Joe Perry on the guitarists who would never be equalled: “The ones that started it all”
There have never been any rules for rock guitar since the genre started. Even though many people like to make their first steps into the genre by playing the same licks that Chuck Berry played back in the 1950s, the greatest artists have been able to take that foundation and go in different directions, often mixing different genres before they find their own sound. Although Joe Perry always seemed satisfied sticking to the blues foundation of rock guitar, he thought Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen were unparalleled in their field.
If you were to look at Perry’s playing, though, it’s practically a carbon copy of the blues bands that came before him. As much as the band might have hated being compared to artists like The Rolling Stones throughout their career, half of Perry’s lick library is based on the same lyrical bends that Keith Richards was known for doing during his prime, albeit without Keef’s signature guitar tuning.
While Perry was able to make his own voice heard by combining his love of The Stones with Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix had already taken the guitar into outer space. Even though Eric Clapton was heralded as ‘God’ around England, Hendrix didn’t sound like he was from this earthly plane of existence, creating different colours with his music that no one had even touched on.
Becoming the blueprint for the next generation of guitar players, everyone from Jimmy Page to Jeff Beck would be awe-struck by what Hendrix could do behind a fretboard. Although no one may have been able to replicate the free-spirited fun Hendrix had with guitar, Eddie Van Halen started to push the instrument even further with his band’s debut album in 1978.
Despite being in the hard rock category, Eddie made virtuosic guitar playing look like the easiest thing in the world, playing massive runs of guitar licks, usually with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Although guitarists like Billy Gibbons and Larry Carlton had used tapping licks before Eddie did, his way of making little instrumental pieces like ‘Eruption’ made it sound like the guy somehow had four hands grafted onto his body.
Looking back on rock and roll history, Perry thought that Hendrix and Van Halen were two of the biggest benchmarks for what could be done with guitar, telling Guitar World, “There will never be another Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen. Sure, there are people now that can kinda play like them or maybe try and copy them, but those are the guys that did it first. There are some wizards on YouTube that are incredible, but these guys are the ones that started it all”.
Compared to the others that came before and after, both Hendrix and Van Halen had their own musical vocabulary whenever they graced the stage. While many have tried (and failed) to replicate what they did, part of the beauty of each guitarist is how easily they can be recognised, usually making their voice heard with just a handful of notes. Chuck Berry may have been the foundation of rock guitar, but Hendrix and Van Halen opened up the possibilities of what could be done on the instrument outside of its bluesy roots.
