Neil Young is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time, but he is often overlooked as a guitar player. The musician is frequently mentioned in lists of the greatest of all time and has demonstrated his talent throughout his career.
He was influenced by many different kinds of artists and had the chance to meet and play with many of them. Over the years, he spoke about several of his peers and revealed two guitarists who are among his favorites.
The 2 guitarists Neil Young said were his favorites
Jimmy Page
“When I was playing with Page, it filled the hole that Stills used to—more than filled it, it overflowed. He’s so liquid, so at ease with his guitar—a natural sense of time. I’m a hack compared to him. He can really play,” Neil Young said in an interview featured in his biography “Shakey” (2002) by Jimmy McDonough.
As Young said, he had the chance to perform with Page on a couple of occasions. The first was in 1974, after a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young show at Wembley Stadium in London. CSNY went to a club in the city and jammed onstage with Jimmy Page and John Bonham. Twenty-one years later, in 1995, when Led Zeppelin and Neil Young were both inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they shared the stage during the ceremony.
They played together “When the Levee Breaks” and Robert Plant even improvised a section of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” as a tribute to Neil. That performance inspired the Canadian musician to write “Downtown”, a song that mentions Page and Led Zeppelin. The lyrics say: “Hear the band playin’, downtown all right. Jimi’s playin’ in the back room, Led Zeppelin on stage. There’s a mirror ball twirlin’, and a note from Page”.
Led Zeppelin was inducted into the Rock Hall by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, while Neil Young was inducted by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. Jimmy Page is only one year older than Neil and although they had really different careers, they both shared one thing in common: the love for Rock and Roll, Blues and Folk music.
Jimi Hendrix
“He and Jimmy Page are favorites of mine. (…) When Hendrix first came out, I thought he was great, but I never studied his records. Late seventies, mid-seventies—that’s when I started really listening to him. I never really knew him that well—talked to him a couple of times. For my money, he was the greatest electric-guitar player who ever lived.”
“I think Hendrix had an effect in just makin’ me want to get out there. He’s just so free. He played loud—and he was real sensitive. He didn’t ever play fast … It’s easy to play if you can figure out just what it was he was doin’. He was so into it. All the little things, the little nuances—where he pulled his hand off and where he releases the note. It’s not the notes he plays, it’s the way he plays them,” Neil Young said in an interview in his biography “Shakey” (2002).
Neil Young was the one who inducted Hendrix posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. That night he had the chance to pay tribute to the late guitarist playing “All Along the Watchtower” alongside special guests like Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, John Fogerty, Carlos Santana and The Edge. That year, Neil also released the song “From Hank to Hendrix”, featured on his album “Harvest Moon”. The track refers to Jimi and Hank Williams, two of his biggest influences.
Neil Young said Jimi Hendrix was his “biggest guitar hero”
He already said over the years that there will never be someone like Jimi anymore and that he was his “biggest guitar hero for electric guitar”. “I love Hendrix and the way he plays the guitar. Nobody else can play (like him) and nobody else will play electric guitar like that. He plays like it’s a woman, you can see all the curves. There’s electricity flying off everywhere, it’s totally out of control,” Neil Young said in the documentary History of Rock and Roll 1995.
Young also had the chance to meet Hendrix back in the late 60s but didn’t have the chance to play with him. The musician passed away in 1970 at the age of 27. He was three years older than Neil.