Archive for December, 2009
Queen was and is a British rock band that began in 1970. The group consisted of John Deacon playing bass guitar, guitar, and piano, Brian May on keyboards, back-up vocals and of electric guitar, Roger Taylor on drums and percussions, and their flamboyant frontman possibly the best of all times Freddie Mercury.
Queen has just released in December 2009 “Queen-Absolute Greatest”, over the years there has been a “Greatest Hits” as well as a “Greatest Hits II & III, along with the other countless albums. With at least 11 compilation albums released before this one has to ask the question to we really need “Queen-Absolute Greatest” or is it just over kill. In looking at the numbers in the United States alone Queen has sold 32.5 million albums with over half of them coming after Freddie Mercurys’ death in 1991, which brings us to what they call the “Dead Star” factor.
Do you play an acoustic guitar, or perhaps it’s an electric guitar, or even a bass guitar that is a solid color? Did you know that underneath that lacquer color your guitar is really made of wood?
Besides owning an on line music store I also have my own furniture and cabinet shop on my property in South Carolina, so my fascination with wood goes beyond the creations I build in my shop.
All woods react differently to sounds, hard woods have more sustain and therefore give up a brighter sound while soft woods have less sustain but but at the same time give you more mid-range tone and a fuller sound. Some of the woods used in guitar making are Ash, Mahogany, Alder, Bass, and sometimes you will find a maple veneer over mahogany, this gives you the sound from the Mahogany along with the beauty of the Maple which can be either straight grained, quilted or what they call a tiger maple. Quilted Maple or Tiger Maple occurs in the tree when it is growing, most times it happens when the tree is diseased, these types of wood are highly sought out by furniture makers because of their highly figured look, and when you take that look and apply it to a guitar you really have something special.
For my daughters Ashley and Michelle “Another Brick In The Wall” was their introduction to my world of rock. The song that is mostly played on the radio is actually two songs, the first one being “The Happiest Days Of Our Lives” which goes into “Another Brick In The Wall” with that familiar scream from Roger Waters.
The song features great drums, with a strong and highly recognizable bass guitar line, you hear the sound of the electric guitar in the background until the solo, then the sound of the guitar has a cutting edge to it. Between the sounds of the drums, guitar, and bass guitar you can’t help being drawn into this song like my daughters were, I have heard them referred to as electric guitar packages that came to earth from outer space.
This song made them more open to the songs and artists of the 60’s, 70’s, they still prefer the music of their generation but are more appreciative of music of the past.
Did you ever stop to think what made the great sound of rock and roll? For me it was the great electric guitar riffs, the driving bass guitar lines and the amazing vocals that made us fall in love with the sound that even today is going strong.
The Rolling Stones had the electric guitar of Keith Richards and the bass guitar of Bill Wyman but what made the Stones the Stones was the vocals of Mick Jagger. What about that great electric guitar sound of Boston, with songs like “Peace Of Mind”, “Don’t Look Back”, and “More Than a Feeling” for a guitar guy like me it doesn’t get any better, but what really made Boston was the irreplaceable voice of Brad Delp. Let us not forget Queen, with Brian May on guitar and John Deacon on bass guitar they left us with some unforgettable music, but what really made the sound of Queen complete was the showmanship along with the vocals of Freddie Mercury. There are many other recognizable voices in rock that I will touch on next time.
I don’t know about you but when I listen to what is suppose to be rock today I have to listen real hard for the sounds of the electric guitars. Once in a whole you might hear a song with a clear guitar sound or a decent bass guitar sound but too often their both purely background instruments.
If you listen to classic rock like I do you can’t ignore the guitar sound even if you tried. There is a good amount of songs that have a driving bass guitar sound that makes you want to pick up your own bass guitar, turn your amplifier on and crank up the volume to 10 and play along with the song. If it’s a guitar solo your looking for because you like playing lead guitar, or you just like playing chords the sound your looking for is classic rock. You’ll find bass lines that are simple or involved enough to keep your interest. The next time your listening to some of the newer music find the radio station in your area that plays classic rock and turn to it, you might like it.
Electric Light Orchestra better known as ELO was a band formed in the early 1970′s from the UK with a sound far different than any other rock group at the time. Their brand of rock had classical overtones to it, perhaps that was due to the violins and cellos that played along with either the electric guitar or acoustic guitar of Roy Wood and Jeff Lynn, they were known as (“the English guys with the big fiddles”).
From 1972 to 1986 they had 27 of 40 hits singles in the United States and the UK. They also hold a record for having the most billboard hits with out having a number one hit. Besides the groups many successful albums Jeff Lynne also wrote the soundtrack for the musical Xanadu which was performed by Olivia Newton-John. Although the movie didn’t do well the music did, going double platinum it produced songs such as “Magic” and “Suddenly” sung by Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard.
Big Brother and the Holing Company, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane were the front runners in musical bands in the 1960′s that made the psychedelic sound one that other bands tried to emulate. The name everyone thinks of when you mention The Grateful Dead is a guy who played mostly electric guitar but also played banjo and the steel guitar, the guys name is Jerry Garcia. The voice behind Jefferson Airplane is non other than Grace Slick.
Peter Albin, Sam Andrew, and James Gurley were the guitar players of the band, and in 1966 were joined by a girl from Texas who only stayed with the band for two years, had a solo career until she died in 1970, her name Janis Joplin. With the sound from the electric guitars in back along with her blues style voice made it a perfect fit for psychedelic rock. Her voice and style carried the album Cheap Thrills to the number one spot on the billboards for eight weeks, it was the best album for 1968, it was so good it ranks 338 of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. Janis Joplin also ranks 46 out of “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” in Rolling Stone, and 28th of its “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”.
Rock and Roll was male dominated until Janis Joplin came along, she led the way for other female stars such as Stevie Nicks. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and in 2005 given a “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Not bad for a few short years.
The Yardbirds were a triad of electric guitars in the height of the British Invasion in the mid 1960′s. The three guitarists were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. Eric Clapton is #4, Jimmy Page #9, and Jeff Beck is #14 in Rolling Stones Top 100 Guitarists list.
In the 2009 Hall of Fame Concert Jeff Beck armed with his signature Fender Stratocaster electric guitar showed why he is a great guitarist. He played several solos along with “People Get Ready” with Sting on bass guitar. His style and technique is what makes him so great, “it’s all in his hands” said Eric Clapton.
Along with his Stratocaster he sometimes used a Fender Telecaster guitar as well as a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, his electric guitar packages consist of amplifiers by Fender and Marshall.
Well a treat for your eyes and ears anyway. Sunday November 29th HBO aired the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th Anniversary Concert. There were actually two concerts in October at New Yorks’ Madison Square Garden that HBO cut down to one 4 hour 51 song special.
The guitar packages that night were outstanding, there was the great bass guitar playing of Sting, to the finger picking acoustic guitar playing of Paul Simon, to the phenomenal electric guitar work done by Jeff Beck this special had something to entertain everyone. I particularly liked the back-up band for Paul Simon and the fantastic bass guitar solo at the end of the song “You Can Call Me Al”, it doesn’t get any better than that. If your into HOT how about the performance by Mick Jagger and Fergie given on the song “Gimme Shelter”. There were tributes to George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Michael Jackson.
There were performances by U2, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen and a host of others.
He was born on September 16, 1925, Rolling Stone magazine ranks him as third in its list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of all time”, he is a singer songwriter and blues guitarist, of course I am talking about Mr. Riley B. King better known as B.B.King.
For those of you that don’t think you can play an electric guitar keep in mind while watching B.B. King that he has admitted to the fact he doesn’t play chords very well and plays mostly through improvisation. in 1987 he was one of the first to be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and recently appeared at the 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that was aired on HBO. At 84 years of age he walked on sat down and was handed his signature Gibson electric guitar. He proceeded to play “The Thrill is Gone” his signature song, and while he was playing you could see his name in the neck of his electric guitar, needless to say his performance was a thrill for all who watched his performance.