Paul McCartney tells Steven Colbert a story about Jimi Hendrix when he played "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" to open a show, then asked Eric Clapton to tune his guitar.
Good call, plus Jimi was a lefty and tuned his guitar uniquely - there was no way Clapton would be able to tune it so Hendrix could play it. Maybe Hendrix was teasing Clapton. :)
@@JoshMaxPower Why would Jimi strings be tuned any differently than EAGDBE? Clapton could have turned it to that. Or half step lower. Or whatever Jimi wanted.
On several live recordings Mr. Hendrix can be heard tuning his guitar completely by ear (and doing it perfectly), he didn't need any help tuning a guitar, that's for sure.
I saw him a couple of times, and he'd just hit all the strings, open, a huge chord super loud, and then tune each string as it sustained. I've never seen anyone else able to do that. Amazing!
It’s sad that Hendrix never had a proper road crew that could keep guitars in tune for him, or hand him a new one after each song. The Stones started doing that in the 70’s and found that in the time it saved they could add 3 more songs to their set list
If it really happened, Jimi would have been teasing Eric Clapton. At this time, they all knew Jimi was now the Guitar God, and they acknowledged it. Jimi loved to joke around as you see in all his documentaries.
I was there also. They put on some great gigs at the Saville theatre usually on a Sunday evening. I saw The Who, Cream and Jimi Hendrix later David Bowie and Roxy Music. It was an excellent venue.
When I seen Paul a couple years ago he told the story that he had the pleasure of meeting him in the 60s and that he asked him to come up and tune his guitar. So it was definitely Paul that did
Jimi was constantly retuning his guitar in live performances after whammy abuse but on a guitar that’s set up well tuning slips rarely affect all strings and are easily corrected. He was quite proficient at this so any request to the audience to tune his guitar would have been interactive banter. He could tune a twelve string whilst having a conversation, smoking a joint, drinking coffee and listening to the radio. He didn’t need help from Paul McCartney or Eric Clapton.
Paul is a big composer of the two last centuries!! Jummy is a great instrument player! So , nothing to compare!! Even jummy was a good guitarist, he was limited in one styles: rock- blues which is just one of the styles that composed and played the beatles ! So nothing to compare !!!!!!!
@@fouadeljabri2330 Ah foei!! Jimi was a great composer as well as he wrote some pretty unique songs, Electric ladyland is an ambient album avant la lettre and a lot of it sounds pretty modern still today, and he would use his guitar as an orchestra overdubbing little pieces and riffs which could easily be flutes or string sections.
that would only work if it's a half or whole step out of tune which is unlikely or if you're playing a fretless, which he didn't. more likely to be just some random amount out of tune which means none of the frets would line up with anything which means you're just out of tune no matter what you do and need to retune or have the rest of the bad match you which would be weird and a lot of work.
@@robmurrah3224 Yep. If you have good pitch hearing, you can bend any out of tune string right to the exact point where it makes the correct note for what you're playing. If you're good, you're good. Jimi was good.
Jimi was MASTER of his instrument. If he heard it out of tune, he would tune "on the fly", without missing a beat. This can be seen on several videos...
This story really needed to be informed with the previous chapter, in which an unknown at the time Jimi Hendrix asks to go on stage and play with Cream and proceeds to leave Eric Clapton absolutely gobsmacked with the rendition of Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor, a song which Clapton happened to be working on, but felt he hadn't mastered yet. That story is all over CZcams now and there's Jimi's brass knockers for ya. Eric left the stage halfway through and said to Chas Chandler, the manager who got Jimi in there to play, "You didn't tell me he was that f**king good." But that just adds a whole lot more bite to Jimi specifically asking for Eric to tune his guitar. Ouch!
This story has been around for jurassic years, it’ came right out of the horse’s mouth in the Jimi hendrix 1973 documentary by warner bros made after his death.
Eric and jimi became inseparable friends after that. I’m sure jimi didn’t say that to belittle him, it was more than likely an inside joke between them. The only guy jimi was really a dick to was Keith Richards
Jimi was so good, he knew how much error in tuning would still allow him to comfortably play on. He tuned the strings after each song, knowing the slack and stretch limits. But his setup ensured that the strings stayed in tune after heavy whammy bar use. His guitar was a little untuned for the most parts of his songs, but he knew exactly how to handle that situation. Genius
He always downtuned a half step to E flat. So the string was super easy to keep in tune while using the trem. And as long as you are pre stretching your strings when they first go on you will be fine. The machine heads were the biggest issue with keeping tuned while diving and as long as you have them routed on the post properly. You're good to go
Let's be real. Strats won't stay in tune today, 50 years later. no matter what you do, a non floyd rose is not going to stay in tune after heavy vibrato use no matter what voodoo you do to it
Clapton also got the nickname 'slowhand' early in his career for getting the slowhand clap from British audiences to show their frustration at him often taking a long time in between songs to tune his guitar. Could be that that was what Jimi was referring to as well. Maybe he knew the story and thought it would be a funny little jab being doubly appropriate for Clapton being such a renowned player and also having that very action, mid-set tuning, be something that he was known for doing a lot. Mix in that it's all meant to be happening at a British venue (I think) it makes too much sense. It's probably rock star apocrypha, but pretty cool story nonetheless.
@helenespaulding7562 Nah not really, for jimi yeah 1000% he probably was crapping in his tight pants so excited to be in front of the Beatles who had no idea who he was.
@@KeizerHedorah nah, I was merely pointing out that he played in front of only ONE Beatle, Paul McCartney….not in front of all four Beatles. The names mentioned were Paul, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townsend. Only one was a Beatle. But you know that, right?
@@KeizerHedorah wow, sorry. Didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers. Im sure he played in front of all the Beatles at some point. I was solely addressing this particular performance and who was said to be there ; McCartney, Clapton and Townsend. Surely you understand that? Are you just trying to be contrary? Or dense? Sorry, I hate being rude, but come on. If Ringo or George or John was at that same performance, then I stand corrected. Were they?
I believe Keith had the Marlboro occasionally and the odd glass or two but he's really kicked the rest into touch, including the Opiates - many years ago. He turns eighty years old this coming December.
Jimi Hendrix, like all great guitarists, could tune and detune on the run. Break,a string?, don't stop, just re finger the chords. Such musical virtuosity goes beyond mastery of technique. He , being left handed on a right handed guitar, could also switch it around to right handed mode without missing a beat. Truly a genius.
Jimi was a known jokester. He and EC had a friendly rivalry. Id read a story where jimi had gotten out of tune and Eric called from the side of the stage joking " well whats he gonna do now?!", jimi grinned and bent the stings as he played until they were the correct notes.
I do believe that‘s not possible not to love Jimi Hendrix. And I like it very much, how Paul McCartney tells stories. Sorry for my English, I‘m from Jupiter.
The fact that the three, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton were alive and performing at the same time is truly astounding. Best musicians of the 20th century!
Love it that Paul shares these stories with us, he's an international treasure and we're lucky he's still with us! Jimi knew they were there that night, the Beatles manager Brian Epstein owned the Saville theater. Jimi was having some fun banter between songs and giving the nod to his good friend Eric Clapton's intonation skills.
Jimi could tune the guitar himself. He even could tune it to different keys for different songs. He also would tune it after using the bar to bring the strings back in tune which is why you see Jimi constantly reaching for the machine heads during the Star Spangled Banner. All the the wrenching he did on the bar kept pulling the strings out of tune.
There's a trick to bringing a strat back in tune after you do a dive bomb. Give the bar a firm yank and it will come back into tune. EVH used to do that before he started using Floyd Rose trems. I've tried it and it works.
The other bit of trivia is that at the time, the Saville Theater in London was owned by Brian Epstein, it was also where the Beatles filmed the “Hello Goodbye” video
Epstein passed away 2 months after the Sgt. Pepper. So it’s highly possible that he heard of Jimi’s rendition too. God, I want to know how he reacted to Hendrix’s improvisation.
Paul’s not considered one of the guitar greats, but it’s ironic that nobody-NOBODY-plays the riff from “Let me Roll it” as pretty or as perfectly clean as he does. Even in the live videos I’ve seen it’s always perfect! His acoustic guitar picking is also great (and his unique finger waggle, lol)
That's correct. He was simultaneously making a joke, but also hoping to meet Eric, and maybe even see his guitar in Eric's hands. Jimi looked up to him, even as Eric felt crushed beneath.
Saying “whammy bar” is hardly “Strat knowledge”. I don’t skateboard. I think I’ve held a skateboard like once in my life. But I can say “bearings”, “deck”, “griptape”. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll say “trucks.” I still can’t tell one skateboard from another.
Jimi and Eric became friends almost overnight. Eric really concidered Jimi as a close friend and used to by him presents - including a left hand strat he found while on tour. He was really looking forward to handle Jimi that guitar when he came back from tour - only to hear that Jimi had passed away the night before. “And there I was, stuck with that damn guitar I never got to give to him”
@@wellesradio I think the point is that Paul called Jimi's tremolo a "Bigsby" which isn't correct and Stephen subtly corrected him. With the exception of a some weird partscasters and Parallel Universe models the Strat wasn't equipped with a Bigsby. The lack of a Bigsby in favor of the synchronized tremolo system is one of the many things that set the Strat apart from other instruments at the time and contributed to its iconic status.
DAAAMN! Paul knows his sh-t that sounds damn near exact to Jimi's whammy bar signature's he did vocally LOL... I know a lot of us wish we could have witnessed these Phenoms Live!!!
I read somewhere that he was on holiday back in the sixties at one point and got a telegram inviting him to come and jam… from Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis… but he didn't go.
@@Kowasi Paul would have gone, but nobody forwarded him the memo. They told Jimi “Paul is out of the office” and then never contacted Paul. Such a shame, it would have been freaking amazing.
After Eric came out of his "shellshocked" state, He and Jimi became pretty close friends, and hung out a little bit. Everyone loved Jimi, because he really didn't have a huge ego, like most Rock stars have. If anyone could have bragged, it was Jimi, the kid from Seattle Washington.
An absolute god jimi hendrix will be missed throughout the generations im only 20 but im making sure my kids are fully educated in hendrix thts for damn sure
Clapton knew Jimi tuned his guitar 1/2 step down from standard, a trick he learned from the old bluesmen he ran into on the road. I have no freaking clue as to why or if it’s even true, but I’ve heard it a few times. Clapton didn’t want to get anywhere near that stage with Jimi Hendrix calling him out.
what that must be like for clapton, you think you are the guitar god then you find out there is a guy not only is he better than you but as long as you live you will never be as good as him. i'd start drinking too.
@@PeteWizzle He was hearing the album for the first time and all these "good players" have the power of Internet to learn it. It took him seconds to learn what it was and improvise a solo for it. He listened to the album for twenty minutes with his band. He had bought the record only a few minutes before the performance. So next time, know more about the topic you're discussing than just randomly spewing out unnecessary bs. It took him seconds to learn it, even though it was his first time hearing it. "Good players" have heard that album several times and are able to learn it in three minutes after checking the chords or watching a video.
I’m so glad you got to see him! I just want to see him once before he retires… this 2022 tour has no shows within 400 miles of me and I can’t afford plane tickets and a hotel room 😭
The part Paul isn't mentioning is where Hendrix was actually being a prick to Clapton in asking him to tune his guitar because of what happened earlier.... Hendrix upstaged Clapton at his own gig. Make no mistake Jimi was rubbing it in. He didn't need anyone to tune his guitar
@@thenorthernsoul nope ginger baker tells the story of the cream inviting Hendrix on the stage and Hendrix blowing him away so much that he just walked backstage. Jimi liked clappers more than clappers liked him back then. Facts, mate!
@@thenorthernsoul it might have been about Eric's reputation with how long it took him to change strings and tune, he was notoriously slow, which is actually where he got the name "slowhand", most people think he got that from his playing but in those days he could rip, especially in Cream.
As a musician I appreciate the likes of Colbert correcting Sir Paul Himself on the nomenclature of the whammy bar, as Jimi wasn’t known to use instruments with Bigsby branded tremolo systems. It just goes to show that Paul is no technical elitist.
I guess, this was Jimi's way of telling the Lennon & McCartney posse about "With a Little Help from My Friends" - this song starts with "What would you think if I sang out of tune?" The "Sgt. Pepper..." Beatles' album was released 26 May 1967 and Hendrix had London as his base at least through June that year. At the time, Clapton headed a band called "Cream" which dissolved in 1968 (likely influenced by Eric listening to a team of musicians called "The Band" and their album "Music from Big Pink". The Band had been Bob Dylan's support musicians until his accident and started their own thing.)
0:28 No one is gonna joke that Paul actually says he had this VIBRATOR on,,,instead of the actual term vibrato. But hell it might be the secret to the Hendrix sound playing the guitar with a vibrator.
Little does McCartney know he's talking about a guy that was tuning his guitar by ear while playing the national anthem at woodstock. Without stopping.
@@LaZarusXtnct ... lol ... because his guitar was out of tune with all the noises he was making and he's trying to fix it a bit, trying to tune some strings along the hurly-burly.
Hmm... If this happened...and as a lifelong Jimi fan it is the first time I have heard this story, I can literally see Jimi peering out into the audience with his hand shielding his eyes from the lights and asking "Is Eric here?". It is a joke. Much the same as he always asked audiences to give the band a minute to tune up because they "really cared for your ears"
@@genemars5158 hmmm that didn't sound logic, the longer you play, the more often you hear the single strings on a guitar, you know how they need to sound and you realize immediately when you are out of tune. How long did hendrix play the guitar? 15 years? For sure for 10 hours + per day? So you want to say someone who wrotes little wing or bold as love, didn't know how to tune a guitar? I don't buy it. I play for 4-5years now and im able to tune it by ear. And im not even in the same galaxy as Hendrix was.
Don't remember Jimi using a Bigsby but Jimi was always tuning his guitar on the fly, he most likely had perfect pitch. Fender Strats did not have Bigsbys, but hey we were not there Paul was!
I've seen Jimi with many different guitars, although he is mainly known for his Strats. I've even seen a pic of him with an upside down Les Paul! How the heck did he reach the high notes like that? Amazing! He could pretty much pick up anything, even if it is strung right handed, flip it over and play it.
Paul himself has admitted he doesn't really know much about gear. He just uses it to play, and he doesn't really care about specs or whatever, so it's not unusual for him to mix up all the terms. Apparently at some point someone asked him what bass strings he used and he answered 'long shiny ones'.
I'm thinking Paul might be using the word 'Bigsby' because he's a bit older than us, and the Bigsby vibrato is an earlier vibrato system than the one on the Strat, so he may be using it a bit like how some people say 'Coke' as a generic name to refer any kind of liquid carbonated sugary corporate poison, or 'Tylenol' to refer to liver destroying acetaminophen/paracetamol.
Eric Clapton said he was so blown away the first time he saw Jimi play that he needed help lighting his cigarette. His hands were shaking too much. There was a new "God" in town.
Jimi played a festival on the isle of wight , Before he was due on he asked a roadie for the british national anthem (melody) and promptly went on to play it on stage .
Jimi played the song with his Strat with no tremolo arm. You can see that on the video. He propably played with the Bigsby of his Flying V and changed the guitar just before the song. He also lost his pick while he threw away his cigarette.
Lazo Tashev..... Loads of guitarists are better than Clapton and Hendrix. The more I listen to both of them, the more shit they sound compared to other guitar greats. They weren't that special.
@@brianwilson3952 It is a personal opinion, it's very individual when it comes about music taste and preferences. In my opinion, there is no other guitarist as good as Jimi. It's not about shredding and speed, it's about the magic Jimi has brought in music.
.....well, Paul is being a bit ingenuous there...... i saw Jimi play in Milwaukee in '70 and, in the middle of one of his incredible lead runs, he popped his top E-string in the middle of a song, as players do...... while still playing lead, he ripped that string out, and if you know strats, you know the string enters from the back of the guitar. He then pulled a spare E-string out of nowhere, threaded it thru the back in one smooth motion, running it toward the string hole, shoving it thru, then catching it coming out the front, a move i've never seen before or since! ..... still playing lead with one hand while the other pulled the string thru to the stop, wrapped it around the top post and started spinning it up..... still playing lead mind you...... then with one quick note at a time, wound it up to where it was fully in tune by the end of the song! Truly incredible! Paul also showed his ignorance of blues..... Great blues players play out of tune all the time! When you are bending notes, that's not a mechanical thing, they will bend that string to the right note, by ear, no matter what the tuning is, and yeah, it leaves the guitar out of tune every time! And, of course, these days, most players keep their tuner-fish plugged in, in parallel, so that they are constantly checking tuning after each song. I gotta believe Jimi was fucking with 'em. Oh wait! He was playing their song in their face!! So, great story, as long as you take it tongue-in-cheek.... I feel certain Paul did!
There's a story I read in a book about Jimi Hendrix, that was written by Eric Clapton's driver. After the this particular concert Clapton went back to his limousine and he was so frustrated and angry that he started to cry and roll around the floor of the limo, while he was having a tantrum yelling how he will never be a good guitar player as Hendrix.
I think I remember hearing that Clapton made fun of Hendrix at some point for the way he played having the guitar upside down, and this was Jimi getting back at him, I also believe Clapton was quite embarrassed after Jimi started playing.
@@theguitarodds1779 they meet before that when hendrix played with cream in 66, this concert was in 67. Clapton and chas chandler were the ones who formed the experience by setting up Mitch and Noel with Hendrix and were the main reason Hendrix got put center stage.
@@skylerspringsteen5730 Oh right I didn't realise that Clapton was part of the formation of the experience, I read a book about Hendrix, I don't remember Clapton being mentioned as someone who put the band together but maybe I'm misremembering.
@@theguitarodds1779 it was from a interview with chandler, he joked about how Clapton didn’t think Noel was up to par with Hendrix and was trying to find him a new bass player and an interview with Townsend talking about how Clapton called him, Harrison, beck, and others about how he was blown off stage by a new guitarist named jimi so it opened everyone up to check him out.
@@ewest14 What "proof" do you want? There are a number of accounts of this show that Hendrix played at by other stars that were there..not one has mentioned this story except Paul. And the show is rather legendary.I refer to his biographer Phillip Norman who once said (paraphrase), "Ringo doesn't remember and Paul lies"...:)
Jimi knew fine well how to tune a guitar. He also had a good sense of humour, and was clearly pulling EC's leg.
Yes - absolutely.
@@rodjones117 Couldn't agree more. Jimi had perfect pitch and tune. Clapton was hiding because Jimi was showing them all up!
Good call, plus Jimi was a lefty and tuned his guitar uniquely - there was no way Clapton would be able to tune it so Hendrix could play it. Maybe Hendrix was teasing Clapton. :)
yeah, that makes more sense.
@@JoshMaxPower Why would Jimi strings be tuned any differently than EAGDBE? Clapton could have turned it to that. Or half step lower. Or whatever Jimi wanted.
McCartney, Clapton Townsend and Hendrix. I need a time machine
And allegedly Lemmy backstage as he was, i think working for Hendrix
75% of them are still arround, there is time
There is a video of it floating around on youtube
And Chris Squire of Yes was in that band that opened that night. There's a video of that floating around here as well. Funny tale, too.
wouldn't want to go back a young boy
"Genius is not - not making mistakes. It is making mistakes that blossom into something more beautiful than perfection"...
Jimi Hendrix from Heaven
Beautifully said
@@edgarurajoe90 I swear to you that when I thought of that phrase - I heard it in Jimi's voice in my head... and so...
@@cmkilcullen8176 yeah me aswell, but i think ive heard him say it in one of hes interviews
@@edgarurajoe90
I would love to see and hear that - that would be cool !
So genius is accidentally knocking someone up?
On several live recordings Mr. Hendrix can be heard tuning his guitar completely by ear (and doing it perfectly), he didn't need any help tuning a guitar, that's for sure.
I saw him a couple of times, and he'd just hit all the strings, open, a huge chord super loud, and then tune each string as it sustained. I've never seen anyone else able to do that. Amazing!
Obviously, he was a genius. It was a gimmick, and he probably planned to detune his guitar too
@@MrDavesf ahh your so lucky!
@@hanlon3957 Truly! I was 14 or 15...
It’s sad that Hendrix never had a proper road crew that could keep guitars in tune for him, or hand him a new one after each song. The Stones started doing that in the 70’s and found that in the time it saved they could add 3 more songs to their set list
If it really happened, Jimi would have been teasing Eric Clapton. At this time, they all knew Jimi was now the Guitar God, and they acknowledged it. Jimi loved to joke around as you see in all his documentaries.
Still... it’s funny and the “new kid” did have some Brass Swingers for calling out to a fellow guitar player mid show. Awesome camaraderie! 🤣🎸
If you watch some of the old videos, you can see Jimi tuning onstage. The Monterey Pop Festival for example.
Jimi did tune 1/2 strep down.
@@jameskrys5286 not always. Sometimes standard, sometimes half a step, sometimes 3/4 of a step.
@@fasuto8656 I live 30 miles from his grave. I'll have to ask him next time I visit.
Hendrix loved to joke around. He was not in the least malicious. Ask Clapton.
True
After Clapton’s initial shock, they became great friends.
I would ask Pete Townshend. The Monterrey thing WAS inded malicious
claptons a racist
@@johnBonVentura yeah right good one arsewipe
I was there also. They put on some great gigs at the Saville theatre usually on a Sunday evening. I saw The Who, Cream and Jimi Hendrix later David Bowie and Roxy Music. It was an excellent venue.
I have seen all Jimi live videos, he got visible upset being out of tune, he was great at tuning during a song.
Absolutely true.
Yep. He did it all the time. I think it was the Monterey Pop Festival where he said he was doing it for the audience.
I've listened to all the live albums and it's like every other song he stops and apologizes to the audience for 5 seconds and on to the next song
He had perfect pitch, apparently.
It was before there were "guitar techs" to set up your guitar so it'd stay in tune whilst using the vibrato arm...took me years to figure out
This video should have a billion viewers. At the time, they didn't even know what hit them.
Thx Paul for remembering Hendrix.
i followed your link but it didn't lead anywhere. sad.
I thought Paul was going to say he tuned for Jimi.
me, too.
Click bait title.
really misleading click bait bullshit. It worked though, I clicked the video! Cool story nonetheless
I figured since they were both left-handed guitarists, it made more sense for Paul.
When I seen Paul a couple years ago he told the story that he had the pleasure of meeting him in the 60s and that he asked him to come up and tune his guitar. So it was definitely Paul that did
Jimi was constantly retuning his guitar in live performances after whammy abuse but on a guitar that’s set up well tuning slips rarely affect all strings and are easily corrected. He was quite proficient at this so any request to the audience to tune his guitar would have been interactive banter. He could tune a twelve string whilst having a conversation, smoking a joint, drinking coffee and listening to the radio. He didn’t need help from Paul McCartney or Eric Clapton.
Paul is a big composer of the two last centuries!! Jummy is a great instrument player! So , nothing to compare!! Even jummy was a good guitarist, he was limited in one styles: rock- blues which is just one of the styles that composed and played the beatles ! So nothing to compare !!!!!!!
@@fouadeljabri2330 Ah foei!! Jimi was a great composer as well as he wrote some pretty unique songs, Electric ladyland is an ambient album avant la lettre and a lot of it sounds pretty modern still today, and he would use his guitar as an orchestra overdubbing little pieces and riffs which could easily be flutes or string sections.
Well, Floyd Rose took care of all those strat whammy bar tuning issues.
He didn’t like coffee, he preferred a cup of sand
You alright?
Thing about Jimi, is that he could have a guitar that’s way out of tune and in about 2 seconds figure out where the notes are and play it in tune.
that would only work if it's a half or whole step out of tune which is unlikely or if you're playing a fretless, which he didn't. more likely to be just some random amount out of tune which means none of the frets would line up with anything which means you're just out of tune no matter what you do and need to retune or have the rest of the bad match you which would be weird and a lot of work.
Uh negative, lol.
@@robmurrah3224 Yep. If you have good pitch hearing, you can bend any out of tune string right to the exact point where it makes the correct note for what you're playing. If you're good, you're good. Jimi was good.
Not really
@@joe6096 The best
Jimi was the only person who could play a guitar out of tune and it still sounds fabulous. (Not an overstatement)
TRUTH
Chuck Berry did it all the time. Nothing against you or your comment. Love Hendrix.
Jimi was MASTER of his instrument. If he heard it out of tune, he would tune "on the fly", without missing a beat. This can be seen on several videos...
I love how McCartney turns into Christopher Walken briefly at 0:26
LOL. We are all part CW.
Nice catch!
Perhaps it was Jimi's way of saying, 'After this, you can be my guitar tech, cuz you're finished as guitar god.'. (only kidding)
Yes and in more than one occasions does he sound like walken
Hahaha....love it! Nice catch indeed!
This story really needed to be informed with the previous chapter, in which an unknown at the time Jimi Hendrix asks to go on stage and play with Cream and proceeds to leave Eric Clapton absolutely gobsmacked with the rendition of Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor, a song which Clapton happened to be working on, but felt he hadn't mastered yet. That story is all over CZcams now and there's Jimi's brass knockers for ya. Eric left the stage halfway through and said to Chas Chandler, the manager who got Jimi in there to play, "You didn't tell me he was that f**king good." But that just adds a whole lot more bite to Jimi specifically asking for Eric to tune his guitar. Ouch!
Oh I’ve heard of this story!!
Thank you man for clearing it up for me since I didn’t know the full
This story has been around for jurassic years, it’ came right out of the horse’s mouth in the Jimi hendrix 1973 documentary by warner bros made after his death.
Eric and jimi became inseparable friends after that. I’m sure jimi didn’t say that to belittle him, it was more than likely an inside joke between them. The only guy jimi was really a dick to was Keith Richards
@@skylerspringsteen5730 i love Hendrix even more now (if thats possible) knowing he was a dick to Richards, i think he clearly deserves it
Clapton used to shine Hendrix’s shoes after that too
.... Mccartney's voice sounds great , even just making weird noises..
Noises ya div
@@bobsmith3291 👍
@@bobsmith3291 obviously just a mistake ye div
@@JoeGibsonLP well check it div
For my money he's the greatest singer ever in pop/rock.
Jimi was so good, he knew how much error in tuning would still allow him to comfortably play on. He tuned the strings after each song, knowing the slack and stretch limits. But his setup ensured that the strings stayed in tune after heavy whammy bar use. His guitar was a little untuned for the most parts of his songs, but he knew exactly how to handle that situation. Genius
He always downtuned a half step to E flat. So the string was super easy to keep in tune while using the trem. And as long as you are pre stretching your strings when they first go on you will be fine. The machine heads were the biggest issue with keeping tuned while diving and as long as you have them routed on the post properly. You're good to go
Let's be real. Strats won't stay in tune today, 50 years later. no matter what you do, a non floyd rose is not going to stay in tune after heavy vibrato use no matter what voodoo you do to it
He also tuned during songs sometimes, just a quick twist. I learned that trick on my bass(I play heavy handed), helped out when playing live.
Clapton also got the nickname 'slowhand' early in his career for getting the slowhand clap from British audiences to show their frustration at him often taking a long time in between songs to tune his guitar.
Could be that that was what Jimi was referring to as well. Maybe he knew the story and thought it would be a funny little jab being doubly appropriate for Clapton being such a renowned player and also having that very action, mid-set tuning, be something that he was known for doing a lot. Mix in that it's all meant to be happening at a British venue (I think) it makes too much sense. It's probably rock star apocrypha, but pretty cool story nonetheless.
you have hit the nail on the head 👍🏻
So cool for jimi to be able to play for the Beatles, what a night that must've been for everyone involved.
For A Beatle anyway…..
@helenespaulding7562 Nah not really, for jimi yeah 1000% he probably was crapping in his tight pants so excited to be in front of the Beatles who had no idea who he was.
@@KeizerHedorah nah, I was merely pointing out that he played in front of only ONE Beatle, Paul McCartney….not in front of all four Beatles. The names mentioned were Paul, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townsend. Only one was a Beatle. But you know that, right?
@@KeizerHedorah wow, sorry. Didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers. Im sure he played in front of all the Beatles at some point. I was solely addressing this particular performance and who was said to be there ; McCartney, Clapton and Townsend. Surely you understand that? Are you just trying to be contrary? Or dense? Sorry, I hate being rude, but come on. If Ringo or George or John was at that same performance, then I stand corrected. Were they?
@helenespaulding7562 I'm just being ridiculous, but yeah george was there that night. ☮️
Paul McCartney is a former member of the Beatles and wings and I never forgotten about him at all
He’s still a winged Beatle as far as I’m concerned ♥️
Paul seems to have outlived the other legends. Feels like he's immortal by now
Keef's still kickin.'
The Stones
@@stellarwind1946 That's actually shocking. How is Keith Richards still alive??? That guy is the definition of wild
@@beefy1986 every cigarette that's smoked takes twenty minutes off the smoker's life and adds it to keith richards
I believe Keith had the Marlboro occasionally and the odd glass or two but he's really kicked the rest into touch, including the Opiates - many years ago. He turns eighty years old this coming December.
I know I’m not the only one that wishes he was still around.
How awesome to be in a club with Clapton, Hendrix, Townshend and McCartney. I feel like I'm born in the wrong era
Jimi Hendrix, like all great guitarists, could tune and detune on the run. Break,a string?, don't stop, just re finger the chords. Such musical virtuosity goes beyond mastery of technique. He , being left handed on a right handed guitar, could also switch it around to right handed mode without missing a beat. Truly a genius.
Hendrix was a legend and everyone knew it. Have yet to hear anyone have a bad word about him.
Jimi was a known jokester. He and EC had a friendly rivalry. Id read a story where jimi had gotten out of tune and Eric called from the side of the stage joking " well whats he gonna do now?!", jimi grinned and bent the stings as he played until they were the correct notes.
I love musically gifted people when they have a sense of humor. It's like the perfect combo.
I do believe that‘s not possible not to love Jimi Hendrix. And I like it very much, how Paul McCartney tells stories. Sorry for my English, I‘m from Jupiter.
The fact that the three, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton were alive and performing at the same time is truly astounding. Best musicians of the 20th century!
Lmaoo cmon man
Love it that Paul shares these stories with us, he's an international treasure and we're lucky he's still with us! Jimi knew they were there that night, the Beatles manager Brian Epstein owned the Saville theater. Jimi was having some fun banter between songs and giving the nod to his good friend Eric Clapton's intonation skills.
Treasure? He's a communist billionaire
Jimi could tune the guitar himself. He even could tune it to different keys for different songs. He also would tune it after using the bar to bring the strings back in tune which is why you see Jimi constantly reaching for the machine heads during the Star Spangled Banner. All the the wrenching he did on the bar kept pulling the strings out of tune.
Paul seems to be around the world telling this story with the exact same words... He never gets tired
Aha .....you must have a better story to tell
There's a trick to bringing a strat back in tune after you do a dive bomb. Give the bar a firm yank and it will come back into tune. EVH used to do that before he started using Floyd Rose trems. I've tried it and it works.
I have them both on vinyl and and couldn't imagine a world without either of bands they played in .
The other bit of trivia is that at the time, the Saville Theater in London was owned by Brian Epstein, it was also where the Beatles filmed the “Hello Goodbye” video
Epstein passed away 2 months after the Sgt. Pepper. So it’s highly possible that he heard of Jimi’s rendition too.
God, I want to know how he reacted to Hendrix’s improvisation.
When I saw paul live he actually told this exact story! How awesome.
He’s also said it in other interviews.. he has a story for every question they throw at him and remembers it like a pitch.
Paul's just "spinning a yarn". If true, it was Jimi joking with his famous audience...
Paul’s not considered one of the guitar greats, but it’s ironic that nobody-NOBODY-plays the riff from “Let me Roll it” as pretty or as perfectly clean as he does. Even in the live videos I’ve seen it’s always perfect! His acoustic guitar picking is also great (and his unique finger waggle, lol)
I enjoyed seeing and hearing Jimi live in person. He sounded in tune to me. Have a nice day!
If it’s true Jimi would have been only joking anyway...he had to much respect for Clapton. Also, respect to Stephen for his Strat knowledge!
That's correct. He was simultaneously making a joke, but also hoping to meet Eric, and maybe even see his guitar in Eric's hands. Jimi looked up to him, even as Eric felt crushed beneath.
@@ehcmier i could be wrong, but at this point I think he had already met eric.
Saying “whammy bar” is hardly “Strat knowledge”. I don’t skateboard. I think I’ve held a skateboard like once in my life. But I can say “bearings”, “deck”, “griptape”. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll say “trucks.” I still can’t tell one skateboard from another.
Jimi and Eric became friends almost overnight. Eric really concidered Jimi as a close friend and used to by him presents - including a left hand strat he found while on tour. He was really looking forward to handle Jimi that guitar when he came back from tour - only to hear that Jimi had passed away the night before. “And there I was, stuck with that damn guitar I never got to give to him”
@@wellesradio I think the point is that Paul called Jimi's tremolo a "Bigsby" which isn't correct and Stephen subtly corrected him. With the exception of a some weird partscasters and Parallel Universe models the Strat wasn't equipped with a Bigsby. The lack of a Bigsby in favor of the synchronized tremolo system is one of the many things that set the Strat apart from other instruments at the time and contributed to its iconic status.
DAAAMN! Paul knows his sh-t that sounds damn near exact to Jimi's whammy bar signature's he did vocally LOL... I know a lot of us wish we could have witnessed these Phenoms Live!!!
Hendrix was infamous for taking time onstage to tune his guitar. You can hear it on tons of tracks. Well worth it
Paul McCartney is a national treasure!
International treasure 😎♥️
Jimi always admired Maccas bass playing and what he was doing.
I read somewhere that he was on holiday back in the sixties at one point and got a telegram inviting him to come and jam… from Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis… but he didn't go.
@@Kowasi Paul would have gone, but nobody forwarded him the memo. They told Jimi “Paul is out of the office” and then never contacted Paul. Such a shame, it would have been freaking amazing.
After Eric came out of his "shellshocked" state, He and Jimi became pretty close friends, and hung out a little bit. Everyone loved Jimi, because he really didn't have a huge ego, like most Rock stars have. If anyone could have bragged, it was Jimi, the kid from Seattle Washington.
An absolute god jimi hendrix will be missed throughout the generations im only 20 but im making sure my kids are fully educated in hendrix thts for damn sure
I saw him too
Cactus
Steve Miller
Grateful Dead
Jimi Hendrix
Temple Stadium
Philadelphia Pa
May 1970
Clapton knew Jimi tuned his guitar 1/2 step down from standard, a trick he learned from the old bluesmen he ran into on the road. I have no freaking clue as to why or if it’s even true, but I’ve heard it a few times. Clapton didn’t want to get anywhere near that stage with Jimi Hendrix calling him out.
what that must be like for clapton, you think you are the guitar god then you find out there is a guy not only is he better than you but as long as you live you will never be as good as him. i'd start drinking too.
When is Paul not the most lovable celebrity on the planet? What a treasure. He makes me grieve for human mortality.
I don’t even wanna think about when he dies… I’ll be inconsolable. He’s my favorite singer/songwriter of all time.
Such a shame about Paul's voice ... its gone but not forgotten.
It's still there. He's still with us, and I'm very happy!
a most humble man. One great guitarist /songwriter. rip Jimi. u r missed.
Jimi learned Sgt. Pepper's in about 20 minutes in the dressing room.
It's just a few Dom7 chords, a good player could learn it in 3 minutes
@@PeteWizzle He was hearing the album for the first time and all these "good players" have the power of Internet to learn it. It took him seconds to learn what it was and improvise a solo for it. He listened to the album for twenty minutes with his band. He had bought the record only a few minutes before the performance. So next time, know more about the topic you're discussing than just randomly spewing out unnecessary bs. It took him seconds to learn it, even though it was his first time hearing it. "Good players" have heard that album several times and are able to learn it in three minutes after checking the chords or watching a video.
Paul told this story when he came in 2018... Man this guy put on a HELL OF A SHOW!
I’m so glad you got to see him! I just want to see him once before he retires… this 2022 tour has no shows within 400 miles of me and I can’t afford plane tickets and a hotel room 😭
The part Paul isn't mentioning is where Hendrix was actually being a prick to Clapton in asking him to tune his guitar because of what happened earlier.... Hendrix upstaged Clapton at his own gig. Make no mistake Jimi was rubbing it in. He didn't need anyone to tune his guitar
Absolute nonsense. Hendrix and Clapton were friends at that point. It was probably just an insider Guitarist joke.
@@thenorthernsoul both can be true
@@thenorthernsoul nope ginger baker tells the story of the cream inviting Hendrix on the stage and Hendrix blowing him away so much that he just walked backstage. Jimi liked clappers more than clappers liked him back then. Facts, mate!
@@thenorthernsoul it might have been about Eric's reputation with how long it took him to change strings and tune, he was notoriously slow, which is actually where he got the name "slowhand", most people think he got that from his playing but in those days he could rip, especially in Cream.
Nope, he asked him to tune his guitar as an inside joke, because Clapton AKA ol slow hands, was notorious for taking forever to tune his guitar.
Those guys were flipping out how great Jimi was, he knows Jimi was extraordinary like a Bruce Lee.
No one will ever be as good as Jimi because they can't have his soul.
Bam you had a mic drop moment.
I would say his brain :) pure genius no BS!
amen
Hendrix, Clapton, Townshend and probably Harrison (since Paul was there) all in one place, if Page had been there too the universe would have exploded
Jesus can you imagine how many women got pregnant that night?
With his interests in Alistair Crowley, I doubt Page will be there....
“Only cowboys stay in tune”
right...lol
Quote from his Woodstock performance.
We ain't in cowboy land are we?
Scrolled through the comments looking for that one.
Maybe Jimi's fav live throw away line!
@@ix-Xafra was the 'public saxophone 'his guitar by any chance? Just curious
As a musician I appreciate the likes of Colbert correcting Sir Paul Himself on the nomenclature of the whammy bar, as Jimi wasn’t known to use instruments with Bigsby branded tremolo systems. It just goes to show that Paul is no technical elitist.
Legend!!
The guitarist's version of 'get your shinebox'
So Clapton killed Jimi?
When everyone else had stopped applauding, Eric clapped on.
*slow clap*
John Malcom: True emcee
Account says that when Jimi got his first guitar, he'd pass by the music store to pluck some strings, and go home to tune it from memory.
Paul just called a Whammy/Tremolo bar a vibrator :)
In fact vibrato is more correct than tremolo - vibrato is pitch based modulation and tremolo volume based, Leo Fender got it wrong 🙂
@@nobetterdays vibrato? Yes. Vibrator though? This coming from the legend that is McCartney
Very few people can tell a story like McCartney! The man is a natural comedian. Great singer great musician and a great sense of humor! Lucky guy.
There are so many videos showing Jimi tuning his guitar by ear, so it was some kind of joke.
Great, the best thing that could happen. 👍👍👍👍great story
I guess, this was Jimi's way of telling the Lennon & McCartney posse about "With a Little Help from My Friends" - this song starts with "What would you think if I sang out of tune?"
The "Sgt. Pepper..." Beatles' album was released 26 May 1967 and Hendrix had London as his base at least through June that year. At the time, Clapton headed a band called "Cream" which dissolved in 1968 (likely influenced by Eric listening to a team of musicians called "The Band" and their album "Music from Big Pink". The Band had been Bob Dylan's support musicians until his accident and started their own thing.)
Exactly! It's good to see someone else who knows that Bob Dylan and The Band pulled a lot of musicians out of psychedelia during the mid to late 60s
Of all the Jimi Hendricks stories that never happened, this zinger by Paul McCartney is the neverhappenedest!
0:28 No one is gonna joke that Paul actually says he had this VIBRATOR on,,,instead of the actual term vibrato. But hell it might be the secret to the Hendrix sound playing the guitar with a vibrator.
Spot on! Which he knew was a vibrato.
Don’t forgot John wanted his Humberdinger pickups
He says "vibrator arm". That Liverpool accent fucks things.
Dyer Maker
@@hermessanhao I stand corrected yes ARM not on. You must be what do they call those people oh SCOUSE?
Jimi was a master of casual re-tuning while he played
I hope Paul writes a book about his experiences with other famous musicians of the day. Like this interview. All the back stage stories.
Imagine being at that show, in the same room as Paul Mccartney, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and who knows what other legends!!
Little does McCartney know he's talking about a guy that was tuning his guitar by ear while playing the national anthem at woodstock. Without stopping.
Is that true?!
... Really ? ... Me i tune my guitar by nose.
@@joshuabrunetta4656 Go watch the video where he's playing at woodstock in 1969 I think it was
@@catholiccowboy8545 It's an achievement to be able to tune a guitar by ear. It's takes alot of time playing. He did it while making history.
@@LaZarusXtnct ... lol ... because his guitar was out of tune with all the noises he was making and he's trying to fix it a bit, trying to tune some strings along the hurly-burly.
Jimi's first album ( Are You Experienced, 12th May 1967) had only been released less than two weeks before Sgt. Pepper's (26th May 1967)
Hmm... If this happened...and as a lifelong Jimi fan it is the first time I have heard this story, I can literally see Jimi peering out into the audience with his hand shielding his eyes from the lights and asking "Is Eric here?". It is a joke. Much the same as he always asked audiences to give the band a minute to tune up because they "really cared for your ears"
Thank you. I did find it hard to believe that Hendrix wouldn't have been able to tune a guitar himself.
@@genemars5158 hmmm that didn't sound logic, the longer you play, the more often you hear the single strings on a guitar, you know how they need to sound and you realize immediately when you are out of tune. How long did hendrix play the guitar? 15 years? For sure for 10 hours + per day? So you want to say someone who wrotes little wing or bold as love, didn't know how to tune a guitar? I don't buy it.
I play for 4-5years now and im able to tune it by ear. And im not even in the same galaxy as Hendrix was.
@@atreju2155
Yes & he had previously played with Ike Turner & Isley Brothers
Gene Mars like Gretzky asking Lemieux to tape up his stick, Titan.
@@atreju2155 Nobody said he couldn't tune a guitar.
Paul was a great guitarist to
Paul is pure class...
Guitar God! Exactly, thank you for all your shared talent Sir Paul!!!!!
Don't remember Jimi using a Bigsby but Jimi was always tuning his guitar on the fly, he most likely had perfect pitch. Fender Strats did not have Bigsbys, but hey we were not there Paul was!
I've seen Jimi with many different guitars, although he is mainly known for his Strats. I've even seen a pic of him with an upside down Les Paul! How the heck did he reach the high notes like that? Amazing! He could pretty much pick up anything, even if it is strung right handed, flip it over and play it.
Paul himself has admitted he doesn't really know much about gear. He just uses it to play, and he doesn't really care about specs or whatever, so it's not unusual for him to mix up all the terms. Apparently at some point someone asked him what bass strings he used and he answered 'long shiny ones'.
Paul M is a very general and wide musician. He’s certainly not very knowledgeable specifically about electric guitars.
I'm thinking Paul might be using the word 'Bigsby' because he's a bit older than us, and the Bigsby vibrato is an earlier vibrato system than the one on the Strat, so he may be using it a bit like how some people say 'Coke' as a generic name to refer any kind of liquid carbonated sugary corporate poison, or 'Tylenol' to refer to liver destroying acetaminophen/paracetamol.
Wow, what a crew. Imagine rolling up with a crew like that
Yes Jimi Hendrix was not just extremely talented he was a showman too
Eric Clapton said he was so blown away the first time he saw Jimi play that he needed help lighting his cigarette. His hands were shaking too much. There was a new "God" in town.
Jimi played a festival on the isle of wight , Before he was due on he asked a roadie for the british national anthem (melody) and promptly went on to play it on stage .
Jimi played the song with his Strat with no tremolo arm. You can see that on the video. He propably played with the Bigsby of his Flying V and changed the guitar just before the song. He also lost his pick while he threw away his cigarette.
I like jimmy hendrix music.
How about Jimi Hendrix? You like his music too?
In saw Paul play in Brisbane Australia in 2018 and he told the exact same story
only paul could tune it, because he's also lefthanded :)
Finding this video bit was always tricky as Colbert web team didn't name it properly, thanks for this.
Hendrix would never say that, he had huge respect for Clapton even he knew that he is better than Clapton.
I mean he was there and you weren't, also Jimi liked to joke around so he probably didn't actually mean it
A lot of people that knew younger Hendrix on the chitlin circuit said he was a little cocky in those days because he knew he could back it up
Lazo Tashev..... Loads of guitarists are better than Clapton and Hendrix. The more I listen to both of them, the more shit they sound compared to other guitar greats.
They weren't that special.
@@brianwilson3952 It is a personal opinion, it's very individual when it comes about music taste and preferences. In my opinion, there is no other guitarist as good as Jimi. It's not about shredding and speed, it's about the magic Jimi has brought in music.
@@brianwilson3952 ,
sure boy ..... 😂 😂 😂 😂
There is no doubt in my mind that Hendrix was trolling the shit out of Clapton when he asked him to tune his guitar
No one ever needed to tune Jimi's guitar, he was a master of it and could do it whilst playing without missing a beat.
Maybe one beat ...
Paul McCartney. Eric Clapton. Pete Townsend. Jimi Hendrix. Imagine standing in a dark corner of that room, watching legends.
.....well, Paul is being a bit ingenuous there...... i saw Jimi play in Milwaukee in '70 and, in the middle of one of his incredible lead runs, he popped his top E-string in the middle of a song, as players do...... while still playing lead, he ripped that string out, and if you know strats, you know the string enters from the back of the guitar. He then pulled a spare E-string out of nowhere, threaded it thru the back in one smooth motion, running it toward the string hole, shoving it thru, then catching it coming out the front, a move i've never seen before or since! ..... still playing lead with one hand while the other pulled the string thru to the stop, wrapped it around the top post and started spinning it up..... still playing lead mind you...... then with one quick note at a time, wound it up to where it was fully in tune by the end of the song! Truly incredible!
Paul also showed his ignorance of blues..... Great blues players play out of tune all the time! When you are bending notes, that's not a mechanical thing, they will bend that string to the right note, by ear, no matter what the tuning is, and yeah, it leaves the guitar out of tune every time! And, of course, these days, most players keep their tuner-fish plugged in, in parallel, so that they are constantly checking tuning after each song. I gotta believe Jimi was fucking with 'em. Oh wait! He was playing their song in their face!!
So, great story, as long as you take it tongue-in-cheek.... I feel certain Paul did!
There's a story I read in a book about Jimi Hendrix, that was written by Eric Clapton's driver. After the this particular concert Clapton went back to his limousine and he was so frustrated and angry that he started to cry and roll around the floor of the limo, while he was having a tantrum yelling how he will never be a good guitar player as Hendrix.
❤😅
I think I remember hearing that Clapton made fun of Hendrix at some point for the way he played having the guitar upside down, and this was Jimi getting back at him, I also believe Clapton was quite embarrassed after Jimi started playing.
They were best friends?
@@skylerspringsteen5730 Yeah I think they became friends after this, but this was their first time meeting.
@@theguitarodds1779 they meet before that when hendrix played with cream in 66, this concert was in 67. Clapton and chas chandler were the ones who formed the experience by setting up Mitch and Noel with Hendrix and were the main reason Hendrix got put center stage.
@@skylerspringsteen5730 Oh right I didn't realise that Clapton was part of the formation of the experience, I read a book about Hendrix, I don't remember Clapton being mentioned as someone who put the band together but maybe I'm misremembering.
@@theguitarodds1779 it was from a interview with chandler, he joked about how Clapton didn’t think Noel was up to par with Hendrix and was trying to find him a new bass player and an interview with Townsend talking about how Clapton called him, Harrison, beck, and others about how he was blown off stage by a new guitarist named jimi so it opened everyone up to check him out.
I loved how even that little whistle Paul made was catchy and most likely had subconscious musical thought put into it
Your overthinking it
@@Teajonmustardnot really it makes sense
Che figata assurda 🇮🇹✌🏻
In Phillip Norman’s Book, it mentions that he learned that song with Mitch and Noel only thirty minutes before this legendary show.
I'm sure this is a true story. I'm also sure Jimi was going for a laugh. It was a joke, but a ballsy joke just the same.
I am sure it is BS...never heard this one anywhere...Paul makes up a lot of stuff
Definitely not true. Paul is a master of BS
@@richbailey8174 Show me proof of Paul making stuff up?
@@jonathanbgejensen1956 Can you back that up?
@@ewest14 What "proof" do you want? There are a number of accounts of this show that Hendrix played at by other stars that were there..not one has mentioned this story except Paul. And the show is rather legendary.I refer to his biographer Phillip Norman who once said (paraphrase), "Ringo doesn't remember and Paul lies"...:)
Jimi asking Eric to tune his guitar was a power move. BDE for sure 😄