ACOUSTIC
This month Stuart Ryan shows you there’s no Substitute for Townshend’s acoustic playing. In fact he’s a Who’s Who of picking styles.
Stuart Ryan pastiches the nylon-string picking style of Canadian folk legend, Leonard Cohen.
Conjure an image of The Who’s legendary axeman-songwriter Pete Townshend and it’s hard not to picture him leaping through the air while whirlwind strumming a Gibson SG or throwing said guitar, headstock first, through a Marshall 4x12 cab (or even worse, the stage floor). However, Townshend’s innovations as an electric guitarist are matched by his acoustic playing – check out the powerful, dynamic strumming of Pinball Wizard or the clever use of moving triads in Substitute and you’ll hear a guitarist who took the acoustic in a sophisticated, untapped direction in the 60s.
Townshend was born into a musical family in Chiswick, London on May 19th, 1945. His first musical inspiration was legendary American rock and roller Bill Haley while his first forays into performance and writing came at age 11 when he received his first guitar. At school he formed a group with future Who accomplice, bassist John Entwistle and the pair was inspired by the trad jazz and skiffle stars of the day; artists like Lonnie Donegan and Acker Bilk. It wasn’t long before rock and roll took over though, and Townshend and Entwistle’s sounds soon became far heavier. However, you can’t dismiss the influence that Donegan’s strummed skiffle style must have had on Townshend’s development as a rhythm guitarist on both acoustic and electric.
In 1961 Entwistle and Townshend joined Roger Daltrey in his group The Detours; three years later Keith Moon entered the fold and the quartet became The Who, briefly changing to the mod-influenced High Numbers before switching back. They originally played covers by The Shadows and The Ventures but when they signed their first record contract they started to pursue a heavier sound influenced by The Kinks. The band’s third single, My Generation, gave them a massive chart hit and propelled them to superstardom. Legendary albums, Who’s Next, Live At Leeds and Tommy followed, providing a legacy that established their position as rock royalty.
Unlike contempories David Gilmour, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, Townshend usually eschewed actual solos in favour of creative, driving rhythm, and tastefully chosen licks. He’s a great player to study if you want to get more creative chord ideas in your arsenal or simply focus on your rhythm work.
This month’s study is split between his deft open-chord flat-picking and the creative rhythm work that exploits what can be achieved with simple movement of triads.
IN 1961 ENTWISTLE AND TOWNSHEND JOINED ROGER DALTRY IN THE DETOURS; THREE YEARS LATER KEITH MOON ENTERED THE FOLD
NEXT MONTH Stuart looks at the sombre acoustic picking of Canadian legend Leonard Cohen