Three Great Performers
If you were asked to name the three most influential guitarists of the past 40 years I wonder what names you would come up with?
Perhaps you would think of Frank Zappa, or Chuck Berry, or perhaps Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger, or maybe it would be Chet Atkins or Barney Kessel.
Well, all great guitarists, and worthy of recognition, but they would not quite come into my top three choices.
So who would I vote for? These three, but not necessarily in any particular order – Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix and Jeff Beck.
Eric and Jeff I am glad to say are still performing, but sadly Jimmy died in 1970.
Right then, let me say a bit about these three guitar hero’s.
First of all, Eric Clapton. Eric was born in 1945, and in 1963 he joined the R&B group, The Yardbirds, but within 2 short years he had left the group as he felt that they were becoming an out and out pop group, and he was right.
He then had a brief spell with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before coming back to the UK to form the supergroup known as Cream, along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.
In 1968 Cream broke up, much to the sorrow of so many people, and Eric formed Blind Faith along with his former partner in Cream, Ginger Baker, and Steve Winwood.
Following the demise of Blind Faith Eric went on to form his own band, Derek and the Dominos and it was while he was in this band that he wrote what is, in my opinion, his greatest song – “Layla”.
Sadly, drink and drugs began to take their toll of Eric, and he felt that he had to pull out of the music business, at least for a while.
Happily Eric is now back in full swing, and we his fans are all expectantly awaiting the next great thing from him.
Well next up comes Jimi Hendrix, born 1942, and died 1970. A brief life of just 28 years, but what a name he made for himself.
He is considered by many people to be the greatest rock guitarist of all time, and I would not argue with that.
For a part of his career he was a sideman for such famous name as Ike & Tina Turner, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard, but not surprisingly somebody with his talent and stage presence did not stay in the background for long.
Hendrix moved to New York and played in various bars and clubs, and it was whilst he was playing in Greenwich Village one night that he was approached by a member of the British rock group, the Animals.
He persuaded Jimi to pack his bags and head for London in 1966.
He was a most amazing guitarist, and an incredible showman, and he became an almost instant success.
His first debut single was “Hey Joe”, still a great record today, and his debut album in 1967 was “Are you experienced”.
His playing on stage was something which you had to see, to believe. He would play the guitar behind his back, and sometimes he would pluck the strings with his teeth. He oftentimes would smash his guitar against his amplifiers in order to get a certain effect, and sometimes even set light to them.
If you saw him on stage you would never forget the experience.
When he died in 1970 of a drug overdose the world lost a truly unique musician.
This brings me on finally to my last choice, and that is Jeff Beck, a musician not as well known as Eric and Jimi, but a musician of immense talent.
Jeff was born in 1944 in Wallington, England, and he has spent most of his time performing with various bands. He spent some time with the colourful characted Screaming Lord Sutch until in 1965 he joined the Yardbirds to replace Eric Clapton.
He stayed with the yardbirds until late 1966 when he went on to form his own band the Jeff Beck Group.
He spent some time working with Rod Stewart until Rod left to join the Small Faces.
He has played with many people including Mick Jagger on his 1987 album Primitive Cool.
In 1989 Jeff won a grammy for best rock instrumental for his album Guitar Shop.
Jeff is thankfully still performing today, and I heard him not too long ago giving a thrilling live performance and proving himself to be a musician of tremendous ability..
This has been the first of a series of articles on great performers. If you would like to be kept updated as new articles come out then please go to my website and email me, asking to be kept updated.
John Charles is a guitarist, and guitar teacher. To visit his website, and be kept updated, please Click Here
Learn To Play Blues Guitar
If you were asked to name the three most influential guitarists of the past 40 years I wonder what names you would come up with?
Perhaps you would think of Frank Zappa, or Chuck Berry, or perhaps Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger, or maybe it would be Chet Atkins or Barney Kessel.
Well, all great guitarists, and worthy of recognition, but they would not quite come into my top three choices.
So who would I vote for? These three, but not necessarily in any particular order – Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix and Jeff Beck.
Eric and Jeff I am glad to say are still performing, but sadly Jimmy died in 1970.
Right then, let me say a bit about these three guitar hero’s.
First of all, Eric Clapton. Eric was born in 1945, and in 1963 he joined the R&B group, The Yardbirds, but within 2 short years he had left the group as he felt that they were becoming an out and out pop group, and he was right.
He then had a brief spell with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before coming back to the UK to form the supergroup known as Cream, along with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.
In 1968 Cream broke up, much to the sorrow of so many people, and Eric formed Blind Faith along with his former partner in Cream, Ginger Baker, and Steve Winwood.
Following the demise of Blind Faith Eric went on to form his own band, Derek and the Dominos and it was while he was in this band that he wrote what is, in my opinion, his greatest song – “Layla”.
Sadly, drink and drugs began to take their toll of Eric, and he felt that he had to pull out of the music business, at least for a while.
Happily Eric is now back in full swing, and we his fans are all expectantly awaiting the next great thing from him.
Well next up comes Jimi Hendrix, born 1942, and died 1970. A brief life of just 28 years, but what a name he made for himself.
He is considered by many people to be the greatest rock guitarist of all time, and I would not argue with that.
For a part of his career he was a sideman for such famous name as Ike & Tina Turner, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard, but not surprisingly somebody with his talent and stage presence did not stay in the background for long.
Hendrix moved to New York and played in various bars and clubs, and it was whilst he was playing in Greenwich Village one night that he was approached by a member of the British rock group, the Animals.
He persuaded Jimi to pack his bags and head for London in 1966.
He was a most amazing guitarist, and an incredible showman, and he became an almost instant success.
His first debut single was “Hey Joe”, still a great record today, and his debut album in 1967 was “Are you experienced”.
His playing on stage was something which you had to see, to believe. He would play the guitar behind his back, and sometimes he would pluck the strings with his teeth. He oftentimes would smash his guitar against his amplifiers in order to get a certain effect, and sometimes even set light to them.
If you saw him on stage you would never forget the experience.
When he died in 1970 of a drug overdose the world lost a truly unique musician.
This brings me on finally to my last choice, and that is Jeff Beck, a musician not as well known as Eric and Jimi, but a musician of immense talent.
Jeff was born in 1944 in Wallington, England, and he has spent most of his time performing with various bands. He spent some time with the colourful characted Screaming Lord Sutch until in 1965 he joined the Yardbirds to replace Eric Clapton.
He stayed with the yardbirds until late 1966 when he went on to form his own band the Jeff Beck Group.
He spent some time working with Rod Stewart until Rod left to join the Small Faces.
He has played with many people including Mick Jagger on his 1987 album Primitive Cool.
In 1989 Jeff won a grammy for best rock instrumental for his album Guitar Shop.
Jeff is thankfully still performing today, and I heard him not too long ago giving a thrilling live performance and proving himself to be a musician of tremendous ability..
This has been the first of a series of articles on great performers. If you would like to be kept updated as new articles come out then please go to my website and email me, asking to be kept updated.
It is not that easy to pull out a definition of blues. You can tell that Robert Johnsons’ Rambling on My Mind or B.B. King’s Everyday I Have the Blues is definitely blues, but what about van Halen, Al Di Meola or Pavarotti’s songs?
Of course, you could define the blues by the call-response structure, the dominant 7th chords, the shuffle rhythm, the I-IV-V progression and things like these, but the most complete definition is one that Eric Clapton himself gave to blues music in an interview in 1998:
My definition of Blues is that it’s a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it’s the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don’t do it. (Eric Clapton, 1998)
The Blues History
There are many books on the history of blues. It was born in the 20th century’s Mississippi Delta in the U.S., short after the Civil War. This music style was played by slaves and white people referred to it as sorrow songs, plantation songs or workaday songs. The term blues was used for the first time around 1925.
It is believed that the band leader William Christopher Handy was the one to write the first blues songs in 1909, which was later printed and documented. The song was initially called Memphis Blues and got the name of Mister Crump later. He got his inspiration from a blues song he heard in the Mississippi railway station six years earlier. W.C. Handy wrote other songs too, such as Beale Street Blues or St. Louis Blues and nowadays there’s a blues award named after him – the W.C. Handy Award.
What Do You Need To Learn To Play Blues Guitar?
In order to learn to play blues guitar, there are a few things you need. First of all, you need to own an electric or acoustic guitar with strings made from other than nylon in standard tuning. You also need to know how to read tablature, as well as have some basic guitar knowledge and know how to play a few chords.
You also need some Eric Clapton CDs with blues classics, such as Blues Breakers, From the Cradle or Eric Clapton Unplugged and a good CD player with an auto-repeat shuffle. There’s also a plug-in for Winamp you can use to slow down music. A small chord book you can find in any guitar shop is also handy. But most importantly, in order to learn to play blues guitar, you need some good ears.
If you already have some basic guitar knowledge, you can learn to play blues guitar on your own, with the aid of a simple chord book. However, finding a blues guitar teacher who is willing to help you learn to play blues guitar in your area is definitely a good thing. If you have the time and money to take up private lessons, this will probably help improving your guitar playing skills.
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