The song impressed me when it was first released on the US edition of Jimi Hendrix’ first album, Are You Experienced. It was a rough recording – producer Chas Chandler said it was recorded in 20 minutes. But the song was beautiful and I’ve always wanted to record it.

To arrange this song, I first learned Hendrix’ studio version note-for-note, then put it in my own vocabulary.

Jimi’s recording is in F, which is unusual for Hendrix. I suspect they sped up the tape after it was recorded. He always played it live in E or Eb (he sometimes tuned his guitar down a semitone). I chose to play it in E. Hendrix famously overdubbed a number of guitars in the studio recording (yeah, all of that in 20 minutes), so I took that a step further and put four guitars in the chorus/solo. I’m pleased with the result and I hope you like it too.

As always, Love is all you need.