How to get Jimi Hendrix guitar tone

Hendrix tone is basically about three things. Fuzz, octave and an envelope filter (which you know as wah-wah or just wah).

The stuff you need to get Hendrix tone is below (both for cheap and expensive ways), however you should keep reading after that stuff because there are certain things you need to know.

Expensive way

Dunlop JH-OC1 Jimi Hendrix Octavio Pedal - This is combination fuzz/octave pedal.

Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Signature Wah JH1D - A wah pedal that supposedly uses the original 1960s design when it was made by the Thomas Organ Company back in the day.

Cheap (as in WAY cheaper) way

Joyo JF-12 Ultimate Octava - A mean, green (literally) machine. Fuzz/Octave pedal. I guarantee you will love this thing, and love the price too because it's cheap but awesome at the same time.

VOX V847A Wah Pedal - I specifically recommend the VOX because it has more of a "growly" envelope that's actually much easier to deal with. And it just looks cooler besides that.

Things to know about getting Hendrix tone

Okay, here's the stuff most players don't take into consideration but is all applicable.

Hendrix used very light strings, had a very light touch and used very "clacky" picks, as in Fender 351 Celluloid style picks.

The mistake most players make is that they bang strings hard, thinking that's the way to get Hendrix tone. Wrong. There are tons of videos of Hendrix playing. Watch them. Hendrix always played light. Rarely were the strings banged hard.

Light strings is what made that super-twangy sound you heard on Hendrix recordings. It's also the reason why Hendrix was out-of-tune so often.

As far as EQ settings on an amp are concerned, all you have to know is to simply turn everything up to 10. It's not like Hendrix was a smart guy when it came to this stuff. All Hendrix did was crank everything to 10, and for softer parts, the volume of the guitar was simply turned down. And yes, that's all there is to it. The only knob that wasn't on 10 all the time was master volume, and that was only turned down so Hendrix wouldn't literally blow up his amp.

Now concerning the Strats he used, bear in mind that Stratocasters of the time did not have a 5-way pickup selector, because that didn't happen until the late 1970s which was long after Hendrix's death.

Hendrix did not have a main guitar because he was constantly destroying them, so new Strats were used quite often.

This basically means that to get Hendrix tone out of a Strat, you get the gear I mentioned above and purposely use a Strat either on pickup position 3 or 5 and nothing else.

What guitar do you need to get? A Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster 60s. You do NOT need a Fender. That Classic Vibe has the super-spanky single-coil pickups with proper staggered pole pieces and AlNiCo (which means aluminum, nickel, cobalt) magnets in them, meaning they're bright as hell, and that's exactly what Hendrix used.

Fuzz, octave, wah, a Strat with the appropriate pickups and knowing the basics on how Hendrix tone works is all you need. After that, just learn the riffs Hendrix used (which in all honesty is not that difficult) and you've basically got it.

Published 2014 Feb 6