Aunt Mimi - Kurt Cobain - Noel Gallagher - A Journey Through American Music TV - Wes Montgomery - Jimi Hendrix - Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero TV - The Jimi Hendrix Experience: American Landing TV - Elton John - Freddie Mercury - Devil at the Crossroads 2019 - Red Dwarf TV - Britpop: The Music that Changed Britain TV -
A guitar’s all right, John, but you’ll never earn your living with it. Aunt Mimi to John Lennon
I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar – hide in the back and just play. Kurt Cobain
I’m left-handed, and it’s not very easy to find reasonably priced, high-quality left-handed guitars. But out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favourite. I’ve only owned two of them. Kurt Cobain
I like guitars in the Fender style because they have skinny necks. Kurt Cobain
Once I’d discovered weed and guitars you got into another world: what do you want to go out for? Noel Gallagher, Oasis: Supersonic, BBC 2018
How exactly did this music made by dirt-poor African-Americans in the dusty fields of the south go on to inspire the likes of the Rolling Stones, Jim Hendrix and Eric Clapton and shape the face of modern rock? A Journey Through American Music, 2010
Robert Johnson Love in Vain: in his teens Johnson used to hang around older players like Son House. ibid.
B B King blazed a more sophisticated trail than other delta blues players. ibid.
Until recently B B played upwards of three hundred gigs a year. ibid.
Rock giants such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac and Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd were all deeply influenced by B B King’s guitar style. ibid.
Ike Turner – he was a member of the band who recorded the ground breaking track Rocket 88 ... The first true rock-n-roll track. ibid.
Ike Turner started out playing sessions on guitar and piano for the likes of B B King, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. ibid.
Blind Lemon Jefferson – it carried on through T-Bone Walker ... and then Clarence Gatemouth Brown. ibid.
Gatemouth was a master of both the fiddle and the guitar and combined blues, country, jazz and Cajun influences. ibid.
Frank Zappa said Gatemouth was the guitarist he admired the most. ibid.
Mississippi natives Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Walters pioneered a beefy amplified sound which helped them cut through the noise of crowded city bars. ibid.
Clapton has said that Buddy Guy is the best guitarist alive. Others see him as the link between blues and rock. ibid.
I never practice my guitar ... From time to time I just open the case and throw in a piece of raw meat. Wes Montgomery
A musician, if he’s a messenger, is like a child who hasn’t been handled too many times by man, hasn’t had too many fingerprints across his brain. Jimi Hendrix, Life magazine 1969
Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you’ll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you’re gonna be rewarded. Jimi Hendrix
I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes. Jimi Hendrix
I’ve always been very quiet. But I saw a lot of things. Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child
At school I used to write poetry a lot. ibid.
The first guitarist I was aware of was Muddy Walters. I heard one of his old records when I was a little boy. And it scared me to death. Because I heard all of those sounds. ibid.
I was about fourteen or fifteen when I started playing guitar. I learnt all the riffs I could. I never had any lessons. I learnt guitar from records and the radio. ibid.
I had to get an electric guitar. My first electric was a Danelectro which my dad bought for me. Must have busted him for a long time. I got the guitar together because that was all I had. ibid.
I was starting to see you could create a whole new world with an electric guitar. Because there isn’t a sound like it. ibid.
Bob Dylan was also down there. We were both stoned and hung just about laughing thanks to the demon ale. When I first heard Dylan I thought you must admire the guy for having that much nerve to sing out of key. But when I started listening to the words that sold me. ibid.
Chaz came down and heard me and asked, Would I like to come to England and start a group there? He seemed like a sincere guy and I’d never been to England before. ibid.
I wasn’t thinking about nothing but the idea of going to England. That’s all I’m thinking about. ’Cause I like to travel. One place bores me too long. ibid.
My music isn’t pop. It’s me ... Who doesn’t want to be written down in history? ibid.
We all dug Hey Joe as a number. Chaz made me sing serious. I was too scared to sing. It was the first time I ever tried to sing on a record. While we were working on it I don’t think we played it the same way twice. Hey Joe is really a Blues arrangement of a cowboy song. It isn’t quite a commercial song. So I’m surprised that it got so high in the hit parade. ibid.
We are calling our album Are You Experienced? This is a very personal album. Just like all our singles. A guess you could call it an ad lib album. As we made so much of it up on the spot. ibid.
I don’t want people to get the idea it’s a collection of freak-out material. Imagination is the key to my lyrics. And the rest is painting it with a little science fiction. ibid.
Britain is our station now. It’s not my home. But it was our beginning. They took us in like lost babies. We’ll stay here probably until around the end of June, and then we’ll see if we can get something going in America. ibid.
I arrived in England in just the clothes I stood up in. I’m going back with the best wardrobe of gear Carnaby Street can offer. ibid.
When I was in Britain I used to think about America every day. I’m American. I wanted people here to see. I also wanted to see whether we could make it back here. ibid.
Everything was perfect. And it was such a good feeling. Especially on your own home country. So I decided to destroy my guitar at the end as a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I loved my guitar. ibid.
Then we got into a tour with The Monkeys. They are like plastic Beatles. ibid.
I did write slow songs because I feel it’s easier to get more blues and feeling into them. The ballads I get really together – that’s what I really dig. Flower power. ibid.
Of course a lot of those hippies may get busted once in a while. But you don’t hear of banks beings robbed by hippies. It’s your own private thing if you use drugs. Everyone should be able to think or do what they want as long as it don’t hurt anybody. ibid.
Music is a safe kind of high. It’s more it’s the way it’s supposed to be. ibid.
When I die I’m going to have a jam session. And knowing me, I’ll probably get busted at my own funeral. And I’ll try to get Miles Davis along if he feels like making it. The music will be played loud. And it will be our music. ibid.
When I die just keep on playing the records. ibid.
‘This guy is just unbelievable.’ Jimi Hendrix: Guitar Hero, Sky Arts 2012
Jimi arrives in London Saturday 24th September 1966. ibid.
‘The most incredible blues guitar I’d ever heard.’ ibid.
‘And played it with his teeth.’ ibid.
‘He used colours: colours corresponding with notes.’ ibid.
Jimi’s problems seemed to get worse. ibid.
‘Hendrix was like a one-off. You’ll never see anything like him again. You’ll never see anyone have that much control of his instrument.’ ibid. Lemmy of Motorhead