Hendrix Picking Technique

Playing Technique
#1

Hi to all Cracking The Code Members,

As part of this journey to find the ultimate technique i wondered if anyone in the members forum had ever analysed/studied arguably the best guitarist of all time… Jimi Hendrix’s technique? I’ve always been mesmerised at the ease to his playing and the effortless, simplistic picking technique he had, that was also very intricate at times, delicate and fast. There is very good closeup footage of his right hand technique live in Sweden 1969 throughout the concert but especially at these time on this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoCaFw_0MYY at 10.33mins and 43.40mins.

It would be great to hear peoples thoughts on what techniques you think he used to achieve this fluidity to his picking, and great to hear from those of you who like me, have studied his technique in depth to try to unlock the secret ingredient to his seemingly interchangeable and effortless/ relaxed lead and rhythm style.

He used the classic tortoise Fender Medium celluloid picks and i have to admit after trying nearly every single pick out there (thickness and material) and after almost 60 years of this pick being in production it still feels oddly the best pick for this style despite all the recent innovations. I really don’t think this is so much physiological but more it’s flexibility and ease of which it can pass through the strings during rhythm playing and lead playing. Leo Fender has been credited with getting the Fender Strat perfect, (not really that much innovation since), perhaps the same is true for the Fender pick, after all if it isn’t broken why fix it?

Cheers,
S

1 Like
#2

This is a fascinating question! I’ve also wondered what would happen if Troy and the Gang were able to go back in time and slap a Magnet on Hendrix’s guitar - what would we find out about his picking hand that isn’t apparent from the archival film footage?

One thing that comes to mind about his playing is what you describe as his effortless rhythm playing. I think Satriani described in a slightly different way - as not “pre-quantized.” I always wondered what that meant exactly, but at least superficially, it doesn’t appear that Hendrix approached the instrument with goal of nailing exact notes at exactly the same rhythm and tempo every time. I think Satch suggested that conferred a “freshness” to Hendrix’s playing (and probably makes it hard to mimic and transcribe), but I wonder how this might impact how we think about his technique. How intentional and precise was he attempting to be in his playing, particularly with his very lush,fluid, and seemingly improvised chordal style? And how does that impact how we cop his licks and learn from his technique?

2 Likes
#3

I assumed Hendrix used DWPS, and it appears he does. And his motion mechanic bears a lot of similarity to that of Marty Friedman, who is a textbook downward pickslanter.

What surprised me a bit is that at the timecodes you mention, we see that Hendrix is picking with what codespeak refers to as the “trailing edge” of the pick rather than the “leading edge”. While this seems to be less common, it’s been employed with great success by some folks, perhaps most famously by George Benson, and as we see in the clip you posted, by Hendrix also.

3 Likes
#4

It’'s great to hear your thoughts, I agree JImi definitely used the trailing edge and with the wrist slightly curved outward but certainly not as prevalent as Marty. lt seems to be more a cross picking technique mixed in with DWPS now and again. I assume he didn’t think too much about his technique. His technique also relied upon the thumb pad to index finger pad pick grip. I think another reason why he had great groove was this freedom in the hand and wrist to play notes he felt when improvising in a totally relaxed and free way. I don’t think he focused on the minute details of picking.

2 Likes
#5

looks and sounds about right