One of Jimi's biggest influences was Bob Dylan. Hendrix kept a book of Dylan's lyrics in his travel bag, put curlers in his hair to mimic his idol’s look and wore a Bob Dylan button pinned to his jacket. Just the mere mention of Dylan’s name and the man got excited.
Listening to the original and Jimi's version back to back is an interesting exercise. I always found Bob Dylan an unlikely influence like what Clapton was to Van Halen.
His interpretation of this song is considered by many to be one of his greatest achievements. Coming off the third studio album, Electric Ladyland, by this point Hendrix had complete artist control over his music and how it would be translated from the studio floor to tape. Some of Jimi's main guitar influences show up here in the Watchtower solos. There’s a lot of Albert King’s influence on these solos.
There are many beautiful bends to work on here from the intro solo. The pickup in bar 4 bending up to the D# or the 9 sets it up. He grabs the listener’s attention right away by putting the emphasis on an extension. I like to play it unbent, in other words the D# on my high E string at the 11th fret as an exercise or actually play the whole thing unbent, even play it on the piano where you can't bend. Then I'll go back and play it with the bends. I see it in a different way. Jimi's vibrato is beautiful and his tone is killing. Each phase ends and it sparkles with that amazing vibrato. 4 bars of music, short and to the point. And playing A# over an A chord in bar 8? Works for me. When you play with this much conviction I guess you make a Dorian lick work over natural minor. I always wondered if he meant to do that.
I like to think he did and either way it's a great opening statement. That's the intro solo and it keeps getting better. I've listened to this song over and over and it still sounds fresh even today. The man had magic in his fingers, the way he touched the strings he must have had a direct link from his heart to his head and onto the guitar.
