lead guitar from “voodoo child” by jimi hendrix | ToneDB
voodoo child
jimi hendrix
lead guitar
From The Session Deskv2.0
SOURCES 3 · DOCUMENTED 4 · REPORTED 3 · INFERRED 1 · VERIFIED SEP 2026
Tone Profile
A thick, vocal wah riff that opens dry and then blooms into a fuzzed, room-filling lead sound with long sustain and a lot of air around it. The whole track sounds like a band in a room, because it was.
Gear
- Fender Stratocasterinstrument
- Reverb$880Sweetwater
- Marshall Super Leadamp
- Reverb$840Sweetwater
- Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Faceprocessing
- Reverb$772Sweetwater
- Vox wahprocessing
- Reverb$95Sweetwater
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The Story
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) was cut on 3 May 1968 at the Record Plant in New York City, during the Electric Ladyland sessions, with Eddie Kramer engineering. An ABC-TV crew was filming; Noel Redding said the band learned the song in the studio with the cameras rolling, and Hendrix said they played it about three times for the film. Eight takes were recorded and the last became the master, per Steven Roby's biography. Kramer put microphones all over the room and kept Hendrix singing live while the track was cut, which is why the room is audible on the record. No source names the guitar or amp for the session; a Fender Stratocaster into a Marshall Super Lead with a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Vox wah is likely, consistent with his rig of the period.
Production Credits
Engineer: Eddie Kramer
Recorded at: Record Plant, New York City
Signal Chain
Instrument: Fender Stratocaster
Amp: Marshall Super Lead
Processing: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, Vox wah
Recreation Tips
- Play the opening riff through a wah, rocking it in time with the strums rather than sweeping freely.
- Use a fuzz in front of a loud, clean-leaning amp so the fuzz supplies the grit and the amp supplies the size.
- Leave a room mic in the mix; a dry close-miked cab loses half of what this track is.
- Sing or play the vocal line live with the take if you can; the parts breathe together.
- Ride the guitar volume knob to clean up between the riff and the leads.
Original Gear
- Fender Stratocaster(guitar)
- Marshall Super Lead(amp)
- Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face(pedal)
- Vox wah(pedal)
Substitutions & Recommendations
Alternative to: Fender Stratocaster
Single coils and a vintage-style tremolo; the neck pickup does the warm riff, the bridge does the bite.
ReverbSweetwaterAlternative to: Marshall Super Lead
A 20-watt take on the plexi circuit, so it breaks up at a volume a room can stand.
ReverbSweetwaterAlternative to: Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face
Silicon fuzz voiced for this exact job; cleans up from the guitar volume knob.
ReverbSweetwaterAlternative to: Vox wah
The same vocal sweep as the original Vox wahs at an entry price.
ReverbSweetwaterAlternative to: Vox wah
Voiced after the late-sixties Vox sweep with a slightly darker top.
ReverbSweetwaterSources
- Voodoo Child, The Official Jimi Hendrix Site encyclopedia
“16mm film recordings captured the Experience recording 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' at the Record Plant”
- Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi Hendrix: The Story Behind The Song, Louder
“If you listen to Voodoo Child, you can hear the way the room just resonates. That's because I had mics everywhere, and the fact that Jimi was singing live too!”
- Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Wikipedia
“eight takes of the song were recorded by Hendrix, Redding, and Mitchell, and the final one was chosen as the master.”
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