Jimi Hendrix at Monterey - a Guitar Lesson

(The following is an excerpt from the "supplemental lessons" page - September/October edition - for my guitar students. Many more song charts, video tutorials, video drills, text, info, and more available there AND at the official SDML Academy of Guitar website, where you can sign up for a free 60 day trial!)

JIMI HENRIX TRIBUTE

To only mildly over-simplify for brevity, it was his set at the Monterey Pop Festival (June 1967) that made Jimi an overnight sensation.

In tribute, I'm charting a few songs on his setlist from that show below, all cover songs. His opening song was the Howlin' Wolf classic "Killing Floor" (a classic 12-bar blues in A released in '64)), his mid-point song (5 of 9) was "Hey Joe" (the Byrds version was 1966), and he ended with "Wild Thing" (a song made famous just a year earlier by The Troggs)...so he was playing contemporary covers of the day, not classic covers. That is a non-trivial detail worthy of discussion in class!

As these are covers, they can also easily be contrasted with his writing style, which at times used simple structures like we see below (with an emphasis then placed on riffs, fills, licks, and the like), but at other times is far more complex (like "The Wind Cries Mary" from his first album, "Little Wing" - which we looks at last month - "Castles Made of Sand", and more).

Read more about the Monterey Pop Festival at the wikipedia page and more about Jimi Hendrix at his official website.....and see Jimi's Monterey setlist below!

"Killing Floor"

framed with a wicked high speed pentatonic riff, the structure is:

A - - - /A - - - /A - - - /A - - - /

D - - - /D - - - /A - - - /A - - - /

E - - - /D - - - /A - - - /E - - - /

"Hey Joe"

C - G - /D - /A - /

E - E7 - /E - E7 - /

repeat

"Wild Thing"

A - D - /E - D - /

repeat

Jimi's Monterey setlist:

1) "Killing Floor" - Howlin' Wolf

2) "Foxey Lady"

3) "Like a Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan

4) "Rock Me Baby" - BB King

5) "Hey Joe" - The Byrds

6) "Can You See Me"

7) "The Wind Cries Mary"

8) "Purple Haze"

9) "Wild Thing"