A One Golf

A One Golf

Guitar Greats
by Univideit Gauitin
http://www.guitarsuniverse.com

No two guitar aficionados will be able to agree on the list
of guitar greats, but like so many lists, it can be fun to
try to make. What each considers greatness will vary too -
is it technical ability or some hard-to-define quality like
'soul'?

Many connoisseurs consider Robert Johnson, the blues
guitarist, great. He started as an average guitarist but
became great in a period of just one year. Many legends
thrived to explain such sudden burst of talent. Some gave a
Dr Faustus like theory that he had made a pact with the
Devil. His rivals and common people disbelieved his
explanation of practice and hard work for his newfound
talent.

The deal had been done, so the story goes, at a crossroads
somewhere in the Deep South. Johnson himself immortalized
the meetings, probably ironically, in songs like Crossroad
Blues and Me And The Devil Blues. These were some of the few
tracks he was able to record before his death in 1938 at the
tender age of 27. To this day no one knows if he was stabbed
or poisoned or if the devil himself came to claim what he
was owed.

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 was a great innovator. Being left handed, he
re-strung his guitar upside down for ease of play. He had
all types of music in his bouquet like blues, rock or jazz.
His talent could be gauged from the fact that he gave live
concerts with support from just a bassist and drummer.

There are many stories about Hendrix. He acquired fame for
covering other bands songs in his concert. Sometimes he
performed his cover of a track live before the others were
able to do so. His rendering of Beatles 'Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band' being a case in point. He was
illiterate in musical notations, but would play any music
after listening to it just once. He was even approved of by
Miles Davis, music's hardest man to please.

Guitar players rule the roost in many forms of music.
People do not view them only as rock or blues man. That is
why Django Rheinhardt, John Williams and Paco de Lucia are
considered universally great. No doubt complete agreement
on guitar legends cannot be achieved.

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