Why I Suck.... Series 2, Episode 10 - Jimi Hendrix, "Are You Experienced"

 Winter is upon us (nearly) and as the nights begin to draw in I set myself the task of transcribing every solo off Jimi Hendrix's iconic first album, “Are You Experienced” - and I'm pleased to say I just squeaked across the finish line, in no small part having already done “Red House” last year.

We've already looked at Jimi's early history, so we'll pick up his story in Greenwich Village, New York in 1966. This was where he would meet Animals bass player Chas Chandler, playing the Cafe Wha? with his band Jimmy James & The Blue Flames – the two first met in July, but Chandler was so impressed with the young American that he returned in September with the intent of signing him. Chandler persuaded him to com e to London, and after a series of auditions settled on Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell on bass and drums respectively. During this time, Jimi saw Cream at London Polytechnic and sat in for a couple of numbers, including Albert King's “Killing Floor”- which left a deep mark on their regular guitarist, Eric Clapton.

Their first single together as The Jimi Hnedrix Experience (Chandler having convinced Jimi to change the spelling of his name to make it more exotic) was “Hey Joe”, a cover by US folk singer Billy Roberts, which stayed in the charts for ten weeks, peaking at No. 6, and was quickly followed by the release of “Are You Experienced” which would go on to be one of the most popular and iconic rock albums of all time- and that's where we leave the history this month! Let's dive in and check out some of the licks and solos from this album.

This first is the entire solo from “Fire” and although not particularly technically challenging, it's interesting to view from the standpoint of structuring – the howling unison bend on the E that kicks off each phrase provides the “call”, and then Hendrix develops the response from phrase to phrase. Notice that both the first and the last phrases finish on a heavily vibratoed G note.

The next lick is the conclusion run from the end of “Foxy Lady”- having run through a series of screaming string bends, creating tension (“pulling back the spring”), Hendrix releases it with this run down the F# minor pentatonic. Note the “Magic 3 notes” at the heart of this, as well as the harmony bend and the rhythmic motif in the midst of this – there's actually fewer notes here than you might think, Hendrix making excellent use of space. This one is easier to show than tell, so wait for the YouTube demonstration video where I'll walk this one through!

Next, this comes from the solo to “Highway Chile” in E minor pentatonic. This is another exercise in motif development – taking the basic form of bending the 14^th fret G, then picking 12^th fret on the B and E strings and bending the 15^th fret B. This pattern underpins the solo and Hendrix milks it expertly to create a very lyrical, musical solo.

Something a little different for our last lick – this is from Waterfall, using the A major scale (although on the recording Hendrix is detuned by a semitone) and the entire thing is played along the G string, using slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs to smooth out position shifts. This is entirely different to the first position pentatonic approach we've seen in most of these solos and shows just how well he was able to feel the intervals horizontally across the guitar neck as well as just firing off pentatonic runs. Interestingly, Hendrix gravitates to the C#, the 3^rd of the I chord, and G#, the 3^rd of the V – this targets the emotional core of the underlying chord and helps to create something that fits the ballad feel of the song.

So that's another one off the list! I must admit, going back to my roots here (I had this album on cassette when I first started playing...) has been a LOT of fun, filling in some blanks and giving me a new appreciation for the sheer musicality and agility of Hendrix's playing. We'll come back to him to take a look at Axis: Bold As Love next and chart the development of his playing as his career moved forward.

Stay safe and sane out there, see you for the YouTube demonstration video... and next month, the chap who gave me the metaphorical kick up the arse I'd been needing for a long time, Joe Bonamassa!