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Guitar Legends.
by Univideit Gauitin
http://www.guitarsuniverse.com
No two guitar aficionados will be able to agree on the list
of guitar greats, but like so many lists, it can be fun to
try to make. What each considers greatness will vary too -
is it technical ability or some hard-to-define quality like
'soul'?
One man who is a hot favorite of every guitar player is the
blues guitarist named Robert Johnson. He was a great
exponent of playing guitar. It is believed that in a time
span of just one year, he began playing guitar, mastered
the art and became a legend. Quite unbelievable! There are
also rumors that Johnson had some sort of pact with the
devil. Nevertheless, his greatness has been confirmed by
many great guitar players.
The deal had been done, so the story goes, at a crossroads
somewhere in the Deep South. Johnson himself immortalized
the meetings, probably ironically, in songs like Crossroad
Blues and Me And The Devil Blues. These were some of the few
tracks he was able to record before his death in 1938 at the
tender age of 27. To this day no one knows if he was stabbed
or poisoned or if the devil himself came to claim what he
was owed.
Jimi Hendrix, another great guitarist, also died young at
28. He too became great in a short time. He is more well
known for his antics like playing solos behind his back,
with his teeth, setting his guitar on fire; than for his
superb guitar playing skills. He was a great and fantastic
musician better known for the wrong reasons.
Hendrix played in blues, rock and jazz, playing his most
famous live concerts with only a bassist and drummer for
support - he made all that sound! He was from the beginning
an innovator, and as a beginner decided not to learn to play
the conventional way but, since he was naturally left
handed, he re strung his guitar upside down. You can see on
some pictures that the pick guard is the wrong way up on his
Fender Strat!
Like all legends, stories about Hedrix are legion. He was
famous for covering other bands songs in concert and on
record. Sometimes he would do his cover of a track before
the original band had managed to perform it live, as was the
case with the Beatles 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club
Band'. Though he couldn't read or write musical notation,
it's said that a single listen to a new song was enough for
him to be able to play it. He is also one of a very small
number of musicians who earned the approval of the hardest
man to please in the history of popular music, Miles Davis.
The guitar player takes central stage in so many forms of
music that the guitar greats in most people's minds aren't
just rock or bluesmen. Jazz players like Django Rheinhardt,
classicists like John Williams, or flamenco guitarists like
Paco de Lucia feature on many lists. Is it any wonder no-one
can really agree?
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