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Jimi Hendrix

• true innovator of the electric guitar - Hendrix arrives
  • played right-handed Fender Stratocastor upside down, strung upside down, so that string order was the same (lowest strings on top, highest on the bottom of the neck)
• taught himself guitar by listening to blues (Muddy Waters & BB King) and rock (Chuck Berry & Eddie Cochran)
• 1961 - discharged from the army due to parachuting injuries
  • began working in NYC as sideman "Jimmy James" for Sam Cooke, BB King, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Ike & Tina Turner, and the Isley Brothers
• 1965 - formed his own band Jimmy James & the Flames to play Greenwich Village coffeehouses
• 1966 - Chas Chandler (bassist for the Animals) took him to Londo where he formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience; Noel Redding (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums)

• successful in England, but not introduced to US until his appearance, at Paul McCartney's insistence, at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival
  • Who/Hendrix discussion of performance order ... Jimi lost and had to follow The Who
    • ended his set by setting guitar on fire!
    • **comparison of performance style of Pete Townsend to Jimi Hendrix
      • including Townsend's own words

Purple Haze

The Wind Cries Mary

• innovative guitar sounds, using only his Stratocaster, amp, Maestro fuzz box, wah-wah pedal, and nose-bleed volume
  • used toggle switch & tremelo bar
• Hendrix was a real showman
  • played guitar behind his back and/or with his teeth
  • undulated & writhed on stag

"Foxey Lady"

performance of Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"

• Electric Ladyland (3rd album; 1968) was his only #1 album
  • containing Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," Hendrix' only Top 40 single (#20, 1968)

All Along the Watchtower

the album also contained several highly experimental works:

... And the Gods Made Love

opening cut on the album, using tape-speed manipulation to create a brief electronic composition

Crosstown Traffic

mainstream rock

Voodoo Chile

long guitar improvisation, typical of the experimental San Francisco era

This video contains two performances by Hendrix & commentary by a number of rock artists:

Jimi on protest songs, including some reflections by Pete Townsend (the Who) on the death of so many musicians of the era

 

Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)

12-bar blues; excellent rock/blues guitar technique

Rainy Day, Dream Away

opens side 3 as a gentle rock song (hint of jazz)

Moon, Turn the Tides ... Gently Gently Away

fine "artsy" musicianship of Hendrix, Mitchell, & Redding

Still Raining, Still Dreaming

returns on side 4 with a harder rock sound ... listen to guitar tone

• Hendrix was far more than a flamboyant, drug-influenced, sexually explicit performer
  • he was truly ahead of his time.

performed as the final act to perform at Woodstock

Star Spangled Banner
recorded at Woodstock (1969)

Hendrix with Mick Jagger in 1969.

• 1969 - disbanded the Jimi Hendrix Experience and retreated to upstate NY ... remember Dylan?
  • opened his own recording studio (Electric Ladyland) and began recording his own album
• 1969/70 - formed a new band with Bill Cox (bass) & Buddy Miles (drums) called Band of Gypsys
• early 1970 - in the middle of a performance, stopped playing & walked offstage
• 9/18/70 - Hendrix died ("inhalation of vomit following barbiturate intoxication")

Jimi Hendrix' funeral ... Mitch Mitchell (drums) is on the far right & Noel Redding (bass) is second from the right

• has become deified by later guitarists & musicians
• Noel Redding died in 2003 and Mitch Mitchell passed away on November 12, 2008.

Death of the 3 J's between 9/18/70 and 7/3/71:

This video includes discussion of the deaths of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, & Keith Moon

• 9/18/70 - Jimi Hendrix
• 10/4/70 - Janis Joplin
• 7/3/71 - Jim Morrison
  
  
• later tragedy: Keith Moon's death 7/7/78

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