If you read through guitar forums and other music websites on the internet, when it comes to Jimi Hendrix discussion, we all know that he is most famous for his amazing lead guitar playing skills. What a lot of people seem to forget that he was also a singer, and he wrote his own lyrics as well. His singing and songwriting skills is often overlooked by music fans. Yes, his lead guitar playing skills is great, but what grabbed me the most about Hendrix is the way he wrote his songs, with his vocals and the lyrics.

Hendrix was never a classically trained singer. He did it because he wanted to. His voice always had a blues and R&B feeling. When he wrote his songs, he would sing catchy melodies that never leave your head. Why do you think songs like, “Purple Haze”, “Hey Joe”, or “The Wind Cries Mary” are so great? Not just because of his great guitar playing, it’s his vocals. His vocals is what attracted people to his music. Do you think those songs would be big hits if he didn’t sing them? Hell no. Hendrix’s vocals was something special.

Back in the day, when Jimi performed live, there was no such thing as lip syncing or auto tune. Musicians had to play everything for real, so there was nothing fake about Hendrix’s singing back in the day. His lyrics was also the most important part of his music that people miss out. He wrote some pretty amazing stuff. Jimi Hendrix had many different talents in his music, not just his guitar playing. The man had the full package and did it all. He also produced a lot of his own music.

It is weird how the music industry gets all over his guitar playing, yet his singing is almost always ignored.

Kev