“He offered me Jimi’s guitar and then disappeared!”: How Lenny Kravitz almost got his hands on Hendrix’s Woodstock Strat

When Lenny Kravitz first became a star in 1990 with his debut album Let Love Rule, he revealed how Jimi Hendrix’s former drummer Buddy Miles had promised to give him the famous guitar that Hendrix had played at Woodstock.

It was an offer that seemed too good to be true - and sadly for Lenny, that’s how it turned out.

As Lenny recalled, Miles had seen him perform the Hendrix classic If 6 Was 9 in concert, and was so impressed that he said that Lenny could have what was arguably Jimi’s most iconic guitar - the white 1968 Fender Stratocaster that he played at the Woodstock Festival on 18 August 1969.

Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze - Live Woodstock - 4K Remaster - (Colour Corrected) - [UHD] - YouTube

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In an interview with Sounds in May 1990, Lenny said: “He [Miles] offered me the guitar in front of 30 people, my band, crew, the bus driver. He said, ‘I'd really love you to have this.’ He came to my gig in Chicago, got on stage and held my arm up — that was like his approval of me.

"He was saying how I was the best thing since Jimi or whatever. We were hanging out and having a great time and he had no reason to try to impress anybody.

“He said, ‘It's in storage, I'm gonna get it.’ And the motherf**ker disappeared! It's kinda f**ked up. He didn't have to say it, nobody asked him for it, he didn't have to boast.

“You just don't tell a young kid like me who idolises Jimi Hendrix that you're gonna give him his guitar and then don't give it.

“I haven't lost anything but it's a big tease, man. It really bothered me."

Lenny reckoned he would have had no fears about playing that guitar. “Hell, no!” he said. “I'd play the shit out of it! I wouldn't be like, ‘Oh my God, I can't touch it.’ I'd play that f**ker!”

He also revealed how he had wanted Jimmy Page to play a solo on the song Fields Of Joy - but ended up having Slash play it.

Fields Of Joy (2012 Remaster) - YouTube

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“Slash approached me after one of my shows and we talked,” he recalled. “We went to high school together actually, but we really didn't know each other, we just passed each other. He was, like, ‘I really want to play on your record.’ And I was like, ‘I'll take your number and call you.’ And he was like, ‘Call me, don't bullsh*t me.’

“It was a solo which, before I met him, I wanted Jimmy Page to play. And I couldn't get him, so I thought Slash would be the next best cat. And he played his ass off on it. Unbelievable! It's the best I've ever heard him play.”