Jimi Hendrix on MusicRadar
Saturday 18 September is the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of Jimi Hendrix. Much more than just the man who is widely regarded to be the greatest electric guitarist of all time, James Marshall Hendrix was a sonic explorer, an outrageous performer and a cultural force. And if a cooler individual has ever picked up an instrument and stepped onstage… well, we've never seen them.
This week on MusicRadar, in celebration of Jimi's 27 short years on the planet, we are revisiting some of our most popular Hendrix features and tutorials, alongside brand new interviews with some of the world's greatest players. And they are all in here in one place for your viewing pleasure...
So, without further ado, it's time for us to move over, and let Jimi take over MusicRadar. First up, Your ultimate Jimi Hendrix top 10 revealed!
Your ultimate Jimi Hendrix top 10 revealed!
To round off our week of Jimi love, we asked you to nominate your favourite Hendrix tracks to contribute to the ultimate Jimi Hendrix top 10, as voted for by users of the MusicRadar site and our Facebook and Twitter followers.
And the winner is…
Joe Satriani's top 10 Jimi Hendrix songs of all time
"Jimi Hendrix's music means everything to me. In fact, I consider it to be a fundamental part of my DNA. His guitar playing was brilliant, thrilling and revolutionary in just about every way you can imagine. Beyond that, there was his stunning ability to compose, record and produce music that has truly stood the test of time..."
Steve Vai: what Jimi Hendrix means to me
"I grew up in a house where my parents were listening to show tunes, and as a kid I liked listening to that kind of thing, too - whatever music was playing, I enjoyed it. But my sister was into all of the great rock music from the late '60 and early '70s, and I started sneaking into her room and listening to it on the headphones. She had the eight-track tape of Woodstock, and one day I went in and put that on… and it was the first time I heard Jimi Hendrix."
Eric Johnson: What Jimi Hendrix means to me
"Back in the '60s, music and movies were kind of the same: things would happen in the big cities and then they would spread across the country. Austin isn't a small city, of course, but it isn't like New York or LA or Chicago - we were behind the times by a week or a month or so in those days. A lot of the times, it took a while for us to get albums in our local record stores, even big hit records..."
Kenny Wayne Shepherd's top 10 Jimi Hendrix songs of all time
"Jimi Hendrix was instrumental in making me refuse to see any boundaries in my music. He gave me permission to try anything I wanted to try. Because that's what he did: there was no limit to his inventiveness. His canvas stretched across the sky."
MORE: Kenny Wayne Shepherd's top 10 Jimi Hendrix songs of all time
Janie Hendrix: what Jimi Hendrix means to me
"Jimi was an icon, of course, but to me he was always just Jimi, my older brother. He was a special kind of brother, though. Even before I realized how incredibly talented he was and that he had become a star, I knew there was always something a little magical about him..."
How to play blues guitar like Jimi Hendrix
"For all his blazing live pyrotechnics and psychedelic studio voyages, Jimi Hendrix is still regarded as one of the very best blues players of all time. To get close to Jimi's sound you'll need a gritty Fender Stratocaster neck pickup tone like the one on Red House..."
Valleys Of Neptune review: track-by-track
"One of the best albums of 2010 was recorded 40 years ago.Painstakingly curated and produced by engineer/producer Eddie Kramer, John McDermott and Janie Hendrix, Valleys Of Neptune includes more than 60 minutes of music never commercially available on a Jimi Hendrix album, and it's a vital addition to the artist's astonishing catalogue."
How to sound like Jimi Hendrix
"Jimi Hendrix was almost certainly the coolest man ever to walk the earth. Unfortunately, cool is something that's not available in any shops. However, if you want to try to emulate the man's extraordinary guitar sounds, we can point you in the direction of plenty of products that will get you in the right ballpark."
Sound like Jimi Hendrix using free plug-ins
"It goes without saying that sounding like Jimi Hendrix requires you to become a seriously good guitar player (sorry), but if you want to emulate his tone, it's possible to get pretty close using just a small selection of free plug-ins. In this tutorial, we're going to show you how."
How to sound like Hendrix, by a top impersonator
"Many guitar players want to sound like Jimi Hendrix. John Campbell actually gets to 'be' Jimi Hendrix every time he takes to a stage. Campbell has been fronting tribute act Are You Experienced? for well over a decade, playing shows across the UK and mainland Europe. There's possibly no-one better alive to talk through what it takes to become Jimi onstage..."
"I played Jimi's Woodstock Strat"
"Mitch Mitchell brought in a guitar case and nonchalantly opened it. The Stratocaster had been in the drummer's possession since Jimi's death in 1970 and this was the first time it had seen the light of day. Just glimpsing the thing was a Spinal Tap moment of epic proportions. Mitch said it needed looking at because the frets had tarnished, the strings were rusty and he had decided to put it up for auction."
Interview: Joe Bonamassa on Jimi's influence
Since the age of 12, Joe Bonamassa has been playing the blues alongside such greats as BB King, Buddy Guy, just to name a few. Obviously, he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. During a recent interview, Bonamassa discussed the impact that Jimi Hendrix had on the music world as a whole and himself. "I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix..."
Interview: Eddie Kramer remembers
"The relationship with Chas changed during the recording of Electric Ladyland. Jimi became very much in charge. This was Jimi's album. This was Jimi's session. And from that point on it was Jimi in charge. He had a very clear vision of what he wanted."
MORE: Eddie Kramer remembers
Jimi Hendrix: a history in photos and videos
Why is Hendrix, a man who made only three studio albums, still so revered? To The Who's Pete Townshend, "When he started to play, something changed: colours changed, everything changed." In a visual tribute to an enduring guitar and songwriting talent, here is MusicRadar's succinct timeline of the life of Jimi Hendrix - via classic photos and rare videos.
