Stray Notes

Jimi Hendrix had something special going on under that super-sized Afro.

A new study says Hendrix's ambidexterity (he wrote and ate with his right hand but was mostly a lefty when it came to playing guitar) indicates he was able to utilize both sides of his brain better than most of us, thereby making him way more creative than most of us. Maybe this is what he was talking about when he sang, "Purple haze all in my brain."

Not only did the ambidexterity help his playing, it gave Hendrix a unique ability to meld lyrics and melody, says the author of the study, psychologist Stephen Christman.

This reveals still another handicap I suffer. Sometimes the right and left sides of my brain don't even talk to each other ...

Derek Trucks has impressive lineage. Not only is the slide guitar wizard the nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, he's the great-nephew of Virgil Trucks, one of the hardest-throwing pitchers of his time and one of the few to throw two no-hitters in one season.

According to this story by guitar-playing sportswriter Peter Gammons, Derek used to have a Virgil Trucks baseball card stuck on the back of his guitar ...

Randy Bachman was asked in this interview what he considered the five most essential guitars and said this about the Telecaster (even though he's got a Gibson in that picture):

"You can throw it off your roof on to your driveway and it won't break. You can go down, pick it up and it will still be in tune. It's an amazing guitar."

The Telecaster -- it's the People's Guitar ...

Voting has closed in the Name the Imaginary Band poll (located in the right-hand column). The leading vote-getters were Nervous Rex with 11, Insignificant Others with 10 and the Long Goners, Fretbuzz and Your Imaginary Friends with nine votes each. But the winner is Stinktown Willie and the Hard Liquors with six votes because that's the name I like best.

Nobody said it was going to be a fair election.