Learning the legendary Jimi Hendrix’s trademark technique with the Jimi Hendrix Player Study will put you in a “Purple Haze”. 

This course covers Hendrix’s signature style, including his chords-with-lead style, signature chords, and licks. 

James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix was the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.He was one of the pioneers of utilizing guitar amplifier feedback artistically, and helped to popularize tone-altering pedals like fuzz distortion, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. 

Background 

Young Hendrix had a tough upbringing – his parents had a rocky relationship, eventually divorcing when he was nine. In elementary school, he took to carrying a broom with him to pretend it was a guitar. This quirk attracted the attention of the school’s social worker, who petitioned the school to buy him a guitar. The school and Hendrix’s father both refused. 

Hendrix first got his hands on a string instrument while helping his dad with a side job. The client allowed Jimi to keep an old, one-stringed ukulele that was among the items being removed from her home – and he taught himself by ear to play Elvis Presley songs. He bought his first guitar for $5 (about $51 in 2022) and played for hours every day. He listened to artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Robert Johnson for inspiration. 

With the acoustic, he formed his first band, but could barely be heard without amplification. His father bought him a white Supro Ozark in mid-1959. 

When Hendrix joined the army (instead of going to prison for riding in stolen cars) he wrote his father a letter begging him to send him his guitar. A fellow serviceman, Billy Cox, heard him playing and the two began playing at base clubs in a band, playing in a band, according to a 2006 biography on Hendrix. Hendrix completed training as a paratrooper, but was found unsuitable for service and was granted a general discharge under honorable conditions in 1962.

Billy Cox was also discharged from the Army shortly after, and the pair moved to Tennessee and began playing in a band. Hendrix performed in his own band as well as backing bands for acts like Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, The Isley Brothers, and Little Richard, before signing his own recording contract. 

Style 

Hendrix didn’t use the standard barre chord fretting technique most of his peers employed – instead, he fretted notes on the 6th string with his thumb. The technique let him to sustain the chord’s root notes while playing the melody, a method sometimes called “piano style”. Hendrix drew from diverse genres including blues, jazz, American folk music, 1950s rock and roll, and soul to create his trademark style, and his music has helped shape the development of heavy metal, hard rock, post-punk, hip-hop and grunge music.

                                                 Awards and legacy 

Hendrix influenced many great artists who came after him, including Prince, John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robert Smith of The Cure, Black Sabbath , A Tribe Called Quest, Run-DMC, and Halsey. The Greenwich Village studio he commissioned, Electric Lady Studios, has been used by artists like U2, Kanye West, and Lady Gaga. Hendrix received many awards throughout his life and posthumously, including 1968’s “Performer of the Year” by Rolling Stone and was ranked #1 on the same publication’s list of greatest guitarists of all time. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and his debut album, Are You Experienced, was added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress in 2005. 

Want to get started on your guitar journey? The Fret Zealot apps are the best way to learn guitar with thousands of video lessons, 80,000 song tracks, every chord and scale, 60 alternate tunings, and so much more.

The optional Fret Zealot LED system fits just next to your frets and shows you color coded finger positions to play anything you want.