Here I Go AGAIn Guitar Greats
Whitesnake/uFO legend Bernie Marsden pays credit to the path of players who led him to greatness
I’ve been fortunate to have a long career, but I can’t begin to imagine how many guitarists I have heard in the years I have been treading the boards. As a budding teenager I saw in my young eyes wonderful players every Friday and Saturday night, sometimes on Sundays at lunchtime pub gigs, but seeing people actually playing their Fender or Gibson was a joy on its own. I thought all of them were the greatest guitarists I had ever heard, and the truth is that some of them were. I played shows as a teenager with Mick Green, Mick Abrahams, Miller Anderson and I was in awe of them all. Turning professional really opened my eyes. I went from being the local hotshot in front of a couple of hundred people in a packed pub, to a real-life pro with UFO in front of 1,500 people at a festival in Germany. I soon realised that I had a way to go, I can tell you.
A guitar player asked a question at one of my clinics recently. It’s a question I am asked on a regular basis, and one I know a lot of people are curious about. He asked whom I thought was ‘the greatest ever guitarist’. I took a while to answer, and I think this frustrated me more than him. I have a problem with the question though, and that is that I believe there is no such thing as ‘the greatest’ or ‘the best’, but just players who make a sound that moves you and delights your ears.
I had to make the decision in front of more than 100 people. My answer was that without Eric Clapton, I would not be stood on stage answering the question. Moreover, because of Eric, I was then introduced to BB King, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Taylor and Peter Green, and so with some reservation I said probably Eric Clapton. But as I write this, I realise that without George Harrison and Hank Marvin, I might not have been made aware of Eric Clapton. So it continues.
I have read many books and articles on the old blues players, especially the Mississippi legend Robert Johnson. Johnson was a dramatically good guitar player, but go back a little from his recordings in the mid-1930s and you will find Kokomo Arnold, Hambone Willie Newbern and Skip James who all heavily influenced the style of music Johnson later recorded. They had some serious chops on those old Stella guitars as well, and Johnson soaked it all up. All this influence came out of him and created the most revered bluesman of all time. But we have to remember that he was a young man who learned from others such as Son House, Willie Brown and Charley Patton. There you go: another squad of names who could all be considered ‘the greatest ever’!
I was driving to the recording studio recently and Maria Muldaur was on the radio with Midnight At The Oasis, which features a great band with Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon on drums, Freebo on bass guitar and a superb guitar solo by Amos Garrett. Lots of
you will have heard his solo, but how many know who played it?
That is part of my point, I guess. There are simply so many terrific, tremendous and brilliant players from the past and out there right now that we just haven’t discovered yet. I urge you to check out some relatively unknown singers and players on YouTube. There is a remarkable player called Phil Baugh, and a fantastic record called The Hot Guitar by Eddie Hill, featuring a mix of country players in the 1950s; it is astonishing stuff. Along with the old, there are also some fantastic new kids on the block such as Joey Landreth from Canada and Chris Buck from Wales. Give them a listen if you can. I have been fortunate to have people call me their favourite guitarist, and I’m always flattered, of course, but I still have heroes myself. Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes never fail to make me smile when I see and hear them play, Jeff Beck can still reduce me to a blubbering wreck during a live performance, but it’s important to remember that it’s the music that’ll always be the winner, and the guitar the equipment to move you.
I have always thought that guitars should have a log book with them, and every time the guitar is traded you stamp it before it’s passed on to the next owner. That’d certainly help with provenance these days – just think what a mint Strat log book from the mid-50s with ten previous owners would be like to read! September 1961 – S Stills; May 1969 – J Page; December 1965 – K Richard. One can dream! Half of the allure with old instruments is where they might have been, what records they could have been on, who has touched them, who has played them… It’s all about the mystery, and the reality is that we will never really know, unless you’re Dhani Harrison, of course. I’m pretty sure he has all his dad’s guitars and knows exactly where they appeared. But that is exceptional, just like his dad was. See you next month.
“Remember that it’s the music that’ll always be the winner, and the guitar the equipment to move you” bernIe mArsden