Guitar hero: no, not the game that everyone is playing instead of learning a real guitar!
The other day I came across an old video on youtube of Hotel California and it reminded me of the romantic notion that I had when I was a mere boy and that I wanted to learn to play guitar; in some ways it was the epiphany I longed for. However it was only until I turned 17 I turned my hand to it. 11 years later I have by no means mastered the art but here’s to hard work and sacrifice!
It then made me think of who my guitar hero or heroes are.
It’s hard to distinguish on many levels who they are. I am the son of the blues, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Clapton, Beck and even John Mayer has made it accessible to listen to.
(On a side note, here is a link of BB King playing with John Mayer simply brilliant!)
Jimi (Hendrix) is still light years ahead of anyone who ever plays guitar today. His sound is unique on so many levels, and his style is so different that few attempt to do what he did.
My traditions in rock would make me think of Jimmy Page, Brian May, Paul Kossoff and Slash.
Then I can’t forget the guitarists which transcend genres and are unique in their own style of play, Richards, Vai, Knopfler, Moore and so on.
But my guitar hero would have to be the guy who taught me.
James Fisher would turn up every Thursday night and would go through chords, riffs, sounds and technique. He would have the patience to make sure that I was doing things right and would not get visibly annoyed with my crapness. He knew what worked in getting me passionate about playing and he would spend the time to teach me about why a piece of music would be considered a good technical piece to learn and which things I could improve on.
We got to a point where we would be competing on speed, and the first one to muck up the riff would have to buy the first drink - it was always me - and I get drunk staring at beer, so it worked out well for everyone.
Jim (James) is a legend, and I can’t thank him enough for having taught me to play. I look forward to meeting up sometime in the future and having a proper good old jam session.
