Ritchie Blackmore Discusses Yardbirds

westen44 · April 08, 2026, 12:22:57 AM

Several days ago, I was writing out an informal list of my favorite bands. Toward the end, I put the Yardbirds. But I was thinking that's a band that doesn't get much attention. I doubt if many people would be impressed. However, I wasn't making the list to impress people. It was just about my taste in music. There are many reasons why I like the Yardbirds. But I think this video's emphasis on their experimental approach says a lot.

Then by coincidence I found this video in which Ritchie Blackmore is saying the Yardbirds are out of everyone's league. That makes me feel way better about my taste in music. Does RB's preference override everyone else's? Not completely, but to a large extent it does, IMO. The other two great guitarists, at least in my book are dead: Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRQrUkg1YO4

Rob · April 08, 2026, 09:34:01 AM

Quote from: westen44 on April 08, 2026, 12:22:57 AMSeveral days ago, I was writing out an informal list of my favorite bands. Toward the end, I put the Yardbirds. But I was thinking that's a band that doesn't get much attention. I doubt if many people would be impressed. However, I wasn't making the list to impress people. It was just about my taste in music. There are many reasons why I like the Yardbirds. But I think this video's emphasis on their experimental approach says a lot.

Then by coincidence I found this video in which Ritchie Blackmore is saying the Yardbirds are out of everyone's league. That makes me feel way better about my taste in music. Does RB's preference override everyone else's? Not completely, but to a large extent it does, IMO. The other two great guitarists, at least in my book are dead: Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRQrUkg1YO4

I agree. They were the point of the spear.

uwe · April 10, 2026, 03:20:18 PM

Ritchie is a Jeff Beck nerd, always has been.

The Yardbirds of course had that holy triumvirate of great guitarists, namely Clapton-Beck-Page, but I think where they suffered was in the comparison of their frontman Keith Relf to people like Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey.

I found Still I'm Sad always a bit naff as a song, even and especially in the Rainbow version, whether instrumental,

or with Dio's

or Doogie White's vocals:

westen44 · April 11, 2026, 11:02:28 AM

I've always liked "Still I'm Sad." It has its fans.

Since the video on the Yardbirds, I've encountered another Blackmore video. This one is even more interesting. It's about Jimi Hendrix who has been my favorite guitarist since age 16. It was puzzling because in the past I had read comments from Ritchie Blackmore that were critical of Hendrix. But this one is positive. This may cause me once again to reevaluate how I feel about my taste in music. Because now there is Blackmore praising not just the Yardbirds, but Hendrix himself. The bottom line is I think I used to overrate my taste in music. Then I underrated it. Now I'm looking at it from a new perspective and maybe this one is accurate. Because now I've got Ritchie Blackmore himself feeling the same way. I can say without reservation that I think Blackmore has great taste in music!! He is light-years ahead of me in talent, but at least we have similar tastes in music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhPGfBiFDhc

uwe · April 12, 2026, 02:09:29 PM

Blackmore always admired Hendrix - the complete package. No other 60s guitarist has had greater impact on him, his move from a Gibson ES-335 to a Strat, the way he threw shapes on stage and the use of fire in his act, his rewrite of Little Wing as Catch The Rainbow

or songs like the later Midtown Tunnel Vision:

Finally his attempt to form Babyface, a trio with Ian Paice and Phil Lynott at one time, because he liked Lynott's Hendrixian image and vocal style.

There would have been no Blackmore as we know him without Hendrix - and he's never really denied that.

Basvarken · April 12, 2026, 02:28:45 PM

I always thought the guitars parts in this DP song are a bit of a Hendrix pastiche

uwe · April 12, 2026, 03:03:00 PM

Yes, Mandrake Root is a very good example for Blackmore's Hendrix influence.

I mean look at their debut, anybody featuring a cover of Hey Joe in 1968 cannot have been oblivious of Jimi ...

It's a song Ritchie would dig out again and again, here at 23:06:

It was actualy the song DP jammed with Joe Lynn Turner at the audition that got him the job replacing Ian Gillan in Purple in latish 1989.

Sometimes, Ritchie's love for Hendrix would take on the form of mimicry:

And of course, whenever he donned a lefty Strat trying to look Hendrixy, it drove the women wild, yet he would not let himself be distracted from the more important work at hand ...

http://www.deep-purple.net/thirty/kursaal1.jpg
(Yes, there is a Strat in that pic too!)

westen44 · April 12, 2026, 07:27:23 PM

Hendrix's fame, though, does seem to be beginning to dim. This seems to mostly be the result of younger people encountering his music and not being able to relate to it. The respect for Hendrix just isn't as great as it used to be. I remember quite a number of years ago reading a comment on a message board. The guy didn't like Hendrix at all. He even said that he was better than Jimi Hendrix. It's true he didn't actually play guitar he said, but if he did, he would be better than Hendrix. There is no need to try to reason with a numbskull like this and, of course, I didn't.

uwe · April 13, 2026, 08:35:24 AM

There will never be another Hendrix in cultural terms for electric guitar playing - even EvH is a cultural dwarf to Hendrix, he was just a hell of a guitar player who left a legacy in terms of instrument technique (and I think Eddie was a stellar player and musician). But as a cultural beacon, I see Hendrix'crown fully intact. Name me one person that wants to go to bed with John Petrucci or dress like him.

When I read that Stevie Ray Vaughn was supposedly better than Hendrix, I have to laugh. He was a fast blues player, nothing more.

Nuff said.

westen44 · April 13, 2026, 09:52:44 AM

I've got to say that I can barely even listen to SRV. Yet I've been around people who seem to like him just as much or more than Hendrix. Of course he is talented. But comparing him to Hendrix seems pointless.

The thing about Ritchie Blackmore's comments that surprised me is that he said favorable things about Hendrix's vocals. Some people don't seem to like to hear Jimi Hendrix sing. This especially seems true of British fans I've encountered online. Since Blackmore himself is British, his attitude toward Hendrix's singing was not what I was expecting. I appreciated his acknowledgement of Hendrix in that way. As someone who has kept up with Jimi Hendrix for years, it isn't the kind of thing you hear often. Yes, he was a guitar genius. But so was Jeff Beck and so is Ritchie Blackmore. Great guitarists who can sing too, though, that's rare.

Pilgrim · April 13, 2026, 11:13:59 AM

There's plenty of room for opinions. I discovered SRV only about the time he died, but to me he's the ultimate master of Texas style blues. I was there for Hendrix - in fact, I was a DJ and played his stuff on the air a lot - and I agree he could make a guitar talk. However, most of the time I'd rather listen to SRV than Hendrix. Individual style preferences, and part of it may be that I flat love Tommy Shannon's bass work; it's exactly what I'd like to be able to do.

westen44 · April 13, 2026, 11:58:50 AM

Quote from: Pilgrim on April 13, 2026, 11:13:59 AMThere's plenty of room for opinions. I discovered SRV only about the time he died, but to me he's the ultimate master of Texas style blues. I was there for Hendrix - in fact, I was a DJ and played his stuff on the air a lot - and I agree he could make a guitar talk. However, most of the time I'd rather listen to SRV than Hendrix. Individual style preferences, and part of it may be that I flat love Tommy Shannon's bass work; it's exactly what I'd like to be able to do.

It's really too bad I don't seem to like Texas style blues very much for some reason. Because, in fact, I do like Texas country music. I've lived close to Nashville much of my life. My exposure to country was mostly Nashville country. To be honest, I never really liked it very much. Then Dave introduced to me to Texas country. Something which pretty much blew my mind. It was the first time in my life I could say I liked country music. As for Texas blues, it really is a shame I never seemed to be able to get into that very much. So SRV has always remained unapproachable to me.

Edit:

Since Texas has now become part of the topic, I thought I would add this comedy video about Texas I ran across earlier today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcMPudbrAA

Pilgrim · April 14, 2026, 11:05:31 AM

That video makes me thoughtful. I wouldn't try it today, because many of the people they stopped would be well armed.

My first radio job was at a country station (1968). I had never been a country listener, but that at least got me a start. Today's "country" strikes me as mostly pop music with a twang and a train, pickup, dog, and possibly rain. That's not a criticism, it's just the formula that format lives by.

One of my favorite tunes to play is Boot Scootin' Boogie; others are Chatahoochee and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Any of them could - and most of them did - cross over to pop radio.

westen44 · April 14, 2026, 11:42:38 AM

Quote from: Pilgrim on April 14, 2026, 11:05:31 AMThat video makes me thoughtful. I wouldn't try it today, because many of the people they stopped would be well armed.

My first radio job was at a country station (1968). I had never been a country listener, but that at least got me a start. Today's "country" strikes me as mostly pop music with a twang and a train, pickup, dog, and possibly rain. That's not a criticism, it's just the formula that format lives by.

One of my favorite tunes to play is Boot Scootin' Boogie; others are Chatahoochee and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Any of them could - and most of them did - cross over to pop radio.

I'm speaking of Nashville country. It's not even really country. It's very bad pop music attempting to be country. I think it's horrible. That's why I was very shocked when I actually liked the Texas country that Dave preferred. However, there does appear to be a prime exception which is emerging. I've already posted this before not long ago. But it's Ella Langley. She is probably actually pop country, but I liked what she's doing. She isn't speaking the exaggerated fake country accent so common now. It's a genuine Alabama accent. Alabama hasn't give us much in music in quite some time. So this is all a surprise to me.

This song wasn't as successful as some of her others. But I like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnuiI2t9Eb8

Basvarken · April 14, 2026, 01:54:47 PM

Hendrix changed the way the instrument was approached forever. He was an innovator. He was amazing.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was not so much an innovator. But SRV single handedly propelled Blues(rock) into stratosphere. From a dull and boring relic of old men to an exciting new and young approach. Blues rock was as good as dead in the early eighties. SRV was a shot in the arm.
I think SRV was technically a better guitarist than Hendrix. But he was kinda modest about it. He always said he stood on the shoulders of giants like Buddy Guy, Hendrix, his brother Jimmy and Albert King.

And no Uwe, he wasn't just fast. His tone was amazing. His choice of notes, chords and dynamics was awesome.

A nice opportunity to celebrate some SRV

That night when he played circles around poor Joe Satriani:

Smoothest guitar swap you've ever seen