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MoneyChords

Jimi Hendrix (#3) - Heavy Delta
by David M. McLean

In songs like "Voodoo Child (slight return)", Jimi calls on more than just pentatonic burning by adding the oh-so-cool "blue" note (the flatted 5th) to his sweat-drenched rhythms and burning leads. We touched on this a tad in the second Hendrix installment, but let's take a closer look now.

Example one is similar to "Voodoo Chile (slight return)". Notice the use of open strings, slides, and bends, plus the use of the triplettes in bar 4.

Listen!

In example two, note the pulsing rhythm and the double-stops with one note bending up 1/2 step to the blue note. This is similar to the pulsing rhythms found in "Foxy Lady" and other Hendrix classics.

Listen!

Grok the implications of this heavy grooving style and see what it can do for your playing. You might also want to check out players like acoustic bluesmen Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, and Son House as well as early electric blues shredders like Albert King, and sure to listen a bit to those directly influenced by Hendrix like Clapton and Vaughan (who does several excellent Hendrix covers).

See ya next time!

David M. McLean is the proprietor of Skinny Devil Music Labs, former guitarist of the avant-garde fusion-metal band Aurora-Sen, guitar instructor, and columnist for TinFoil Music Magazine (where he conducts interviews in the on-going series “Guitar Gods”). His new solo album, “HUNGER”, will be released later this year.