilmour joined Pink Floyd back in 1967 and became the frontman, guitarist, and lead vocalist of the band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlPfTuz6kFQ
And it is no surprise that Gilmour too was inspired by Jimi Hendrix. Gilmour has revealed that he knew Hendrix before he made it big. Back in 2006, he talked to BBC Radio 2 on Track of My Years where he opened up and said that he saw Hendrix performing at a bar for the first time. Gilmour said,
“Jimi Hendrix, fantastic. I went to a club in south Kensington in 1966. This kid got on stage with Brian Auger and the Trinity. (He started to play) the guitar with the other way around (upside down) and started playing. Myself and the whole place was with their jaws hanging open.”
He then said that he went to see and buy if Jimi had any records, however, at the time he had none so the only thing left for Gilmour was to wait for Jimi to release his debut. He also said that he really loves Jimi’s song “The Wind Cries Mary” and it is one of his favorites. He said, “I went, next day, to the record shops and I said ‘You got anything by this guy Jimi Hendrix?’ and they said ‘Well, we’ve got a James Hendrix’. He hadn’t yet done anything, so I became rather an avid fan waiting for his first release. Also this is one of his beautiful ballads that I really love.”
Although both Hendrix and Gilmour are considered great, their music has vast differences however, that did not stop Hendrix to influence or inspire Pink Floyd. Back in 2009, Gilmour was in an interview where he talked about various music artists including Hendrix and said, “He’s a major influence on me in terms of playing. But it’s harder to pinpoint how the people you admire influence you when you start composing. It’s the whole story of the music you hear in your head compared to what comes out when you play. The music in my head came first from Leadbelly, then the Beatles, then Eric Clapton and Hendrix. What happened next is another story.”
David Gilmour was once a guitar technician to Jimi Hendrix
Maybe the reason why Pink Floyd joined Jimi Hendrix on his United Kingdom tour and performed the opening act for him back in 1967 was that David and other members really admired Jimi. Furthermore, when talking to Uncut Gilmour revealed that when he was young he copied playing guitar from various artists including Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and various others.
Well, that was not the only thing but David Gilmour once was a guitar technician to Jimi Hendrix. Back in 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival, Gilmour helped mix the sound. Well, of course not many people knew about this until Gilmour revealed it in 2019 while he was in an interview with Prog.
Gilmour explained, “I helped mix the sound for Hendrix at the Isle of Wight in 1970. Not a lot of people know that. From the side of the stage with WEM Audiomasters with Charlie Watkins.”
