I love this sound and I’ve always associated it with Jimi Hendrix as I believe he does it in “All Along The Watchtower.”
Of course, as I was listening further I realized it’s also in that old song “Hocus Pocus” if you happen to know it.
But hey, it’s fun and might expand your soloing palette a little 🙂
67 replies to "Hendrix Style Bend Licks"
Good stuff Griff.
Great been practicing BB King The Thrill is Gone and Hendrix Purple Haze so this is just what I needed for my Hendrix collection of licks and intros….Great lesson…
Good for start of solo on Manic Depression.
Thanks Griff. I’ve been trying to figure that one out since you used it at the end of Hey Joe when we played together at BGU Roadtrip in Dallas.
Great, Griff. Just like on the solo in J J Cale’s original version of Cocaine. Got it, thanks!
Good luck to your son,even though you will miss him he will always be in your heart. Thanks for the great lessons, always something new to learn😀😀
Being from Mid-Michign a big welcome to the Hamlin family. You’re going to have to do one of your seminars here. Great lesson, I remember doing those bends in the Allman Bros. song “Midnight Rider”. Cool sound. Well I have to say it, Go Green, Go White! You or your son will figure it out.
Indeed, a classic Hendrix lick. That same bend lick is also featured prominently in the Experience’s “Highway Chile,” “Manic Depression,” and more. Use it well.
Interesting…I will go into the Blues Guitar Unleashed TREASURE CHEST and see if there are any others and YES THERE IS…2015….LOVE HENDRIX and will look forward to adding this to my practice TIME ZONE…..
WELL YOU LIL BOY IS NOW A MAN. MY DAUGHTER IS GOING OFF TO OREGON FOR COLLEGE. SHE IS MY BABY GIRL. I’LL MISS HER SO BAD. SHE IS VERY INDEPENDANT AND SMART .
I SAW JIMI DO THAT HARMONY BEND AT THE ATLANTA POP FESTIVAL, ON JULY 4TH. HE ALSO DID HIS FAMOUS STAR SPANGELD BANNER. I ALSO SAW EDDIE VAN HALEN USE THAT SAME RIFF. I THINK A LOT OF GREAT GUITARIST STOLE A LOT OF JIMI’S LICKS AND RUNS. THANKS GRIFF. CAN’T BEND THEM ON MY ES335, WITH FLAT ROUND STRINGS, BUT MY 1986 FENDER, I CAN BEND THEM ALL DAY. TAKE CARE GRIFF. GOD LUCK TO YOUR SON.
Hey Griff. Ya know sometimes it’s the simplest of things that make the most difference! Thanks for sharing this nugget with us today!
It is about knowing the “tricks” that make the magic. That’s a great rabbit to pull out of the hat. Thanks Griff!
Don’t feel old, our only son who is 33 years old just became a Dad. Becoming a GrandDad really makes you feel old. At your age Griff, now to enjoy private time with your wife. Light a fire, pour some wine and savor the moment for it will be gone before you know it. I’m speaking from experience!
Thanks….Griff….short and sweet….my man…wlb
Yeah, hocus pocus by dutch rockgroup focus (from the 70’s).
Thanks for the lesson and greetz from the netherlands
Hocus pocus by Focus was amazing. Don’t know why they didn’t do something similar again, anyway that was known on a planetary scale.
Yup, cool. Ted Nugent also uses this technique in the Stranglehold solo.
thanks for bringin some jimi … i had forgotten that technique … he also used it in “manic depression”, yaa?
thanks again!
Yes, high school graduation is a stressful time. Just wait till they graduate from college, that’s even more stressful.But remember when you began living on your own. The 60’s were when I had a great time. I was in California, from L.A. to Frisco, seeing and meeting the people you are teaching us to play like. Feel kinda old,yea but great. Thanks for everything. Rock and Roll.
Thanks again B-)
I love your little tricks that I always save in my TREASURE CHEST…..
Cool stuff as always Griff, thanks.
Thanks!
Again…Pretty cool!
As ususual great lesson…and great deal!!!! Just got your Jam Tracks and will see if I can figure out how to use those tricks with all my axes and amps and pedals on all the tracks….LOL!!! Will be having fun for a while, as well as changing batteries, strings, pedals!!! Thanks Griff!!! Great Tracks so far, am looking forward to burning the house down!!!!!
As usual a great lesson… but….I love that shirt¬ where did you get it?
This was also done on “GREEN EYED LADY” from the 60s.
Brilliant Griff as usual! I like how you give us loads of free stuff 🙂
Of course buying a few courses helps someone make the really big jumps…
But I love how you mix it all up with simple lessons, structured and more complex lessons and all these stages slowly helping us to develop style – Coz I think that’s what every guitarist really needs – is some style baby!
Best value and quality I’ve ever found.
Thanks again!
Thank you Griff for taking the time to explain how to get the tone. Whether you’re matching SRV, Jimi, or your own.
I know that a lot of tone comes from the fingers but we all know that it can also be more than that.
I also encourage you to give a tip or two on how to get a similar tone if you’re not using an 11R or Nace. I know this is harder to do but there might be some general tips around Fender Amps and the amount of gain, mid, reverb, etc.
Icey,cool. Thanks Griff. fearless
Cheers Griff for the lesson
You can use it to practice your bends
The other band was focus
Have you tried a univibe?
Now back to my gig in a box ?
You da’ man Grif! Thank You for all you do for your followers.
if I’m not mistaken jimmy page uses it to finish stair way to heaven
and areo smith in same old song and dance uses this tech.
Boogie Chillin
l like this one , yes l’ve heard that sound before , but never analyzed, or followed up , but yea it is on the Hendrix tune Griff mentioned ,and also another one too, maybe others .
Simple and Sweet instructional video Griff; thank you!
Was actually used in purple haze griff
Bu yer clever but devilishly simple
Hendrix sounded fantastic the reason he was better
Then the rest top guitarists was he could take the simplest
Lick and make it sound awesom and he new the fretboard
Like a intimate lover thanks for the info brilliant
Simple, but I like the originality. Thank you
Hey Griff,
I can’t wait until the morning to try this, great stuff & recall Hendrix sound from the 60’s.
Michael St Andrews Australia
Thanks Griff, as always good value.
Hocus Pocus by Focus, if I remember correctly
Very good always like jimmy Hendrix material
As a young pup in the late sixties I learned this technique by copying it from Carlos Santana albums. Wore the grooves flat.
Was just going to dive in with Samba Pa Ti, but you beat me to it!
Hi Griff,
Great stuff as always. Will look to incorporate that into a solo – especially going from “low” to “high” on the neck. FYI – believe the Rock song to which you refer was from a group right in your back yard while you lived in Boulder, CO. The name of the song was Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf.
Cheers,
Bob Utberg
THE SONG, JOHNNY BE GOOD BY CHUCK BERRY , THE INTRO HAS THAT ONE PART WHERE YOU DO THAT KIND OF BEND. I LEARNED THAT ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO. USED A LOT IN HEAVY METAL, BUT IT ALWAYS BRINGS TO PLAYING A JIMI HENDRIXS SONG. VERY COOL, BUT IT TAKES PRACTICE TO KEEP YOUR NONE BENDING FINGER PLANTED STRONG ON THE B NOTE AS YOU DO THE BEND WITH YOUR OTHER 2 FINGERS. WITH ATRITIST IT GETS ABIT HARD TO KEEP CLEAN. THANK YOU. GRIFF. TAKE CARE!
Nice. The part right before the vocals come back. One more for the bag of tricks. As for the timing gentlemen he is in standard tuning. Put your fingers by the dots like his and start bending. Secret… Practice slow at first and get the sound right. Then work around and play with it. Nice
kool and great one more thing to add, could it be possible for other lesson’s
to add like to tune the guitar to yours so it make it sound like yours? I think it would be alot better to sound like the lesson your offering. Thank’s
Griff.
Sounds cool, but the explanation about where the notes come from is a little fuzzy (I don’t know all five boxes of the B minor pentatonic scale, let alone where the notes on the second string would fall rising up the neck, or which one I should be targeting when they overlap. Good lesson, but there’s a whole lot of theory you threw out there that could use a little (lot?) more discussion. I’m guessing it’s all about intervals. Lots of ways to look at intervals!
Hi Jim, any pentatonic scale formula is the same. It only depends on which note you start from. In this case Griff started on the B note which is on the 7th fret, box one. Start with the tonic, B, then 3 frets up to the flatted 3rd, the D in this case. Then 2 steps to the 4th, E. Two more steps to F#, the 5th.Three steps to the A, the flatted 7th, and finally two steps to the B, the tonic only an octave higher. These steps all happen on one string in this case, the first string and you bend the second, starting string three steps up, two more steps to match the note on the first string. Even though I said this happens on one string in this case, any time you play the pentatonic, these are the steps that you play moving from string to string. I’m not sure if it will but I hope this helps in some way.
Thx
Great could you send the tab?
Thanks, Griff. I like it!
Like it…wish you had included the MP3 file..would be great for jamming
Once again and still I get the visual but no audio!Very frustrating!! Used to enjoy and always looked forward to your videos. Now I just watch your mouth and fingers move in silence! What could be the problem? Help!
Hey ron, check and see if your “mute” button is on.
Griff,
Wish you would have been around over a half century ago when I first started playing. You show us things I would never be able to figure out on my own.
THANKS…Old School and Still Rockin’
sounds like the lead in “green eyed lady” by sugarloaf.
I remember the tune I just couldn’t remember who sang it. 🙂
Ok so when you get to 17 and 15th fret is do a flurry on the 15th fret single string and its a JIMI thing . Try it you well love it . Of course i tried it first have a sparkling day .
well its been awhile since i first saw this and had seen a demo of how and where to bend the strings in this manner . Ted Nugent does a simuliar version of this . So many others do it also . You can start going up as low as the fifth fret and go up as far as this demo goes to get the full range . Thats if you are planing to sound exactly like Jimi. the first responce here Im not sure where i was going with that . 18th fret on the g and 15th on the b and a combination of notes, got to fool around with that in a flurry . Marty Shwartz does a great demo . Griff when You and the Shwartz going to get some more cool stuff together .
That a really good lesion
Thanks Griff another really cool trick – I was fortunate to see Hendrix when he hit the scene in London in 1968 with the JH Experience. Loved the style ever since.
Nice Stuff! I like it!
Been tryin to get that down for awhile now….practice, practice, practice……
Sometimes things look so easy…..
I love those bends..
They are everywhere in rock!!!
Very cool…Thanks