Status Quo's Rick Parfitt passes away

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Yet more very sad news in a year that has seemed crueller than usual to some of our most beloved musicicans. The latest to be taken from us is Rick Parfitt of Status Quo. He'd recently made the decision to quit playing live shows with Quo, and wasn't too keen on their recent preference for acoustic-biased material. He was however looking ahead to 2017 with a solo album and autobiography planned.

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G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Greg Lake: King Crimson and ELP star dies aged 69

guitarz.blogspot.com:

2016 has been an extraordinarily bad year for our favourite musicians passing away, and now I'm sorry to learn that Greg Lake has died.

No doubt we'll be hearing his 1975 solo hit "I Believe In Father Christmas" over this festive season; although not explicitly about Christmas it's one of the better records to be categorised by many as such, but now will be tinged with sadness.

G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

R.I.P. Scotty Moore Guitarist For Elvis Presley 1931-2016

guitarz.blogspot.com:


Sad news, Scotty Moore has passed away aged 84.

I just a few moments ago read a comment about him on Facebook written by a guy called Mark Wilson (no relation to Yours Truly):

Met him once, and he autographed my Hofner Committee. I thanked him for inventing rockabilly and he said "It was no big deal". Very gentle and courteous.

More...

G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Prince RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com:

What the hell is going on this year? We've lost so many of our beloved creative geniuses from the worlds of music and entertainment. First we lost Motorhead's Lemmy in the very tail end of 2015 (as close enough to 2016 as damn it). Then David Bowie's death in January hit a lot of us really hard, and now Prince - another omni-talented highly creative individual - has also passed away.

Not to mention the sad demise of Merle Haggard, Maurice White (Earth Wind & Fire), Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), Glenn Frey (The Eagles)... RIP, all of you.

Lonnie Mack

Now I hear that Lonnie Mack has passed away too. Sad times.

G L Wilson

© 2016, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Legendary Cream bassist Jack Bruce passes away, aged 71

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Legendary CREAM bassist/singer Jack Bruce died today of liver disease. He was 71 years old. His family said in a statement: "It is with great sadness that we, Jack's family, announce the passing of our beloved Jack: husband, father, granddad, and all round legend. The world of music will be a poorer place without him but he lives on in his music and forever in our hearts." More...

Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia dies at 66

guitarz.blogspot.com:

World-renowned Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia has died aged 66 in Mexico, reportedly of a heart attack while playing with his children on a beach.

The death of one of the most celebrated flamenco guitarists was announced by the mayor's office in Algeciras, southern Spain, where he was born.

He is said to have died in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

More...

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies, aged 61

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Bob Casale pictured centre playing the Ibanez Talman guitar, pictured alongside bandmates Mark Mothersbaugh (left) and Bob Mothersbaugh (right)

For me as a big Devo fan, this comes as very sad news. Bob Casale, along with his brother Gerald Casale and the Mothersbaugh brothers Mark and Bob, was a founder member of Devo and played on all of their albums. He died on 17 February 2014 from conditions that lead up to heart failure. More here.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Sad news: Lou Reed dies aged 71

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Very sad news: former Velvet Underground main man Lou Reed has passed away, aged 71.

Known throughout the world for songs such as "Walk On The Wild Side" and "Perfect Day", both from his hugely influential 1972 album "Transformer", Reed was also a keen experimentalist in the world of music.

He was a keen user of cutting edge guitar designs such as early versions of the Klein headless ergonomic guitar, and the Moog guitar as designed by Paul Vo.

His 1970 double album "Metal Machine Music" - a wall of "elctronically generated audio feedback" was interpreted by many as a comptempt-fuelled attempt to break his contract with RCA Records, but Reed insisted that it was a serious work and it was even adapted for orchestral performance in the 2000s by the German ensemble Zeitkratzer.

For myself, one particular Lou Reed innovation that I have enjoyed playing around with is Ostrich tuning, named after a pre–Velvet Underground song "The Ostrich" by Lou Reed and The Primitives, and which requires all six guitar strings to be tuned to the same note (effectively creating a guitar with a single course of six strings).

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Bowie and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder dies, age 62

guitarz.blogspot.com:


Trevor Bolder, RIP.

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

The one and only Richie Havens, RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com: Sad news: Richie Havens has died of a heart attack at his home in New Jersey, aged 72. He will be rememebered by many as being the opening act at the legendary 1969 Woodstock Festival. He had a completely unique guitar style, from the way he held the instrument to his very technique - just check out that left thumb in action! The above clip is from Germany's Beat Club in 1971.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Bass legend Donald "Duck" Dunn passes away in Tokyo, aged 70

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Bass player and songwriter Donald "Duck" Dunn, a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame band Booker T and the MGs and the Blues Brothers band, has died in Tokyo. He was 70.

Dunn was in Tokyo for a series of shows. News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour. Cropper said Dunn died in his sleep.
(Read more...)

Here's a live clip of Booker T and the MGs playing their most famous hit, "Green Onions":



R.I.P. Mr Dunn.

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Bert Weedon, highly influential British guitarist, dies aged 93

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Legendary British guitarist Bert Weedon has died, aged 93. His influence on more than a whole generation of guitarists cannot be over-stated. To many - in the United Kingdom at least - the guitar was almost unknown before he helped to popularize it, and his legendary "Play In A Day" instruction books were used by the likes of Brian May, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

More...

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Jim Marshall, the "Father of Loud", dies aged 88

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I just want to add our voice to the tributes coming in for Jim Marshall, the man behind the legendary British guitar amplifiers, who died earlier today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17625335

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/apr/05/jim-marshall-amp-dies-88

One thing is for certain, his name will live on!

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Davy Jones of the Monkees, RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com:

More sad news, I'm afraid. Davy Jones, famous as being "the British one" in 1960s manufactured pop band The Monkees, has passed away in his Florida home, aged 66. [BBC News story]

Although occasionally seen with a guitar or bass on The Monkees TV show (courtesy of Gretsch who supplied instruments for the programme), Jones wasn't particularly known as a guitarist, but in fact all four Monkees - Jones along with Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz and Mike Nesmith were very musical.

They rebelled against their management's insistence that Monkees records should be made by session musicians and feature only one Monkee at a time on lead vocals (usually Jones or Dolenz), and on later albums they gained artistic control, playing their own instruments and writing the songs.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

The MC5's Michael Davis, RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm a huge fan of the MC5 and although I was not old enough to have seen them in the days of the classic line-up of Rob Tyner, Wayne Kramer, Fred "Sonic" Smith, Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson, I did manage to catch the reformed DKT/MC5 version of the group (featuring Kramer, Davis and Thompson plus guest vocalists) three times in the early 2000s and these I remember fondly as some of my favourite ever gigs attended.

So, I was extremely saddened this morning to hear the news that bassist Michael Davis had died on Friday 17 February, aged 68. By a strange piece of coincidence I had chosen to wear an MC5 tshirt when I got up this morning, before I'd read the news.

By way of tribute I would like to share with you these photographs from my personal collection, which I took at a gig at the Oxford Zodiac (as it was then) on 14 June 2005. I apologise for the quality of the pictures (I was using a very basic, low-resolution digital camera) but I think they capture the spirit the occasion nicely.

Other people you may recognise in the photos include Wayne Kramer, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Gilby Clark and Julian Cope.

PLEASE NOTE: The photos in this blog post are all my own so if you do want to use any of them on a forum or a blog or whatever, that's fine, but please credit me and link back here. Thanks.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Seminal folk guitarist Bert Jansch dies

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Sad news... Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch, a founding member of the band Pentangle and a well-known guitarist in his own right, has died at the age of 67. Jansch, who had cancer, passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning at a hospice in Hampstead, north London. (More...)

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Sad news: "Würzel", former Motörhead guitarist, reportedly dead at 61

guitarz.blogspot.com:

For today I was planning on doing a small piece about a couple of custom guitars as used by Motörhead. However, it's with a kind of sad irony that another Motörhead-related story has turned up; believe me, I'd much rather be blogging about the guitars.

According to various sources such as the Motörhead online forum and Facebook, former Motörhead guitarist Michael "Würzel" Burston died yesterday (Saturday, July 9).

The guitarist had recently been working on new material with his new band, Leader of Down, who had previously announced the release of their debut single for early 2010.

For more information see here.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Sad News: Gary Moore passes away

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This news, as untimely as it is, comes as a great shock.

As reported in The Irish Times:

Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore has died at a Costa del Sol hotel.

The musician was found dead in his room at the luxury Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona in the early hours of this morning. A postmortem is due to carried out later today in the nearby city of Malaga.

Moore (58) from Belfast is understood to have been on holiday at the time of his death.

More at: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0206/breaking25.html

I know that Moore was happy to have put his rock years behind him and to have reinvented himself as a blues guitarist, but I'll always have a soft spot for his "Back On The Streets" album. I also loved his work with Thin Lizzy on the "Black Rose" album.

Very sad.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Charles H. Kaman, inventor of the Ovation Guitar dies at age 91

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Charles H. Kaman - aviation pioneer in the development of helicopters and the creator of the Ovation Roundback guitar - has died in Connecticut USA [on Monday January 31].

In the 1940s he split off from Sikorsky Aviation to found his own corporation to design and manufacture helicopter blades. Using the knowledge he had regarding the control of vibrations, he set out in the mid-1960s to create a new type of guitar: using a strong molded one-piece parabolic assembly of sides and back made out of the same fiberglass compound he used on his blades. In-store demonstrations of the earliest Ovation guitars were a sight to behold: the sales rep would put the guitar face-down on the floor and stand on the bowl assembly.

Kaman (sounds like "command") was among the first to use alternative synthetic materials on guitars, paving the way for Steinberger and others. Kaman was 91.

Via Alan Peterson

(See also the New York Times obituary)

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Mick Karn, RIP

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This is sad news. The world has lost one of the most innovative musicians ever, a guy who couldn't read music, claimed to know nothing of musical theory, and yet his playing was fluid and innovative.

Mick Karn, most famously was bassist with 1980s glam/art rock band Japan, lost his battle against cancer yesterday (4 January 2011). His fretless bass playing was so unique in style, so very distinctive that you couldn't mistake it for anyone else.

My favourite of his recordings was "The Waking Hour" by Dalis Car (Mick Karn with vocalist Peter Murphy from Bauhaus and drummer Paul Vincent Lawford) which contains some stunning compositions from Karn plus some phenomenal fretless bass. However, the clip I am showing below is taken from BBC 2's "Old Grey Whistle Test" from when there was a Musician's Union strike (which is a disasterous situation for a music show) and no live music was allowed. Bending the rules slightly, the programme had Angie Bowie reading one of her poems accompanied by Karn improvising on fretless bass (a section of his bassline here would later be used in one of his Dalis Car compositions).

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!