I love guitar based music; learning to play the guitar only increased my love of the instrument and helped open my ears to other music styles. Here I hope to share my passion for guitar based music. Some of the reasons why the guitar grew in popularity are:
a) It was cheap so people could afford it
b) It is portable so easy to carry around
In its early days it was mainly used for rhythm and would mainly be used as a backing Instrument.
One of the first players to open up the harmonic possibilities of the guitar was Django Reinhardt. Django is still one of my favourite players of all time. Lot of his unique style was due to the fact he could only use two fingers on his fretting hand to create music. His music has a strong sense of rhythm this helps drive his music and then has his amazing playing coming through tracks like Nuages, Minor Swing, Daphne and Dark Eyes capture his playing style well at times his playing can give me goose bumps. It’s amazing still how many modern players still admire his music and spirit.
A couple of modern players who I love that are heavily influenced by Django include Birelli Lagrene and Martin Taylor. Birelli made his first album at the age of 12 he grew up in a traditional gypsy lifestyle and grew up in hearing the music of Django. My two favourite albums by Birelli are Birelli Lagrene and Vic Juris Live for me one of the greatest live guitar acoustic based albums ever recorded it captures the sheer joy of 2 great musicians playing at there best lots of fun improvisation great melodies and fantastic playing. I also love inferno this has a lot more of an Electric feel and yet again some great improvisation and melodies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSOy6JoSe4
Martin Taylor is a British guitarist perhaps a good place to start is Don’t Fret he has sometimes recorded albums that are mainly tunes written or inspired by Django Gypsy is the best one to try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZlxwXjomZg
Another jazz guitar pioneer is Charlie Christian he mostly played as a back up musician to Benny Goodman a great piece to hear what he is all about is Solo Flight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-U1-AB_vnM
The 50s saw the birth of Rock and Roll. When people watched Elvis played Jailhouse Rock the guitar suddenly became the instrument people wanted to learn. The 50s also was the start of electric blues people like Freddie King, Muddy Walters, BB King, and T Bone Walker had an incredible influence on music and a few years latter would inspire a whole bunch of players like Eric Clapton Jimmy Page Jeff Beck and Peter Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2T42SehZWA T Bone Walker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q85FSZXe_KE BB King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez5izCf2DLI Muddy Waters
Also the 50s saw people like Scotty Moore, Chat Atkins Joe Pass Tal Farlow. The first two players have there roots in country music the last two Jazz. When I was younger I tried to get into these players but for me I could appreciate there legacy but could not really enjoy them.
Looking at the 60s suddenly the guitar is starting to become the main instrument of popular music; bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones really helped to cement its place. In the 60s Britain threw up a whole bunch of players Clapton Page Green and Beck. For me the player I love the most from that period and whose music kept on developing is Jeff Beck. Jeff has amazing phrasing and a great tone he has spear headed many movements and is often cited by many guitarist as a player they most admire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8c0uzSbcrg Jeff Beck playing with Rod Stewart this predates Led Zeppelin and you can clearly see a direct influence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP1jeisylBs Jeff playing a Nitin Sawhney song. For me this sends shivers down my spine his phrasing his tone the track itself just Awesome.
But the guitarist that turned everything on its head was Hendrix. Jimmy was drenched in the tradition of Blues and Soul. Playing in a number of bands as he learned his trade It’s easy to hear influences of people like Buddy Guy I love the first two albums the most and enjoy Electric Ladyland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE80W5xYbTI Jimmy playing on the Lulu show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4uvI...eature=related Jimmy at Woodstock
Other players to come from America from this period include Roy Buchanan Paul Butterfield and Carlos Santana I love Carlos first album it captures spontaneity and groove Tracks like Soul Sacrifice Treat and Jingo for me is Carlos at his best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnamP4-M9ko This band is so in the groove and Michael Shrieve drumming is just so awesome. The band is still young and hungry and this comes through
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xghprblOiYI A more Jazzy feel with some nice keyboard work from Greg then moves into more traditional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MNNo...eature=related One of the all time Jazz guitarists Wes Montgomery started to record albums in the 60s famous for octave playing A great sense of rhythm and melody
The 70s so the birth of Stadium rock yet again it was the guitarist that took centre stage People Like Peter Frampton Jimmy Page Steve Howe. and King Crimson (Robert Fripp). Led Zeppelin was a giant of this time. For me as young boy seeing Jimmy with his double Gibson guitar was just so cool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB8IZwdZG1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1yFQ6vcRNk Zeppelin in there pomp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jhk5MEugJY Yes at there best
The 70s also brought Jazz Fusion Punk Heavy Rock/Metal and progressive rock the guitar played central part in all these diverse formats
Fusion saw bands like the Mahavishnu Orchestra Return to Forever and Tony Williams Lifetime. This produced 3 of the most influential guitarist within this format John McLaughlin Al DiMeola and Alan Holdsworth, my own favourite is Al because of his great riffs and fiery playing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujcYw2QTPzM Mahvavishnu Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySWS6i9kL4s Holdsworth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClbE6...eature=related Just great riffs I remember playing this using Vic Verus on my system and was the closest I ever got to the real thing; I could hear ever note jump out of the speakers.
The fusion genre also brought us players like Lee Ritenour, Pat Metheny, George Benson and Larry Carlton the music for awhile moved to smooth jazz and bands like Morrissey Mullen with the great Jim Mullen on guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwGHaKbnoL8 Larry most famous tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN7YHbQjwjo For me Pat is a player I sometimes love and sometimes find hard to listen too, but he is n amazing guitar player and has continued to develop over the years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xNENSZwS4 The tune that got me into Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdKl1...eature=related Its clear to see Jim Mullen is heavily influenced by Wes the same goes for George Benson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QjTK0pL1go George Benson
Heavy Metal/Rock has often been about heavy riffs and guitar solos and the 70s saw some players like Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath Ted Nugent Michael Schenker (UFO) Ronnie Montrose and Eddie Van Halen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqy4DTHGqg The powerful driving rhythms heavy riffs of Black Sabbath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qP_OqOJ8ug The mad axeman!! I seen this band so many times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3J-XYnZHfU He is so Spinal Tap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk52nGxF-jc Montrose Led Zep is the min influence Ronnie doing a good Jimmy Page impression and Sammy Hagar is copying Robert Plant but great stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtRzM6lork When I first heard this I could not believe what I was hearing I never heard anyone tap before and never heard harmonics like that the music came screaming at you
Other guitar players to come from this period include Mark Knopler Andy Summers Alex Leifson and Gary Moore
Punk also had a huge influence it brought guitar back to its basics and also brought back a energy and passion to music
The 80s so the rise of Shred guitar players like Yngwie J Malmsteen Steve Vai Joe Satriani and Tony Mac Alpine But it also saw bands like the Smiths (Johnny Marr) and Alan Murphy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj3ec2cCaJwOneof my funniest memories was going to see Yngwie at the Marquee seems like someone spread a rumour that it was Bruce Springsteen play under a different name so a lot of Bruce fans going to see a Swedish neo classical guitar player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b0XwyeWNl0 Steve first made his mark as a Frank Zappa sideman but here is a track from his first solo album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4fPv450OYM This is Satch playing Always with you always with me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcAND...x=0&playnext=1 The Smiths
Modern Players
The 90s saw renewed interests in fusion players people like Scott Henderson, Frank Gamble, Shawn Lane, Carl Vernheyen, Bill Frisell, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci and Nguyen Le
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svzv-YkUzdk Bill is capable of playing a wide variety of styles and is a great innovator on the guitar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o9ps...om=PL&index=13 Nguyen is a player that is at times combines beauty with complexity in his music and ranges from World influences to Rock to Jazz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jit_KXxhX4 I saw Shawn play with this band at the Pizza Ezpress a few years before he died I had no doubt I was watching a master at work the next track represents Shawn more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbPTe...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnqpOFcBiMM Eric has actually been around since the late 70s making albums but did not really find fame till the 90s a very versatile guitar player I prefer his first few albums and I am not the greatest lover of him singing but some of my friends like his singing voice
Players in other Styles
I realise there re a whole bunch of players in different styles that I have not even touched upon so here will be a very quick overview
Classical
I guess without Andres Segovia the whole Classical guitar movement might of not got started and without doubt is the single most important person in classical guitar the same way Pagganni is important to the Violin Other players worth listening to are Julian Bream John Williams Nicola Hall Sharon Isbin Elloit Fisk and David Tanenbaum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WqVf...eature=related David Tanenbaum playing a very modern classical piece at times challenging yet has moments of beauty too
Various world music and Folk
Paco DeLucia is great Flamenco player and has dabbled in other forms of music too. His recording with John McLaughlin and Al DiMeola is one of my all time favourite albums ever. Other artists worth checking out are Strunz and Farah Oscar Lopez and Tomatito
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUZDR...eature=related A great guitar duo this really represents what they are about
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7ype...eature=related Just wonderful music still touches something inside and can make the hair stand on the back of my neck
India has produced great musicians VM Bhatt plays a version of the guitar and Prasanna combines Indian music with swing and sometimes rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e-sx_2pquA This is totally unique I never Just awesome guitar playing he really swings yet he he is doing some crazy bends and slides http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e-sx_2pquA
Country
My knowledge of Country players is very limited some of note include The Hellecaster (WillRay Jerry Donahue and John Jorgenson) were one of the tightest bands I ever seen. Another great guitar player is Danny Gatton Other players to check out include James Burton Albert Lee Chat Atkins Steve Trovato and Ricky Skaggs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjR-C...eature=related The Hellecasters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lILSP...eature=related Danny could play in any style http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYK13...eature=related if you look closely at Danny playing he is using pick and fingers Just amazing playing
One of my favourite players is Michael Hedges is simply a joy to hear other Acoustic players in similar style include Billy McLaughlin Pierre Bensusan Leo Kottke and Phil Keggy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0cd7...eature=related Billy Mclaughlin
I love many things about the guitar one of them is how people have adapted to different styles of music I like that on its own it can sound like a band that you can play it at different levels but most of all I love the sound it creates
Now I need a :cool:
