Jimi Hendrix

American guitarist (1942-1970)

Jimi Hendrix was an iconic American guitarist, songwriter, and singer widely regarded as the greatest guitarist in the history of popular music. Born in Seattle, he rose to fame in the 1960s with his groundbreaking and influential playing style, using effects like feedback and distortion to create a unique sound that shaped the course of rock music.

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About the Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrixwas an American guitarist, songwriter and singer. He is widely regarded as the greatest guitarist in the history of popular music and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.”

Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army, but was discharged the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, then Nashville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the chitlin’ circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers’ backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with his band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience (consisting of bassist Noel Redding, drummer Mitch Mitchell, and Hendrix himself): “Hey Joe”, “Purple Haze”, and “The Wind Cries Mary”. He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one on the US Billboard 200. The double LP was Hendrix’s most commercially successful release and his only number one album. The world’s highest-paid rock musician, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before his accidental death in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia in September 1970.

Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: “Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began.”

Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year and in 1968, Billboard named him the Artist of the Year and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year. Disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band’s three studio albums, Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1968), among the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth-greatest artist of all time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jimi Hendrix was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer who is widely regarded as the greatest guitarist in the history of popular music and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.

Hendrix pioneered the use of the guitar as an electronic sound source, experimenting with feedback, distortion, and other effects to create a unique and influential playing style that shaped the course of rock music.

Jimi Hendrix achieved fame in the US with his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience, releasing hit songs like ,Hey Joe,, ,Purple Haze,, and ,The Wind Cries Mary,.

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington in 1942.

Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously, including being named the Pop Musician of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Rock Guitarist of the Year.

Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15, enlisted in the US Army, and then moved to Tennessee, where he earned a place in the Isley Brothers’ backing band and later worked with Little Richard before moving to England in 1966 and forming The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Hendrix’s performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 helped him achieve fame in the US, establishing him as a pioneering and influential musician in the emerging psychedelic rock scene.

50 Quotes by Jimi Hendrix

  1. 1.

    I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  2. 2.

    When things get too heavy, just call me helium, the lightest known gas to man.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  3. 3.

    When we go to play, you flip around and flash around and everything, and then they’re not gonna see nothin’ but what their eyes see. Forget about their ears.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  4. 4.

    My nature just changes.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  5. 5.

    Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  6. 6.

    Music makes me high on stage, and that’s the truth. It’s like being almost addicted to music.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  7. 7.

    You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  8. 8.

    It’s funny the way most people love the dead. Once you are dead, you are made for life.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  9. 9.

    If it was up to me, there wouldn’t be no such thing as the establishment.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  10. 10.

    When I played God Bless The Queen, I was wondering if they was gonna dig us, then quite naturally I’d go on and try to get it together.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  11. 11.

    You don’t have to be singing about love all the time in order to give love to the people. You don’t have to keep flashing those words all the time.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  12. 12.

    I’m the one that has to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  13. 13.

    All I’m writing is just what I feel, that’s all. I just keep it almost naked. And probably the words are so bland.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  14. 14.

    You have to give people something to dream on.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  15. 15.

    The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  16. 16.

    See, that’s nothing but blues, that’s all I’m singing about. It’s today’s blues.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  17. 17.

    In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  18. 18.

    I try to use my music to move these people to act.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  19. 19.

    I was trying to do too many things at the same time, which is my nature. But I was enjoying it, and I still do enjoy it.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  20. 20.

    I’m gonna put a curse on you and all your kids will be born completely naked.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  21. 21.

    Every city in the world always has a gang, a street gang, or the so-called outcasts.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  22. 22.

    To be with the others, you have to have your hair short and wear ties. So we’re trying to make a third world happen, you know what I mean?

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  23. 23.

    When I die, just keep playing the records.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  24. 24.

    My goal is to be one with the music. I just dedicate my whole life to this art.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  25. 25.

    I wish they’d had electric guitars in cotton fields back in the good old days. A whole lot of things would’ve been straightened out.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  26. 26.

    White collar conservative flashin down the street, pointing that plastic finger at me, they all assume my kind will drop and die, but I’m gonna wave my freak flag high.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  27. 27.

    The reflection of the world is blues, that’s where that part of the music is at. Then you got this other kind of music that’s tryin’ to come around.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  28. 28.

    All I’m gonna do is just go on and do what I feel.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  29. 29.

    I got a pet monkey called Charlie Chan.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  30. 30.

    I just hate to be in one corner. I hate to be put as only a guitar player, or either only as a songwriter, or only as a tap dancer. I like to move around.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  31. 31.

    When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  32. 32.

    Music is a safe kind of high.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  33. 33.

    Music is my religion.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  34. 34.

    It’s funny how most people love the dead, once you’re dead your made for life.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  35. 35.

    We have time, there’s no big rush.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  36. 36.

    Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  37. 37.

    I don’t have nothing to regret at all in the past, except that I might’ve unintentionally hurt somebody else or something.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  38. 38.

    You have to forget about what other people say, when you’re supposed to die, or when you’re supposed to be loving. You have to forget about all these things.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  39. 39.

    I have this one little saying, when things get too heavy just call me helium, the lightest known gas to man.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  40. 40.

    Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you’ll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you’re gonna be rewarded.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  41. 41.

    Even Castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  42. 42.

    Excuse me while I kiss the sky.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  43. 43.

    I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  44. 44.

    When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild and freak out and do anything they want to do.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  45. 45.

    If I’m free, it’s because I’m always running.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  46. 46.

    The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  47. 47.

    Imagination is the key to my lyrics. The rest is painted with a little science fiction.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  48. 48.

    Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  49. 49.

    It all has to come from inside, though, I guess.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)

  50. 50.

    Rock is so much fun. That’s what it’s all about – filling up the chest cavities and empty kneecaps and elbows.

    Jimi Hendrix

    American guitarist (1942-1970)