A true master of the electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix missed the era of MTV Unplugged by almost 20 years and video & audio clips of him playing an acoustic guitar can be difficult to find. Open Culture recently collected a pair of videos of Hendrix unplugged.
Watch video on YouTube.
Watch video on YouTube.
While Hendrix did more than anyone before him to turn guitar amps into instruments with his squalls of electric feedback and distorted wah-wah squeals, when you strip his playing down to basics, he’s still pretty much as good as it gets.
A YouTube commenter said:
Jimi could make an acoustic sound like an electric, and an electric like something else.
P.S. Here are several clips of another otherworldly musician playing an acoustic guitar…his name is Prince (and he is funky).
I linked to this in the recent David Bowie post, but it’s worth pulling out separately: the 100 greatest BBC musical performances. This is an incredible trove of late 20th and early 21st century musical greatness. Some selections just off the top of my head:
Blondie – Atomic/Heart of Glass (The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1979):
Watch video on YouTube.
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (OGWT, 1978):
Watch video on YouTube.
Daft Punk – Essential Mix (Radio 1, 1997):
Watch video on YouTube.
Hole – Doll Parts/He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)/Violet (Later, 1995):
Watch video on YouTube.
Joy Division – Transmission (Something Else, 1979):
Watch video on YouTube.
Radiohead - Paranoid Android (Later Archive 1997):
Watch video on YouTube.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Sunshine of Your Love (Happening for Lulu, 1969):
Watch video on YouTube.
Patti Smith Group – Because the Night (OGWT, 1978):
Watch video on YouTube.
Arlo Parks and Phoebe Bridgers – Fake Plastic Trees (Radio 1 Piano session, 2020):
Watch video on YouTube.
Bob Dylan – live at BBC studios (BBC One, 1965), apparently Dylan’s last acoustic concert:
Watch video on YouTube.
Dizzy Gillespie – Chega de Saudade (Jazz 625, 1965). Don’t miss the musician intro at the ~13:15 mark:
Watch video on YouTube.
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (TOTP, 1991):
Watch video on YouTube.
And Rihanna (Umbrella, 2008) and Prince (1993) and Lorde (Royals, 2013) and and and… If you’re anything like me, this list will keep you busy for a few hours.
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