DANNY GATTON, "HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER"

There's tons of bootleg Gatton floating around, but this clip got my attention because I particularly love hearing Danny on classic country shuffles-- in this kind of vein, he's less likely to drift into the face-melting "warp factor ten" mode that everyone seemed to want from him all the time.

Good lord, has it really been almost a year since I've posted here? Sorry about that, but unfortunately life got in the way of my continued blogging. Just wanted to remind everyone I'm still here.

(At least some of my excuse is many months of woodshedding and various recording projects-- one of these days I'll have news about the recordings I've been doing.)
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TOMMY TEDESCO, "TEA FOR TWO"

I've been listening all week to Tommy Tedesco's gut-string playing on the old "50 Guitars" albums, then I found this gem (in a totally different vein) from Tommy's "Twangin' 12 Great Hits" album. Back when I was trying to figure out how the guitar should be played, I'd be listening to Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, and other jazz cats, but I also never got tired of the twang--

Twang could mean surf, or country, or rockabilly, or Les Paul, or any number of interrelated guitar styles. After a while, I realized that a lot of the playing on TV shows, movies, and albums from that era was these anonymous session guys, and a lot of the twangy playing that had a little more jazz sophistication was by Tommy.
There were others, too, of course, and probably many excelent pickers I haven't heard of, but Tommy shows up a lot once you start looking for him. I would guess this album was another one Tedesco didn't think too much of, but I'm happy to hear Tommy in a twangy vein any day. I'm sure that Tedesco was a major influence on my attempts at mixing twang with sophistication. Maybe it can't be done, and if it can be done, maybe I'm not the best guy to do it, but it still feels like a noble experiment to me. I'll keep working at it!
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WALTER HAYNES, "PICK ME UP ON YOUR WAY DOWN," WITH CHARLIE WALKER

Please excuse my ignorance, but can anyone identify this steel player?
(thanks to Dave Van Allen for determining that the mystery man was
Walter Haynes. Now I need to find more Walter
Haynes.)

(thanks to Bob Adamcik for turning me on to both this song and Charlie Walker.)
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BILLY BYRD W/ ERNEST TUBB, "THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING IN TEXAS"

I couldn't find a clip of Leon playing this song, but here's an older one with Billy Byrd. Unfortunately, Byrd doesn't play a lot on this tune, and you don't get tons of shots of him as in some of the best clips, but what little you get is characteristically fine.

I just did a transcription of Leon's live 1965 version, and thought I'd put this Byrd version up for comparison.

memo to Alex-- do you know of a video clip of Leon playing this song with Tubb?
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STEVE CROPPER W/ BOOKER T. AND THE MG'S, "GREEN ONIONS"

Here's Steve Cropper with the immortal "Green Onions." Not enough Cropper, of course, but can you ever really have enough Steve Cropper? Cropper remains the standard example of how to burn on guitar and still be understated.
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MICK GREEN WITH BILLY J. KRAMER, "I CALL YOUR NAME"

Here's a textbook example of how guitar players can benefit from listening to also-ran recordings. Briefly, I'm talking about the phenomenon of lesser recordings containing stellar guitar playing. Many would probably dismiss or ignore this Billy J. Kramer clip, since it's a weaker version of the Beatles song "I Call Your Name." Okay, Billy J. is no John Lennon, but I'll let others engage in that debate elsewhere. We Tele pickers are concerned with Mick Green's A+ playing. I love George Harrison, but whereas George was a little-engine-that-could type of instrumentalist, working harder than many contemporaries to develop technique that didn't come naturally to him, Mick Green is one of the technical greats of British rock. Ignored in this country, like Hank Marvin, Peter Green, etc., Mick Green kills on cut after cut. I'm slowly working my way through these youtube clips, looking for classic Mick Green playing. There are tons of clips of Green with the Pirates, a solid and in fact pretty intense hard rock band, but these Dakotas clips are a different animal. In a less rocking setting, Green does what James Burton, Nokie Edwards, Jimmy Page, George Barnes et al do so well-- he brings some raunch to a pop session. This kind of approach gives me an almost religious feeling when I hear it.

I'm in the process of putting together some videos where I demonstrate some playing inspired by Green, Burton, and others in that elite group. Look for these to show up soon, knock on wood. (I suppose that wood should ideally be alder, or swamp ash.)
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GUITAR INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

I'm in the process of learning how to make guitar instructional videos. Most likely I'll begin with some short ones, and eventually move on to longer ones with more detail. Please feel free to comment here with any suggestions about what you'd like to see. I'll have a fair amount of free ones up here and elsewhere, and I'll be trying to figure out how to make money from them. My current plan is to post the shorter "teaser" videos for free, and make more in-depth lessons available for sale.

I've found that few people want to pay for tablature and transcription, and those who are willing to pay don't want to pay very much. Given that putting notation and tab together takes a huge amount of time, I'm refocusing my efforts on videos rather than notation. I'm gambling that instructional videos will be more enticing-- we'll see!

Now is a good time to send me suggestions, because in the short term there's a good chance I'll be available to make a video available for free that incorporates whatever you're looking for. Here's an incomplete list of things I'm considering.

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON SPECIFIC PLAYERS
DON RICH
FREDDIE KING
JAMES BURTON
ROY NICHOLS
CLARENCE WHITE
BILLY BYRD/LEON RHODES

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON SPECIFIC SONGS OR PROGRESSIONS
UNDER THE DOUBLE EAGLE
I IV V
my song "TONIGHT"
MY BABE (open E swampy/bluesy a la Burton, Fogerty, Mick Green, Little Walter, etc.)

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON MY APPROACH to PUTTING LINES TOGETHER
my style is a blend of country, rock, blues, and jazz

VIDEOS FOCUSING ON LEARNING THE WHOLE NECK
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