Voodoo Child Slight Return

A followup to the Jimi Hendrix original version.

For the intro and outro main riff, starting with the last note of measure 5 and similar spots throughout, make sure to grab that 7th fret cleanly with your thumb. I noticed sometimes you can only faintly hear me doing that, but Stevie plays it more distinctly. I was aiming to do the whole song in one take.

I’m using 11 gauge strings on the guitar. I know Stevie used heavier strings, probably 12s or 13s, but that’s a little too tough on my hands. For some of the bends on the 2nd fret G string, you may notice I sometimes use my ring finger to bend because of my carpal tunnel. It’s hard on me to consistently bend with my middle finger. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t, but you’ll probably notice that throughout the performance.

Some parts are more about capturing the general feel and rhythm of the riff rather than hitting every single string perfectly. In certain spots, especially during the E chord strumming and bluesy rhythm sections, I may hit extra strings or miss a few here and there, but the main goal is to lock into the groove and overall feel of the part.

In measure 61, I don’t think Stevie picks those notes again. I think he does the whole phrase in one shot using hammer ons and pull offs. For me, I’m sometimes repicking certain notes during those moments because I don’t have as much sustain. I’m using amp modeling with headphones through Amplitube rather than playing through a real amp with natural feedback.

There may be other spots throughout the song where Stevie lets notes sustain longer than I do. You may notice that I occasionally have to re pick notes to keep them ringing out. That’s really just the nature of using modeling gear and not being plugged into a loud amp that naturally feeds back and sustains notes.