Great Guitar Solos – Jimi Hendrix Plays The Star Spangled Banner Live at Woodstock 1969


I decided to go with a classic, and also, perhaps, a cliche. I absolutely adore this. Hendrix often gets flack for “sloppiness” or “lack of technical ability”, but I’d argue that that’s not true at all. What’s true is that Hendrix was far more interested in emotion, and was very unconventional in his playing. But he did know what he was doing.

Anyways… this is obviously an instrumental, so the guitar solo is the whole thing. And immediately following the footage is a clip of an interview he did where he talked about playing it, so stay tuned for that, as well.

Enjoy!

Comments

  1. Ice Swimmer says

    This is the sound of guitar taken beyond frontiers.

    I wonder if Hendrix would be getting less complaints about sloppiness if whammy bar technology would have been about 15 years ahead of what it was (i.e. Floyd Rose would have been available to him) and his guitar wouldn’t have gone out of tune so easily.

  2. catbutler says

    My wife has a way over the top hatred of guitar solos of any sort. She actually has stopped speaking to a woman who attempted to recreate this solo at a music jam we attended some time back. I mean, they weren’t close or anthing, but if I mention the woman I hear about this solo all over again. It’s about my wife’s only unreasonable trait.
    Truthfully, the woman didn’t do a half bad job of it either.
    @Ice Swimmer -- I think you’re correct about technology making a huge difference in what the perception of Hendrix might be. I can’t really imagine him shredding on an Ibanez or something, but as you watch him trying to retune you can’t help but think that a better setup would have served him well.

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