Artists & Bands

Jimi Hendrix tunes

Video blocked due to privacy settings

[rcb-consent type=”change” tag=”link” text=”Change privacy settings”]

Jimi Hendrix: The Greatest Guitarist of All Time

Above Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and B.B. King—above them all towers the legendary Jimi Hendrix, the world’s most famous guitarist.

And every one of those players would admit this undeniable fact. There is simply nobody like Jimi.

His short but revolutionary career began in 1966 when Chas Chandler, bass player for The Animals, heard him play a cover of Hey Joe and knew instantly he had to record him.

Ironically, Chandler later walked away during the Electric Ladyland sessions, claiming Hendrix was becoming too indulgent. What he missed was the dawning of a new era—months in the studio crafting sonic masterpieces, a process that would soon become standard practice throughout the 1970s.

Let’s take a look at some of the key tracks Jimi Hendrix released during his four brief years in the spotlight, leading up to his death in 1970—an untimely end that placed him in the infamous 27 Club.

The aforementioned Hey Joe, recorded in 1966, was the track that launched Jimi onto the world stage. Strangely, it didn’t feature on the U.K. edition of his debut album.

But when considering both the U.S. and U.K. versions of Are You Experienced, we find an astonishing track list for a debut: Foxy Lady, Manic Depression, Red House, Fire, Hey Joe, Purple Haze, and The Wind Cries Mary. Not bad for a first outing!

From Fuzz to Fire: Hendrix in Full Bloom

The follow-up to Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, arrived just a year later in 1967. On this album, we find Spanish Castle Magic, Wait Until Tomorrow, Little Wing, If Six Was Nine, and Castles Made of Sand.

If the debut was all about raw power and Jimi’s legendary fuzz tone, the second album revealed a cleaner sound that guitarists have been chasing ever since.

Next came Electric Ladyland—the album that pushed Chas Chandler to his limit and ultimately led to his departure. This ambitious double album includes Crosstown Traffic, Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), and the transcendent cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower—arguably the greatest studio recording of all time.

Jimi’s final official release was Band of Gypsys, recorded with a new lineup. While the album as a whole didn’t match the brilliance of its predecessors, it did produce one standout: Machine Gun.

Beyond these studio masterpieces, Hendrix also delivered unforgettable live covers. He played Sunshine of Your Love (Cream) live on TV without rehearsal after learning the band had broken up. Other notable covers include Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry), Wild Thing (The Troggs), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles), House of the Rising Sun (The Animals), Born Under a Bad Sign (Albert King), and Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan).

And of course, no Hendrix retrospective would be complete without his hauntingly powerful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, performed at Woodstock.

Why Are There So Few Jimi Hendrix Guitar Lessons Online?

Shortly after I began creating online guitar lessons in 2007, YouTube quickly became the platform where we’d all end up spending our digital lives.

Back then, copyright enforcement was still in the Wild West phase—nobody really knew how to handle it, and YouTube’s approach was simple: if the copyright holder complained, your content was taken down. No questions asked.

I had a channel called Spytunestunes, where I shared lessons on songs like Purple Haze, Hey Joe, Highway to Hell, Stairway to Heaven—you name it.

Unfortunately, many artists’ managers and publishers were still stuck in the past, aggressively banning anything that surfaced online. My channel was hit and wiped out, with no warning and no recourse.

At the time, things were going well, but after losing everything, I gave up and joined a band instead. When I eventually returned, I became more cautious, avoiding uploads related to Hendrix, AC/DC, or Led Zeppelin—anything that might get flagged.

This is why, in the Hendrix section above, you only see covers he performed—not his original recordings.

And it’s also why there are so few guitar lessons online covering the work of Jimi Hendrix—the world’s most iconic guitarist.

Perhaps the people managing his legacy should recall what Jimi once said: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” But they’re probably too busy fighting over the money.