Folks I've Taken Lessons With: Adam Levy

Another one-time lesson with a guy who has since gone on to pretty wide success (touring around with Norah Jones and such) and did pretty well before that too (Sexmob and Tracy Chapman and too many other things to mention). This was the first time I remember someone really pushing the importance of the melodic minor scale that I now use pretty often. More imporant, I remember a blunt exchange when he asked why he sounded better than I did if we both were using 335s through the same amp. Ouch - but effective, and I've concentrated more on playing cleanly ever since. Success couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow. Here he is playing locally at Banjo Jim's, getting his vocals on ...

Folks I've Taken Lessons With: Jim Campilongo

I took a single lesson from Jim Campilongo back when I lived in San Francisco - it seemed like everybody was stopping by for a few lessons with JC back then. Somehow we ended up focusing on jazz/blues type changes rather than the country inflected playing he is best known for (and that I wanted to learn) - but it was a cool lesson because I could see that he approaches what he does from the same perspective as he (or anybody else for that matter) would a jazz tune. He was a pretty big influence in my decision to eventually pick up a Telecaster and I think of him often when I'm bending the guitar neck around for effect.

Here he is a few years before I met him playing Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" - which became my big featured song with the New York Mandolin Orchestra many years later.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Jesse "Guitar" Taylor

OK, for real - probably the last one of these for now.

Again, through the folks at the Gear Page I've been made aware of the late Jesse "Guitar" Taylor, formerly lead guitarist for the Joe Ely Band. Here he is covering Johnny "Guitar" Watson's Gangster of Love ... as good an ending as I can come up with for this theme.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Johnny "Guitar" Hughes

Another discovery through The Gear Page: Johnny Guitar Hughes. He was based out of Houston and built quite a career, mostly under the radar, and backed artists such as Little Richard, Grady Gaines, Fats Domino, Sam and Dave, Jerry Butler and Bobby Bland. He made a name for himself as a solo artist, and added "Guitar" to his name, later on.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Carlos Guitarlos

How can I forget Carlos Guitarlos?

During my time on the west coast he was a legendary SF street performer who used to always ask us to stop by his corner with a tape recorder "with working batteries" so he could get his next break. He also gave one of my bands pretty good feedback after a gig at (the now defunct?) Doc Bombays - claiming that besides the blues "he could play that modal stuff too."

He'd had a few good gigs in the 80s, most notably with Tom Waits, and it seems his career is on the up and up again. Here's a TV performance from 1985



Thanks to ddodgeh at TGP for the suggestion.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Guitar Junior

Bonus GWGITN: Guitar Junior! I'd never heard of him before but found him on my Youtube search looking for Luther (actually I had heard of him - he changed his name to Lonnie Brooks after learning about Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson)

Fun tune!

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Luther "Guitar Jr" Johnson

OK. The first steps are sometimes the hardest. Marco on the Bass was among those giving me a hard time about not keeping this updated, so in Marc's honor, and in the interest of wrapping up this theme: Luther Guitar Johnson. Marc and his band (which, 15 or so years later, is also my band) Bigger Thomas opened for LGJ and Phish a long time ago.

Not an abundance of videos out there of Luther on his own, but plenty with his most notable sideman gig - along with Muddy Waters.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Guitar Slim

I don't know a thing about Guitar Slim - but this song pretty much rules

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Johnny "Guitar" Watson

OK - no posts for a short stretch. I was busy playing guitar.

But I'll make up for it with a link to the ultimate guitar named dude: Johnny Guitar Watson. I've got a link here to a video of the maestro playing "Gangster of Love" that has to be seen to be believed.



My main memory of JGW is that we had a giant poster of him at my old college radio station, always smiling funkily upon us

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Guitar Shorty

But of course ...

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Guitar Wolf

From Japan - the one and only Guitar Wolf. I'm not certain I have enough of these to last a full week. We'll see.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Matt "Guitar" Murphy

I'm of the generation that would have discovered him from the Blues Brothers movie (not Blues Brothers 2000, though he apparently had a bigger part in that one). As you can see, he'd been around long before that ...

Bo Knew What Bo Didn't Know

Hey Bo Diddley

1928-2008

Bang on a Can 5

As I mentioned on Tuesday, in 2006 I was lucky enough to participate in the Bang on a Can Marathon, sitting in on mandolin w/ TACTUS. We performed a piece by the Dutch composer Mayke Nas called La Belle Chocolatière. Besides promoting how cool I am for getting that gig, I can justify posting at this website because there is a guitar in the arrangement as well: you can click on her page and hear a version by the Nieuw Ensemble.

Bang on a Can 4

Hmm ... 3 posts supposedly about the Bang on a Can Festival and I keep on linking to videos from the NY Guitar Festival.

Here's Bryce Dessner, who has apparently filled in for Mark Stewart a few times this year. He leads a double life as guitarist for the National and also a classical/contemporary performer - featured here.

Bang on a Can 3

Mark Stewart is the long-running guitarist for the Bang on a Can All Stars. Every year you can see him at the festival sitting up front and watching almost every single performance that he isn't part of. You get the sense he really really loves his job.

Here he is playing the Ubongi

Bang on a Can 2

I had the pleasure of performing at the Bang on a Can festival in 2006, on mandolin (of all things!). One of my favorite backstage moments (and there were a few) was watching Dominic Frasca warming up his ridiculous 2 handed techniques. His guitar looks more beat up in person than in the photos I'd seen - makes sense considering the 9 bazillion hours he must have practiced on it.

There's a reasonably famous and aptly named Youtube of DF playing called "Impossible Guitar" - with over 12 million page views I don't see much point in placing it here. Here's a lesser known video of him performing a new composition at the New York Guitar festival

Bang on a Can 1

This weekend marks the annual Bang on a Can Marathon in NYC, and I'm going to do my best to come up with a post a day that features the BOAC collective and something guitar oriented. This year's festival is a mere 12 hours (too easy!).

This first one is a slam dunk - about 12 minutes of the Bang on a Can All-Stars performing a drone piece with the one and only Thurston Moore (the All-Stars' own Mark Stewart is on guitar as well)

DB at the DMG

I probably shouldn't go too much longer w/ a blog entitled Free Form Guitar without a post from the grandfather of free improvisation on guitar: Derek Bailey



I was at this in-store performance at the old Downtown Music Gallery in December 2001 (just a few days after I saw him with John Zorn, Joey Baron, and Reggie Workman at the old Tonic - one of my favorite shows ever). I'm so glad someone captured this - I remembered the friendly vibe as he drifted between improvising and telling stories about when he worked at a music story in the 60s, but I was pretty far back and missed a lot of the nuance. I've often wondered if the bit around 6:26 where he's playing garden variety jazz chords was inspired by (or inspired) brainstorming for the remarkable Ballads records which was recorded around the same time.

Live at the 55

To round up my trio of recommendations from Sunday's post here's Leni Stern, recorded just a few days ago and a few blocks from my apartment with a full band of African musicians ...



Wow, if you'd told me when I first started the blog I'd be on a 4 day themed mission posting female guitarists within the first week I wouldn't have believed you.

Noel, Jonah, and Me

Continuing to run through the guitarists I listed in Sunday's post, here's an old video from the Spinanes. They were doing the guitar/drum duo thing long before the White Stripes or any other number of other groups made it hip - and RG's ability to come up with chord voicings that filled the spaces (or created the impression that they did) is one of my favorite indie guitar achievements.

Mocha Spice

Inspired by yesterday's post, here's a video of Emily Remler playing my favorite song of hers (not to suggest that my ER discography is anything approaching complete)



I find this tune to be very Pat Metheney-like, in a good way.

Venus Online's Top Female Guitarists

Stumbled upon an interesting list here at Venus Online. Many of my favorite female guitarists are present and accounted for (Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Carrie Brownstein) and there's a number that I haven't listened to very much or at all so I'm glad the article is out there. But, to throw in a few more recommendations of my own:

Emily Remler - I assume this was an oversight as she shows up in national guitar publications all the time as someone who would have been a major voice had she lived longer

Rebecca Gates - from the Spinanes. RG is kind of under the radar but definitely one of the players who has influenced me the most, and I can often trace things I've written back to sounds on her first record.

Leni Stern - Another staple to be featured in guitar magazines every time a new record comes out - and the new African-inspired one is especially hip. I had the pleasure of playing a show with Patty Stirling at Border's several years ago and I was thrilled/humbled (probably to the point that it affected my playing) that Leni was part of the same songwriting competition and had a featured set that night as well.

Michael and Leo

One of my favorite videos on Youtube -

Two of the most influential solo acoustic guitarists ever - Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges - just picking backstage without an audience (at the beginning anyway). There's something inherently sweet in that they chose to jam on something called the Theme from Doodles - not that I have any idea what Doodles is or why it has such a funky theme song. Hedges has this look on his face like he's a kid excited to be playing with his hero ...

Free Form Guitar

Welcome to a new mini-project where I hope to share some thoughts and sounds that I find inspiring from a music and guitar perspective. Beyond that - I'd hope that in my efforts to keep this blog updated (and perhaps interacting with readers) I'll learn a thing or two, which will help justify the time I'm spending writing about music instead of practicing.

To kick things off - I can't think of anything more appropriate than a video of the song that inspired the name of this blog: "Free Form Guitar" by Chicago ...



Whoa. I bet you didn't know Chicago had it in them.

This was recorded a bit before Hendrix at Woodstock - and I still found it shocking when I heard it for the first time 26 years later.

My parents had a cassette tape of Chicago at Carnegie Hall which, despite some bad reviews, I find to be brilliant and I ended up a fan of Terry Kath's guitar playing at a pretty young age. His ability to blend jazz vocabulary with rock energy gives those early Chicago records an edge it is easy to forget about considering their soft rock reputation (which, to be fair, they've earned). You've got to admire the courage of the band (and record label) to have put this music out, on a debut record full of pop hits, no less.

On a closing note, an interview with TK (looking like Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men) with a profound quote at the end:

"Groupies have been around ever since there was musicians"