Three legendary guitarists Ritchie Blackmore thinks are overrated
Ritchie Blackmore is one of the most versatile guitarists ever to pick up a six-string. There are few guitarists who can play with as much of a range as Blackmore could. When you listen to his discography and every album he’s been involved in, regardless of whether it dabbles in hard rock, classical passages or something more ballad-driven, you can guarantee that Blackmore will be bringing his A-game.
As well as being a great guitar player, Blackmore is also notoriously hard to please. While he is also quick to praise the bands and artists he likes, he is equally quick to criticise those that he thinks could do better. He famously hated The Police and took no shame in admitting it: “Everyone was playing like The Police,” he said once, “And can I state here that I hate The Police?”
While music remains subjective and opinions remain unpredictable, it seems that one of the most important things that Blackmore looked for within music was intent. If an artist were ever going into a song without any direction, you could almost guarantee that Blackmore would hate it. He once criticised his own band because they released music during a period when they didn’t have a clear direction.
Blackmore rose to fame during a period when all eyes were on the guitarist. The guitar solo was one of the most hotly anticipated sections in any piece of music, and therefore listeners would often wait with bated breath at what their favourite shredder would pull out of the bag. This period birthed many a musical legend, some of whom Blackmore controversially thought were overrated.
There is no escaping the fact that he was a big fan of Jimi Hendrix. Blackmore even admitted that he ripped off a couple of his riffs when writing some tracks for Deep Purple; however, he never thought that Hendrix deserved the praise that he got. He was good, sure, but he felt as though a lot was contributing towards people calling him the best of all time, not just his playing.
“I was impressed by Hendrix. Not so much by his playing, as his attitude – he wasn’t a great player, but everything else about him was brilliant. Even the way he walked was amazing. His guitar playing, though, was always a little bit weird,” said Blackmore, “Hendrix inspired me, but I was still more into Wes Montgomery. I was also into the Allman Brothers around the time of those albums.”
In another interview, while Blackmore talked about some of the guitarists he believes get overlooked, he mentioned two other big names that he felt were given too much credit. Both of these are frequently credited with changing the shape of rock ‘n’ roll; however, it would appear that Blackmore wasn’t convinced.
“I like Jeff [Beck],” he said. “He’s my favourite guitarist. There are a lot of guitarists around that get overlooked. When you’re a guitarist yourself you tend to get so buried in what you’re doing. Mike Bloomfield is really good. Steve Howe’s always been a very good guitarist. I’m not too struck on Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, I never saw what was in Clapton at all. He’s a good singer.”
