About Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix stands at the head of the pantheon of rock guitarists. His style was so original that it is hard to pin down any specific player who influenced him, but his influence on his contemporaries and those who followed is incalculable. The guitarist was already the hero, but he took the art to a new level and he also established his usual instrument (a right-handed Fender Stratocaster, strung left-handed) and backline (the Marshall stack) as the rock guitarist’s set up of choice at a time when Gibson’s guitars and Fender’s and Vox’s amps ruled the roost.

Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on 27 November 1942 in Seattle. He died, aged 27, on 18 September 1970, in the London apartment of a girlfriend, choking on his own vomit in his sleep, a combination of red wine and sleeping pills being the normally accepted cause of death. By then he was an icon, and his legacy of five studio albums (two completed posthumously), one live release during his lifetime and a clutch of singles left an indelible mark on the history of rock guitar. Major artists interviewed by LickLibrary.com consistently cite Hendrix as a major formative influence on their playing, while Hendrix tracks are among the most sought after in LickLibrary’s catalogue of online lessons.

With his wild hair and bright, hippyish clothes, Jimi Hendrix epitomized contemporary fashion, but it was his music, and in particular his experimentation with sounds and recording techniques that defined the psychedelic era. His playing defied categorization. At a time when most rock guitarists were rooted in the 12-bar blues, Hendrix was a free spirit, mixing rhythm and lead parts with a fluidity no other player could match, using jazzy sounding sixths and ninths as often as bluesy sevenths, and displaying an unparalleled ability to ‘take off’ into a virtuoso solo break. His playing may occasionally have rough edges, but that’s a judgement made by modern ears  brought up on modern recording techniques and with the experience of hearing a host of copycat players who’d learnt Hendrix’s tricks and techniques note by note. Hendrix did it live and he did it first. He was the real deal – truly unique, breathtaking and awe-inspiring

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Despite a ceaseless quest for originality, he could play the blues as well as anyone. A legion of fans who had been turned on to him by the acid-tinged Purple Haze – the single (his second) which announced Hendrix as a revolutionary – were equally astonished by Red House, the third track on his debut album, Are You Experienced?. It is as consummate example of blues playing as anyone could wish to hear. But Hendrix’s genius was in applying that musical proficiency to break new ground in tracks such as I Don’t Live Today and 3rd Stone from the Sun (from the same album), to take soloing to a new level on tracks such as All Along The Watchtower (Electric Ladyland), and to bring an originality to ballads such as Little Wing (Axis: Bold As Love) that still mesmerizes today.

 

Perhaps the most telling factor is his standing among his peers. It was Hendrix’s death that decided Joe Satriani to devote his life to playing guitar. Hendrix was the player Miles Davis urged his sideman to listen to. And above all, Jimi Hendrix is the guitarist that other guitarists rate highest.