In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, we pray...because we are going to speak about God.    

This week it is the turn of the sounds of the man who changed everything, and from whom emanates almost all the electric guitar sounds that we hear nowadays. I refer of course to the Big Bang of our world known as Jimi Hendrix.

In order to realize his creations Hendrix predominantly relied on a single guitar model and, as has to be in this world of mythomania, it became both the most famous and biggest selling guitar in history: the Fender Stratocaster.  

Hendrix was not the first to use a Stratocaster, nor the first rock star to choose this guitar, but we will not cause much controversy if we say that he is responsible for this model projecting the idea into the minds of millions of guitarists, over decades, that with a Stratocaster everything is possible and that, with one of them in your hands, your skills with the six string will multiply as if you are dealing with black magic.  

As many of you well know, during his first years with the Jimi Hendrix Experience it was not unusual to see him smash many of his guitars to smithereens (following in the wake of Pete Townshend) and even burn them on stage, as he did with the Stratocaster that he used to play Wild Thing at the Monterey Festival, which was victim of the ritualized pyrotechnics that took place at the end of the performance. Today we may be accustomed to seeing many bands add all types of visual elements to their performances (often in an alarmingly sensationalist way), but in 1967 it was very uncommon. What Hendrix did in Monterey was an authentic initiation ritual. Firstly regarding the whole idea of a 'show'; as seeing Hendrix was going far beyond simply going to see a concert. And secondly, and a lot more important, his performance became a perfect presentation card to all the other guitarists on Earth; a card that none of them wanted to receive. If that card had really existed, more or less it would have said on it: "Hi, I'm Jimmy, I am better than you and the electric guitar is now played like this."    

But let's turn now to his equipment. Firstly, one guitar used by Hendrix that was not a Stratocaster was the Gibson Flying V (now for left-handers) that he used in his famous performance on the Isle of Wight (in which, by the way, he was sublime); although his appearance on the Dick Cavett show with a Gibson SG Custom in 1967 is also very famous. But, as we said, this model is almost an anecdote in Hendrix's career.  

Regarding his amplifiers, he predominantly used both Fender and Marshall during his career, although he also employed various models from the Sunn brand. Mainly he chose the Twin Reverb  at the start of his career and - via the Fender Dual Showman - over the years he gradually gave more and more space on his stage to Marshall speakers and heads, specifically to one his favourites, the model Super lead 1966 head.  

Now is the moment to talk about the pedals of Mr James Marshall Hendrix. And, in the same way as his guitars, all his pedals are now part of the legend, with perhaps the flagship of all of them being his wah. Hendrix probably used others, but it is the Vox V846 and the Cry baby, currently of the Jim Dunlop brand, which have ended up being seen as the “official” wah of Hendrix. The Fuzz Face and the mythic Univibe also formed part of his arsenal. All of them have more economic editions available today than the prices these pedals achieved at the end of the 60s.    

Nosotros os dejamos unas cuantas opciones para acercarnos un poco al sonido de esta leyenda entre leyendas. En todas ellas hay una Stratocaster de por medio y es que nosotros también creemos en los poderes sobrenaturales de ese modelo...al menos si cuelga del hombro de Jimi Hendrix We shall leave you with a number of options to get a little closer to the sound of this legend among legends. In all of them there is a Stratocaster involved, as we also believe in the supernatural powers of that model... at least if it is on the shoulder of Jimi Hendrix. Nosotros os dejamos unas cuantas opciones para acercarnos un poco al sonido de esta leyenda entre leyendas. En todas ellas hay una Stratocaster de por medio y es que nosotros también creemos  en los poderes sobrenaturales de ese modelo...al menos si cuelga del hombro de Jimi Hendrix.