For Electric but can be performed on
an Acoustic guitar
Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on November 27, 1942 and was brought
up by his father, Al Hendrix, after his parents divorced in the early
fifties
As a young boy Jimi loved the classic blues and jazz records in his
fathers collection. Later in his early teens Jimi found the rock ‘n’
roll and r&b, on the local radio stations, full of magic and endless
possibilities to be new and creative. Al quickly saw Jimi’s love
for music and bought him a cheap guitar which Jimi learned playing to
songs over the radio ands was soon playing with some of the local bands.
After a quick stint in the army from 1961 to 1962 Jimi was a pick-up
guitarist for artists such as: Little Richard, The Isley Brothers, and
Sam Cooke. When Jimi hit New York City he was exposed to new kinds of
music and in 1966 he formed a band and for the fist time elected to
sing. Jimi and his band were quickly well liked and had a regular spot
at Greenwich Village in New York.
One night at one of Jimi’s shows Chas Chandler, a former bass
player with the Animals, checked out the show ands was amazed. By the
end of the show Chandler had invited Hendrix to London.
On September 24, 1966 Hendrix arrived in London. Less than two weeks
later on October 6, 1966 the Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed with
Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding playing bass. They quickly
recorded Hey Joe and released it at the end of 1966. After five years
of hard work Jimi’s breakthrough had arrived.
Jimi was quickly the hot new name in Britain with Hey Joe at #4 by
February of 1967. In January "Purple Haze" and "Wind
Cries Mary" were released and became massive hits. In May the band
released Are Your Experienced? Which remained #2 through 1967.
It was now time to introduce the Jimi Hendrix Experience to the U.S.
In June the trio played the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix stole the
night with one of his greatest performances ever. With the finale of
Hendrix torching his guitar before smashing hit. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
was now rising to the top in not only Britain but also the U.S.
Hey Joe Intro Riff
The intro is very bluesy.
Verse
After the intro riff is played we begin on a 5 chord progression that
repeats over and over for the rest of the song. The C, G, D, A, E progression
playfully walks up the neck.
While the progression is the same, Jimi Hendrix rarely plays the same
thing twice. Minor nuances, flurries, and rhythmic alterations keep
the progression fresh to the end. We'll look a little more into the
variations Hendrix uses later in the song in future segments of Riff-A-Day.
For now let's take a look at the basic accompaniment provided by Jimi
during the 1st verse:
Break It Down
You'll want to pay close attention if you want to play this one as
Hendrix did. Let's take a look at the 1st measure:
First is the common A shaped barre chord form. It's called the A shape
barre chord, because if it's played in open position it's an A chord.
If we play it on the 3rd fret (1st finger on 3rd fret of the A string)
then it would be transposed to C which is the 1st chord we play in the
riff:
The next chord shape requires the use of your thumb. Yes, I said your
thumb! It's basically a variation of the E shape barre chord that Hendrix
almost always used. You wrap your thumb around the fret board and use
it to fret the note on the low E string. In this position you should
be able to use your thumb to also deaden the 5th string so that it doesn't
ring out:
By fingering the chord shape this way, Hendrix is able to free up his
4th finger (pinky finger) to add this note to the chord:
The next measure is the same exact thing as 1st measure EXCEPT it's
all moved up 2 frets. This in fact transposes it to D to A chords instead
of C to G chords:
You should recognize the familiar E open chord in the next measure,
followed by a slide up to the 7th fret. Use your 3rd finger to perform
this slide so that you can hit the note on the 5th fret of the A string
with your 1st finger:
And here we are at the last measure. Once again, here is the E open
chord:
