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Hendrix was a massive blues fan

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Johnny Allen Hendricks was born in Seattle in 1942. Re-named James Marshall by his father, the new spelling 'Hendrix' came later. Jimi first started strumming on a broom, then an old one-string ukulele, finally progressing to a second-hand acoustic in the summer of 1958. His first band, The Velvetones, led to the purchase of his first electric guitar.

By 1961, Jimi was a paratrooper in the US army, where he formed The King Casuals with bassist Billy Cox, who would play with him again later in his career. Discharged from the army after sustaining an injury from a parachute jump, Jimi instead threw himself into the session world where, under the name of Jimmy James, he played with Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, The Isley Brothers and Little Richard among others, eventually leaving the role of side-man to play lead guitar with his own band, Jimmy James And The Blue Flames.

Playing the Greenwich Village circuit, he attracted the attention of Animals' bassist Chas Chandler, who moved him to London hooking up with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. The Experience was born and the rest, dare we say it, is history...

To capture Hendrix's sound you'll need quite a clean Strat neck pickup tone like the one on Red House for some of these examples and a more distorted 'Fuzz Face' type bridge pickup sound for others.

You can learn these examples by following our free tab. If you're new to tab you should also check out our tab guide.