Birthday Tribute: Jimi Hendrix

Sun, 27 Nov 2011

This week LickLibrary wanted to pay tribute to one of the most iconic musicians ever to grace this planet, that being James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix, he would have been turning 69 today, but sadly passed away at the young age of 27 on September 18th, 1970.

Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington in 1942 and first started messing about on an old ukulele and broomsticks before finally getting his hands on his first guitar (an acoustic) when he was 15.

Hendrix apparently was a fan of Elvis Presley and his first exposure to blues was through the likes of Muddy Waters and B. B. King. After a short stint in the US Army, Jimi moved to Clarksville, Tennessee and began to hone his playing technique, especially with his teeth as well as absorbing the lively R & B scene. Upon moving to New York in 1964 he began to make a name for himself, eventually being hired by the likes of the Isley Brothers & Little Richard.

In 1966 Hendrix was introduced to Chas Chandler, former bassist with The Animals who was looking for artists to manage. Impressed with Hendrix he subsequently brought him to London. Upon arriving Chandler introduced Hendrix to Pete Townshend & Eric Clapton before helping Jimi form The Jimi Hendrix Experience with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

The first single the band released was a cover of US garage band The Leaves track 'Hey Joe', backed by 'Stone Free' which was Hendrix's first self penned track. Further success followed with 'Purple Haze' famed for the 'Hendrix chord' & 'The Wind Cries Mary' which all were UK top 10 hits and all feature as Classic Track downloads on LickLibrary. 

Despite breaking the UK and other parts of the world, it was some time later that The Jimi Hendrix Experience found success in the US, which culminated in two differing versions of their debut album Are You Experienced being released on either side of the Atlantic. The follow up album Axis: Bold as Love hit the top 10 in both the UK and US, and also featured 'Little Wing' which is another featured Classic Track lesson.

The band's final studio (double) album Electric Ladyland released in 1968 is regarded as featuring Jimi's finest performances on guitar, and was mostly written and produced by Jimi himself and included the ever popular 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and the cover of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower' which both feature as Classic Track lessons, the latter being a brand NEW upload!

Despite the breakup of The Jimi Hendrix Experience following the departure of Noel Redding in 1969, Jimi continued to play live up until his untimely death, most notably at the Woodstock and Isle Of Wight festivals as well opening his own recording facilities in 1970 called Electric Ladyland Studios.

In September 2009, Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix, promised fans they still had another 10 years of unreleased material that would be released each year over the next decade.  In March of this year  the long awaited “Valleys Of Neptune” was released featuring 12 new tracks with more live footage for the Jimi Hendrix fans still to come.

The overwhelming reaction of the fans young and old to the tour and the new material, Is a tribute in itself to how Jimi Hendrix still influences music today, proving that as a legend, he will no doubt live on for many more generations.

This month, Rolling Stone Magazine and their panel of guitarists and experts named Jimi Hendrix the "Greatest Guitarist of All Time" in their Top 100 list, and its easy to see why.

Learn to play like a legend with these popular products by Danny Gill!


Learn to Play Jimi Hendrix DVD - Volume 1 Volume 2
Jam With Jimi Hendrix DVD - Volume 1 Volume 2
Learn to Play Jimi Hendrix The Solos DVD
Quick Licks Jimi Hendrix DVD