Jimi Hendrix was actually right-handed?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

By fact, Henrdix used to wrote with right hand and played all other instruments right-handed. Any idea?

― Margus Kiis, estonian rock critic (Margus Kiis, estonian rock cri), Saturday, 22 May 2004 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

He played left handed, but used a "normal" guitar upside down. So he had to learn his own chord structures.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Saturday, 22 May 2004 11:52 (twenty-two years ago)

But wait.....
http://fxpatrice.free.fr/musique/jimi-hendrix/hendrixwall1.jpg

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Saturday, 22 May 2004 11:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Still, it's upside down. So the picture must have been reversed.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Saturday, 22 May 2004 11:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Ahhhh, now I understand your question. But that's uncommon for some folks. I'm right handed but shoot a basketball (and a gun, now that I think about it) left handed.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Saturday, 22 May 2004 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

That picture has been reversed. Look at the writing on the headstock.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 22 May 2004 11:58 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm left handed but i play guitar right handed

― King Kobra (King Kobra), Saturday, 22 May 2004 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

But even reversed, he still looks left handed in the picture. I don't get how it's supposed to be confusing.

― David Allen (David Allen), Saturday, 22 May 2004 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

He played left handed, but used a "normal" guitar upside down. So he had to learn his own chord structures.

not quite. he generally played a righty guitar that was turned upside down and restrung so that the strings were in the proper order for normal lefty playing.

because of the way stratocaster headstocks are shaped, this meant his low strings were extra long and his high strings were extra short, which was partly responsible for his sound, or so say people with keener ears than me. this was also responsible for the eventual demand for upside-down headstocks on strats.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 23 May 2004 00:33 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm a lefty, too, by the way, and i blame jimi for the horrible dearth of lefty guitars on the market. he was in a position to demand more. instead, he just sold out and used righty models. the bastard.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 23 May 2004 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.cmt.com/sitewide/assets/img/artists/frizzell_lefty/leftyfrizzell01-280x336.jpg

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 23 May 2004 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Howbout that wacky Dick Dale, a lefty who played regular guitars LITERALLY upside-down, ie. with the higher pitched strings at the top?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 23 May 2004 23:48 (twenty-two years ago)

His "sound" = never in tune?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 24 May 2004 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not sure about the length of the strings theory, there. Yes the headstock would demand a longer bass string, but they are all of the same playable length unless something else on the guitar was altered.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 24 May 2004 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

same playable length, yes, but since the total string length is different, the strings are under a different tension than they normally would be. the low strings are under heavier-than-normal tension and the high strings have less tension. again, only people with better ears than me can actually hear the difference. but they swear they can.

guitar geeks with ears also claim that since the bridge pickup on a strat is slanted, reversing the order of the strings changes the spot where they cross the pickup, and that too causes sonic craziness to occur.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 24 May 2004 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I had forgotten to take into account the slanted pickups, so I will agree to agree on that point. I think I just learnt something, fcc, thanks.

The different tension thing. I can't argue, not being engineeringly inclined. But it sounds plausible. So why not. Something had to lend itself to the way he sounded so far and away different than anyone else before, during, and after his career.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 24 May 2004 02:03 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

the whole leangth of the the strings thing is BS think about it this way when u play ur fingers acts like a second nut(thing the strings rest in) and change the distance between the bridge and the nut is all that matters ne length b4 or after makes no difference and besides he usually played in standard E and some variations of D what note the string is tuned in and where ur fingers are make the difference not the over all string length

― A 6 string pimp, Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:26 (twenty years ago)

and yes Jimis unique sound was in the way the pickups were set up but not by much his true "sound" comes from
1him look up tabs for his musci and compare them to Zeppelin his are more diffulcult adn jus in another world No offense to Zeppelin
2he used TONS of DISTORION and WAH-WAH
3Tube amps do make a different overall noise

o yeha he was left handed to go here(copy and paste into ur search):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4387440182588574675&q=Jimi+Hendrix

now its not his best recording but u can see how he plays

― A 6 string pimp, Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:31 (twenty years ago)

and i am a guitar TONE FREAK and there is no reasonable difference in sound

― a 6 string pimp, Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:33 (twenty years ago)

Hendrix tuned a half step down a lot.

― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Thursday, 1 June 2006 19:30 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.