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3/19/2012 (Gary Moore-every other lick)

On the “Still Got The Blues” album, I did “Pretty Woman” with Albert King. When he was leaving the studio, he turned to me and said, “You know what? Play every other lick.” It was the best thing anyone had ever said to me, like, don’t play every lick, play every other lick. It’s the simplest thing in the world, and when you think about it, it’s absolutely right. I think a lot of guitar players, in every genre, are afraid to leave space.-Gary Moore

Source.

The first clip is Gary and Albert's studio cut. The second fas Moore giving up a lot of interesting info including some neat stuff about Randy Rhoads (around 8:53).

3/16/2012 ( Albert Schweitzer)

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: guitar and cats."-Albert Schweitzer

I don't know of any information on  Albert Schweitzer as a guitar player but, I do know the dude had some serious organ chops.

But, you're probably not here for keyboard player stuff and a good number of you may not be cat people. So, here are a few cat songs featuring some hip guitar...

March 115, 2012 (Willie Dixon via Peter Case-Style)

“You have to have a style, and that style should be named after you, and your best song should be named after that style. Like, Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley in the Bo Diddley style.”-Willie Dixon

 I'm paraphrasing here because, I'm going from memory. This was told to me by Peter Case.

The story went something like this; Some time during the '80s, Case was in L.A. after his band, The Plimsouls, folded and working on solo stuff. During the same period, Willie Dixon was waiting for the Led Zeppelin money to come through and he was maintaining an office in town.

Some A&R whiz thought it would be a good idea to put the pair together to write some songs. As I recall, they didn't really accomplish much writing but Peter got to hear some great stories.

Speaking of story telling, what I'm missing here are all of Case's wonderful inflections and mannerisms which are artwork to themselves. If you get a chance to see him live you should do so.

March 14, 2012 (Dan Auerbach chases the Hound Dog)

I started playing bluegrass with my family, so there were the G, C and D chords. I was playing a Martin acoustic because that’s what Carter Stanley of the Stanley Brothers played. Then I got into the really raw blues of Hound Dog Taylor and started on electric guitar.

My mom bought me a white Strat, but that wasn’t what I wanted, so I went to a guitar store in Cleveland and -- the guy told me it was a really good deal -- made an even swap for a blue Teisco Del Ray. I loved that guitar and used it a bunch. I got into open D tuning, like Hound Dog. Since then I’ve gotten into other people’s styles, but I’ve never tried to master them.-Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys)

Read the rest of the interview at Guitar World.

Mr. Auerbach is a purveyor of raw tone and so was the Dog man...So, it doesn't come as a huge surprise that Dan is in to the Taylor vibe.

We will hope that Auerbach's fascination doesn't carry over in to drunken straight razor amputation.

March 13, 2012 (John Mayer-greedy)

From Guitarist...

"I'll tell ya' the number one rule about guitars for me is that, I'm so sorry you couldn't get the colour that you wanted, but if you pick up a guitar at a store and it's sunburst, and you hate sunburst, but it feels and plays great for you – lightning strikes – then that's your guitar!

"As soon as you start getting greedy and you call Fender and you go, I want one like this sunburst, but can you make it blue? The blue one is going to sound and feel terrible. Never in my life has that ever succeeded."-John Mayer

Well, aside from sounding as out of touch as Mitt Romney talking to a bunch of NASCAR fans, John brings up a good point; play the one that feels right.

March 12, 2012 (Segovia On The Ladies)

I've had three wives and three guitars. I still play the guitars.-Andres Segovia

Andres was pretty aristocratic as a young lad...

...but, regardless of the quote, he was still playing the ladies as he got up in years. Check him out at 3:24 sipping tea with his obviously younger better half (the second video, from the same documentary starts with Segovia playing some Bach...beautiful!)

March 10, 2012 (Jerry Garcia-crack a book)

When I feel like I’m really seriously stale, that’s when I start to crack books, because you really need something to move. And there’s so much to music, there’s no excuse for feeling stale. Nobody is such a great musician that they could be burnt out on all of music, you know. [Laughs.] So for me, it’s just a matter of going out and putting a little bit of effort into it, and I can almost always find something that I don’t know anything about and pick up on it and start a sort of itch-scratch cycle.-Jerry Garcia

From a 1985 interview; another gem from the Jas Obrecht Archive.

It's an interesting though coming from a musician who was doing so much improvising. There are always more ideas out there, just got to look.

Here's a cool video of and entire Grateful Dead show from Columbia, Maryland in '83. Pretty good audio and lots of Jerry stretching out...sounds to me like he was digging his tone...

Set 1
Alabama Getaway
Greatest Story Ever Told
Dire Wolf
Me & My Uncle
Cumberland Blues
Cassidy
Big Railroad Blues
It's All Over Now
Loser
Looks Like Rain
Might As Well

Set 2
Touch of Grey
Women Are Smarter
Terrapin Station
Estimated Prophet
Eyes of the World
Drums
Space
Throwin' Stones
Black Peter
Around n' Around
Good Lovin'
U.S. Blues

March 9, 2012 (mean, mean, mean licks)

"I don't play a lot of fancy guitar. I don't want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean, mean licks."-John Lee Hooker

Source

Do your self a favor and take a look at these two clips of Hooker at the top of his game...

March 8, 2012 (Jack White)

It used to be that you got your parents’ furniture when you were married or whatever and you had their mattress re-upholstered and it would last for thirty, forty years. You spent a lot of money on it initially, but you never got rid of it. Now, the whole method of how people get furniture is just disposable. You go to Art Van or whatever and buy a $400 couch and throw it out a couple of years later. That whole method just killed the upholstery trade, and it became a rich person’s thing.-Jack White

From a 2003 interview in The Believer.

Jack White was in the upholstery trade before the White Stripes were a big deal. This interview is a nice insight in to how the man does business.

White has a thriving record label and record store at a time when labels are crashing and record stores are considered to be a thing of the past. But, he's a guy that can see value in traditional tools, methods and objects and has the vision to apply them to the current climate.

Here are the clips from the SNL show where White performed stuff from his new solo record Blunderbuss.

March 7, 2012 (Wayne Kramer)

"When I played music in prison, I wasn't in prison anymore,"...

..."And that's what we're trying to accomplish with the instrument donations,"...

..."That this is a way that you can get through this time, that you can go someplace else, you can get involved in your guitar."...

..."I figure if maybe I can get a guitar in a kid's hand he can start to see himself as more than just a kid from the `hood in trouble,"

Source:.

The words are from guitarist Wayne Kramer who is best known for his work with the ground breaking MC5. These days, Kramer works out of L.A. and his resume includes a bunch of major film work.

He's also involved in a project  that supplies prisons with guitars, Jail Guitar Doors U.S.A.

The name actually comes from the title of a Clash song that mentions Wayne and his time spent in jail.

It's an interesting story. While Kramer was in the joint, he took music theory classes from fellow inmate and legendary jazz trumpeter Red Rodney.

Sometimes good can come from a bad situation.

March 6, 2012 (the riff that lasts)

"I don't want you to play me a riff that's going to impress Joe Satriani; give me a riff that makes a kid want to go out and buy a guitar and learn to play." - Ozzy Osbourne

I spent an entire day at a music store last week. I heard this riff quite a lot; from novice players to cats who obviously had some seasoning.

I guess the point is that after 40+ years the riff still resonates. Something powerful there.

March 5, 2012 (practicing in the mind)

Well, I don’t read, and I don’t listen to the radio. If I decide I want a new lick, I just lay in bed and think of it. Don’t even need an instrument. Some of my best licks I can just think. Some of them aren’t good, though, but when I try them out on the guitar, I know whether to keep them or not.-Roy Buchanan

From Guitar Player.

Roy brings up a point that a lot of musicians abide by; practicing in the mind. I think it makes sense. Practice routines often revolve around scale, chord patterns; a lot of geometry. Another component is usually some type of way to increase dexterity. And, that's all good an fine but, when you work something out in your mind before picking up thee guitar maybe, you are bypassing those technical issues and getting more of a pure musical essence.

March 4. 2012 (Tom and Jerry)

The hardest music to play is Tom & Jerry -- cartoons. The music makes absolutely no sense, as music. You can't get into hearing it. There's nothing to hear--'bleep!, blop! scratch!' and it comes fast; everything's first take. That'll change the way you look at life.-Howard Roberts

Howard Roberts was a true visionary. A great player, teacher, philosopher, thinker and tinkerer. Here's a wonderful site where you can start to get some of the picture.

March 3, 2012 (a different way of living)

"I'm primarily a Gibson Les Paul player. A Strat is an entirely different instrument. It requires a different vocabulary, a different approach...a different way of living actually"-Robert Fripp

I've never heard it put quite that way but, I think Robert has a point. 

To me, more that the pickups, it come down to the fretboard radius and string tension but, that's me. What say you?

This clip has Fripp playing something other than a Les Paul but, certainly in that vein and Adrian Belew who, surely embodies what is "Fender guy".

March 2, 2012 (living room guitar)

“I often discover that what sounds great at home sounds hideous in public.” – Tuck Andress

It's an interesting quote coming from Andress because, most players are able to do far more intricate and subtle things in the living room than what works on stage.

Makes you wonder what Tuck sounds like in his living room.

March 1, 2012 (lead and rhythm break the barriers)

Take it away Keef...

See, this lead and rhythm thing – there’s no such thing. You play guitar. In a good band, it should swap and shift. You know, licks will come from there [waves right arm] and that one [waves left arm] will pick up the rhythm. And then you swirl it around, and you don’t have to think lead and rhythm. What we are looking for is to break the barriers down. And that’s why I love playing with Woody.

Source: Jas Obrecht Archive.

February 29, 2012

"Sorry for the tune up between time, but what the hell, cowboys are the only ones who stay in tune, anyway"-Jimi Hendrix

Here's Jimi not just talkin' that talk...



Well then, should this guy be wearing a Stetson?


Who is that guy?