How to Play the "Other" Hendrix Chord

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Of the myriad contributions Jimi Hendrix has made to the lexicon of modern guitar, one of the most enduring is the legendary “Hendrix chord."

The chord, an E7#9, was definitely nothing new when Hendrix famously used it in “Purple Haze” (Jazz and R&B guitarists used it extensively, and the Beatles featured it years earlier on “Taxman”), but its use by Hendrix inspired its use by generations of guitarists in a wide range of styles.

EXAMPLE 1 is the most famous fingering of the “Hendrix chord," though Hendrix and many others would often also use the voicing found in EXAMPLE 2.

Note that the #9 is the enharmonic equivalent of the minor 3rd, so the chord can be seen as just a comfortable fingering that consists of the root, flat 7, and both the major and minor 3rds.

This major/minor ambiguity makes the chord perfectly suited for the blues, while using it as a substitution for the V chord in a key can help lend a jazzy feel to a turnaround (Stevie Ray Vaughan often used it in this manner).

While much has been written about the 7#9 chord and Jimi’s use of it, an oft-overlooked chord voicing featured prominently in Hendrix’s recorded work is his sus2 chord shape depicted in EXAMPLE 3.

The chord should be fingered in the “Jimi-approved” manner of using the thumb to fret the low E string root, with the ring finger fretting the D string, the index fretting the B string, and the pinky grabbing the high E string.

The A string should be muted with the tips of the thumb and ring fingers, and the G string should be muted with the underside of the ring finger and the tip of the index.

Since the chord