Jimi Hendrix: The Unorthodox Guitarist 

"Music is my religion"

-Jimi Hendrix

Although most of his success was in the late 1960's, Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest influences on 70's music mainly Rock & Roll.  He was named the number one guitarist by RollingStone Magizine.  "Hendrix was the guitarist's guitarist; the man who reinvented both the vocabulary and symbolism (Murray)." 

Johnny Hendrix most commonly known as Jimi Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 in Seattle.  From a young age Hendrix was very interested in music.  Some artists that influenced him were B.B. King and Buddy Holly. Something people may not know is that he did not know how to read or write music.    He got his first guitar in the late 1950's and never quite playing it until his death on September 18, 1970.  When Jimi got older he got into trouble with the law and had to enlist in the army.  While in the military he would play his guitar and even joined a band that often played gigs at service clubs.  His military career was short do to an injury to his ankle after jumping out of a plane. Later in his career he wrote songs about the Vietnam War such as "Machine Gun" and "All Along the Watch Tower".  His music careers started in the U.K. were his songs topped the U.K charts.  He wasn't popular in the United States until he traveled back to his homeland.  He was involved in many bands such as Little Richard and Band of Gypsies and played many famous venues most notably Woodstock.  Unfortunately, Hendrix experimented heavily with drugs and alcohol and overdosed on sleeping pills in September of 1970.

Stylistically Hendrix was the first of his kind.  Hendrix produced sounds from his guitar that were unheard of before.  Distortion and feedback had been played with by other musicians, but Jimi Hendrix perfected it.  He played his guitar with his amp volume turned up along with tremble.  He made the use of the wah wah peddle popular in rock & roll, which musicians in the 70’s continued to use.  The wah wah peddle was used to bend the pitches of the guitar.  In his somewhat controversial version of “The Star Spangled Banner”, Jimi Hendrix displays all of his musical elements from the wah wah peddle to the distortion.  One rock guitarist Hendrix influenced was Eddie Van Halen who got his start in the late 70's. Also many other bands and guitarist during the 70's were influenced by Jimi's unorthodox methods.  Bands and guitarists today continue to be influenced by Jimi Hendrix.

Works Cited

"Jimi Hendrix Biography The Official Jimi Hendrix Site." The Official Jimi Hendrix Site. Sony Music Entertainment, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.<http://www.jimihendrix.com/us/jimi>.
Lawrence, Sharon. "Jimi Hendrix: The Man, the Magic, the Truth." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. <http://books.google.com/books?id=Tu7NZKL-2nQC>.
Murray, Charles Shaar. "Jimi Hendrix and the Rock N' Roll Revolution." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en>.
"Ten Guitarists Influenced By Jimi Hendrix." Yahoo! Music. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/list-of-the-day/ten-guitarists-influenced-by-jimi-hendrix.html>.