On his first album in 1967, Jimi Hendrix showed the world what an electric guitar can really do. Taking new and radical elements of the guitar such as feedback and distortion to newer and more radical heights, Hendrix was breaking some serious ground. He discovered that the electric guitar can take on as many textures and colors as the guitarist is willing and able to play. The amazing aspect of the his music was that no one but Hendrix was able to produce these sounds at this time. Some argue that no one since his death in 1970 has been able to play the guitar at Hendrix's level. The title track "Are You Experienced?" is groundbreaking as it starts with Hendrix turning the knob of a fader in a fashion that strongly resembles record-scratching. This sound is widely popular in a modern genre of music today called rap. Who know where the rap world may have been without this song? Throughout the song, Hendrix half-sings, half-raps over an irregular guitar rhythm about finding love at the bottom of the sea. Halfway through the piece, the drums fade out as Hendrix shows his guitar skills with a guitar solo lead. The notes have no steady rhythm, and the high pitched distorted notes distinguish it from a bass or acoustic guitar. Hendrix slides right into a confident groove punctuated by a guitar chord at the end of each rhythm. The timbre is very raw in quality, maintaining that low budget "Rock n' Roll" feeling to it. His recording device consisted of only using tape, and furthermore playing it back through to create some of his sounds. The music in "Are You Experienced?" is pretty basic, consisting of just drums, bass guitar and electric guitar. The instruments drive the structure of the piece and the lyrics/singing conforms to this. Good song writing usually requires the artist to set music to form. Natural coinciding of rhythm of music and speech to shape a melod
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