-
A wonderful guitar story
Saw this on the news last night about Randy Bachman’s 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman he lost in 1976, reunited nearly half a century later. What a heartwarming story of a musicians bond to his cherished pride and joy instrument. Randy Bachman drooled over this first guitar, worked to save up money to buy it, and used it to launch his career and play many of his big early hits on it.
-
48 Replies
-
In this Duo Session, we can see Lisa playing her Gretsch Chet Atkins.
-
Hi Jung, a very nice story. I think if I could master an instrument, I would also have a very special relationship with this instrument. And in the following video, someone who has not only achieved greatness on this instrument, but has also collected several of these instruments in the course of his musical life, talks a little about how he learned to play and love this instrument:
-
Well, maybe I have completely misunderstood the topic and this is really just about the touching story of how Randy Bachman found his guitar again or is this about wonderful stories around the guitar in general, what do you say Jung? That would be a very nice topic. I admire you, with what perseverance and tenacity you set here again and again new topics. This must be rewarded with masses of feedback.
-
Hi Jurgen, I really enjoy wonderful stories of musicians and their pride and joy instruments. Thanks for sharing the video, was enjoyable to watch Mark Knopfler talk his craft and show us all the different guitars he uses and why. Back when I first got into learning piano and bought an acoustic upright Baldwin piano, I was fascinated by the piano as an instrument too. I use to take the panels off and admire all the intricate parts that made up the piano, bought books about piano, and learned about them, so I can relate to the love of musical instruments. I still have that Baldwin piano, though it’s badly in need of tuning. Love to hear about any other stories/videos you can dig up on this topic! 🙂
-
After hearing Mark Knopfler talk about how he played Sultans of Wing, had to listen to it here.
-
Thanks for the video Jung. Yes, Sultans of Swing and Money for Nothing are my absolute favorite Dire Straits songs. At the beginning I didn’t like the sound of Mark Knopfler’s voice so much, but sometime it clicked. A fantastic guitarist and musician. I also bought some of his solo albums later. Partly very soulful and really beautiful songs. Another wonderful guitar story.
And here’s another band that probably love their guitars a lot. A song that leads to goosebumps feeling with me now for almost 40 years. Perhaps technically not overly virtuosic (or is it?), but for me classic guitar rock at its best: straight ahead, no frills and just awesome (geil). Streams from the ears directly to the stomach and from there to the feet. The brain is simply switched off. For years I was convinced The Knack was a British group. They always seemed somehow very british to me. Well my dear… .
-
Hi Juergen, have you seen this one. Mark has a very unique voice. It has aged and here it brings a new feeling to this timeless classic. It’s practically a tear jerker(if no one is looking)
My favorite Dire Straits moments https://youtu.be/4ogF2tRNZRk
JP
-
Hi JP, you are right: Mark Knopfler has a unique voice. It just took me a while to like it. I must say, his music gets better and better with age. He radiates a calmness and serenity that impresses me. And he often has many little stories to tell, which makes listening really fun. Thanks for the link.
-
A moving performance for sure JP. Mark’s guitar work on all of Dire Straits stuff is remarkable.
-
My Sharona often gets panned by the ‘critics’. But, I think it has one of the best guitar breaks going. It starts with the singer playing some chords up and down the neck and then the guy on the LP comes in and goes crazy. My philosophy has always been when you put a Strat and an LP together, good things happen, e.g., Clapton and Allman in Layla.
-
-
My Sharona is a niiice one Jurgen! I think it has one of the greatest and iconic guitar riffs in rock and roll for sure. I remember in high school when the Knack came out with their album “Get The Knack”, that album cover was in every record store and teenagers home! Interestingly the song is about a real girl the lead singer had a huge crush on. Passion is powerful. In the video below, it’s interesting how they came up with the guitar riff and wrote the song. Even some surf music influence in it. It’s too bad the band broke up so early and didn’t go on making more albums.
-
Hi Jung, thanks for the video about the genesis of this song. Very interesting. Tell me, how many guitars does the man (Doug Fieger) hoard in the room at the beginning of the documentary? Incredible.
-
-
As a guy for whom Weird Al Yankovic was the gateway into modern rock and roll, I have to mention that I’ve just been reminded of him twice in this thread.
This is the first parody he ever recorded:
-
And this is from his 1989 movie, “UHF”:
-
Hi David, thanks for the two videos. Especially the second one “The Beverly Hillbillies” alias “Money for nothing” is totally awesome (Did the series “The Beverly Hillbillies” really exist?). The first and only parody I know of Weird Al Yankovic is “I’m fat”. Also absolutely great.
-
-
Hi, Juergen.
Yes, The Beverly Hillbillies was a very popular American sitcom that ran from 1962 to 1971. It’s a fish-out-of-water story about a poor rural family who discover oil on their land, become millionaires overnight, and move into a mansion in the wealthiest part of Los Angeles. What’s funny about it is that they retain all their backwoods customs, much to the confusion and consternation of everyone they encounter.
Weird Al has a lot of great song parodies and genre parodies that are worth checking out. Just take a random walk on YouTube; there aren’t many that won’t make you laugh!
-
Hi David,
thanks, I will do that. With your help, I’m slowly becoming an expert on the American television (series) world. Let’s see where this leads.
-
-
Axel Rose and Gun N’ Roses. Also great musicians and virtuosos, even if they have a rather special way. One of their truly biggest hits: Sweet Child O’ Mine. And one of their greatest secrets. What nobody knows: it’s just a cover song. Rose’s lawyers kept the original under lock and key for a long time, but now it was leaked. And here’s the original: Guitar? Not a single. Good mood and fun? Lots of it. (By the way, the man eating the bread and drinking the beer in the background is the producer and manager of the band).
And another wonderful guitar story (this time without a guitar, but with a happy ending).
-
That brass band does a great job on the song Jurgen. They captured the essence pretty good.
-
-
David, in Al Yankovich’s video My Bologna, just his playing those riffs on the accordion brings laughter! Great videos.
Jurgen, I’m surprised you haven’t seen Beverly Hillbillies before. I thought it would be known world wide, but I guess this one was famous only in North America. My fave characters are Grannie, and Ellie May. First time I’ve seen rope used as a belt on jeans.
-
Sorry Jung, the TV series seems to be very funny, but nobody knows it in this country. There used to be a similar series produced in the Netherlands. It was called “Flodder”. Same principle: a simple family moves into a stuffy suburban settlement. Now I know where the idea came from. It’s always such a thing with the broadcasting of TV series in our country: the public broadcasters try to make series themselves. With moderate success, mostly for the older audience, and the other stations mostly buy old US series. Since the whole thing is then still syncronized in German, it is usually also complex and costly. For this reason, I have switched to pay TV for some time (amazon, netflix and Co.). The Big Bang Theory, for example, I loved. It was very popular here, but I hear it didn’t do so well in the US.
-
I love The Big Bang Theory too, Juergen! I remember seeing promos for it before it premiered, and I dismissed it as probably being one of those shows that’s all about making fun of socially awkward nerds. But my students told me it was really good, so I eventually started watching it, and found that not only was the show empathetic to the nerds, but it hired an actual physicist as a consultant to get the science right!
According to Wikipedia, its ratings in the U.S. weren’t great for the first couple of seasons, but it ranked either first or second in each of its last six seasons.
-
When I first heard about the series, I had similar fears as you, David: the idiosyncrasies of some nerds are made fun of. But the characters are so endearing and the idiosyncrasies are portrayed really sensitively. And the longer you watch the series, the more you realize that sometimes a little Sheldon, Howard, Leonard or Raj himself lives inside you. But only sometimes. 🙂 I watched the series together with my girlfriend and she didn’t really understand the many little allusions to Star Wars, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings (too many stars and too many rings), but just like Penny she knew that these things are somehow quite funny and important to me (and somehow I was then her little nerd). By the way, I find the ranking of the scientists to be smiling: At the top theoretical physicists, then applied physics and well, there are also engineers.
(just missed the topic again. sorry Jung (but it is about music) 🙂
-
I agree with that hierarchy, Juergen. I’m a physics teacher, and my dad is a retired engineer, and we’ve always had light-hearted arguments about whose profession is superior. I love when Sheldon described engineers as “the oompa loompas of science”.
-
-
A blast from the past (1975) from a BTO performance in Vancouver. The hairstyles look very 70ish!
-
Even if now the suspicion arises that I live on the back side of the moon: who is BTO? I have never heard “Takin’ Care Of Business”. Is that the Bachman who lost his guitar?
-
-
Jurgen, yes Randy Bachman is the guitarist from the first video about the Gretsch guitar he lost and was in BTO. BTO (Bachman Tuner Overdrive) was one of the biggest Canadian rock bands in the 70s, maybe second to The Guess Who. Randy Bachman was with The Guess Who, and formed BTO after The Guess Who broke up. Randy is probably the most famous of the Canadian guitarists, or one of the tops this country produced. The Guess Who and BTO was big in North America, but perhaps less so in Europe. Taking Care of Business is probably BTOs biggest hit song.
-
Hey Jung,
Didn’t you used to take the 8:15 into the city? ????
JP
-
Indeed JP, it feels like another time and place for me now. Miss the beautiful morning commute on the train sometimes. Nowadays at 8:15 AM it’s a short few steps from the kitchen to my home office trying not to spill the coffee on the rug. 🙂
-
For me one of the most beautiful songs by Neil Young
-
-
I love the Beverly Hillbillies , watched reruns as a kid, own a few VHS/DVDs of some of the shows, Sharon Tate had appeared in a few episodes as different characters… Some years back there was a an awesome film made, well, in my opinion, it was and had the best casting, for the characters with Buddy Ebsen appearing as Barnaby Jones character in it, did you know that Buddy Essen was cast as original TinMan in W. Of OZ movie before he had to ditch role due to an almost fatal allergic reaction to the makeup used and the other guy took over the part (the guy’s name escapes me just now)
-
Jacki, we probably had similar childhoods in that regard, spending our weekday afternoons (especially in the summer, when school was out) glued to the TV watching reruns of all the great sitcoms of the 60’s. They never failed to entertain!
Oh, and the “real” tin man was Jack Haley.
-
-
MMy 3 other tave Canadian guitarists, besides Randy are : Al (Alan) Connelly from Glass Tiger band who has done some amazing solo stuff, reggae style he does for solo stuff…. and 2 blind guitarists… the late Jeff Healey and Lucas Haneman…
Log in to reply.
