Where Hendrix's thumb-and-double-stop fire meets Landau's singing, spacious phrasing — a complete vocabulary, and a two-hour lesson to wire it into your hands.
The two players sit at opposite ends of the same amp. Hendrix is Fender-into-cranked-Marshall — fuzz, wide-open volume, a wall of harmonically rich hair. Landau is the modern studio sound — a clean, dynamic platform with overdrive stacked in front, rolled back, touch-sensitive. The hybrid keeps Landau's structure — a clean amp doing the talking — but lets a thicker, fuzzier drive sit on top when you dig in. The amp stays honest; the dirt has Hendrix in it.
Same Landau principle from your amp notes — the Badger stays clean and the pedals do the work — but the gain structure leans hairier. Set the amp as a loud, slightly-driven platform rather than bone clean, so a fuzz hits it the way a Marshall would.
The order matters. A fuzz wants to see the guitar first; the overdrive stacks behind it as a tightener and mid-boost; modulation and ambience go last into a clean amp.
The Landau voice — guitar at 7, overdrive only, neck pickup, picking near the neck with the edge of the pick. Warm, vocal, compressed-but-clean. Use it for melodies, ballad phrases, the spaces.
The Hendrix voice — guitar to 10, fuzz in, pick harder and flatter, drift toward the bridge pickup. Thick, hairy, alive with overtones. Use it for riffs, double-stop chordal work, the climaxes.
Crucially you switch between them with your hands, not your feet — that's the whole modern hybrid idea, and it's what makes the playing sound like one person rather than two patches.
This isn't "play some Hendrix, then play some Landau." The hybrid is a genuine blend: you take a device from one player and the phrasing values of the other. Hendrix gives you the chordal-melodic way of thinking — the guitar as a tiny band, thumb on the low root, double-stops as a voice. Landau gives you restraint and architecture — space, dynamics, long notes, the sense that every phrase is sung and going somewhere.
From Hendrix: the thumb-fretted bass note, double-stops and embedded chord fragments inside single-note lines, the R&B-rooted rhythm playing, aggressive wide vibrato, the fearless use of the b5, grace-note hammers into chords, and unison bends.
From Landau: the held note that just sings, space between phrases, the volume-knob swell, the dark guitar-at-7 voice, melodic wide-interval lines instead of scalar runs, and the discipline to play five notes when forty are available.
Every item in this guide is tagged with its lineage. The trick to making it sound like one voice rather than a medley: play Hendrix devices with Landau phrasing. Take a Hendrix double-stop riff — then leave a bar of space after it. Take a Landau singing bend — then thicken it with a Hendrix unison underneath. The device comes from one; the timing and restraint come from the other. That tension is the whole sound.
Each riff is two bars, in B minor, sitting at the 7th-fret pentatonic box unless noted. Tab strings are standard, low to high. Symbols: b bend, h hammer-on, p pull-off, / slide, ~ vibrato.
Pure Hendrix construction — a riff built from double-stops and a root, but with a held note and a gap so it breathes like Landau.
e|------------------------------------------|
B|----7----------10\7--------7---------------|
G|--7---9h11-9--9------9---7---9~~~~~---------|
D|--------------------------------------/----|
^ let the Fs ring, then leave a full beat of air
A Landau line — wide, vocal, mostly slurred — but topped with Hendrix's fast, aggressive vibrato instead of a polite one.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|--10---12/14~~~~~~--12-10~~~~~~-------------|
G|------------------------------9---11~~~~~~--|
slide into the 14, vibrate hard and wide
The flat-5 is the bluesy danger note. Slide through it — never sit on it — for that classic Hendrix menace.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|--7--8/9--10-8------7----------------------|
G|------------------------9~~~~~-------7-----|
D|--------------------------------------9----|
8/9 = F natural, the b5 — slide straight through
A descending chromatic walk — Hendrix loved these — but aimed carefully at a strong chord tone, the Landau habit of always landing somewhere.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|--10-9-8-7---------7--8--10~~~~~------------|
G|-----------9---7---------------------------|
chromatic drop, then resolve up to the Fs and hold
Pure Landau — instead of stepwise scale motion, the line leaps in 4ths and 5ths, which sounds composed and modern rather than bluesy.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|--7-------12------10------15~~~~~-----------|
G|------11------7-------------------11~~~~~9~~|
big jumps — let each note ring its full value
Hendrix's R&B rhythm DNA — a riff that's as much about the rests and the ghost notes as the pitches. Feel it, don't count it.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------|
G|--7-.-7-9-11-.-9-7----7~~~~~---------------|
D|-----------------------------9-------------|
. = a tight rest / ghost — keep the right hand moving
Hendrix often doubled a riff in octaves for weight. Fret the low note with the thumb over the top if you can — it frees the hand and is the authentic move.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------|
G|------9-------11------12------14~~~~~-------|
D|--9-------11------12------14---------------|
A|--7-------9-------10------12----------------|
low + high together — mute the string between
A repeating four-note cell shifted down the scale — Landau-style melodic logic, played with Hendrix's loose, slightly-ahead feel.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|--10-8----------8-7--------7~~~~~----------|
G|-------9-7----9---------7------------9~~~~~-|
same shape, walked down — keep it flowing
The most restrained riff here — three or four notes, a swell, and a lot of silence. This is Landau at his most patient.
e|-------------------------------------------|
B|--<10>~~~~~~~~~~~~--12--14~~~~~-------------|
G|---------------------------------11~~~~~---|
< > swell the first note in from volume 0
The peak — high register, full Hendrix voice with the fuzz blooming, but shaped as a real melodic phrase that resolves, not just a flurry.
e|--14b16~~~--14-12--10-12-10----------------|
B|---------------------------12-10~~~~~------|
G|-----------------------------------11~~~~~-|
overbend up top, then descend and land home
Bending is where the two players are closest and most different. Both bend constantly — but Hendrix bends are aggressive, vocal, often unison or behind-the-nut, while Landau bends are slow, exact, and sung, with that wide late vibrato. Six bends, each a fusion of both. All target pitches are diatonic to B minor.
Bend the G string a whole step so E becomes F♯, the 5th of Bm — a strong, stable home pitch. Slow, in tune, then wide vibrato on the held bend.
G|--9b11~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--| E up to F# — Landau's core bend
A full minor-3rd overbend — F♯ up to A, the b7. Hendrix-aggressive on the way up, Landau-slow at the top, then a slow release.
B|--7b10~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ r8 -----------| F# bent a min3rd to A, release to G
Bend up silently, pick, then release — the note enters already crying and falls. A Landau staple, dropped mid-phrase.
B|--(10)b r8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--| silent pre-bend, pick, release down to G
Hold a static top note while bending a lower string up into harmony with it — the pedal-steel illusion. Hendrix and Landau both lived on this.
e|--10-----------------10~~~~~---------------| B|------8b10~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--| hold the D, bend the lower string up to it
The most Hendrix bend there is — bend one string up until it matches a fretted note on the string above. Two strings, one pitch, thick and beating with life.
e|--------7-------7~~~~~---------------------| B|--8b(7)--------------~~~~~--------------| bend the B string up to match the high E
Bend the minor 3rd (D) up a half-step to the major 3rd (D♯) and resolve quickly — the bittersweet major-over-minor catch, used as a passing flick.
G|--7b8~~~~ 7 ----- 4 --------------------| D bent up a 1/2 step to D#, then resolve home
This is the heart of the Hendrix half of the vocabulary — playing two notes at once so a single-note line carries its own harmony. Six figures, from climbing 3rds to grace-note chord stabs. Played with Landau's spacing, they stop sounding like blues clichés and start sounding like arrangements.
Diatonic 3rds walked up the scale — the warmest, most consonant double-stop, and the bread and butter of Hendrix's chordal-melodic style.
B|--7----8----10----12----10----7-----------|
G|--7----9----11----12----11----7-----------|
Bm scale harmonised in 3rds
4ths instead of 3rds — hollow, modern, ambiguous. Slide between them rather than lifting off, for that vocal, gliding quality.
B|--8----10----12----10----8----------------|
G|--7----9-----11----9-----7----------------|
parallel 4ths, slid not picked
Hammer a whole double-stop onto the fretboard without picking the second hit — a percussive, springy figure straight out of Hendrix's rhythm playing.
B|--5h7----5h7----8----7----5~~~~~--------| G|--4h6----4h6----7----6----4~~~~~--------| pick the first, hammer the pair to the second
6ths on the D and B strings (skipping the G) — the gospel/soul fill that both players used as a lead voice in its own right.
B|--7-----8-----10-----12-----10-----7------|
G|--x-----x------x------x------x------x------|
D|--7-----9-----11-----12-----11-----7------|
mute the skipped G string
The classic Hendrix move — flick a grace note with a hammer-on into a full three-note chord fragment. Rhythmic, vocal, unmistakable.
e|--7---------7----5----------------2--------|
B|--7--/h--- 7----5----------------3--------|
G|--6---------6----4----------------2--------|
grace-hammer into the stab, then let it ring
Hold one note constant — a drone — while the other moves. The fixed B against a moving upper voice is endlessly useful and very Hendrix.
B|--7----7----7----7----7----7--------------|
G|--9----11---12---11---9----7--------------|
B drones, the upper voice sings over it
Everything above is a phrase. This is the underlying alphabet — the devices you combine to make new phrases of your own. Think of a solo as a sentence: you pick devices, order them, and shape them with phrasing. Here's the complete device list, sorted by what each one does.
Pentatonic core — B D E F♯ A, the home five notes. The b5 add — drop in F natural as a passing blues note, never a landing. Dorian brightening — raise to B Dorian for the major 6th (G♯), an instant lift. Chromatic approach — slide into any target note from a half-step below or above. Wide intervals — leap in 4ths and 5ths instead of stepping, for the modern Landau colour. Major-3rd catch — flick the b3→3 for bittersweet tension.
The held note — let a note ring its full value and beyond; the Landau signature. Wide vibrato — slow, started late, centred on the pitch. Aggressive vibrato — the faster Hendrix shimmer for grit. Legato slurs — pick only on string changes; hammer and pull the rest. The volume swell — roll the note in from zero so it has no attack. Ghost notes — muted percussive hits that keep the rhythm engine running.
Double-stops in 3rds, 4ths and 6ths. Unison bends for thickness. Oblique bends — one voice still, one moving. Embedded chord fragments — three-note grips inside a single-note line. Octaves for weight. Drones — a fixed pedal tone under a moving voice.
Space — silence as a structural note; end phrases and wait. Call and response — a phrase, a gap, an answer. Targeting — every phrase aims at and lands on a chord tone. The arc — build register and intensity across a solo, don't start at the top. Dynamic voicing — switch the Landau and Hendrix voices with the hands to mark sections.
A full, structured session that takes you from cold hands to soloing fluently in the hybrid style. Eight blocks, two hours, with a real drill for each. Run it against landau_hendrix_hybrid.mid. Take the five-minute breaks — they matter; fatigue is where bad habits set in. Keep a guitar volume on 7 the whole session and only roll up when a block calls for the Hendrix voice.
Dial in the hybrid rig from Chapter 1. Loosen the hands with the B minor pentatonic box, slowly, both voices.
Work bends B1–B3. Pitch accuracy before expression. Use a reference note for every bend.
Hands down. Rest. Don't push through — let the muscles settle.
Bends B4–B6: oblique, unison, sweetening. These need finger independence — go slowly.
Figures D1–D6. Both notes must speak together. Start with 3rds, end with the grace-hammer stab.
Rest the hands again. Shake them out. Hydrate.
Learn the riffs in order against Section A of the MIDI. Don't move on until each one grooves.
Solo over the 16-bar Bm jam (Section D). Pick four devices from the vocabulary map and use only those.
A single file laid out to match the lesson. The lead lines play on a clean-guitar patch so you can hear each riff, bend and double-stop figure; the jam section drops to Rhodes and bass so you can solo over it. Loop whichever section you're working on.
Load it in any DAW or MIDI player. If patch changes are ignored, set the lead track to a guitar voice and the jam tracks to piano and bass. The bend phrases play their target pitches — the tab shows you how to reach them by bending.