Mainline461 and I were discussing books about Hendrix and he pointed out that there isn't a general discussion thread for everything Jimi. There these threads of course: "Which Hendrix (or related) album are you listening to?" "All Encompassing Hendrix Live Shows" "Hendrix Release Speculation 2021" So here is a page for all the rest - any subject: books, video, sleeve art, his songs, lyrics, his guitar playing, clothes, girlfriends, fellow musicians, army days, family,... anything Hendrix related, while avoiding overlaps with the existing specific subject threads listed above. A while back, we got the word that it was OK to post photos of Jimi. I hope that is still the case. Here's an interesting article to kick off with: Why Jimi Hendrix swapped his Strat for a Fender Telecaster to record his Purple Haze solo Why Jimi Hendrix swapped his Strat for a Fender Telecaster to record his Purple Haze solo | Guitar World
I read that article a few days ago, good stuff. How weird to think we still have Roger Mayer with us but not Jimi.....
I always think it's funny that people tend to think of Hendrix having 3 albums in his lifetime when it's really 7... Are You Experienced? Axis: Bold As Love Electric Ladyland Smash Hits (UK) Band of Gypsys Rainbow Bridge Cry of Love that's really quite impressive for the briefness of 67-70, the only thing missing was a proper live album released in his lifetime, I guess that didn't happen out of the general paranoid confusion of the times, interesting to compare to The Doors 6 albums released 67-71.
Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge were posthumous releases but they did represent a lot of studio work that was in the can from 68 to 1970. You can include War Heroes too and some of Loose Ends.
Oh I know it's just that they really work very well as near finished works, I first heard that material on the First Rays CD in the 90's and found it hard to make sense of all the material with too many similar sounding songs and poor CD mastering, hearing the original albums years later on vinyl was something of a revelation and I could really imagine hearing these as the latest Hendrix release back in 71.
After I had laid down some pretty good guitar parts in the studio last night, I was driving home and it occurred to me, "Wow, if only I could play as good in tune, as Jimi Hendrix played out of tune, I might eventually be a decent guitarist."
On the unusual Hendrix guitar front; Jimi playing an Acoustic (brand) Black Widow at TGG. The story is below: Harvey Gerst on meeting Hendrix and Hendrix meeting the Black Widow: I got a call on Saturday morning from Steve Marks, the president of Acoustic, saying, "Go down to TGG right now!" Why? "Jimi Hendrix just bought four of our amps and he's having trouble with some of the controls." I'd seen Jimi, but had never had the chance to talk to him. I showed him what he wanted to know about the amp. Then I said, "Here's another thing they can do. Let me borrow your guitar." We're both left-handed. I go to show him this feature, and his strings are like, medium gauge. I'm used to extra super slinky. And they're way up from the fret-board. I hand it back to him and say, "I can't play this. Let me go get mine." Mine was the Acoustic Black Widow, [with] twenty-four frets to the body, so you can play two full octaves. The heel doesn't start until after the 24th fret. One of the techniques Hendrix used was to shut the volume knob down, hit the chord and then bring up the volume. Your finger sat right there. And the toggle switch was angled to hit your strum. Neat guitar! I walk in, take it out and show him the neat little thing. He's not even listening. He's just staring at my guitar. It's left-handed. He's got nothing but right-handed Strats. When I finished showing him some things, he just held out his hands and said, "Gimme." He starts playing that thing, starts tape rolling, and I'm going, "Why do I even play guitar?" He finishes playing. I answered all his amp questions, and said, "I gotta go. Can I have my guitar back?" He says, "My guitar." I say, "No, that's my guitar." He starts laughing and says, "Not anymore! Now it's my guitar!" I say, "Hey look, I'm not a salesman. I play in a band, Sweetwater. What am I gonna use?" He points at the floor where four of his white Strats are laid out and says, "Help yourself!" Of course I wanted another Black Widow. I called Steve Marks and told him what happened. He said, "He wants it? Give it to him! Don't worry. You'll get one back!" I take one of Jimi's Strats to use. Like a dummy, I didn't have him sign it. I'm gonna play this guitar on the road, and I hate it! The action's up way too high. The damn knobs are getting under my arms because it's upside down. Every time I strum I hit the volume knob. Can't keep the damn thing in tune. I put super slinky strings on, and it made the bridge even worse, and now the action's even higher. I'm having to intonate this damn thing every night! I go through a set of strings in one playing. Finally, a month later my Black Widow comes in. I ran into Jimi in the airport in Oakland, and asked him "How are you liking the Black Widow?" He says, "I love it! It's my studio guitar." I said, "Well, I finally got my new Black Widow in, so here's your Strat back." He stared at me for a second, then said, "Huh?" I said, "Here's your Strat. I don't need it anymore." "Oh. Okay." It wasn't till a few years later I was telling this story that it hit me. He wasn't EXPECTING me to give the Strat back. He was GIVING it to me! And I, like an idiot, gave it back to him-one of the first four Strats he owned. What's it worth today? A pretty cool story if true.
what about this one? And it was actually released in his lifetime unlike Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge (but in fairness they were mostly in the can already so I have always considered them the equivalent of being released in his lifetime)
I was mesmerized when I first heard Like A Rolling Stone in 1971 on the university campus where I just had started living.
Thanks for creating this thread Purple Jim, youre right, what we had previously are great but somewhat specialized threads and this will function far better as a catch all for just all things Jimi. Often in the past I'd have a random thought but it didnt fit the scope of other threads and didnt warrant it's own thread, so this will work for anything like that. Here's an opinion that will probably get me some flack. I just read Charles Shaar Murrays book Crosstown Traffic after seeing it recommended and as part of an attempt to read several Hendrix books over the last 6 months. I was excited because it wasnt just a straight biography, but I just didnt care for it. Ive seen some mention it as "the" book people should read about Jimi and I really think that would be a poor suggestion because the book felt to me more a collection of other areas of pop culture the author enjoyed and wanted to discuss, but realized wouldnt have much mass market appeal so he tenuously links much of it to Hendrix to try and capture that built in audience by incorporating his name. You could literally take 10-20 page samples from throughout the book and ask a random person to read them and tell you what it was about and they'd have no idea it was connected to Hendrix at all. While I appreciated the attempt to look at Hendrix in a different way, I feel it drifted so far it barely looked at Hendrix at all and read more like a collection of random essays on completely different topics. I felt like on any given tuesday I can learn more about Hendrix, his influences and his cultural impact by reading posts here than I did in the entirety of Murrays book. I just loved the concept so much but the execution just felt too removed from the man that I really felt it lost the thread. Id recommend it to the hardcore fan just for its different approach, but would never suggest it to a new or even an intermediate level fan.
Have never been really engaged by that book, read like it was written by someone boasting he went to college! His target, that of Hendrix all but got lost.
I have been for years with that rendition. N.b. When Jeff Beck was asked by Guitar Player about specific Hendrix tracks that he was taken with he said Stone Free & Like A Rolling Stone!
They really needed to kick that one off with Killing Floor, it took them almost 15 years to get that track out there!
I like this thread idea, too. In fact, I'm going to link the Live Hendrix thread to this one, so that more people can join the fun. I really like the idea about intersecting threads dedicated to one artist if they are linked to one another. It seems like more a wholistic approach, where it might cut down on searches.
No, it's definitely not for a beginner. It's an interesting attempt to link Hendrix into the broader musical universe on several fronts. At times it does drift into different tangents (poor Sammy Hagar is almost made to look like a racist by making an observation about radio stations that now looks extremely prescient), but it's pretty readable overall. I'd like to go back and read it now (haven't in at least 20 years) and see how much holds up and what falls by the wayside.
I enjoyed it as it gave me a wider all around knowledge and I had an absolute thirst for Hendrix books back then but you do make some very good points. Where Charles Shaar Murray completely lost me was later when he wrote about an extensive Hendrix interview conducted by himself having rewritten the premise of Jimi surviving his overdose on 18/09/70 & the interview took place many years later IIRC?
LOL same here. I was still in high school but had gone to visit an upper classmen who was in college and the first time I heard it was in his dorm room. I didn't realize non radio Jimi was so cool!
