Nine things you probably did not know about Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix is considered to be the greatest guitar player of all time. He has influenced a legion of guitar players on the basis of his virtuosity and his unique blend of blues, funk and R&B. He was also an innovator with his use of guitar effects. Here are nine things that are not known about him after I read his part autobiography Starting At Zero: His Own Story, various documentaries and articles.

1. Jimi Hendrix had a distinct sound, which was a result of him being a left-hander using a guitar made for a right-hander. Throughout his career, Hendrix was known to play a right-handed Fender Stratocaster restrung for left-handed use.

2. In the mid 60s, Eric Clapton was considered to be the fastest guitar player around. His work with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and Cream made him famous, which also was the basis for the ironic nickname - the "Slowhand". However, when Hendrix came to the UK, all thanks to Chas Chandler, he jammed with Clapton and bewildered him with his incredibly virtuosic performance of blues guitar, which was not heard before. Pete Townshend of The Who was of the opinion that Clapton was in awe of him, and perhaps even a little envious. "Once - I think it was at a gig Jimi played at the Scotch of St James [in London] - Eric and I found ourselves holding each other's hands. You know, what we were watching was so profoundly powerful," he wrote in his tribute for the Rolling Stone magazine.

3. Along with Townshend, Hendrix was one of the first guitar players to use amplifiers made by Jim Marshall. Hendrix preferred the loud distorted sound of the modified Fender amps sold by Marshall. After Hendrix, Marshall's amplification was adopted by guitarists like Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Eric Clapton, Angus Young (AC/DC), Slash (Guns N' Roses), and many more. In fact, now Marshall's amplification is synonymous with rock music.

4. He started playing guitar at the age of 15 in Seattle and died at the age of 27. Like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, he was from Seattle and is a member of the dreaded "Club 27". As of 2015, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Amy Winehouse to name a few who are part of the club.

5. All three of his studio albums are featured in Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest albums of all time. These include his first breakthrough album - Are You Experienced, Axis Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland.

6. He was the first artist to use stereophonic phasing effects in his recordings. He experimented with effects like the phaser, the flanger and the wah-wah pedal. Great examples of his mastery of stereophonic phasing effects can be seen in songs like "Are you Experienced", "Purple Haze", "Voodoo Childe (A Slight Return)", "Castles Made of Sand, and Rainy Day, Dream Away".

7. While Hendrix is associated with blues rock, "Red House" is his one and only 12-bar blues recording. It was also one of the few songs where he used a Gibson Flying V, instead of his preferred Fender Stratocaster.

8. Shortly after The Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the members walked into a pub in London where Hendrix was performing live. The minute he saw Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he played the title track. Apparently, the track blew their mind.

9. Many believe Jimi Hendrix's performance at the Woodstock festival was his greatest. However, it is his show Machine Gun at Isle of Wright in 1970 with the Band of Gypsies, which is considered to be one of the greatest performances on an electric guitar. Though the recording was never released as a studio album, his 22.10 minute version of "Machine Gun" was totally improvised and politically charged.