How did Jimi Hendrix string his guitars?
The legend of Jimi Hendrix looms so large in the history of rock and roll music that even the most contrarian music fans cannot deny his brilliance. His rise to prominence during the 1960s forever changed the landscape of rock, psychedelia, and, above all else, guitar playing. Following his tragic death in 1970, legions of guitar obsessives have examined virtually every aspect of his life, music career, and playing style in the vain hope of understanding the unparalleled genius of his music.
After honing his craft for many years by playing in a variety of R&B groups across America, Hendrix realised his own potential after relocating to the vibrant streets of London during the late 1960s. Soaking up inspiration both from the swinging sixties era of the city, in addition to the growing body of counterculture hippie music rising from his home nation, the guitarist pioneered a distinctive psychedelic sound that was unlike anything audiences had heard prior.
That distinctive style came not only from Hendrix’s clear technical proficiency with a six-string but also from his unique abilities in improvisation and his organic, emotional playing style. You only need to listen to the artist’s intense, sprawling guitar solos on tracks like ‘Machine Gun’ to realise the incredible nature of his music. In addition to his inherent quality in playing, though, Hendrix was also a pioneer for a variety of techniques and hardware that have since become commonplace within the guitar world.
For instance, Hendrix was among the first guitarists to popularise the wah-wah pedal, which he used notably on ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’ to create a sound which would go on to define the psychedelic rock era. As you can imagine, therefore, hopeful guitarists have torn apart virtually every aspect of Hendrix’s guitar set-up and hardware, from his preferred make and model – a 1968 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster – all the way down to how he strung his guitars.
You only need to look at an image of Hendrix playing the guitar to see that he played in a different way from most other rock guitarists of the time. Ultimately, this comes down to the simple fact that Hendrix was left-handed, so he flipped his right-handed guitars over and re-strung them so that the bass strings, E, A, and D, were still at the top. Hendrix used this technique throughout his career, and it is regularly held up as an example of how innovative the musician was when it came to playing the instrument.
In essence, therefore, Hendrix strung up his guitars in the same way as most other guitarists, with the bass strings at the top and higher notes at the bottom. The only differences came with the tuning of Hendrix’s guitar and the fact that the actual body of the instrument was flipped around.
For tuning, Hendrix usually opted for an E flat standard tuning arrangement, dropping the standard tuning by one semitone, resulting both in a deep sound and a more lucid, flowing playing experience given that the strings were not wound as tightly. This tuning is most often used during his extensive, rolling solos and longer compositions, as it allowed him to move more freely between sounds.
Ultimately, Jimi Hendrix’s brilliance does not lie in the tuning style he used or the fact that he played his guitar upside down. The reason we have seen so few guitarists who can match the Seattle-born musician lies in the deep emotional quality and pioneering spirit inherent in his music. You could be the most technically skilled guitarist in the world, and you would still drive yourself mad trying to replicate every intricacy of Hendrix’s playing.
Why did Jimi Hendrix play his guitar upside down?
The reason for Hendrix turning his guitar upside down and restringing it is pretty simple. It comes down to the fact that Jimi Hendrix was left-handed, and guitars are typically made for right-handed people. On a normal guitar, a right-handed person would use their dominant hand for plucking the strings, and their left hand for darting around the fretboard, but that did not work for Hendrix, having a dominant left hand.
While manufacturers do make left-handed guitars, these are notoriously difficult to come by, and would have been particularly rare during Hendrix’s time. So, rather than learning to play the instrument with his non-dominant hand, the guitarist simply created his own DIY left-handed guitar by flipping it over and restringing it. The only inherent difference between his guitars and a standard left-handed guitar is that the pickguard was in the wrong place.
