Posted on 05/22/2005 9:43:39 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Gotta politely disagree with you on this one. The two most popular guitars, the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul have remained virtually unchanged for the last 1/2 century. If anything, the off-the-shelf instruments produced during the 1950s were made with greater emphasis on quality than ones produced today. And Marshall tube amplifiers (the first 100 watt stack commissioned specifically for Townsend) also retain their signature sound albeit the addition of a master volume (and the master volume was added in the 1970s). Furthermore, effects pedals (many of which were invented by Mr. Les Paul himself) were available.
Guitars have been made with surprisingly few changes over the last 50 years that would facilitate better playability.
Why do you think all of these guys were so ga-ga over Jimi Hendrix when he arrived on the scene? Hendrix could do things then that are still hard to do now.
I am unpopular with this view but I'll state it anyways. Hendrix was not a great guitar player. He was an innovative guitar player. Was his contribution important to the evolution of rock guitar? Unquestionably. He was able to coax sounds from his Stratocaster that were never heard before by using overdrive, feedback and a tremelo arm.
It was a parlor trick.
Hendrix played the exact same guitar as Buddy Holly but in an entirely different fashion. His technical skills, however, were not that impressive. Once the tricks to Hendrix's signature sound are duplicated (Stratocaster w/.tremelo, loud tube amp overdriven past the point of feedback and wah pedal) Hendrix's songs can be played by most beginning-intermediate guitar players. I was playing a Hendrix-esque version of the Star Spangled Banner shortly after I learned Smoke on the Water. My friends thought I was awesome. It was quite easy to impress people.
I remember when one could purchase anything they needed to build their own guitar amp from Radio Shack. When I first started playing as a kid in the early 1980s my first amp was a Radio Shack preamp hooked up to two old stereo speakers. I pugged my guitar into a tape deck which had 1/4" input jacks. I turned the input levels of the tape deck all the way up to acheive distortion and ran that into the Radio Shack preamp.
As a kid, I thought it sounded pretty good. Loud as hell too! I was able to get a guitar sound similar to Townsend's "Live at Leeds" sound --at least that's what I thought as a 14 year-old kid!
Since I had to move all of my own gear, and it had to fit in my car, I had one of those monster heads, and a custom made TL cabinet loaded with an EVM-15L. The cabinet actually weighed less than the Fender head! But all in all, I did like the sound of the Ampegs over the Fender.
Mark
Well, both Springsteen and Meatloaf rhymed "growing up" with "throwing up" within a year of each other...
Now that I know what Steve Miller is doing, I wonder if Boz Scaggs is working the National Association of Manufacturers convention this year...
Meanwhile, Townsend's sound at Woodstock sounded like me playing a $25 Harmony through my Panasonic boom box.
LOL! Everybody at Woodstock sounded like a $25 Harmony through a Panasonic boom box!
Here's a bit of trivia. After Townsend tossed his guitar into the crowd following the Who's performance, his roadies went into the crowd and successfully retreived it.
Wimmins are like that too.
Pretty cool, though not as cool (or brave) as Marty Balin jumping into the audience at Altamont to take on a bunch of Hell's Angels.
Heh heh heh...
"Space Cowboy" was one of his first.
If you want a good sample of his early stuff get, uh...ahh...I forget. The first double release of his songs.I'm feeling stoned (I'm not) drunk (I am) and eating fetuccini pesto right now. Will come back tomorrow if I'm still here to go over the slick guitar shanannigans that Miller is so great at.
FMCDH(BITS)
The Kinks are my favorite band, and the rumor has gone around for years that Page really played the famous riff on "You Really Got Me" instead of Dave Davies. Ray Davies finally had enough of it and erupted in an interview once, saying that it was definitely Dave playing on those early tracks, not Page. He said it really angered him because at the time, Page made snide remarks to everyone about how crude and simplistic the "YRGM" riff was, and then after it became acknowledged as a rock classic, he started going along with the rumors that he really played it. Ray called him a liar and added, "I don't care if he puts a spell on me."
No, I understand........been slinging rock guitar since '68 :).
I'm very, very familiar with the histories of most of the old guard, including The Who and Led Zeppelin. For the record, the guys you mention never formed a band. Ever.
Zeppelin was originally to be called "The New Yardbirds". Jimmy Page (note the lack of the "i" in his name). This was following the days after the Yardbirds had broken up; Page wanted to continue on. He was discussing the idea of "The New Yardbirds" with John Entwhistle, who said the idea would go over like a "lead zeppelin".
The name stuck. Just that simple. Never did they form a band with that lineup.
...and yes, I've read "Hammer of the Gods".
I largely agree with your assessment of Hendrix.
However..........
What finally showed me his TRUE skills?? Band of Gypsies. Unbelievable live album. His playing is phenomenal on that record. Floored me; didn't know he had it in him.
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