Changing times, new heroes (67 … mid 70’s)

The roots and trunk of a tree.

Continuation from “the old man”: Know thy instrument (No. 2)

Let’s for a brief moment revert to how the guitar has evolved as instrument …

·         Acoustic guitars constitutes several subcategories of the acoustic guitar group: classical and flamenco guitars; steel-string guitars, which include the flat-topped, (or "folk"), guitar; twelve-string guitars; and the arched-top.

·         Renaissance and Baroque guitars are the ancestors of the modern classical and flamenco guitar. They are substantially smaller, more delicate in construction, and generate less volume. 

·         Classical guitars, a.k.a "Spanish" guitars, are typically strung with nylon strings, plucked with the fingers, played in a seated position and are used to play a diversity of musical styles including classical music. The classical guitar's wide, flat neck allows the musician to play scales, arpeggios, and certain chord forms more easily and with less adjacent string interference.

Then we have the typical, more distinct guitar body forms:

·         Flat-top or steel-string guitars are similar to the classical guitar, however, within the varied sizes of the steel-stringed guitar the body size is usually significantly larger than a classical guitar, and has a narrower, reinforced neck and stronger structural design. Ex.  German-American luthiers, where Christian Friedrich "C. F." Martin developed the model in the 1840s. 

·         Archtop guitars are steel-string instruments in which the top (and often the back) of the instrument are carved, from a solid billet, into a curved, rather than a flat, shape. This violin-like construction is usually credited to the American Orville Gibson (1856–1918). 

·         Resonator, resophonic or Dobros. All three principal types of resonator guitars were invented by the Slovak-American John Dopyera (1893–1988) for the National and Dobro (Dopyera Brothers) companies. Similar to the flat top guitar in appearance, but with a body that may be made of brass, nickel-silver, or steel as well as wood. The sound of the resonator guitar is produced by one or more aluminum resonator cones mounted in the middle of the top. The physical principle of the guitar is therefore similar to the loudspeaker.

·         The twelve-string guitar usually has steel strings, and it is widely used in folk music, blues, and rock and roll. Rather than having only six strings, the 12-string guitar has six courses made up of two strings each, like a mandolin or lute. The highest two courses are tuned in unison, while the others are tuned in octaves. 

Let’s stop here; we are about the crossroad between to “classical” and the “modern” guitar (as instrument, which will be discussed later, 

- and I now introduce:

“The White Lady”

All the guitars I have ever owned are “females”. I’m not sexist, but this is how it is!

The White Lady, a Washburn was procured abt. 1980 – 81. 

A beauty, arced and curves elegant, with mother of pearl inlay along the “curves”. Nice rounded slim neck. Ivory coloured, gold plated knobs and mechanics. Equipped with two "Open Coil" humbucker pickup. Volume knobs are pull/push for single or dual action on the pickups.

Barbi Benton, an American  model, actress, and singer, performed with a similar model abt. 1979 – 80.

Washburn Guitars is an American manufacturer and importer of guitars, mandolins, and other string instruments. The original company was established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. Today their instruments are mainly manufactured in Asia.

When my selection of guitars started to grow, I gave her to my middle brother (2012), I know he will take good care of her.

Times they are changing (67 until the mid 70’s)

Around and after “Sgt. Pepper …” by the Beatles, a lot of new influences started to bubble. 

The Flower power (Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco) and psychedelic era was well on its way.  

In the backwaters of Norway it the wave arrived later than other parts of Europa, ¨but it arrived.

Radio Luxemburg and other broadcasters gave us the introduction to “new” artist, which in many ways are the ones that mainly have formed my musical taste and flavour!

Lesson 3 from my late father: “This is not music, this is NOISE! - If you turn of the power, I believe they cannot play at all!”

He was dead-wrong! He did never understand this musical development, and I spent a lot of time over the years to convince him otherwise, but he never surrendered …

Anyhow here they come:

·         Jimi Hendrix. James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career lasted only four years, he is regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history. 

·         Cream. Probably the world’s first “super group”, short-lived though, but definitely made their mark. - A power trio consisting of bassist/singer Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker, and guitarist/singer Eric Clapton. All 3 made their mark individually. Eric, probably the most prominent, but Jack and Ginger excelled within jazz and Jazz-rock.

·         Pink Floyd. An English rock band formed in London. International acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. Distinguished by use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, extended compositions and opulent live shows. 

    

    They are one of the most commercialy successful and influential bands EVER. 

    Founded in 1965 by students Syd Barrett on guitar and lead vocals, Nick Mason on drums, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, and Richard Wright on keyboards and vocals. Syd left, -too much acis …, and guitarist David Gilmour joined in December 1967.

·         Led Zeppelin. Were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. 

    Jimmy Page's heavy, guitar-driven sound, rooted in blues and psychedelia on their early albums, has earned them recognition as one of the forerunners of heavy metal, though their unique style drew from a wide variety of influences, including folk music.

·         Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993), was an American musician and filmmaker whose work was characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of American culture. 

    In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed within a variety of genres, rock, pop, jazz orchestral and musiquw concrete.

    He produced more than 80-plus albums that he released (solo and with his band the Mothers of Invention), including several bootlegs .

    

    Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. 

    I rank him the most innovative and stylistically diverse musician, and I firmly believe he is largely underrated still today.

I had the good fortune to meet my idol during the release of the double album “Sheik Yerbouti” March 1978 in Oslo.

Frank has influenced me in so many ways, but I’d also like to mention that he also "pointed" me to several 20th-century classical composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern, Arne Nordheim, along with 1950s rhythm and blues and doo-wop music.

Now you have the roots and trunk of my musical tree.

Credits / references: Thanks to Wikipedia, and any music loving webpage whom inspired / contributing … 

To be continued ...