Jimi Hendrix Chord

RE: Jimi Hendrix chord
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Flynn M. Cohen wrote:

>first off, here is the fingering for the so-called "hendrix chord":
>
>e 0
>b 8
>g 7
>d 6
>a 7
>e 0


Wow, thanks. This is exactly the kind of response I was hoping
for. As I emphasized frequently in my posting, the guitar ain't
hardly my instrument.

So your fret diagram would be:


0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
E||--------|-------|-------|-------|------|-----|-----|----|----|e'
B||--------|-------|-------|-------|------|-----|-----|---x|----|g'
G||--------|-------|-------|-------|------|-----|----x|----|----|d'
D||--------|-------|-------|-------|------|----x|-----|----|----|g#
A||--------|-------|-------|-------|------|-----|----x|----|----|e
E||--------|-------|-------|-------|------|-----|-----|----|----|E



The fingering I used in my fretboard diagram came from books
I have about Jimi -- and you know how music books are --
it seems there's always room for "interpretation".

Also, I analyzed the chord in F#, not E, because
that's the key of "Foxey Lady". Did he fret the chord as you
described, and use a capo on the second fret? A friend of mine who
is rather well-informed about Jimi says that to his knowledge Jimi
never used a capo. Did he tune the whole guitar up a whole step?
(That sounds like something Jimi might do); in which case, the
extreme tension of the strings would have a further bearing on
the timbre and the intonation of the chord.

>next, i couldn't be bothered to read the _entire_ correspondence
I know it was *really* long -- sorry about that, but there's quite
a bit of interesting stuff buried in there.

>with your friend,

We've never met, and all he's done so
far in email is argue with me. But it's been very productive.

>but my first observation (i could be wrong) is that you both
>seem to be ignoring the idea that 12-tone equal temperament
>is its own distinct tuning system and
>that composers who work within it (even hendrix) are making music in
>that very system, not ostensibly in imitation of extended just
>intonation. in which case the relationships in said chord could be
>represented (theoretically, as none of us is ever in perfect e.t.):
>0/0/4/10/3/0--using the pitch-class set numbers.

You are perfectly correct here -- I originally stated simply that
I give Jimi the credit for definitely establishing the 19th
harmonic as a valid chord identity in rock. Of course both he and
Noel Redding were playing their notes on 12-equal instruments, and
I don't begin to assume that Jimi had these mathematical and
acoustical concepts in mind when he played -- but I *do* believe
(because I can hear it) that he had an extraordinary sensitivity to
fine nuances of pitch, and he had the technique to produce the
expressivity he conceived in his head or felt in his heart or gut
(or wherever his inspiration came from).

Also, I was only using one riff from one song as an
example of one particular harmonic concept -- this is not meant
to suggest that there was any extensive just-intonation theorizing
uderlying Jimi's output at large.

After listening to all of the different interpretations of this
chord which were suggested in our debate, the one which
I both like the most and which I feel sounds most like what
Jimi played, is also the one with the most logical argument
behind it, suggested by Paul: that Jimi "bent" the two lowest
fretted notes with the two strongest fingers, the "root" and
the "3rd", upward by about 31 and 17 cents respectively
and played the "7th" and "sharp 9th" as 12-equal notes
with the two weaker fingers, giving the chord roughly his
interpretation of 6:15:21:28, but with the top pitch 2 cents
sharper than 7/6, and the "root" (and thus the whole chord) 31
cents sharper than the 12-equal bass part. With even a small
amount of distortion in the guitar, the out-of-tuneness of the
bass sounds to me more like a "coloration" than like truly bad
intonation.
>
>also, it is my experience that, on my stratocaster, played with heavy
>overdrive, using the bridge position pickup, i can only isolate up to
>about the 13th harmonic on the lowest string (usually tuned to an 'e',
>as
>a slacker string might give a different harmonic impression
>[inharmonicity?]), in which case your argument against the audibilty
>of
>the 19th partial would be valid.

It was Paul who argued *against* the audibility of 19 -- I had said
that in a chord tuned to 4:5:14, the 5 and the 14 would produce
a summation tone of 19, which may (or may not) be audible. Let's
hear from you other guitarists out there!

-Monzo

>joe

>sorry, i missed the reference to foxy lady: my verison of the chord
comes
>from his more mainstream guitar hit, 'purple haze' which is in 'e'.
indeed
>you were right about the former, it is in f# and is played without capo
>or extreme scordatura (sp?).

>
-fc

Does that mean that my original fretboard diagram is correct?
Did Jimi play the low F# with his thumb over the top of the neck?
I'd like to replace the X's in my diagram with fret-hand fingerings.
Again, input from other guitarists would be appreciated.

Joseph L. Monzo
monz@juno.com
4940 Rubicam St., Philadelphia, PA 19144-1809, USA
phone 215 849 6723

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