Psychedelic Rock Guitar Style: How to Play Like Jimi Hendrix

Psychedelic rock guitar is all about making the guitar sound like it’s from another world. It’s about playing with lots of feedback and using the wah-wah pedal to create wild sounds. In this style of guitar playing, the sky is the limit. You can be as creative as you want and let your imagination run wild. If you want to learn how to play like Jimi Hendrix, then you’ve come to the right place.

Introduction

Psychedelic rock, often shortened to psyrock or psych rock, is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. The music typically incorporates hallucinogenic and mind-altering effects, such as delayed playback, reverse tapes, reverb, distortion, feedback, and extreme changes in dynamics.

Psychedelic rock guitarists typically use flanging and phasing effects to create sound textures that imitate the experience of taking psychedelic drugs. Many also use feedback, fuzzboxes, and wah-wah pedals to create sounds that are not possible with traditional electric guitars. As with other aspects of psychedelic music, the guitar playing style of psychedelic rock is often experimental and improvised.

Jimi Hendrix was one of the most influential guitarists of the psychedelic rock era. His distinctive playing style combined elements of blues, funk, and jazz with the use of feedback, distortion, wah-wah pedals, and other effects. Hendrix’s unique approach to the electric guitar inspired many other guitarists to experiment with new sounds and playing techniques.

Hendrix’s Biography

James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated 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”.

Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army; he was granted an honorable discharge the following year. He played backing guitar for several American R&B artists, such as The Isley Brothers and Little Richard. Starting in late 1966, he achieved success with his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, in a bidding war for pop star Steve Winwood’s former bandmates Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass. Hendrix was inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in developing the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback. He created distinctive sound textures by manually altering his guitars’ tremolo bars toggle switches control knobs and using custom-made guitars such as his unforgettable “Woodstock” Stratocaster covered with psychedelic art by Mati Klarwein. Hendrix was a master at improvisation and could play solo without accompaniment or together with his bandmates as they spontaneously created songs during their concerts.

Hendrix’s Guitar Style

Psychedelic rock guitar is all about creating an expansive soundscape full of textures and tones. Jimi Hendrix was a pioneer of this style, and his unique approach to the instrument has influenced countless guitarists since.

If you want to learn how to play psychedelic rock guitar like Jimi Hendrix, there are a few things you need to know. First, Hendrix was a master of feedback and sustain. He would often use his Wah pedal to create long, sustains notes that would fill up a room. Second, Hendrix was a master of using note bending to create new sounds. He would often bend the note up or down a half step or more to create new shades of sound. Finally, Hendrix was also known for his use of effects pedals. He would often use pedals like the fuzz pedal or wah pedal to create new and unique sounds.

Hendrix’s Influences

As a young musician, Hendrix was highly influenced by blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Howlin’ Wolf. He was also exposed to rock and roll artists such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard. In addition to his blues and rock influences, Hendrix was also a fan of R&B and soul music. Some of his favorite artists in this genre included James Brown and Otis Redding.

How to Play Like Hendrix

Psychedelic rock guitar is all about making the guitar sound like it’s from outer space. This style of playing was popularized by Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s. If you want to learn how to play like Hendrix, you’ll need to learn how to use feedback, create sustain, and use a wah pedal.

Learn the pentatonic scale

The pentatonic scale is a five note scale that Hendrix used extensively in his soloing. It is a very simple scale to learn and it sounds great when used over bluesy chords. Many rock guitarists use the pentatonic scale as their go-to scale for soloing, so it’s definitely worth learning.

To form the A minor pentatonic scale, we start on the sixth string, fifth fret (A), and use our first finger to bar all the strings at this fret. Then we use our remaining fingers to play the following notes in order: seventh fret, fifth fret, seventh fret, eighth fret, tenth fret.

Use a wah-wah pedal

The wah-wah pedal is essential to get that Hendrix sound. Use it sparingly to produce those Stratocaster screams that made him famous.

Use feedback

Feedback is an important element of the psychedelic rock guitar style popularized by Jimi Hendrix. To get feedback, turn your amplifier up to 10 and place the neck of your guitar near the edge of the amplifier speaker. Pluck a string and let it ring out. As the note begins to fade, quickly place your hand close to the fretboard and hold it there, without touching the strings. The note will begin to Feedback will increase as you get closer to the fretboard. You can also vary the tone by moving your hand closer to or further away from the bridge.

Try different techniques

Experiment with different techniques to find the right sound for you. You might want to try palm muting, alternating picking, or using a wah-wah pedal to get the Hendrix sound. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works for you.