Jimi Hendrix on an acoustic
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P701paKEMXs

Nice find. I have always been a fan of Jimi.

If you enjoy this, highly recommend the Hendrix "Blues" album!

It looks like the twelve string is not a full twelve, with the middle two strings having one string.

On the most recent occasion this video was posted on the AGF, I made the observation that it shows just how fortunate we were that Jimi decided to devote his talents to the electric guitar.

Every time I watch the video it reinforces that conviction.

I don't know, I can feel his soul through that acoustic as well as I can through his electric playing. He just reminds me of a good Delta Blues man here, rough technique but great emotion.

I'm glad he mostly played electric because he totally rewrote the language of the electric and he was never gonna be that level of innovator on acoustic. But I wish he played a lot more acoustic than he did - I love his funky rhythm feel regardless of what he's playing but, if anything, it may come through more on acoustic because it's a more percussive instrument. He was never about refined or precise playing, but about soul and he was one of the funkiest players out there, which comes through really well on acoustic too, I think.

I loved the guy - if there's some rare footage of him playing a banjo somewhere, I bet I'd dig that too...

-Ray

Yeah, Jimi could probably play air guitar and I'd like that too. :D

Am I the only one who wishes he'd taken a bit more time tuning?

I am pretty sure that he always tuned all his guitars down 1/2 step to E flat

I don't mean he sounds like he's tuned low. I tuned my 12-strings a full tone low, but they still sounded in tune. Jimi's doesn't sound quite in tune with itself to me. I've never noticed this with his electric playing.

Yeah, it sucks to see a guy who devoted his time to electric guitar play with more soul and feeling than most could hope to muster in two lifetimes.

An aspect of Jimi's playing that is over looked is his timing. He was extremely talented with timing. What this afforded him was that he could get away with sloppy playing or incorrect notes at times but because of the timing it worked. He played a strat with a whammy bar that he used often how could he stay in tune?

I have poor pitch sense, but Hendrix's live electric playing has a fair amount of out of tuneness. I suspect that's from a combination of ingredients:

1. As already mentioned, classic Stratocaster and whammy abuse, you're going to have issues.

2. Intoxication (various kinds).

3. Limited logistical support. What early footage we have doesn't show the typical modern fly-in-from-the-wings guitar tech who swaps out guitar with star guitarist every number or two. Early on, there was probably no guitar tech period.


4. Hendrix tolerated and liked a bit of dissonance. Some of his intentional chord forms and effects choices were biting to the ear and not meant to sound conventionally pretty.


As to the famous acoustic 12-string clip (the very existence of inspired Joe Boyd to create what is still probably the best Hendrix documentary)--it sounds like a 12-string to me. Yes there's a bit of chorus-ey out of tune-ness there, but that's one flavor that the 12-string can deliver.

There's a pretty famous story of how picky he was about his guitars, even when he was just fooling himself. During the period when he definitely did have a guitar tech. I don't know if this was early or late or in between - we're only talking about a total of around three years, sadly. But his tech handed him a guitar on stage and he played it for a song and HATED it. Handed it back and told his tech to get rid of it, it stunk. They went through several guitars early in that show and none was doing it for him. Then out of frustration, after several changes, the tech handed him the first one back and he played it the rest of the night and loved it and told the tech he should have given him that one first. Which, of course, he had.

Something about the artistic temperament. Whatever, maybe it magically played a lot better after a while...

-Ray