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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.
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.
Rumors abound about how he made the deal with the Devil in
the Deep South. Johnson did not do much to dispel this
notion. Instead his songs like Crossroad Blues and Me And
The Devil Blues further stoked suspicion. The legend
strengthened even further by his death in 1938 at the age
of 27. Nothing is known about the cause of death, whether
it was poisoning, stabbing or the Devil claiming his soul.
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 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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