JIMI HENDRIX
THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
This catalog serves as a comprehensive catalog of research developed on the theoretical con-cepts employed by Jimi Hendrix in studio and live
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Most Popular Chord Types: Maj, M, 5, 9, M7 Most Popular Chords: E, G, A, B, F
Most Popular Scales: Dorian, Blues, Pentatonic Blues Most Popular Keys: E minor
Hendrix's style often referred to as "Chord embellished" involves the intermingling of chords and single note runs. This style can be heard on songs such as "Little Wing", "Castles Made of Sand", "Bold As Love", and "Have You Ever Been". According to Andy Aledort, former editor for Guitar World Magazine, Hendrix selected his lead notes following a chord from two sources: The major/minor scale or the pentatonic mode.
The primary moveable chord forms Hendrix embellished are C, A, G, and E; The D chord was rarely embellished and was used more as a sliding form or a two-note invention due to its root on the B string.
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Chords are either embellished with notes relating to the scale of the chord initially played, or notes relating to the key of the
song. Chords followed by lead notes that are notes in the scale of the chord generate modes. Lead lines generated this way were generally pentatonic to avoid dissonant harmonies while lead lines relating to the scale of the chord made use of the extra notes.
The major/minor scale embellishments are primarily used following a major or minor bar chord rooted on the 6th string. Hendrix often embellished the 9th of the major scale in a trill
fashion following an 8-9-8 pattern. This was also commonly used by Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Frusciante in "Under The
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Lead Chordal Style
The "Lead Chordal" style is lead playing making use of multiple string harmonies at once. This generally involves
hammer-ons, simple I-IV harmonies with root hammering on the II, seperated string harmonies, and moving chord forms.
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In music, the dominant 7#9 chord, sometimes known
colloquially as the Hendrix chord or "Purple Haze" chord, is an extended dominant chord using the sharpened or augmented ninth, named for guitarist Jimi Hendrix. While the sharpened ninth and other complex voicings built on the dominant seventh had been used in Jazz and Jazz harmony, Hendrix helped popularize the chord's use. Hendrix songs built around the 7#9 chord include "Purple Haze", and "Foxy Lady". Though the technique is one of many that contribute to the dirty, raw, metallic, angular sound of many Hendrix songs, the earliest recorded evidence of his use of the chord is on the Isley Brothers "Testify, Parts 1 and 2", one of the few known recordings he made in the years prior to his solo career in 1966.
The chord may also be considered "Jazzy" rather than bluesy, and while the dorian may be the scale most commonly used for the 7#9, the mixed third allows flexibility including the use of
mixolydian, aeolian, and other modes. In Jazz, 7#9 chords are oten employed as the dominant chord in a Minor II-V-I turnaround. For example, a II-V-I in Cm could be played as: Dm7#5 - G7#9 - Cm7. When performing "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" live,
Hendrix later used not only the E7#9, the sharped 9th chord on the tonic, but also D7#9 and C7#9 chords. The subtonic and
submediant, which would total nine and imply eleven notes rather than only five.
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major and minor chord simultaneously (the augmented ninth
being in effect a minor third above the tonic) and is thus similar to (in fact, an extension of) the chord referred to as a mixed third chord (see also blue notes). It may also be found in the tonally ambiguous octatonic scale. It is an example of how Hendrix would embellish chords "To add new colors to the music, often derived from his own roots in black music." In essence, one author has written the Hendrix chord is "The whole of the blues scale condensed into a single chord."
Geometrically, the Hendrix chord is very conveniently
positioned. It is centered on the first position scale form of the E Dorian and is halfway between the 12th fret position and the open position. All of these positions are very usable and provide an array of notes within the E octave. The chord is also rooted on the 5th string, which allows the open E on the 6th string to be utilized, as in the verse riff of "Purple Haze".
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Lead Playing
Hendrix's lead playing made us of parallel octaves, string bending, hammer-ons, and pull-offs, trills, slides, unison bends, wah pedal, tremolo bar, and feedback manipulation. An
interesting aspect of his performance was also how his physical movements were tied to the lead he was playing.
1. Parallel Octaves
Parallel octaves involve a two note octave form generated by displacing the root note two frets to the right and one string up for the E and A strings.
Parallel octaves are generally used homogeneously in a phrase in Hendrix's lead playing and often are propagated by a tremolo picking technique. The key to using parallel octaves is to only focus on one of the notes while rhythmically and
melodically manipulating the other. This way horizontal and vertical scale movements will be clear and because the notes are the same, the intervals between the scale notes are as well.
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Although Hendrix made use of parallel octaves frequently, he often attached additional notes to form chordal statements. (Note: Theoretical chords require three notes, and thus
generating a genuine chord requires the addition of two notes to the parallel octave.) This can be seen in songs such as "Little Wing" and "Castles Made of Sand"
"Castles Made of Sand" utilize the sus2 chord form with the addition of a root note on the low E string
"Little Wing" utilizes a sus2 chord form generated from the C chord shape.
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2. String Bending:
String bending was an integral portion of the way Hendrix expressed himself in an improvisational fashion. While typical bends generally employ bending a note a half step (such as into the blues note or a modal note) or a whole step (often in a
pentatonic case), often times Hendrix would bend a note to the appropriate pitch and then very quickly bend it again and
overshoot the pitch to a slightly sharp, dissonant tone which is attention grabbing. This often led uneducated guitarists to label Hendrix's playing as "sloppy" when in fact, this "sloppiness" was exactly what was necessary to grab attention at a specific point. He would also often times apply a tight vibrato to a string in the fully bent position, an extremely difficult and physically
demanding technique to pull of gracefully. This aspect of string bending can be heard on the introduction solo to "All Along The Watchtower".
3. Trills:
Trills involve the hammering on and pulling off of two distinct notes, generally in a very repetitive and quick fashion. Often times, Hendrix would employ trills with his fretting hand and utilize the tremolo bar with his pick hand to constantly vary the pitch. This technique can be heard in an extremely other-worldly fashion on his famous recording of "Machine Gun" live at the Fillmore East, off the legendary "Band of Gypsys" album.
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4. Unison Bends:
Unison bends make use of the natural sonic qualities of bending one string to the same pitch or around the same pitch as another note. Generally, this involves holding down one scale note and bending the proceeding scale note towards the pitch of the former. In some very dissonant cases, unison
bends can be produced by holding down a scale note and bending the second proceeding note up to the pitch of the first note. This produces a very chopped up, ugly "scream" effect which can be heard on the famous live recording of "Machine Gun."
As the two sound waves interfere with each other, beat frequencies can be heard. These beat frequencies are slight resonant notches that can be heard due to the two waveforms interfering and unifying with each other. As the pitches of the strings get closer together, these beat frequencies occur at more rapid intervals until they merge into one observed pitch. Therefore, a very noticeable beat frequency effect can be observed in the second unison bend case. This technique is also employed frequently by John Frusciante in
improvisations. 5. Wah Pedal:
Jimi Hendrix, along with Eric Clapton on such recordings as Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses" is credited as being one of the pioneers of the wah pedal. The wah pedal is a
dynamically controlled resonance filter which is usually operated by foot. It causes a variable tone from extremely
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extremely bass to extremely treble, analogous to the guitar pickup selector. The human mouth is a natural resonance filter in the respect that humming a distinct pitch will have different tonal characteristics as you begin to open and close your lips. Jimi often used a wah pedal in combination with a very percussive palm muted method. This allowed percussive quality of the muted strings to go the range from bass to
treble, sonically inducing a plethora of different drums. This can be heard on the introduction to "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" on Electric Ladyland.
6. Feedback Manipulation:
As was timelessly defined in Hendrix's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, control of feedback is a technique of Hendrix's own invention. Feedback occurs due to an electric interaction between the guitar pickup and the magnet within the speaker that the guitar is being played out of. Amount of feedback is both a function of volume level as well as gain level; Hendrix had a lot of both of these. Needless to say, Hendrix was loud. He can often be seen playing in front of several Marshall stacks in a daisy-chain configuration. The arbiter Fuzz Face pedal also gave him the ability to summon massive amounts of gain when needed. These two aspects, along with proper control of the guitar volume knob, allowed feedback whenever
necessary. This sustained feedback pitch could then be manipulated via the use of the tremolo arm.
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7. Sound Tied to Movement:
One of the main things which separated Hendrix from the rest of the guitarists of his time was his showmanship.
Hendrix did it all, ranging from playing guitar with his teeth, behind his back, behind his head, and while rolling around on the ground. Most interesting was his ability to spontaneously physically manifest the sounds that he produced during
improvisation. His performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 is bursting with example of this. This was the first time an individual raised the act of physically playing the guitar to an art form, and would be elaborated on by newer guitarists for decades. Examples of this are trills becoming perfectly synced with flicks of the tongue in a very sexual fashion, and bends manifesting themselves in physically falling to the
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