The Greatest time to be alive

[Stoney]

Just to add a last point - or an amendment to the original idea, JUST BECAUSE IT IS POSTED ON THE INTERNET, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS TRUE, CORRECT, ACCURATE OR EVEN CLOSE.

There is a lot of just pure horse-patooee - (not to offend horses) but seriously, any doofus with a guitar and a web cam can post themselves playing anything and if is sounds reasonable the can say "This is how so and so plays it on their Grammy winning, multiplayinum album"

I like the guys out there in tabs or on youtube or whatever that don't claim to do it exactly but rather do their version. Note for note went out with the wide leg jeans and the platform soles.

Buyer beware. In the end, even with all the resources, it still comes down to flesh and string and blood and guts and inspiration.

Stoney

[Maton_Player]

I too came from the era of phonographs, no tab, no internet, and not evena cassette recorder.
Everything we needed to learn to play had to be gleaned from playing recordings over and over again, and ruining needles on my parents player.
I started in bands playing instrumentals. Seldom was there sheet music available.
You just taught yourself , and if you were lucky, someone would pass on a tip or a hint.
The music was raw, played through valve amps. No effects. I did have a Fuzz Face, but seldom used it, though I confess I always dreamed of owning an Echolette as used by the UK Shadows.

I was in a music store recetly and their policy was that the only the staff could demonstrate the gear, not the purchasers (bad decision)
A teenage member of staff demoed a guitar for me and had half a dozen effects units plugged in. I asked if he would play without them. He refused, saying his playing would sound crap. He just had that look of bewilderment when I suggested he actually learn how to play so it didn't sound like crap.
Getting older does steal you tolerance.

[Teobeck]

I don't usually interact or lurk in forums, but this one looked interesting. There's not much history here, so I'll add a little after playing 55 years myself. I learned in Atlanta, GA, where by '59 I could go hear the likes of Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Gladys Knight, Ray Charles, Bobby Blue Bland, BB King, Cal Green and the Midnighters, Jerry Butler, Muddy waters, Ben E. King, Lady day, and so many others every weekend at The Casino Lounge or the Magnolia Ballroom (black venues), where I was the only white boy and I was always welcomed, and often invited to sit in. I had earlier learned acoustic Delta type blues, so the switch to electric was simple. I had also learned R&B which had many more changes, so graduating to lead guitar solos over more complex chord patterns was also relatively simple, because I had a good ear, and the brothers were always more than willing to help an earnest player. They often said I didn't play like a white boy, but my mother was a blues singer from St. Louis so I grew up with blues in the house every since I can remember.

I still can't read a note, but I have enough theory to play some Jazz, and know all the chords I could find in my several fake books, including Gospel. I know the blues, major and minor pentatonic scales, and how to combine them, so reading wasn't really necessary for blues and R&B and Gospel.

BB showed me how to always reach for the "root" note, and how to add a 7th to a major 7th. That was backstage at the Casino. There were so may other greats who gave me so many playing tips. So, I had an exposure something like Mike Bloomfield.

Today I still play a black Epi Sheraton II with Gibson '57 classic pups, a red Gibson ES-339 with same, a red Hamer Newport Pro Custom (semi hollow) with Seth Lover pups, a Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster, and use a Fender PRRI and a 30W Fargen Blackbird Custom head & cab (6L6 tubes, onboard reverb/trem) for amps. I only use Weber ALNiCO speakers. The only pedal I use is a tuner.

When I often sit in with younger guys (40's and 50's) with some roots background, usually as a rhythm player, they know I can fill in their space with the big chords and bass lines which are inspiring to them, and, they always give me the nod on the single note leads for blues tunes, which still gas out the younger white kids who have only heard them from BB on TV. Older people all still love this technique just like they always did. Of course I had to learn classic rock changes, but having already picked up on the Stones, and so many rock guys (not difficult after R&B), I find most of it easy, louder, and with a lot less soul or feeling. I can easily see where the beat predominates over feeling or melody, so rock had a baby and they call it hip hop.

I could tell a thousand stories from my serious playing days through the 70's. I fortunately had another well paying profession, so I got my kids educated. I would however never have believed the rush I still get when playing the blues, and, I'm the most thankful to the African Americans who invented it, and helped me learn it their way.

[SAguitar]

Welcome to the Forum, Teobeck! It's a pleasure to have someone here with your years of knowledge and experience. We have a few members here that are well-steeped in the Blues, so you could fit in quite well if you choose to stay.

It sounds like you have some fine equipment as well, and appreciate great, pure tone. I have tricked out a few of those Epi Sheratons with nice pickups and all the good electronics, and they have each turned out to be excellent guitars.

Keep on keepin' on!

[Toddler]

To chime in - where's everybody been? Sorry, Where have I been?

Anyhow, this may be a repeat of something I posted somewhere here already - When I was a kid about 14 years old, A lifelong friend of mine turned me onto the Allman Brothers Fillmore East album. And I mean ALBUM, on a turntable. How may kids now understand the term, "You soud like a broken record?" Probably none.

Anyhow when I heard Duane play Stateboro Blues for the firt time I'd ever heard if, I knew I was on a path to a musical journey. THAT's what I wanna do. I jusy LOVE that sound, the slide.

It led me to Elmore James, Robert Johnson, all the pioneers of the sound.

Anyhow, that same friend (he was not and will never be a guitar player) was savvy enough to know that I had to tune my guitar to an open tuning to play that. So I did - open-E. Ever since, all of my guitars are tuned to that. I took to it like a duck to water. I was 14 years old then.

BUT, way back there were no instructions anywhere to explain how to play a song in open-E. I had to make up every lick and passage on my own. It was all a lot of fun, and I knew there was no help to be found, but that made the adventure all the more exciting.

And, by the way, it took about 15 more years for me to figure out Duane's lines in Statesboro Blues, but when I did, it was an epiphany. In that it was so simple. It's right there in open-E. Just took a long time to find it, for some reason.

Without books or tablature or all that stuff this thread is about.

Interesting. I had the fortunate meetings with various blues guitarists back in my youth. When I toured, I would make attemps at hunting down certain blues and jazz guitarists to exchange ideas and learn from each other. It was a very exciting experience. More enjoyable than surfing the net as it was more of a hands on situation.

During that era, hippies and just all around blues lovers expressed their desire to hear people like Mike Bloomfield and not the usual suspects aired on today's music bio's. This kind of social environment seemed to get lost in the shuffle over the past 3 decades. There is way too much analogy and not enough overall understanding of natural talent.

[Toddler]

The internet sources available to a musician are a blessing. If you are truly stuck on a John McLaughlin piece or can't figure out a particular open tuning for a Lightnin' Hopkins tune, the internet will save you some time. With all it's resources, it still hasn't change the way that society looks at music or rather confusing music and musicians with the entertainment industry. These are 2 seperate worlds. The internet may give you exposure to great underdog blues guitarists like Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green etc, but has zero effect on all of my students who still think that Eric Clapton is God. In the late 60's Bloomfield and various others were just as popular as Clapton but, were wiped off the media map by x-revolutionaries who became record executives. It's pathetic how young musicians that I teach ask......"Well, if he was so popular, then why has no one ever heard of him"?.... These kids need to take a time machine back to the year of 1967, walk down a city street where hippies gather on every corner, and ask them who Mike Bloomfield is? Everybody knew who he was! He wasn't one of those artists, musicians that lacked in a particular area getting pigeon-holed for a reason not to sell huge amounts of records..Yes, internet is a great tool for your own mind expansion on guitar but, it will never change or open the minds of the youth to all the great musicians and music in the world, as media coverage and promotion is what gives a kid cause to research. I've been teaching in various music stores for many years and it seems lack-luster to most kids who are interested in rock guitar or blues that these underdogs were once as huge as Clapton. The are not aware that Clapton played straight through the amp with no distortion on "Five Live Yardbirds". They don't know but, do not care the least in his history with Mayall or Yardbirds. I have 1 out of every 15 students that is interested in things like this. If the internet is so great, then why can't it change the narrow minds of people who are interested in music? I'll tell you what it is......the websites are available for underdog guitarists and if people are curious they can look the artist up but, it's not on a siver platter like the usual suspects in the rock business. So really, things are still the same as they were when I was a kid back in 1974.

[Thermionik]

I wonder if TV is as much to blame - instant fame seems to be the name of the game.
I posted this in another forum - thought I would share it with you guys.....

Back of a transit van with all the gear, tearing down the motorway to get to the second gig of the night.
Greasy-spoon cafe at three in the morning trading verbals with truckers dissing your long hair.
Humping the gear on stage, playing whilst ducking cans and plastic glasses, humping your gear off stage.
Doing the song in a different key with no warning, worse - the random keyboard's key-change mid-song.
Being told the money has gone on ex's and so yah have to sleep in the van tonight boys. Outside his hotel.
Playing for drunks who are more interested in their shouted conversations than your musical masterpieces.

Or

Audition, boot-camp, final-12, win X-factor, kow-tow to Cowell. Make "commercial" muzak.

No wonder so many talented, dedicated players give up early on in their creative careers.....

[Slapjaw]

peewee, I gotta tell ya, Duane playing Statesboro Blues was the beginning for me, too. That one song led me to a lot of other blues artists as well. Great Heritage!

Yes sir, Duane got me started listening to the Blues, but not just electric. I had to go way back to the acoustic stuff. And had to hear Blind Willie McTell do it. That's when I got the feeling that if it sounds good do it. And yes the internet has does wonders for any music lovers.

[Thermionik]

.
The Greatest time to be alive ?

Tomorrow or the next day..... just ask James !
.

[Slapjaw]

.
The Greatest time to be alive ?

Tomorrow or the next day..... just ask James !
.

Well said, thanks. That just put all my daily pitty B/S in line. I'll never sweat the small stuff again. Slapjaw.