Every renowned artist begins somewhere, and for Jimi Hendrix, that starting point was Seattle, where he embarked on his musical journey with an old ukulele.
As the story goes, a teenage Hendrix was helping his father clear out an elderly woman’s home when he discovered a ukulele with only one string. The woman allowed Hendrix to keep it, and with that single string, the 15-year-old began learning songs like Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” by ear.
About a year later, Hendrix acquired his first real guitar, an acoustic model for $5 (approximately $55 in 2025). The exact make and model remain unclear. In a 1967 interview, Hendrix recalled, “When I first started playing guitar [was] way up in the Northwest, in Seattle, Washington,” naming Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Robert Johnson as influences. “They don’t have too many of the real blues singers up there.”
Around this time, on Feb. 20, 1959, Hendrix made his live debut at Seattle’s Temple De Hirsch, where he auditioned for a local band. However, his animated style was not to their liking, and the audition ended swiftly as they deemed him too much of a show-off.
Hendrix soon formed his own group, the Velvetones, but realized his acoustic guitar was inadequate. “When I was 17, I formed this group with some other guys, but they drowned me out,” Hendrix told Guitar Player in 1968, as reported by The Guardian. “I didn’t know why at first, but after about three months I realized I’d have to get an electric guitar. My first was a Danelectro, which my dad bought for me. Must have busted him for a long time. But I had to show him I could play first.”
Hendrix fulfilled that promise. In a 1965 letter to his father, he wrote, “Dear Dad, I still have my guitar and amp and as long as I have that, no fool can keep me from living.” At the time, Hendrix was living in New York City and playing in various bands. “There’s a few record companies I visited that I probably can record for. … I just wanted to let you know I’m still here, trying to make it. Although I don’t eat every day, everything’s going all right for me. It could be worse than this, but I’m going to keep hustling and scuffling until I get things to happening like they’re supposed to for me.”
Hendrix’s guitar collection eventually grew to include an array of instruments, most notably his iconic Stratocaster. In 1968, he advised aspiring musicians, especially guitarists: “You have to stick with it. Sometimes you are going to be so frustrated you want to give up the guitar, you’ll hate the guitar. But all of this is just a part of learning, because if you stick with it you’re going to be rewarded.”