Purple Haze

Jimi Hendrix, 1967. Solo by Jimi Hendrix.

The Octavia-driven solo sounded alien in 1967.

The solo marked the recorded debut of the Octavia, an octave-doubling device built by Roger Mayer with Hendrix's input. It folds the waveform so a higher octave rings above each note, and paired with a Fuzz Face it gave the lead a sound nobody had heard before. On the outro, the engineers recorded guitar at half speed and played it back at full speed, raising the pitch into a piercing, almost Eastern tone. It helped open the door to decades of effects-driven guitar. Listen for the ghostly upper octave that seems to float above the lead notes; that is the Octavia at work.

Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix is ranked #44 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Jimi Hendrix and the song was released in 1967. It appears on 13 lists, placing as high as #1 (uDiscover Music).

The story of Purple Haze

Purple Haze was the second single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and became one of the defining records of 1967. Manager and producer Chas Chandler heard Hendrix working on the riff at their London flat in December 1966 and urged him to finish it as the follow-up to Hey Joe. Songfacts dates the writing to 26 December 1966, backstage at the Upper Cut Club, drawing on the free-verse notes and poems Hendrix kept.

Hendrix's first handwritten draft was headed Purple Haze – Jesus Saves and contained far more lyrics than the final version. In a January 1967 interview he said the song came from a dream of walking under the sea. The idea that it describes an LSD trip has never been confirmed by Hendrix or those close to him; biographer Harry Shapiro calls the words a grab bag of ideas, and Hendrix once described it simply as a love-struck daze.

The Experience cut the basic track on 11 January 1967 at De Lane Lea Studios on four-track equipment. Mitch Mitchell recalled Hendrix humming the riff and showing Noel Redding the changes, and they had it by about the third take, finishing the backing in four hours. Chandler then moved the tape to Olympic Studios, where engineer Eddie Kramer oversaw overdubs from 3 to 8 February, including new vocals and guitar and a range of experimental effects.

Track Records released the single in the UK on 17 March 1967 with 51st Anniversary on the flip; it reached number 3 and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. Reprise issued it in America on 19 June with The Wind Cries Mary, where it peaked at 65, and it opened the US version of Are You Experienced. The master sent to Reprise carried a warning that the distortion was intentional and must not be corrected.

The solo

Hendrix played the solo himself, and it marked the recorded debut of the Octavia, an octave-doubling device built by sound engineer Roger Mayer with Hendrix's input. The unit folds the waveform so an upper octave rings above each note; Hendrix paired it with a Fuzz Face for extra grit. According to Mayer, Hendrix first tried the prototype through a small amp and knew at once how he would use it, then deployed it during the overdub sessions at Olympic Studios. Mayer has also said Hendrix used a Telecaster rather than his usual Stratocaster for the solo parts. On the outro, Chandler recorded guitar at 7.5 inches per second and played it back at 15, raising the pitch and producing a piercing, almost Eastern-sounding tone beyond the instrument's normal range.

Legacy

Purple Haze is routinely named among the greatest guitar recordings ever made. Q magazine put it at number one on its 2005 list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks, and Rolling Stone ranked it second among guitar songs in 2003 and 17th in its 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs. It received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000, sits among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 songs that shaped rock, and was chosen by NPR as one of the century's most important American musical works. Dave Marsh called it the opening single of the album-rock era.

Top 10 facts about Purple Haze

The intro riff pits Hendrix's B-flat against Noel Redding's E on bass, a tritone once nicknamed the devil in music.
Wikipedia
The verses use the E7#9 voicing now widely known as the Hendrix chord, alongside G and A shapes that Hendrix fretted partly with his thumb.
Wikipedia
Hendrix's first draft of the lyric was titled Purple Haze – Jesus Saves and was much longer than the released song.
Wikipedia
The tape box sent to Reprise was marked with a note saying the distortion was deliberate and should not be corrected.
Wikipedia
Roger Mayer says Hendrix first tested the Octavia through a practice amp at Chislehurst Caves in Kent before using it at Olympic Studios.
Guitar World
For a ghostly background effect, Chandler had sounds played through headphones that were moved around the recording microphone.
Wikipedia
The Experience first played the song live on 8 January 1967 in Sheffield, before the studio version was finished.
Songfacts
Dion's 1969 acoustic version with strings peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, two places higher than Hendrix's original.
Wikipedia
Q magazine named Purple Haze the greatest guitar track of all time in 2005.
Wikipedia
Hendrix played it second to last at his final concert on 6 September 1970.
Songfacts

Live versions

Live at Monterey (1967) The Experience's breakthrough American festival set at Monterey Pop.
Live at Woodstock (Gypsy Sun and Rainbows) (1969) Played by Hendrix's expanded Woodstock band during his famous festival-closing set.
Live at Berkeley (1970) Captured with the Cry of Love touring lineup of Hendrix, Mitchell and Billy Cox.
Winterland (2011) Archival release of 1968 San Francisco shows that reached number 49 on the Billboard 200.
Miami Pop Festival (2013) Archival 1968 festival recording that charted at number 39 in the US.

Notable covers

Dion (1968) Acoustic arrangement with strings; as a 1969 single it outcharted Hendrix's US original.
The Cure (1993) Reworked for the Stone Free tribute album; reached number 2 on Modern Rock Tracks.
Kronos Quartet String quartet version the group has often used as an encore.
Nigel Kennedy Classical violinist who recorded his own interpretation.
Meridian Arts Ensemble Brass ensemble among the classical groups to record the song.

In our lists

The Most-Taught Solos — #22
The Road Trip 50 — #11
The 25 Greatest Psychedelic Guitar Solos — #5
The Pioneers: 1950s & 60s — #11
Solos in Hit Singles — #11
Best of Jimi Hendrix — #5
Played on a Stratocaster — #19

Sources

Who played the guitar solo on Purple Haze?

Jimi Hendrix played the solo on Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze (1967).

What guitar was used on the Purple Haze solo?

A fender stratocaster through a Marshall amp, with Octavia, Fuzz Face, according to widely reported accounts.

Where does Purple Haze rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#44 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 13 of them.

Who wrote Purple Haze?

Jimi Hendrix wrote both the music and the lyrics.

Is Purple Haze about drugs?

Hendrix never said so; he described it as coming from a dream of walking under the sea, and later as being about a man dazed by love.

What effect did Hendrix use on the Purple Haze solo?

He used Roger Mayer's Octavia, which adds an upper octave, combined with a Fuzz Face distortion unit.

What album is Purple Haze on?

It was a standalone UK single in 1967 and opened the US edition of Are You Experienced.

What is the famous misheard lyric in Purple Haze?

The line about kissing the sky is often heard as kissing this guy, and Hendrix sometimes played along with the joke onstage.