He was known primarily for his trademark rock and jazz-fusion electric sound, although his early style was more blues-oriented, and Hladík also played acoustic folk.

At the age of 15 he began playing guitar in the rock group Komety, before joining The Matadors with his friend Vladimír Mišík.

Hladík's electric style is uniquely recognizable, and relies primarily on fast ascending and descending scales alternating with his signature bending, particularly at the ends of phrases, and frequent use of hammer-on and pull-off techniques.

In the late 1960s, he was strongly influenced by the British Invasion and Jimi Hendrix, and became one of the pioneers of the electric blues-rock sound in Czechoslovakia, particularly the use of various effects.

In 1979, with singer Lešek Semelka and drummer Vlado Čech, Hladík recorded the winning song of the annual music contest Bratislavská lýra, "Šaty z šátků".