Talk:Jimi Hendrix

Ambidextrous?

It's frequently claimed that he was left-handed (hence playing a right-handed guitar strung upside down) although it is also claimed that he was ambidextrous as per this article. Should Hendrix's handedness be addressed in the article? JezGrove (talk) 19:40, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

Hendrix biographers have little to say about his ability to use both hands. He often sat in with other musicians and he sometimes played a right-handed bass or guitar with his right hand when he didn't have his own instrument. He also could play a normally-strung right-handed bass and guitar upside down with his left hand (like Albert King and Doyle Bramhall II). However, for his own performances and recordings, he always played left handed with the strings set up for a lefty (lowest string on top, highest on bottom).

It's an interesting idea that his mixed-handedness somehow resulted in "signaling better interaction between the left and right hemispheres of the guitarist's brain, [that] suffused every part of his music". But, as with many attempts to psychoanalyze creativity, it seems highly speculative and probably should be treated as a fringe theory. I don't think there's really enough to it to add to the article and am not even sure where it would go.

—Ojorojo (talk) 16:42, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

Atlanta International Pop Festival

This article skips right over his legendary appearance at Byron GA just before Woodstock.  63.155.11.3 (talk) 05:53, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Hendrix did not perform at the first Atlanta International Pop Festival#1969 festival, which was held July 4–5, 1969 (before the Woodstock festival in August). He did perform at the second Atlanta International Pop Festival#1970 festival on July 4, 1970 (eleven months after Woodstock). This is noted in the "Cry of Love Tour" section of the article: "Several shows were recorded [on the tour], and they produced some of Hendrix's most memorable live performances. At one of them, the second Atlanta International Pop Festival, on July 4, he played to the largest American audience of his career.[255] According to authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz, as many as 500,000 people attended the concert.[255]" (see article for the citations used). Several of his performances at Atlanta were released on albums and videos. Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival album and the accompanying video released in 2015 are the most recent and complete. Check it out. —Ojorojo (talk) 14:18, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Modify infobox

I suggest changing the infobox template from {{Infobox musical artist}} to {{Infobox person}} (with the former template embedded, similar to Mick Jagger's temp.) 83.52.79.56 (talk) 08:08, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

This was proposed in 2019, but, unlike Jagger, Hendrix "didn't do much, if anything, outside of music".[1] The "signature" that was added turned out to be a logo and was removed as per this discussion. Infobox person has a lot of parameters that seem to attract unsourced miscellanea. I don't think it's worth it. —Ojorojo (talk) 16:03, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

What about his (brief) military service and his death cause? That can be only added in {{Infobox person}} 83.53.68.41 (talk) 07:19, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

Last Performance Amendment

The current description of his last performance with Eric Burdon is described as "subdued" and his instrumentation being quiet, though I'd like that to be reconsidered. Listening to Jimi play on the bootleg recording of the set, he isn't subdued, just the guitar and amplifier setup is at a lower volume than usual (possibly due to the nature of the venue, it isn't huge). He does a lot of his usual tricks in terms of musicality. I can't speak for his acrobatics on stage, though he was growing tired of them and wasn't paid for this gig most likely. Feel free to disagree but I think the performances were just like some of the other bootleg jams that get thrown around. It's also basic etiquette to not do any theatrics unless invited to! Wasolop (talk) 18:26, 26 July 2023 (UTC)