Jimi Hendrix phrases from the chord progression throughout all 4 verses
of the song. Here I've transcribed the 1st verse. The other 3 verses
follow the same chord progression and uses similar phrases. In other
words you only need to learn the first verse and then you will be able
to play the other 3 verses.
Click
here for a printable version of the verse transcription. Once
you're done reviewing this page you can keep your printed copy
to practice it.
Now let's take a listen to the entire verse with bass and drums, similar
to the actual recording:
Let's break it down:
The letters at the top of the tablature staff indicate the chord in
the chord progression that Hendrix is phrasing from. If you wanted you
could simply strum these chords to play along with the song. Being the
great player we all know and love, Jimi opts to phrase from the chords
using the basic scale patterns associated with each chord pattern that
he plays.
Below Jimi use E style barre chords to play lines from the C,
C#/Bb, and F chords. He uses his thumb to fret the notes on the
low E string (the 5th string is omitted). If you want to play
the passages you'll want to use your thumb also. This allows greater
use of the other fingers to fret notes. He doesn't add to many
extra notes here, but the ones that he does come from the E scale
pattern.
Below the A style barre chord is used here for the C chord. Over
the C#/Bb chord, Jimi plays from this chord's G scale pattern
(root on the 6th fret).
The line below uses the open C chord, A style barre chord for the C#/Bb
(with a "walk down" from the C chord. The F chord is once
again formed with an E style barre chord with the thumb on the 1st fret
of the low E string.
Here comes the change. E style barre chords form the G and C#/Bb
chords along with voicing from the E scale pattern. Then we reprise
the first part of the intro
riff.
The change is repeated...
...except at the end the entire intro riff is played with a fill at
the end. After the fill you can either go into another verse or the
solo.
