hendrix verse chords in hey joe

I’m no Hendrix expert I’m afraid but personally I wouldn’t take too much notice of the various methods. Some are designed purposely to make it easier for beginners, while some others are just plain wrong.

Hendrix’s style was just that, his style. Just because his thumb is always hooked over, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s playing the note. A lot of the time he might be skipping that string or possibly muting it.

If you listen closely to the song you should be able to hear if he’s playing something like the chord in your second link. This is D/A and should be quite distinctive.

Your fist link is just a power chord (5th). My feeling is that’s probably not the best choice, Hendrix sound is normally more filled out than that from what I can remember (I haven’t listened for many years). I would think an ordinary D bar chord would be better, something like this.

E: x
B: 7
G: 7
D: 7
A: 5
E: x

Also, you are talking about two songs.. Hey Joe and All along the watch tower. What one are you trying to figure out? If I get a chance I’ll try to take a listen and see if I can figure out what he’s playing. No guarantee but I could try.

noo i was talking about hey joe my previous “way outta here” was just a situational joke maybe a missed one 😀

im just curious why people are insisting to play this power chord in verse instead of play it like i said, it would be easier because after this you play a chord with your thumb over a neck and its neccesary to make some very cool estabilishments (not sure if its a correct word) and addisions which hendrix did a lot

with my method your thumb is already there and it makes everything simpler

but now when i try my version i see it sounds worse i think T.T technically everything is ok but in reality its not

Now I’ve re-read your post, the joke was obvious – I just missed it 🙂

I just had a quick listen and it’s not easy to pick out exactly what he’s playing because the recording quality isn’t that great. I think he’s playing just a mix of riffs, licks, half chords and bass notes with his thumb but I think he’s hooking right over to the fifth string sometimes, so it’s mostly root with the chord. For example, on the C chord he may be playing ..

E: x
B: 5
G: 5
D: 5
A: 3
E: x

But he’s possibly playing the A string with the thumb. I can’t here G in the bass at all so I doubt he’s playing this for instance.

E: x
B: 5
G: 5
D: 5
A: x
E: 3

yea after all i think he used to play it differently every time he did a live show… maybe he even used this chord i was talking about sometimes 😀

im not an advanced player, was just curious why nobody teaches “my” way but now i think i know… it sounds worse i think

thank you for your responses, i’d love to be so experienced like you some day 😀

well im going to pick my guitar and try to figure out the best way, i agree with you, there’s a problem with playing by ear because of bad quality 🙁  i would give so much to speak with him for 10 minutes about guitar playing

im almost 26 and like a teenager i became obssesed with his playing :p

My opinion is to learn the stuff the best you can but don’t get too hung up on trying to get it 100% exact. It can be an endless task an not always the best use of your time.

If you want to really get into Hendrix style I would maybe suggest trying out the Licklibrary DVD’s. I haven’t seen the Hendrix ones myself but they are by Danny Gill, I’ve got quite a lot of his stuff and it’s all top notch. Probably well worth checking out.

oh sorry i missed your reply

thanks for this suggestion, i’ll check it out