Listing, Listing …

I’ve recently been wondering why I don’t write as much about acoustic guitarists as their plugged-in friends, because the music I listen to probably contains as many acoustic guitars as electric.

Maybe it’s the wow factor of the electric guitar.  I dunno.

I don’t even have a Top Ten list.  Maybe it’s just too hard.

I mean, where do you start?  You could fill the list with the influential blues cats like Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Son House or John Lee Hooker.  You could fill it with acoustic specialists like James Taylor, Bruce Cockburn, Cat Stevens, Harry Manx, Paul Simon or Donovan.  You could easily fill it with players who also play a mean electric guitar, like Clapton, Page, Knopfler, Bonamassa, Neil Young or Colin James.

Hmmm.  Plenty of wow factor in all those names.

I guess there’s the “defined the instrument/broke new ground” thing that gets applied to musicians on other instruments.  In that case, I suppose my list would be: Leadbelly, Johnson, Broonzy, Taylor, Simon, Donovan, Stevens, Cockburn, Young and Page.

But then I’d be omitting artist I listen to – and wonder, “how did he/she do that?” – a lot.  People like Clapton, Harry Manx, Arlo Guthrie and Bonnie Raitt.

To hell with lists.  I revere all the guitarists mentioned – them, and a lot more.

Walk Of Life

I attended a small blues festival last summer.  Four acts (2 really, or 2.8 or 3.1 depending on how you want to count).  Two (or 1.3 of them) with some notoriety, and two (or 2.7 of them) not so much.

But it was all good.

Sure, recorded music can be more or less perfect (in terms of sound quality if not performance and taste), but it's not as real, is it?  You can edit out a lot of mistakes and patch in a lot of corrections.  That's what the pros do, what the big stars do, and what we usually get excited about.

But it's not real.  Real is rough and tumble, here goes nothing, fall on your ass music jumping out at the audience - some of it great, some of it inspired, some of it just interesting.

Let me explain the numbers.  There were four acts on the billing.  The first act was two guys: drums and organ.  My first reactions was, this will be interesting, and it was.  Except that this guitarist from one of the other acts sat in and jammed with them for most of the set.  A good thing, especially from the point of view of the organist, who was a busy boy.

The second act performed their set - very nice - and got off without complication.

The third act, Harry Manx, a solo artist (and one of my favourites), played a few songs on his own, but invited the organist and the MC (a harp player from an act not on the billing) up to jam.  Fun stuff.

Then the final act came on.  The guitarist who jammed through the first set, a bass player, and guess who?  The drummer and the organ player that were the first, 'separate' act!

I got the feeling that the whole event was one big jam session.  So all the musicians were on their toes.  Little was rehearsed.  Nothing was automatic.  Most of it involved some danger, and all of it was genuine.

From the perspetive of the audience, that's exciting.  From the musician's perspective, it's about learning and growing and getting better.  Not to mention having fun.

Playing live is how musicians hone their craft, how they learn, how they improve.  How they develop into the magicians that make us all happy.

If people didn't take a chance on live music The Beatles might never have made a record, Rod Stewart might still be busking in train stations, and Bob Dylan might have had to finish college and become a manager at a trucking company or something.

So get out there and listen to live music.  You never know who you'll be helping along.  And once in a while you'll say to yourself, "Oh yeah, the boy can play."

Sad Songs (Part 2 ... or 3)

OK, so a few songs I overlooked the first time out, and so here's a more complete list:

I Can't Make You Love Me and Matters of the Heart, by Bonnie Raitt

Romeo and Juliet, by Dire Straits

You're Missing, by Bruce Springsteen

Love In Vain, and St. James Infirmary – anyone’s version

Walk Away Rene, by The Left Bank (or Temptations)

Accidently Like a Martyr, by Warren Zevon

Humble Me, either Harry Manx's or Norah Jones's version.

Love Hurts and Crying, by Roy Orbison

Don't Fade On Me, by Tom Petty


No particular order.  They all get to me every time.  And, in terms of tear induction, Here Today by Paul McCartney is the hands-down winner.  Don't know how I forgot that one.

Great songs, all of 'em.  They just hurt so good.

Best Guitarists Ever - Part 2

Some honourable mentions, in no particular order:

Joe Bonamassa.  He has studied - and mastered - the masters.

Peter Green.  Clapton's successor with John Mayall and founder of Fleetwood Mac, Green was the master of the tasty lick.

Robben Ford.  Incredibly versatile, I don't understand why his isn't a household name.

Robert Johnson and T-Bone Walker.  Definitely the two most influential guitarists who ever lived.

John Frusciante.  The Chili's frontman has all the right chops!

Shifting gears to acoustic greats:  Keb' Mo', Bruce Cockburn, and James Taylor.  Well, you don't have to be a blues guy to play amazing guitar.

In leagues of their own:  Harry Manx, who manages to blend blues, folk and Indian music and make it sound obvious;  Ritchie Blackmore, whose lightning speed and unique vocabulary have never been matched.

Oh ya, and Paul McCartney.  Sure, we think of him as the bass player who can play piano, but his solo on Taxman alone earns him a spot on the list.

Again, each one of these giants can surprise and delight, but always to compliment the song.