No guitarist in history can claim to have revived the instrument like Jimi Hendrix. Modern rock guitar and our modern way of listening to it both owe a debt to Jimi Hendrix’s innovative fretwork. He ripped up the manual and rewrote it in his countercultural style.
Hendrix, a really unique player, combined natural talent with an unwavering determination to push himself to new artistic heights. After cutting his teeth on the underground scene, Chas Chandler grabbed him off the New York circuit. He whisked him away to London. There, he was fully prepared to step things up a notch and get his music recorded and heard. He had also a new backup band in tow, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, who could compete with his elemental approach.
There aren’t many greater debut albums than Are You Experienced, the psychedelic masterpiece from 1967. The American version had classics like ‘Purple Haze‘ and ‘Fire‘, and it propelled Hendrix to the pinnacle of his career. He would also achieve unprecedented heights over the next three years.
Hendrix famously took the globe by storm, which meant that the established guitar idols of the time were suddenly paying close attention to his efforts. Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who, has also admitted that his dazzling and truly authentic playing elevated all of them to a higher level.
Despite historical advancements, Hendrix, like every other prominent guitarist of his period, drew inspiration from a select group of musicians. Coming from the blues, R&B, and rock ‘n’ roll traditions, he regarded Otis Rush and Albert Collins as heroes.
Muddy Waters, an influential Chicago bluesman who infused the genre with plenty of swagger, had the greatest impact on Hendrix. One of the first performers Hendrix recalls hearing as a child, Waters’ music had a pulsing nature that startled him when he first heard it.
Hendrix was also well aware of Waters’ contribution to the cultural scene in the postwar era. He told Rolling Stone in 1968, “The first guitarist I was aware of was Muddy Waters. When I was a little boy, one of his old LPs terrified me because I could hear all of those sounds. Wow, what is that all about? “It was great.”
See Muddy Waters in action below.
