What was the most important innovation in popular music in the last century? I would say it was the use of the electric guitar as a lead instrument (ie., not just an accompaniment to singing). Great blues artists like Albert, BB and Freddie King started it, and then it exploded into the mainstream in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, with the Yardbirds, Cream, Hendrix, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin, among others.
This post mostly features guitarists who are/were the leaders of their bands. What they have in common is that their peers frequently cite them as the best, but they didn't achieve the same commercial success as those peers. Too many of them are now gone from the house, so we just have the recordings they left behind.
Best of the Kings?
Albert King didn’t achieve the huge success of his fellow King, BB, but I would argue he was a more fluid, expressive and lyrical guitarist, and as you will see in this clip, he could bring it vocally too. He played a conventional guitar left-handed, and was completely self-taught. Clapton, Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan all considered him one of their most important mentors. I saw him live in a small café in Mountain View, California around 1985. I don’t think I fully understood then what a big deal that was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKY8KIt9kqc
A guitarist for guitarists
Robert Cray plays something that sounds like blues, jazz, rock and soul, all swirled around together. He’s led his own band much of his life, and has also collaborated with the likes of Albert Collins, BB King, Eric Clapton and more. He did win four Grammies, but some critics say that if he had focused on a particular genre or style he would have been even more famous. He cares more about exploring than about milking one formula (in that, he is a bit like Robert Fripp and Jeff Beck). He is one of the names mentioned most often by other guitarists when asked who influenced them. This clip has a nice introduction by John Mayer (see my earlier post, Guitar Magic (1) for something by Mayer).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h53va2AIuYU
The Greatest
The most famous name on this list, but should be even bigger. He may be the greatest electric guitarist ever (in my opinion, his only rival for that title is Jimi Hendrix), but he is far less famous than Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Eddie van Halen or Stevie Ray Vaughan, to name a few. Beck not only mastered, but shaped, blues, rock, jazz, fusion, heavy metal and even movie sound track writing. Early in his career, he largely stopped using a pick, giving him a unique sound and incredible agility. He can shred with anyone, but has always focused on innovative composition and technique. Here is one of his most soulful, emotional compositions. Side note: the bassist is 20-year-old Tal Wilkenfeld, the Australian prodigy, on her inaugural professional tour. She turns in a wonderful bass solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC02wGj5gPw
Eric Johnson: Melody and tone
Like many of the guitarists on this list, Eric is known as a “guitarist’s guitarist”. He is often grouped with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Joe Bonamassa, but he is less self-absorbed and flashy, which may explain why he is less well known. In my opinion, he is the best composer of the bunch, and his playing has a uniquely rich and resonant tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nd7EZ3k39s
“The Greatest Unknown Guitarist”
Roy Buchanan could play anything and could play fast, but he is most remembered for the intensely emotional sound of his playing. In a poll of guitarists, he was named as having the best tone. He was an innovator—he perfected the “pinch harmonic”, which allows a player to coax notes in multiple octaves from one string. (This is how rock and metal guitarists get that high squeal or “ping” that adds anguish or menace to a run of notes. It is now almost a required skill for any top-level electric guitarist.) Roy achieved modest success, but personal problems including bouts of heavy drinking kept him from making the most of his talents. He died in a jail cell under suspicious circumstances, but the case has never been solved. Here is his most famous instrumental, “Sweet Dreams”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swX9oq6TVAU
“The Humbler”
Top guitarists called Danny Gatton the Humbler, because none of them could match him in “cutting” contests—where guitarists take turns showing off their best stuff, usually in a small venue with other musicians as the audience. His fear of traveling stopped him from becoming a bigger star, and his other demons came to get him when he was just 49.
Here he is, doing an almost hallucinatory take on the old noir classic, Harlem Nocturne. He always had a big, resonant tone, but in this piece, he takes it to another level, and makes the guitar cry and moan like a living thing. He produces so many different voices that some people assume there are two or three guitarists playing. It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_jmeU505GI
Eddie
Hazel: Maggot Brain
Eddie had two strikes against him: 1) He was Black, and rock guitar was always considered a white man’s domain; and 2) he was associated with Funkadelic, at a time when funk and soul were not about individual virtuosity. To George Clinton’s credit, he was willing to take Funkadelic in a variety of directions, and he understood Hazel was special. This piece, however, is really out there. It isn’t remotely funk, it’s raw, throwback psychedelic acid rock. The whole thing is essentially an Eddie Hazel solo. It’s one of the greatest, most intense things of its kind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOKn33-q4Ao
No comments:
Post a Comment