Back to where a lot of it started

[Donnie B.]

Wes Montgomery in 1949 at 26 years old!
This guy is in many ways as important as Jimi Hendrix is to where guitar is today imo.

 

[mrmega]

So cool. I have read over the years many early rock and roll guys were into him. What amazes me is the time period he did all this because there weren't too many great guitarists yet. He was a real innovator for sure. Some of the notable Jazz guys before and during this era were Freddie Green (Count Basie) , Herb Ellis, Jimmie Raney, Johnny Smith, Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. I cant think of any others. In my opinion Wes was the most innovative and accessible. Some of the others were "too Jazz" for the public at large, especially those born after the Jazz heyday. A lot of non musicians know Wes was a smooth melodic player, not too many realize how technically proficient he was.

 

[Monkey Man]

Well-said, mrmega!

Spot-on, mate.

 

[Donnie B.]

Gotta add Jimmy Bryant to the conversation.

 

[mrmega]

Gotta add Jimmy Bryant to the conversation.

That was awesome!!!

 

[brett8388]

enjoyed that - thanks for posting

 

[SpiderWars]

Those damn Marimba players...always taking long solos and playing too many notes.

Eric Johnson mentions Wes as a big influence (he even has a song called East Wes) in his Total Electric Guitar instructional video which I still have...on VHS! So I did I bit of a dive into Wes for a while in the 90s. Then in the 2000s I got into the early work of this guy (note the tapping).

 

[AxeFiend]

Wes Montgomery in 1949 at 26 years old!
This guy is in many ways as important as Jimi Hendrix is to where guitar is today imo.

That's cool to see. Love the thumb picking. I'm too young I guess. I like seeing the progression over the years. Reminds me of the video recently posted of EVH's father shredding in an old school way.

 

[Donnie B.]

That's cool to see. Love the thumb picking. I'm too young I guess. I like seeing the progression over the years. Reminds me of the video recently posted of EVH's father shredding in an old school way.

I've been listening to a lot of older jazz while driving and screw 80s guitar shredders, what those guys
were doing with keys, horns, upright bass, was as weedly deedly as any Shrapnel record!

 

[AxeFiend]

Yea, I can see that now. I grew up on Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zep. That's all I listened to when I was a 13 year old with a strat knock off. I was hooked on the distortion and "heaviness" associated with it. It's interesting to see what you are saying about "wheedle deedling".

 

[AxeFiend]

Those damn Marimba players...always taking long solos and playing too many notes.

Eric Johnson mentions Wes as a big influence (he even has a song called East Wes) in his Total Electric Guitar instructional video which I still have...on VHS! So I did I bit of a dive into Wes for a while in the 90s. Then in the 2000s I got into the early work of this guy (note the tapping).

These videos are cool. Glad younger people have them as reference and it's not lost. Important to see the foundations of the known rock heroes. Humbling in a way.

 

[Donnie B.]

Charlie Christian from 1939.
Basically the first guy to showcase an electric in a big band.

Listen to his phrasing once the solo picks up. Some very cool licks.




And YA, another marimba solo.

 

[Donnie B.]

This guy belongs considering how many of us were influenced subliminally by him via the TV.

Howard Roberts: I Love Lucy, Twilight Zone, The Munsters, Bonanza, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Green Acres, Get Smart, Batman, Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith, Peter Gunn, Lost in Space, Dragnet, Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, The Odd Couple, Dick Van Dyke, I Dream of Jeannie, and the theme for the film Bullitt.