The Influence of Jimi Hendrix on Rock and Roll

Introduction

Born in 1942 and dead by age 27, Jimi Hendrix is considered one of the all-time Rock and Roll music star, some of his skills that stood out to date were: his precision, and speed of playing the guitar that to date is still unmatched. He is accredited for the influence he had on blues-based hallucinogenic rockers, moreover, he had a great influence in the promotion of the glitzy electric guitar style. As a result, he is considered one of the greatest guitar players in the history of rock and roll. Jimi Hendrix developed an interest in music at an early of his childhood, and spend his time perfecting his guitar playing skills on his own.

Discussion

Hendrix always aimed to better himself each time, through his persistent hard work; he influenced how guitarists play today. Besides, he brought energy in the rock music something was lacking before. He is attributed to reimaging the rock and roll genre. Hendrix was a pioneer in technological innovations to guitar playing. He mastered the art of feedback, sustains, and effects pedals that were introduced by other artists. He was the first artist to play and sing at the same time something is still embraced to date, which has proven to be cost effective to date, as the rock bands would have to hire a larger group to perform in singing and playing. His career as a musician only lasted for four years during which he was able to establish himself as the most influential guitar of all time.

He always pushed himself to reach new musical boundaries, besides; he risked his musical career by venturing into playing instruments that were played by a few artists before. These include Octavia guitar pedals, new musical technologies, and popularize his wah-wah hit song which has found their way in the modern music genres? For instance, using new effects pedals, Hendrix changed the common blues melodies into cosmic dreamscapes, as a result of his work, modern artists such as The Edge, Jack White to U2’s have incorporated this style into their music. Moreover, his liberal thinking and occasional risk-taking excising allowed him to fuse rock with another genre, something that had never been done before. Case in point is his song “Purple Haze” and “Voodoo Chile” are believed to be first songs of hard rock and heavy metal genre (Hopkins, 2013).

Jimmy’s influence in the music industry cuts across most of the genre, such as jazz, blues, and even rap music. For instance, he is accredited for being among the first people to invent rap music. He is credited to be the first person to introduce ‘scratch’ in a song. In the 1967 song ‘are you Experienced’ that when on to become an iconic hip-hop sounds to date (Forman, and Neal, 2004). Furthermore, he has ventured in spoken word poetry, In 1969, he together with Jalal Mansur Nuriddin recorded a 14-minute spoken word poet session ‘Dorieella Du Fontaine’, which, according to like producer Alan Douglas some it is regarded as the founding rap song in history (Shadwick, 2003).

Conclusion

Hendrix is truly a musical icon as he shaped the music industry to what we now know today. He has over the years helped dissolve the racial boundaries that existed in the music industry, where black music was associated with the soul and blue, by venturing into a completely different genre and went on to establish a name for himself while at it. Moreover, he opened doors to other black musicians who wished to venture into different genres in music. He also helped popularize the smashing of instruments on stage, something is common in today’s rock concerts.