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T-Bone to Chuck to Keith to…
Chuck Berry passed away March 18, 2017. He was 90 years old. Art is a stream that flows from one generation to the next. It’s up to every artist to get their words, music, painting, film into that stream. For T-Bone Walker, it was Call it Stormy Monday, (but Tuesday is Just as Bad). Released in 1947, Stormy Monday is a classic blues tune which goes straight to the gut. Nestled among the song’s 7th and 9th chords is a solo which contains the essential elements of rock and roll guitar. Note bending, chromatic runs, double stops: it’s all there – measured, paced, prowling, ready. Chuck Berry picked up this…
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A Proper Seduction
Timing and desire. Here’s a a passage from Keith Richard’s book Life. Gus was his grandfather. “Gus was leading me subtly into getting interested in playing, rather than shoving something into my hand and saying, “It goes like this.” The guitar was totally out of reach. It was something you looked at, thought about, but never got your hands on. I’ll never forget the guitar on top of his upright piano every time I’d go and visit, starting maybe from the age of five. I thought that was where the thing lived. I thought it was always there. And I just kept looking at it, and he didn’t say anything,…
