For those who think they are virtuosic enough, we have picked the easiest Jimi Hendrix songs to play on guitar to start with.
Jimi Hendrix was born in 1942 in Seattle. His first touch and introduction with music was when he found an old ukulele which only had one string left. Later on, he bought his first guitar, which was when he was about 15 years old. He never had a proper musical education in terms of learning notation, but he was a very talented and gifted musician with a great ear for music. It was not long before Jimi started playing in his first band, the Velvetones, and soon after he joined Rocking Kings (in which he played bass lines on a regular guitar). After these first experiences with music, Jimi joined the army in 1961 where he was supposed to stay for next three years. He completed training for a paratrooper but was released from army soon after in 1962. Afterwards, he had played in several bands in America, trying out and being exposed to some new genres especially when he moved to New York, and during the time developing and creating his own playing technique and improvising.
But what was left behind Jimi as the most recognizable of his works is, of course, Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band was formed in 1966 in London where Jimi has moved after the period of searching for his musical signature in America. Even though the band existed only for four years until Jimi’s death, it has become very popular during that time, and its popularity has not fainted ever since, leaving Jimi as one of the most iconic figures of Rock’s’Roll music.
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Songs such as Hey Joe or Purple Haze have gained immediate popularity, reaching tops at music charts, while the Are You Experienced LP has topped charts for a long time. Even though Jimi was influenced by psychedelic rock, blues, R&B, soul and still dwelling in the realm of rock music, he has developed his own style letting himself be as free as he could, especially by not being bonded by classical musical education. That is why, when looking for easiest Jimi Hendrix songs to play on a guitar, some would say that is impossible. That is why it cannot be easily decided which one is the hardest Jimi Hendrix song. What also made Jimi Hendrix guitar music recognizable is the “Hendrix chord,” or “Purple Haze” chord, which became somewhat of his signature chord. And that is dominant seventh sharp ninth chord (or 7#9), and that can be heard throughout his opus.
He was not only a great musician but had also surprised audience and media with some new moves for that time by which he gained even more popularity, such as burning and of his guitars while playing several times. He was also left-handed, and thus he held guitar upside down.
Jimi Hendrix died in his apartment in London in 1970, officially by asphyxiation with his own vomit, though such a sudden unconvincing cause of death has risen many questions among the public. Moreover, the question of his death is still a hot topic, was it a murder, or some other conspiracy considering that Janis Joplin died only 16 days after Jimi, officially from a drug overdose. Whatever happened in the end, what we now have after both of these brilliant musicians is an unrepeatable musical expression which makes their music immortal and never out of date. And after all these years, this apartment in London where Jimi has spent his last years of life has recently been opened as a museum.
Jimi Hendrix is one of those musicians belonging to 27 Club, a name to the group of musicians who died at 27 years of age. Apart from Jimi, other musicians in this “club” are Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, but this, of course, is not the end of the list, but also not the topic of our list as well.
Since basically, Jimi Hendrix songs are not generally hard in theory, what makes them hard is his level of improvisation and experimentation with music. So, naturally, to see which the easiest Jimi Hendrix songs to play on guitar are, we have searched for places where guitarists share their experiences and advice. The forums we searched for our answers were Ultimate Guitar, Reddit Quora, and Music Player Network. After going through the treads, we have seen that of course opinions differ, based on a level of guitar skills and on whether people were focused on playing riffs, chords, or lead parts. We have taken in mind those songs which were recommended for beginners, or starting playing Jimi and which cover all the song parts: leads, chords… Though you might be searching for Jimi Hendrix solo tabs, this might be a tricky task, since all the tabs are written by people listening, and the tabs given are their own experience and impression of the song. And finally, we have ranked the easiest Jimi Hendrix songs on our list by the number of counts. The chords used in songs we put here just to get the insight in the song before deciding to learn it, and we have taken them from the Ultimate Guitar tabs.
Before we go on to our list of easiest Jimi Hendrix songs to play on guitar, we assume you are fan of rock music, so you might take a look at 11 Easiest Classic Rock Songs to Play on Guitar as well, or perhaps 6 Easiest AC/DC Songs to Play on Guitar, if you like a bit later sound of Rock’n’Roll. And now, let’s see which the easiest Jimi Hendrix songs to play on guitar are:
8. All Along The Watchtower
Chords: Cm, A#, G#
Even though this song was not originally composed by Jimi Hendrix, but Bob Dylan, it has been recorded only seven months after Dylan has released it and it is on the Electric Ladyland album. Nevertheless, it has become known as one of the most popular and the easiest Jimi Hendrix songs to play on guitar.
