FUN GUITARIST PROFILE: JIMI HENDRIX!

Jimi on stage: Amp builder Jim Marshall counted 8 stacks

of his famous 100 Watt Heads and stacked Cabinets.

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American-born Jimi Hendrix was influenced by Muddy Waters, BB King, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James and Johnny Lee Hooker and then by Curtis Mayfield. Few bring this up, but he also backed Little Richard, The Isley Brothers and Lonnie Youngblood before Chas Chandler, ex-bass player for The Animals noticed Jimi and brought him to London. It was in London where he formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. His short life (1942-1970) yielded only 5 albums during his lifetime: Are You Experienced? (1967), Axis: Bold As Love (1967), Electric Ladyland (1968),Smash Hits (1969) and Band of Gypsies (1970). In both the original Motion Picture "Woodstock" (1969) as on Band of Gypsies' "Machine Gun" , he was a genius at incorporating sounds such as warfare with what many still argue as an unsurpassed control of a Fender Strat and stacks of Jim Marshall amplifiers (that he insisted on paying full retail for at Marshall's shop in London). A left-hander, he also used minimal effects beyond feedback (which was not popular then) and tons of ear-catching diminished fifts between bass and guitar (which opens up Purple Haze) along with enriching chords ("the Hendrix chord" is 'E7#9 from Purple Haze). Jimi was initially booed by teenagers unaccustomed to his new sound, when he debuted his classic Purple Haze. He was so enraged that he smashed his guitar to pieces after the performance and left the stage after serving as an opening act for The Monkees on a handful of dates. On Paul McCartney's recommendation, Jimi was booked into 1967's Monterrey Music Festival and gradually gained fame. Tragically, Jimi died after suffocating on his own vomit from a drug overdose of sleeping pills and wine. He has influenced virtually every rock guitarist from Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and the late rock and blues great Steve Ray Vaughan. Invariably, the two are unfairly compared with one another, as they were completely unique artists. Jimi is largely credited with introducing Marshall amplification in the United States. Despite many fine vintage and newer brands (such as the high ticket Mesa/Boogie amplification systems), virtually every serious rock band uses Marshall as standard equipment credited to Jimi. Hendrix' immortal Star Spangled Banner at the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in early August was poignant, as America was deeply embedded in the Vietnam War. Rain and wind gusts pummelled the Festival Sunday night and by Monday morning only 180,000 of the original 500,000 who attended the Music Fair were present. The highest paid of all performers (at $18,000) Jimi performed a two-hour set as campers are seen (in the Motion Picture) packing up and walking away. The Jimi Hendrix Experience included British musicians bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. His speed and dexterity is what he will always be remembered for, inasmuch as he could play the guitar behind his back, on his shoulders or with his teeth with the volume settings on the Marshall stacks at "Hendrix 10". His work has been covered by everyone from Nigel Kennedy to The Pretenders. Fender has manufactured two signature guitars named for Jimi. Greed led to posthumous lawsuits after Jimi's father, Al Hendrix died and these proceedings dragged on until 2004, when a trustee was appointed to manage Jimi's estate. He is buried in Seattle.