Jimi Hendrix with a burning guitar. Jimi Hendrix and the flaming guitar. Instead of studying solfeggio, Jimi studied blues sound, never having mastered musical notation until the end of his life

If ever a real genius came to the world of guitar music, then his name is James Marshall Hendrix, known to the whole world as Jimi Hendrix.

The genius of Hendrix manifested itself from childhood already in the fact that he never learned to play the guitar in the modern sense of this process. In fact, he developed all his fantastic technique and playing techniques himself, focusing only on how the music sounds in his soul. That is why his style is so original that it does not fit into any of the traditional canons, and is also absolutely inimitable. Mood was the most important component of his music. Often, he himself did not really know what exactly he was going to play in the next second, but he knew exactly with what mood he would do it. Those sounds that Jimi extracted from the guitar, using only the most basic equipment, could not be repeated by any of the guitarists of that time. For example, he was one of the first to use overdriven sound and feedback, which was a real revolution for the mid-60s. The pulse of his works was so original that none of the many attempts by serious contemporary musicians to record their version of Hendrix's composition still comes close in sound and mood to Jimi's version. For the sake of fairness, it must be added, however, that Hendrix himself often could not repeat what he played a minute earlier, the proportion of improvisation in his playing was always very significant, and therefore his live versions differ so much from the studio ones, which makes each concert absolutely unique. .

Chas Chandler is far right

Surprisingly, but the fact is that Hendrix's stellar career was surprisingly short-lived, only in the mid-60s an amazing guy playing like no one else in the composition of more famous stars was noticed by Chas Chandler, known for his work in a group The Animals , who became Jimi's first producer. Actually, the stage name Jimi Hendrix he also invented. Prior to that, for several years Hendrix was known as Jimmy James, and although he was a very sought-after guitarist and participated in many stellar lineups, he was not a star in full. Thanks to Chas, in 1967 the first album of the group " The Jimi Hendrix Experience " entitled " Are You Experienced ? , and already in 1970, Jimi left this world, becoming the third member of the infamous 27 club. However, in such a short period of time he managed to make a real revolution in guitar music, become a real icon during his lifetime, taste the adoration and, sometimes, indignation of listeners, leave descendants of an extensive musical heritage. And what is important, actually alone to save the legendary Fender Stratocaster from plunging into the abyss of oblivion, moreover, making this guitar an absolute cult.

Surprisingly, it is a fact that in the mid-60s Stratocaster actually completely lost in popularity to such models as Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG and even Fender Jaguar , but thanks to Jimi himself, as well as to his many stellar followers, who also chose Stratocaster , not only won back lost positions, but also became truly legendary.

If we analyze Hendrix's style and sound, we can't help noticing that his specific guitars played a significant role in it. The fact is that Jimi was left-handed, and since it was not so easy to get a left-handed instrument at that time, he had to turn the instrument over and rearrange the strings in reverse order. This had at least a few important consequences. First, all the knobs and switches were at the top, which affected the position and operation of the left, in the case of Hendrix, hand. Secondly, the length of the strings became absolutely not the same as in the usual position. The bass string was the longest, and the first string was the shortest. This had an impact on both the sound and feel of the bands. But perhaps the most important consequence was that the pickup, mounted in the bridge position with an inclination, became reversible. In the normal position of the guitar, this pickup is shifted closer to the bridge in the region of the first strings and is further away from it in the bass region. When the instrument was turned upside down, it was the bass strings that were picked up by the pickup directly at the bridge, and the high ones were taken a little further from it, which significantly changed the sound. The neck and mid pickups also became reversible, but the effect of their position on the sound was not as great, since they were installed evenly.

Jimi's first electric guitar was calledSupro Ozark and was bought and given to him by his father in 1959, then was Silvertone Danelectro , red, which was nicknamed "Betty Jean".This guitar has been exchanged for Epiphone Wilshire - an instrument with two pickups and a mahogany body and neck. If we talk about Fender , with which the name of Hendrix is ​​forever associated, the first guitar of this brand appeared in Jimi in 1964, it was Fender Duo 59' or 60' model year, followed by Jazzmaster and only in the summer of 1966 in New York did he acquire his first Stratocaster.

In general, speaking of Hendrix's guitars, it should be understood that, unlike many other musicians who have erected and are raising their instruments to the rank of a magical artifact, Jimi has always treated them exclusively as a tool for translating musical ideas. Already becoming a cult musician and choosing for himself Stratocaster as the most convenient instrument, he often played on tour on the first serial Fender Stratocaster , which after the concert sometimes turned into firewood. Hendrix burned several guitars on stage as part of the show, the most famous arson took place at the Monterey Festival in 1967, and according to legend, the musician was going to burn a black Stratocaster , which played a concert, but at the last moment changed it to a cheaper model. The original instrument from that concert in 2012 was auctioned off as "Hendrix's pardoned guitar" for nearly £240,000. (Although in 2007 one burnt, very charred stratum, was sold even more expensive). Often in his hands one could also see a guitar of color sunburst . Jimi is known to have preferred maple neck and maple fingerboard Stratocasters, but in the studio he often used a guitar with a rosewood fingerboard and mahogany neck. Also, in addition to Fender Stratocaster he could sometimes be seen with Fender Jaguar, and Gibson Flying V, Gibson SG and some other guitars, which he used from time to time to perform individual compositions.

burnedStratocasterHendrix, auctioned off

There is, however, one black Fender Stratocaster , which Hendrix played relatively often, so this instrument can be safely called one of his favorites. This is a 1968 Stratocaster, the shape of the lacquer scuffs on this guitar is known to all fans of the musician around the world.

But perhaps the most iconic model, which, especially for uninitiated fans, is the personification of the very concept of “Hendrix guitar” is the white 1968 Strat, on which Jimi played perhaps the most famous concert in his history - a performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival. This instrument bears the unofficial nickname "Voodoo-Strat" ​​and today is the hallmark of not only the image of Hendrix, but of the entire Fender brand. Although, as we can see, this instrument did not belong to Jimi for very long (recall, Hendrix died the very next year after Woodstock), it was he who was destined to become a real rock and roll icon.

Throughout the history of Fender several attempts have been made to produce a production signature Hendrix model. You can at least remember Voodoo Strat , produced in 1998-1999, or Hendrix Tribute Stratocaster (1997-2000). And now in 2015 Fender presents a new instrument designed to reproduce Jimi's famous guitars down to the smallest nuance, while making sure that these nuances and feel are accessible to right-handed guitarists. And the name of this tool- The Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster.

The new guitar, although it is right-handed, has a deployed and enlarged headstock, on which Hendrix's signature flaunts, which allows you to get exactly the ratio of the length of the strings that he had, as well as the deployed location of the pickups, which, as already mentioned above, greatly affects to the sound, bringing it closer to the original. The pickups are the same as on the most famous models of the musician, namely - american vintage ‘ 65. Case same as Voodoo - Strat Made of alder, the neck is made of maple with a maple fingerboard. However, these guitars are still not copies of the voodoo strat and the famous black stratocaster. It's more of a collective image of Jimi's favorite guitars. Firstly, all the knobs and switches are still located below, as on more traditional models, but if The Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster this is not the first guitar for you - such a traditional arrangement will only be an advantage out of habit. In addition, the location of the anchor socket has been changed, now it is located more traditionally on the headstock, which, although again a departure from the truth, still greatly simplifies the life of the musicians, so such a retreat can also only be welcomed. On the heel of the neck, an engraved photo of the artist and the inscription "Authentic Hendrix" flaunt. The Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster will be produced at the Fender plant in Mexico, which, we hope, will have a positive impact on the cost of the instrument in these difficult times.

Jimi Hendrix and the flaming guitar

When, on the evening of March 31, 1967, Jimi Hendrix brought a can of gas for lighters to his Fender Stratocaster, newspaper headlines and everyone's attention were guaranteed to him. As flames blazed across the stage, the London Astoria audience was in a state of shock. The audience was filled mostly with teenage girls who came to scream at a concert featuring pop stars such as The Walker Brothers and Engelbert Humperdinck. And here - almost a shamanic rite, a real sacrifice. During the song "Fire", Jimi suddenly put the guitar under his feet and sat on it, and after a few seconds, flames shot up right above the stage. When American guitarist Jimi Hendrix boarded a plane to London on September 24, 1966 with his Stratocaster and one change of underwear in his luggage, he was a small fish among the artists whose manager was former The Animals bassist Chas Chandler. Back in his homeland, Jimi Hendrix was just another black guy who was great at playing the guitar. But in England he had to rumble - and rumbled. It took Jimi just six months to change rock and roll forever with his fantastic guitar playing.

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born in Seattle to a poor family on November 27, 1942. His parents soon separated, and by the age of 16, Hendrix was already known as a rebel whose only passion was playing the $5 acoustic guitar. From the very beginning, his manner was deeply individual. He was left-handed, and instead of swapping the strings, Jimi simply turned the guitar upside down. Most guitarists were inspired by one style: jazz, blues, rock, folk. Jimi soaked everything up: he even spent hours in front of the TV trying to play funny cartoon sounds on the guitar!

By 1959, Jimi was playing electric guitar in local bands, but the local police knew him as a shoplifter and car thief for fun. He was given a choice: prison or the army, and he chose the latter. Jimi joined the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division. He was a useless soldier: he slept on duty, did not observe the regime and smeared all the time when shooting. So the army authorities considered it good to release Private Hendrix from duties a year after the call. He did not mind: he began a career as a session guitarist, and his most famous employers were rock and roll veteran Little Richard and the rhythm and blues group The Isley Brothers.

Ernie Isley recalled that Jimi practiced all the time, and sometimes even answered questions not with words, but with guitar effects. Little Richard, who fined his musicians for wearing the wrong costume or the wrong hairstyle, disciplined Jimi in the band: “He didn’t play my music, but something like the B.B. King blues. When he started playing rock, he became a good guy. He started dressing like me and even grew a little mustache like mine." Jimmy learned new ways of working with the public from his employers and by mid-1965 he moved to New York, recruiting his Jimmy James & The Blue Frames.

One of the band's live hits was "Hey Joe," a song of obscure origin, performed by West Coast bands like The Leaves, The Byrds, and Love. Hendrix took a slower arrangement from folk singer Tim Rose and translated it into his guitar language. It was "Hey Joe" that was the first song that Chas Chandler heard when he came to the New York institution Caf? What? July 5, 1966 He was invited there by Linda Keith, a former girlfriend of Keith Richards, who felt the makings of a star in a black guitarist and invited several bigwigs of show business to sign a contract with him. Chandler was the first to understand it.

Two months later, the manager and guitarist flew to London: on the flight, Chas Chandler decided to change the name of his protégé from Jimmy to the more exotic Jimi. On the first day, he was introduced to the London rock aristocracy and played with one of the patriarchs of English rhythm and blues, Zoot Money, who was impressed with the newcomer. A week later, guitarist Andy Summers, future member of the Police, had the same reaction: “He had a white Strat and when I walked in he was playing guitar with his mouth. He had a huge afro and a buckskin jacket with all these stripes hanging down to the floor. This approach has turned the world of London guitarists upside down."

The stars in London at the time were The Small Faces, The Who, The Spencer Davis Group. British guitarists rubbed their fingers trying to copy B.B. King's moves, and vocalists tried to sing along to soul stars like Wilson Picket. Shy in communication, but frantic during the game, Jimi Hendrix looked like an exotic messenger from other worlds. On September 27, The Who manager Keith Lambert saw Jimi playing at The Scotch Of St James. He was in such a hurry to look for Chas Chandler to offer him a deal that knocked the tables in his path. But Chas did not let Jimi out of his hands, and was also going to become his producer. But Lambert immediately offered a recording contract on the new label Track Records.

On October 1, Jimi Hendrix took to the stage with the superstar trio Cream. Eric Clapton recalled: "He played Howlin' Wolf's 'Killing Floor', which I didn't have the technique for. He just stole that show." Chandler witnessed the moment: “Clapton was standing there and his hands fell off the guitar. Staggering, he left the stage. God, what else happened? I went backstage where Clapton was trying to find a match to light a cigarette. I asked if everything was ok. And he said: is he always so damn good?

Singer Terry Reid says: “And then Jim comes in his hussar uniform and with a mop of hair, pulls out his Stratocaster for left-handers. And after a sudden WHOOOR-RRAAAWWRR! breaks down in "Wild Thing". Everything was over. The guitarists were crying. All they had to do was wash the floors.”

The trio format was just right for Jimi. He was joined by two British rockers, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, and the new band, called The Jimi Hendrix Experience, was to record their first single - despite the fact that Jimi was very self-conscious about his own voice. Since he hadn't yet written his own material at the time, the choice naturally fell on the song that impressed Chas Chandler back in New York, "Hey Joe". The 45, released on December 16, reached number 6 in the charts in six weeks, and Jimi received an inappropriate place for himself on the general tour with the American pop group The Walker Brothers.

Chas Chandler came up with the burning guitar trick right before that show at the Astoria. He remembered Jerry Lee Lewis, who in 1958 set fire to the piano on stage with the words: "Let some son of a bitch do it again!" Jimi performed a dizzying number without any problems and even managed to get back the charred body as a souvenir. Unfortunately, after that, everyone began to expect such tricks from each of his concerts. The audience was waiting for him to start playing with his teeth, turn the guitar over his head or smash the instrument. Over time, Jimi himself began to hate these tricks.

On June 18, 1967, Jimi Hendrix had a chance to captivate the American public with his skill when Paul McCartney recommended him for the Monterey Rock Festival. The Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones personally took the stage to introduce The Jimi Hendrix Experience to a crowd of 50,000 people. The documentary "Monterey Pop" immortalized the image of Jimi Hendrix, who, after performing "Wild Thing", sets fire to his crying guitar, caresses the flame with his fingers, breaks the instrument into pieces and scatters it around the hall. The Americans finally appreciated the black "savage in rock" who was born in the USA but came to them from London, and offered an infamous place as the support group of the artificially fabricated pop group The Monkees.

Instead of flattering the stars, Jimi's stunts irritated the teenage audience. At the first show in Jacksonville, Florida on July 8, The Jimi Hendrix Experience was booed and it didn't get any better. Monkees drummer Mickey Dolenz recalls: "It was hard for Jimi to have the kids yelling 'We want the Monkees!' over Foxy Lady. For Jimi, this was not only difficult, but humiliating. It got to the point that Hendrix's press officer wrote a series of letters from supposedly irate parents outraged by The Jimi Hendrix Experience's obscenity on a teen show. Thanks to these letters, it turned out that Jimi was suspended from the tour due to reactionary censorship, and not because of disgruntled girlish screams.

Hendrix returned to America the following February, this time as a star in his own right. And he spoke in places where a prepared and interested audience went to him. The first gig was at The Fillmore in San Francisco. But the British bluesman John Mayall, who accompanied the group, saw that Jimi was not completely satisfied: “He went on stage with the feeling that people had come to appreciate his musical abilities, but they didn’t want to know anything. So he played a couple of well-known things, then slow blues for himself - and any musician would say that it was amazing and really creative. But the audience was still screaming in anticipation of other songs. So he hardened: okay, you want it, so get it: blam, blam, blam!

Things went even worse due to the overly intense tour schedule: in nine weeks, The Jimi Hendrix Experience had only four e-five days off, the group clocked up tens of thousands of kilometers. Began trying to relax with the help of drugs and alcohol. And yet, given the right conditions, Hendrix could rise above the odds. On April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played in Newark, New Jersey. This time, Jimi ignored the wishes of the audience and began to play an amazingly beautiful improvisation. Everyone instantly understood that this was a funeral song in honor of a great man, and after a few minutes all the listeners began to cry.

By April, when work began on Electric Ladyland at the Record Plant in New York, Chas Chandler felt that Jimi was getting out of hand: “He showed up in the studio with a dozen hangers-on whom I had never seen before in my life. . It was impossible to talk to him." The manager tried to restrain Jimi's immoderation and tried to appeal to his mind, but to no avail, and ended up leaving the studio. Hendrix spent days and nights there, recording countless takes: for example, “Gypsy Eyes” had to be taken 50 times. The guitarist's vision went far beyond the trio, and Steve Winwood of Traffic, Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Cassidy, organist Al Cooper, drummer Buddy Miles and other musicians appeared in the studio.

Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell felt that Jimi was moving away from them. Redding said: “There were times when I went to a club between recording sessions, met a girl, came back, and he was still tuning his guitar. It took hours. We were supposed to act as a team, but it didn't work." Endless jams continued night after night in an atmosphere that felt more like a party than a job. After two albums that shocked his contemporaries, tired of the tour and calls to play with his teeth, Jimi Hendrix gave birth to a double disc "Electric Ladyland". But the fire that Jimi lit on the price of the Astoria on a March evening in 1967 sent him on a road that had one destination.

Listen

The Jimi Hendrix Experience "Are You Experienced" (1967)

The album "Are You Experienced" was released on May 12, 1967, and only "Sergeant Pepper" The Beatles managed to push him off the top line of the hit parade. Prior to this, only visitors to the most fashionable London clubs could appreciate the overseas magician with a guitar, and the release of his debut disc turned Jimi Hendrix into a star throughout Britain. For all its experimental nature, "Are You Experienced" is also Jimi's most accessible album. Acid anthem "Purple Haze", slow folk-rock "Hey Joe" and gentle guitar dedication to sweetheart "The Wind Cries Mary" were in the top ten. In free flight, Jimi, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell could jam for hours, but the rad and the records tried to fit each song into about three and a half minutes (except for the seven-minute, guitar-filled psychedelic jazz "3rd Stone From The Sun", created under the influence of scientific fiction). A more impressive monument to plugged-in power and studio guitar technology is hard to find: listening to Foxy Lady and Fire blazing with unearthly fire, you understand why Pete Townsend and Jimmy Page felt inferior in 1967. The raw energy of this virtuoso-sloppy message was enough to inspire generations of punks and glamrockers, jazzmen and metal heavyweights.