Chords for Jimi Hendrix Wouldn’t Be Famous Today

Over the weekend I had this video interview that I did with Jeff Berlin, famous bassist,
back in May of 2017 and something he said just came back to me because it was really profound
so I went and hunted down that spot in the video and this is what he said.
Musicians owned the music industry in the 70s and we did just because if you could play,
just if you could play you're a star.
Today that doesn't count really for the most part.
Today's industry _ barely it seems to me pays attention to the great [B] players.
I mean I'm
utterly and absolutely [Fm] convinced that if Jimi Hendrix came along [N] today no one would notice him.
What he's saying is that players are not valued like they were in the 70s and this isn't an old
man yells at clouds.
This is a trying to put things in historical perspective.
For myself,
I make these videos really to try and sort things out in my mind.
So I started thinking of
_ all the players that became famous in the 70s.
Let me just list a few people that that were
players that people knew.
Your average person knew.
Jocko, Stanley Clark, Lenny White, Billy
Cobham, Joe Zawinul that played in Weather Report, Wayne Shorter from Weather Report,
Steve Gadd, Vinnie Caliuta, Bernard Purdy who I just interviewed.
Talking about the session
players Larry Carlton, Robin Ford that played on millions of records.
Carlos Santana, Jeff
Picarro from Toto, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays incredibly famous in the mid 70s they came up.
Then you have people like Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, _ Paco De Lucia.
They had million
they sold millions of records.
Maynard [D] Ferguson, Chuck Mangione, number one songs.
These people
were famous in the 70s.
Skunk Baxter who played in Steely Dan and played in the Doobie Brothers.
Jay Graydon [Gb] who was not only played the solo in the song Peg but was a famous producer and
songwriter in the 70s.
George Benson, Alan Holesworth, Steve Lukather, Jan Hammer, Chick
Korea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman.
These guys were famous
from their groups.
Tony Banks from Genesis, famous as players.
Keith Emerson, Jerry Garcia, Tony Rice,
Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck.
_ These guys were stars.
Frank Zappa, Eddie Van Halen, Richie Blackmore,
David Gilmore, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Leo Kottke, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan.
You
start getting into the 80s.
You had Ry Cooter, you had Vince Gill still in the 70s.
Chet Atkins,
Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emanuel, John Schofield in the late 70s.
Then your 80s players that were
famous.
Steve Vai, Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Randy Rhoads.
These people were stars. _
Stars.
I'm gonna [F] play this again with Jeff Berlin said.
I mean,
this just rings in my head.
Musicians owned the music industry in the 70s.
[Fm] And we did.
Just because if you
play, just as you could play, you're a star.
Today that [N] doesn't count, really, for the most part.
Today that doesn't count.
If you think of the players that are the stars today, a lot of these
people are friends of mine.
Like Tosin Abasi or Tim Henson, they're stars.
Mattias Asato, stars.
But they're not stars like Eddie Van Halen was.
They're not David Gilmore.
They're not Pat Metheny.
They were stars.
Al Di Meola was a star.
They played massive venues in front of thousands of
people.
They made records Friday night in San Francisco that sold millions of records.
It's
insane when you think about it.
They were stars.
They owned the music business.
Larry Carlton,
everybody knew who Larry Carlton was.
When they heard the Kid Charlemagne solo, the Don't Take
Me Alive solo, they knew these guitar solos that were on these Steely Dan records.
They knew the
Michael Jackson Beat It solo, Eddie Van Halen's.
These were just common things.
People were brought
in because they were famous musicians.
Eddie Van Halen was in Van Halen, but he was also a famous
musician and his _ virtuosity was _ respected and revered.
Think about it.
They used to have solo
spots in concerts.
I mean, everybody in Van Halen had their own solo spot.
This was common in the
80s. _
Everyone from every big band had a solo spot to give the lead singer a break during the
concert.
This was just _ commonplace.
Musicianship was revered.
Great musicianship was revered.
This thing he said about Jimi Hendrix wouldn't even be known today.
I believe it.
I really do.
What are the things that about today that make it different?
I've made these videos,
The Old Man Yells at Clouds videos, but they're videos to help clarify in my mind why things are
the way they are and if there's any way that I can help _ change it.
And one of the things I thought
about was how common _ people taking lessons were.
It was very common for all types of people to take
lessons.
Take piano lessons, take lessons on the guitar, take drum lessons, bass lessons,
take lessons on the saxophone, the trumpet, the trombone, the oboe.
It didn't matter whether you
played sports and you were the star quarterback.
People in my high school that were the star
quarterbacks, the star basketball players, they played in the concert band and the wind ensemble, too.
They did because many of these people that were great in sports were also great in music.
This was just a common thing.
People could read music growing up.
We didn't have
tablature because you'd go look at a piece of music.
Oh, I know how that goes.
And you could just play it.
Even if you just had a few years of lessons, you could play
things.
[C] Because of these lessons [Bb] and people being engaged and going over their friend's house and
listening to music and [N] being engaged in things, the importance when Eddie Van Halen came out
and I heard Van Halen 1, not just me, we all were like, wow.
When we heard The Police and we heard
Andy Summers' parts and Sting's bass lines and Stuart Copeland's incredible drum parts,
we said, wow.
Not only were the songs great, but the musicianship was amazing.
_ Toto.
When we heard those things, like we heard Rosanna, we were like, wow.
_ Man, everybody can
play.
Listen to that guitar solo.
It's incredible.
Two guitar solos in there.
Peter Frampton,
four _ solos in half the songs.
Journey, Neil Sheon, _ Virtuoso.
Journey had multiple solos.
Boston, _
multiple solos in their song.
You can sing every Boston solo from More Than a Feeling to Hit Your
Ride to Peace of Mind to Four Play Long Time.
You can sing those solos.
Brian May, every solo that
played with Queen, you can sing.
Everyone can sing his solos.
The guys in Chicago were really
virtuosos on their instruments.
The horn players, Terry Catharn guitar, these were _ revered musicians.
And the things that were in place during that time period, _ I remember because I'm from that era.
But I'm also here in 2022 making videos on music and commentary on music of today.
_ And there's some of the greatest players that's ever lived that are alive today.
But like Jeff
said, if Jimi Hendrix came around today, _ he wouldn't be known.
He's convinced of it.
And I
think that I'm pretty convinced of it.
I'd like you to convince me of the opposite, because maybe
I'm missing something.
If you just look at the sheer _ numbers, I mean, a lot of the people that
were famous back in the 70s and 80s are still famous today. _
Think of Steve Vai.
Go look at his
Instagram.
Go look at Satcha's Instagram.
_ Eric Johnson.
When these guys play, they play huge
venues.
They do.
They're still famous today.
But where are the people coming up that are that size
people?
Tosin, Abbasi, Tim Henson, _ Mattias Asato.
They are the young people that are of today,
but they are not of this size of the notoriety of the people from the past.
Love to hear your
thoughts.
Don't forget to subscribe.
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[Eb] You guys are amazing.
Have a great day. _
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