Selecting a favorite instrument might be difficult if you have a vast collection of guitars and a lengthy career in music like Paul McCartney does. Interestingly, McCartney complimented Jimi Hendrix for making the choice and responded without hesitation when asked which one he preferred to utilize.
For several reasons, Hendrix is an inspiration to many guitarists. It may be due to the way he performed, his captivating stage persona, or the fascinating variety of sounds he produced with his guitar. The instrument’s ability went further than the strings for Hendrix, as he used a silly amount of pedals and amp cabs to expand the reach of his Fender.
He simulates the sound of real gunshots in the song “Machine Gun” by dragging his pick over the strings, breaking cables, and torturing plastic. Hendrix uses feedback to create a disorganized, static-filled background that echoes behind each note he plays on several other tunes.
Hendrix is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time because so many other artists sought to emulate what he was doing. The artist who was most impacted by everything Jimi Hendrix was doing was Paul McCartney.
When McCartney was asked about his favorite guitar, he responded, “I have an Epiphone Casino, which is one of my favourites, It’s not the best guitar, but I bought it in the 1960s. I went into a shop on Charing Cross Road [just around the corner from Denmark Street] and asked the guys if they had a guitar that would feed back because I was very much into Jimi Hendrix and that kind of thing.”
Some of the Beatles’ repertoire is evocative of the guitar wizard, even if they never quite managed to create the same kind of heavy, rock sound as Hendrix. A couple distinct Beatles tunes had the feedback audible, and McCartney recalls playing them with great fondness.
He said, “I loved that kind of stuff, And so I wanted a guitar that was going to give me feedback, as none of the others could. So they showed me the Casino. Because it’s got a hollow body, it feeds back easier. I had a lot of fun with that. That’s the guitar I played the ‘Taxman’ solo on, and it’s also the guitar I played the riff on ‘Paperback Writer’ with. It’s still probably my favourite guitar.”
McCartney’s ambition to demonstrate two things through his music emulates Hendrix’s approach. First, the Beatles’ enduring popularity may be attributed to their ability to adapt to changing circumstances and maintain their creative sound. The second demonstrates Hendrix’s enormous impact on musicians and how some of the greatest in the world aspired to learn from him. Without both, modern rock and pop music would sound extremely different.