All Along the Watchtower

Jimi Hendrix, 1968. Solo by Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix turns a sparse Dylan song into a four-part guitar suite: melodic lead, slide with a lighter, wah section, then chordal lines. Dylan himself adopted the arrangement.

Rather than one continuous solo, Hendrix builds the break as a sequence of four distinct episodes. First comes an intense, fairly clean lead, then slide guitar that pans across the stereo field over structured bass octaves, then a wah-wah passage that also moves side to side, and finally a climbing section with a slightly overdriven Stratocaster tone. Tape delay and delayed reverb make the whole thing sound vast. Hendrix overdubbed and reworked much of it in New York months after the basic track, and the care shows in how each section hands off to the next. Listen on headphones for the slide section drifting across the stereo image; it is arranging as much as soloing.

All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix is ranked #7 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Jimi Hendrix and the song was released in 1968. It appears on 48 lists, placing as high as #1 (Studio Brussel (VRT public radio, Belgium)).

The story of All Along the Watchtower

Bob Dylan wrote the song for John Wesley Harding, recording a sparse, two-and-a-half-minute version in Nashville on 6 November 1967 with Charlie McCoy on bass and Kenneth Buttrey on drums. The album came out at the end of December 1967, and Jimi Hendrix, a devoted Dylan fan, quickly decided to rework it. His version turned the terse acoustic original into a dramatic, layered electric piece while keeping Dylan's three-chord cycle and cryptic lyric intact.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience began the track at Olympic Studios in London on 21 January 1968. The session was crowded: Traffic's Dave Mason played twelve-string acoustic, and the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones added percussion, including the vibraslap heard in the introduction. Bassist Noel Redding, frustrated by the many takes, walked out, and Mason briefly covered bass. Engineer Eddie Kramer later said that Hendrix himself played the bass heard on the finished record.

Hendrix was not satisfied, and over the summer of 1968 he kept reworking the track at the Record Plant in New York, overdubbing and re-recording guitar parts and remixing it himself. Around this time producer Chas Chandler stepped away from the Electric Ladyland project, leaving Hendrix in charge. Engineers Eddie Kramer and Gary Kellgren helped build the densely layered final mix.

Reprise released the single in the US on 2 September 1968, ahead of the Electric Ladyland double album, with 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' on the flip side; Track followed in the UK in October. It reached No. 5 in Britain and No. 20 in the US, making it Hendrix's highest-charting American single and his only Top 40 hit there.

The solo

Hendrix built the instrumental break as a sequence of distinct guitar passages rather than one continuous solo. Producer Bobby Owsinski's analysis describes four sections: an opening lead in a relatively clean, intense tone; a second passage in which slide guitar pans across the stereo field over structured bass octaves; a third where Hendrix switches to wah-wah, again moving from side to side; and a final section that climbs in intensity with a slightly overdriven Stratocaster sound. The guitars were treated with tape delay of roughly 350 milliseconds plus delayed reverb, adding to the sense of space. Much of this lead work was overdubbed and redone in New York months after the basic track, as Hendrix refined the performance and mixed it himself.

Legacy

Hendrix's recording is often held up as the definitive example of a cover eclipsing its source. Total Guitar readers named it the greatest cover version of all time, Guitar World ranked its solo No. 5 among the greatest guitar solos, and Rolling Stone placed it at No. 40 in its 2021 list of the 500 greatest songs. Dylan himself was so struck by it that he adopted Hendrix's arrangement for his own concerts from 1974 onward, saying he felt he was paying tribute to Hendrix whenever he played it.

Top 10 facts about All Along the Watchtower

Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones played percussion on the session, including the vibraslap heard in the intro.
Wikipedia
Traffic's Dave Mason played the twelve-string acoustic guitar on the recording.
Wikipedia
Noel Redding left the session in frustration, and engineer Eddie Kramer later credited Hendrix with the finished bass part.
Wikipedia
The basic track used was take 27, recorded on a four-track machine at Olympic Studios.
Bobby Owsinski's Music Production Blog
The guitars carry about 350 ms of tape delay with three or four repeats, plus delayed reverb.
Bobby Owsinski's Music Production Blog
It was Hendrix's only US Top 40 single, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Wikipedia
Dylan began performing the song in Hendrix's style on his 1974 tour with the Band and has kept that approach ever since.
Wikipedia
A stripped-down alternate mix was released in 1997 on the compilation South Saturn Delta.
Songfacts
Total Guitar readers voted it the best cover song of all time in a 2008 poll, ahead of the Beatles' 'Twist and Shout'.
Songfacts
Hendrix played the song at the Isle of Fehmarn festival on 6 September 1970, his final official concert, captured without his knowledge on a Revox tape machine.
Wikipedia

Live versions

Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight (1970) Recorded 31 August 1970 at his last UK show, weeks before his death; released 2002.
Live at the Isle of Fehmarn (1970) From his final official concert on 6 September 1970; released 2005.
Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival (1970) Recorded 4 July 1970 and released in 2015; a rare live outing for the song.

Notable covers

U2 (1988) Live version included on Rattle and Hum.
XTC (1978) New-wave reworking on their debut album White Music.
Bobby Womack (1973) Soul interpretation on the album Facts of Life.
Dave Mason (1974) The guitarist from Hendrix's session cut his own version on his self-titled album.
Dave Matthews Band A long-running concert staple for the band.

In our lists

The Most-Taught Solos — #33
The Greatest Solo of Every Year — #25
The 25 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Solos — #4
The 25 Greatest Psychedelic Guitar Solos — #3
The Pioneers: 1950s & 60s — #1
Slide Guitar — #2
Wah & Talk Box Solos — #2
Best of Jimi Hendrix — #1
Played on a Stratocaster — #3
Most Agreed-Upon — #7
Critics' Picks — #11
Fans' Picks — #7

Sources

What guitar was used on the All Along the Watchtower solo?

A fender stratocaster through a Marshall amp, with wah, slide, according to widely reported accounts.

Where does All Along the Watchtower rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#7 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 48 of them.

Who wrote All Along the Watchtower?

Bob Dylan wrote it; his original appeared on John Wesley Harding in December 1967.

What album is Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower on?

It is on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1968 double album Electric Ladyland.

Who played bass on Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower?

Engineer Eddie Kramer credited Hendrix himself with the final bass part after Noel Redding left the session.

Did Bob Dylan like Hendrix's version?

Yes. Dylan said it overwhelmed him and he has performed the song in Hendrix's style ever since.

What effects are on the All Along the Watchtower solo?

The solo moves through slide guitar, wah-wah and overdriven Strat passages, with tape delay and reverb.