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Topic: Old time guitar playing...but suspiciously good ! |
Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 25 Feb 2019 5:35 pm |
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Of course, straight guitarists have improved a lot over the years, but this tune recorded by Jimmy Bryant over 60 years ago doesn't do too bad...considering.
He "loosens up" at about 38 seconds into this one:
alien:
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO7UFFVl27U |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 3:04 am
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Wow! Sustaining that kind of speed and accuracy is no small feat.
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| Of course, straight guitarists have improved a lot over the years, |
Some have for sure, but I feel that by and large, guitarists (and all musicians to some extent) have handicapped their development with electronics in the modern era. That was played with a Tele and, maybe a Deluxe or something along those lines - no drive/compression/fuzz etc. You could put an old acoustic guitar in Danny Gatton's hands, and he could play the same stuff as he did with his suped up Tele. Similarly, you could sit Chic Corea, or Herbie Hancock, etc down at a piano, and here some amazing music - and then... They could wow you with synthesizers. I think the best thing that ever happened to me wasw my father (who was a music lover, not a musician) insisted that I play a gut string classical, with no picks, regardless of what I really wanted to play, for the first 4 or 5 years of my study of guitar. |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 3:16 am
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I had a young guy one time, come up to me at a show, and ask me what effect I was using to get that sound. I told him, "a guitar cord". He was absolutely unwilling to accept that it was the natural sound of a guitar and amp.
This was recorded with all instruments straight to the Fender amps - and a really good drummer!
https://youtu.be/wF4Njc0joB8?list=OLAK5uy_meOZ6HbTaPyN8PVr6ERpfKmJ_mzy-F3js |
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Ian Rae
From:
Redditch, England
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 5:44 am
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Effects have nothing to feed on if the music ain't there. 
_________________
Make sleeping dogs tell the truth!
Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 7:28 am
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Ian said:
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| Effects have nothing to feed on if the music ain't there. |
I think I'm getting at the folks who put more energy into learning their toys, than the instrument itself. I have no problem with effects - just in putting the cart before the horse. If I was teaching, I would start a student off on an acoustic guitar until he got his basic chords, scales, and maybe a couple acoustic oriented songs (Wildwood Flower, Romance of the Pines etc) under his belt - maybe for a year or so. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 8:34 am
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Was that you on the surf number, Bobby? I really like it.
Someone said a song is really good if it can be played with a voice and an acoustic and with nothing else.
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 8:46 am
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| Joachim Kettner wrote: |
Was that you on the surf number, Bobby? I really like it.
Someone said a song is really good if it can be played with a voice and an acoustic and with nothing else. |
A piece of beef is really good too, but especially when you season it properly. Using effects is like seasoning, or coloring. Some over-season their food and their guitar sounds as well. You can count me in to the latter, as I love it sometimes. There are no rules in music.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 9:25 am
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Was that you on the surf number, Bobby? I really like it.
Someone said a song is really good if it can be played with a voice and an acoustic and with nothing else. |
Yes Joachim, It wasw the last thing I did on guitar before my hands went south - 2002-3 I think. It's on an Aqualds CD called Surf Surf Surf, which was named after an old surf tune I'd written in the 80s - it's full of a bunch of that stuff, and some newer stuff. And yes, The Joe Pass Ella Fitzgerald albums from the early 70s prove that statement to be right. |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 9:32 am
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Mike wrote:
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| There are no rules in music. |
yes, there is that school of thought, and the one that says "ya gotta know the rules before you can break em" - I fall somewhere between the two, moving more toward the latter. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 9:41 am
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| Quote: |
| There are no rules in music. |
Yes, you're right.
I'm sorry to hear of your handicap Bobby.
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 26 Feb 2019 11:27 am
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What really amazes me is that today, there are hundreds of super-talented guitarists to learn from, and they're all very accessible via the internet. But back over a half century ago, getting exposure to players at or near this level of playing had to be nigh on to impossible because there were so few of them around, and because the only real "access" was...go see them.
One interesting fact is that when this recording was released, many believed it had been sped-up in the studio. Jimmy had to give a special live performance to convince the doubters, who were mostly DJ's and record execs. I imagine that there were a few guitar players were there, as well.  |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 5:25 am
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| I'm sorry to hear of your handicap Bobby. |
Well Joachim, I can't play 6-string anymore, but luckily for me, the pedal steel is a lot less physical in terms of your hands, and I'm not finding it really much of handicap, other than fumbling with the bar a little, or the picks falling off before I'm aware they are loose. I'm making lemon aid out of lemons, and wonderful lemon aid it is! as I've wanted to play PSG for 40 years. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 8:35 am
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That's good to hear Bobby. But still, you were very good on guitar! (I had to think to think about the term lemon aid for a while  )
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 10:44 am
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| Joachim Kettner wrote: |
| I had to think to think about the term lemon aid for a while . |
When life hands you lemons...make lemonade! |
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Chris Reesor
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 11:19 am
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I suspect there never were, nor ever will be, very many players in Jimmy's class. Most peoples brains just won't function that fast.
_________________
Excel Superb U12, MIJ Squier tele, modified Deluxe Reverb RI, Cube 80XL, self built acoustics & mandolins |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 11:59 am
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Ray Riggs, who has passed on, studied under Jimmy Bryant. He had a picture of Jimmy to Ray and he wrote "Ray you play too much". It was a reference to Ray's skill and speed. I have a CD of Ray and there is only an acoustic guitar, nothing else (no effects). Its a fabulous CD. The CD was never released commercially.
We had a Steel Guitar Hall of Fame show here in Florida in 2004 and I hired Ray for the lead guitar player in the band. Herby Wallace commented when he announced "My Window Faces South and with Ray Riggs here I better do it right". Ray worked in Barbara Mandrell's band with Julian Tharpe and did all the band arrangements and charts.
Along with Ray's guitar talents, he was one of the horn players in the Buck Owens "Bakersfield Brass". |
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Bobby Nelson
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 1:24 pm
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| Thanks Joachim. I think about you not getting that old American piece of wisdom over in Europe - sorry. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 2 Mar 2019 8:42 am
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_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 2 Mar 2019 12:16 pm
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| I love you guys.. |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 22 Mar 2019 7:46 am Re: Old time guitar playing...but suspiciously good !
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
Of course, straight guitarists have improved a lot over the years, but this tune recorded by Jimmy Bryant over 60 years ago doesn't do too bad...considering.
He "loosens up" at about 38 seconds into this one:
alien:
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO7UFFVl27U |
I could never play this fast. Not in a hundred years. I am trying to play this lately, it's more inside of my limited realm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modd3hhLkTg
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 22 Mar 2019 9:42 am Danny Gatton
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I read an interview of Albert Lee in a 70’s Guitar Player mag, and he cited Jimmy Bryant, Cliff Gallup, and Hank Garland as major influences on his playing. So off to the record store I went...
Bobby, maybe I have misunderstood, but you made a comment about Danny Gatton being able to play anything on an acoustic guitar that he could play on his souped up Tele. I think you are a good enough player to know that is a bit of an overstatement. I won’t go into the list of Gattonesque-Teleisms that would not transfer to acoustic very well.
If you were to say Scotty Anderson, then I would agree 100%.
Great players treat the acoustic and the electric differently and respectfully. Some things do cross over very well, it’s true. But each has its strengths and weaknesses. |
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