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Guitar Greats
by Univideit Gauitin
http://www.guitarsuniverse.com
Mutual agreement on greatness could be very subjective.
Individual choices may vary if one tries to compile a list
of guitar legends. Different people would have different
yardsticks of greatness per season. But an attempt to make
a list would be quite interesting.
The blues guitarist Robert Johnson features on many lists.
He has the added attraction of a shadowy legend all his own.
The story goes that he was a pretty average, even bad
guitarist, but in just one year he became phenomenal...
Where had this new talent come from? Nobody wanted to
believe it was just practice and hard work, so the tale
started that Johnson had made a pact with the Devil.
It is believed that the deal with the devil was done at a
crossroads somewhere in the Deep South. In songs such as
Crossroad Blues and Me And The Devil Blues, Johnson has
mentioned the meetings. Unfortunately, Johnson did not live
long and it was at the young age of 27 that he was able to
record some of his songs. His death remains as much as much
a mystery as his skills of playing guitar. Some believe he
was murdered, some think he was poisoned while some also
say he was the victim of the devil. There are a few other
arguments as well.
A tragically young death isn't essential to become a guitar
great, but another man who makes most lists also died aged
only 28. Jimi Hendrix took guitar playing to an entire new
level of showmanship. But sometimes people remember the
antics - playing solos behind his back or with his teeth,
setting his guitar on fire (an idea which owes a lot to
Jerry Lee Lewis) - and forget how fantastic he was as a
musician.
Hendrix was a great innovator. Being left handed, he
re-strung his guitar upside down for ease of play. He had
all types of music in his bouquet like blues, rock or jazz.
His talent could be gauged from the fact that he gave live
concerts with support from just a bassist and drummer.
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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