Having your hero play your guitar

[Gnash5150]

i got to play Jimi's Black Flying V (it's famous from his playing it at the Isle of Wight).



cheers,
wade

WHAT?!! You have to post a picture of that, man!!!!!! I loved that guitar when I was a child. I finally bought a lefty flying v when I was 17, after years of righty strats upside down. I think I should own Jimi's V now!

 

[mrface2112]

WHAT?!! You have to post a picture of that, man!!!!!! I loved that guitar when I was a child. I finally bought a lefty flying v when I was 17, after years of righty strats upside down. I think I should own Jimi's V now!

ask and ye shall receive!

this was at "the vault" at the Hard Rock cafe in London. they do "private" tours (if you're there when the guy says "want a tour?", you get a tour) and it was just my wife and i at the time.

when looking at (drooling over) duane's strat, i made a remark about "how '54 was the first year they made strats" and that since that was the guitar he played the solo on Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude", it "must be covered in mojo, since that solo was such a classic." the guy says "wanna play it?" how can you say no to that? he then started bringing me guitars to "try" out.

the one i didn't play but wish i had was one of Waylon's leather-wrapped teles. they also had the trumpet through which miles laid the tracks for Bitches Brew--that was a sight. they also had clapton's red strat (the one that "started it all" with respect to the Hard Rock's guitar/memorabilia collection), but after he'd shovelled so many guitars my way, i didn't feel right asking "mind if i...."

although, i did get to play a plywood yamaha acoustic that was eddie vedder's (there were some lyrics written on toilet paper taped to it).....i didn't really care about that one (NOT a PJ fan), but the guy was, so i played along.

anyway, you can see jimi playing said flying v in the pic to my right (and it's on its stand in the pic of me with duane's strat). the settee i'm parked on was also jimi's.

earlier in the day we'd taken a "rock and roll tour" around the city....got to see mick and keith's flat (where it all started), freddie mercury's house, jimmy page's house, the church where pink floyd recorded "see emily play" and "bike", and the industrial building that graces the cover of Animals (amont many other things)......and the Hard Rock vault capped it off. i floated out of there--it truly was a magical day.


cheers,
wade

 

[SilverCarvin]

See, that's what I mean. I don't want anybody to think of my dumb luck as a competition in big names. Here's exactly how I met Merle Travis:

I was around 18 or 20 years old and I worked for JBL, putting speakers in their cabinets and doing final testing. JBL was like a big family and sometimes, I would go to people's houses and help with their installations, for our sales department.

That's how I wound up at Jimmy Wakely's house, installing some JBL speakers for the company. His daughter liked me and Jimmy asked me back, since I played guitar and knew some country music. One night, I walked in and there, sitting on the couch, was Johnny Bond, Tex Ritter, and Merle Travis. I knew them all from "Town Hall Party" - the big 4 hour TV show every Friday night, and of course, from the movies.

We talked about songwriting; Johnny Bond talked about writing "Hot Rod Lincoln", Tex Ritter talked about his "Deck Of Cards" and Merle talked about writing "16 Tons" on the back of a shirt cardboard, in his Buick, under a street lamp, because he needed more songs for his new album, and the record company was pressuring him.

How did I learn guitar in the first place? From my best friend's mother, Rose Knight. Rose knew people like Colleen Summers (who became Mary Ford - of Les Paul/Mary Ford) and Bob Nolan (founder of the "Sons Of The Pioneers"). I got to sit across a kitchen table from Bob Nolan, while he talked about writing "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". Later, I took lessons from Barney Kessel at $5 an hour.

It was all dumb luck and being in the right places at the right times.

That's really cool, thanks for sharing. I got to meet Sonny Landreth after a show, that's the closest I can come to something like that. That's crazy how they were just sitting around talking about their songs and everything; its funny how after listening to them and the influence they've had, you kind of forget how they're just regular guys, no different from the rest of us.

 

[Gorty]

ask and ye shall receive!

this was at "the vault" at the Hard Rock cafe in London. they do "private" tours (if you're there when the guy says "want a tour?", you get a tour) and it was just my wife and i at the time.

when looking at (drooling over) duane's strat, i made a remark about "how '54 was the first year they made strats" and that since that was the guitar he played the solo on Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude", it "must be covered in mojo, since that solo was such a classic." the guy says "wanna play it?" how can you say no to that? he then started bringing me guitars to "try" out.

the one i didn't play but wish i had was one of Waylon's leather-wrapped teles. they also had the trumpet through which miles laid the tracks for Bitches Brew--that was a sight. they also had clapton's red strat (the one that "started it all" with respect to the Hard Rock's guitar/memorabilia collection), but after he'd shovelled so many guitars my way, i didn't feel right asking "mind if i...."

although, i did get to play a plywood yamaha acoustic that was eddie vedder's (there were some lyrics written on toilet paper taped to it).....i didn't really care about that one (NOT a PJ fan), but the guy was, so i played along.

anyway, you can see jimi playing said flying v in the pic to my right (and it's on its stand in the pic of me with duane's strat). the settee i'm parked on was also jimi's.

earlier in the day we'd taken a "rock and roll tour" around the city....got to see mick and keith's flat (where it all started), freddie mercury's house, jimmy page's house, the church where pink floyd recorded "see emily play" and "bike", and the industrial building that graces the cover of Animals (amont many other things)......and the Hard Rock vault capped it off. i floated out of there--it truly was a magical day.


cheers,
wade

Excellent......