Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix was a guitarist, singer and songwriter inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. For decades now, the belief among guitarists is that to prove your ability, you must pay homage to Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix was destined to be one of the most influential electric guitarists even before he played a single note, as he even had a habit of carrying a broom with him to emulate a guitar at an early age. His first instrument was a ukulele he found in the garbage which had only one string yet undeterred he learnt to play rock and roll songs of the time. Though having a short mainstream career, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century.

Hendrix’s stylistic eccentricities made his style and sound of guitar kaleidoscopic and illustrative. He gave his guitar its own vocabulary, knitting together music genres including blues, R&B, soul, folk, rock, and jazz. An example of making his guitar be more than the notes, was his 1969 Woodstock performance. His interpretation of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, using guitar echoing to sound like bombs and air raid sirens protesting the violence of war, juxtaposed with the virtues of the American experiment entirely worth fighting for, in one performance conveying a feeling of the country’s history as a whole.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame called Hendrix the “the most gifted instrumentalist of all time.” And Rolling Stone magazine named him the greatest guitar player ever. His accolades include earned multiple Grammy Awards, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, and inductions into the American, British, and Native American Music Halls of fame. One of his albums is preserved for all time in the Library of Congress, and he’s even been on a US postage stamp.

“In a field almost exclusively populated by white musicians, Hendrix has served as a role model for a cadre of young Black rockers. His achievement was to reclaim title to a musical form pioneered by Black innovators like Little Richard and Chuck Berry in the 1950s.” Chuck Phillips