LEGEND Your Song of the Day

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Selassie I

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Haole
And now, for some real fucking musical genius. A good Reggae beat can almost make anyone sound good...

 

CodeMonkey

Possibly the OH but cannot self-identify
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Jun 20, 2014
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So good. You are going to fit right in around here. Keep it coming. Rock on and Go Rams!!!
 

Prime Time

PT
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Peter
Happy 70th birthday Eric Clapton.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5r2wA0_B0


http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/eric-claptons-five-fab-guitars/51503

Eric-Clapton-2-guitars-main.jpg

Eric Clapton’s Five Fab Guitars
BY BARRY CLEVELAND

There are lots of “guitars of the stars”-style coffee table books out there, including many containing photos of iconic instruments owned at one time by Eric Clapton. The tome Six-String Stories is unique, however, as the guitarist’s reminiscences fill the book’s 376 pages, alongside extensive specs and other background information on nearly 300 instruments.

The book is published by Genesis Publications and limited to 2,000 copies, signed by Clapton (approximately $568 direct). The proceeds benefit Clapton’s Crossroads Centre Antigua. Visit Genesis Publications for more information.

Here are a few excerpts.

clapton_fav_guitars-1.jpg

1964 GIBSON ES-335TDC 

Serial Number: 67473 

Body: Double cutaway thinline semi-hollow, maple, f-holes, maple center block, cherry red finish 

Neck: Mahogany, 22 frets, rosewood fingerboard with block inlays 

Headstock: Pearl Gibson logo, crown inlay, black 3-ply (black/white/ black) truss cover engraved ‘Custom’ 

Bridge: Nickel-plated Tune-o-matic with stop tailpiece 

Pickguard: Black 5-ply (black/white/black/white /black) 

Pickups: Two humbucking with nickel-plated covers 

Controls: Two volume, two tone 

Switches: 3-position pickup selector

“I think the cherry Gibson ES-335 was really acceptable on every front. It was a rock guitar, a blues guitar— the real thing. Even in those days I may have had reservations about Fenders, in that they were solid, whereas this one was semi-acoustic. What I love about Fenders now I would probably have held in a little bit of contempt in those days, in that they didn’t have any purfling down the side of the neck, and so on.

This guitar had all the finish you would ever want and all the credibility a guitar needed at that time. The fact that Alexis Korner and I played those Kays was because you couldn’t get these Gibsons in England—you didn’t see them. You got copies, German guitars like Hagstroms, Hofner. I bought this brand new either from Denmark Street or Charing Cross Road.

“The ES-335 is beautiful, and I loved it. It was played regularly over the years. It got on albums, it never really changed. It never got old, it never wore down. It never lost anything. I’d play it now. Anything that’s been that long in my life and is still functional— there aren’t too many things that can command that kind of respect. I’ve had no cars that long for instance. There are no other tools in my life that have been as long-serving.”

clapton_fav_guitars-2.jpg

1956 FENDER STRATOCASTER “BROWNIE” 

Serial Number: 12073 

Body: Alder, sunburst finish, dated 6-56 

Neck: Maple with skunk-stripe truss rod routing, 21 frets, maple fingerboard with dot inlays. Neck date and initials XA-6-56 written in pencil 

Bridge: Synchronised tremolo 

Pickguard: White single-ply 

Controls: One volume, two tone 

Pickups: Three single-coil

Switches: 5-position pickup selector with white switch tip (replaced original 3-position pickup selector sometime in the 1970s)

“With Delaney and Bonnie I used my old Stratocaster, Brownie, which was really, really good— a great sound. It was just right for the kind of music I was playing with them.

“I think Brownie dictated the way I played to a certain extent. Because the Strat has less sustain— it’s harder to bend on and harder to hold the bends and apply vibrato— I play more notes. I didn’t look at the change from Gibson to Fender as ‘I’m done with that.’ It was more a case of wanting to try something else.”

clapton_fav_guitars-3.jpg

1969 ZEMAITIS CUSTOM 12-STRING “IVAN THE TERRIBLE” 

Body: Rosewood back and sides, cedar top, decorative back stripe with heart inlays, inlaid heart motif on top’s lower bout, natural finish

Neck: 7-ply laminated maple and walnut, 18 frets, bound ebony fingerboard with silver heart inlays, silver nut 

Headstock: Three silver four-leaf clover inlays, silver heart-shaped truss rod cover engraved ‘Eric Clapton’ 

Bridge: Ebony pin bridge with silver four-leaf clover inlays, silver engraved bridge pins and saddle 

Soundhole: Heart-shaped with purple heart amaranth heart inlays, ebony edging

“I finally got to meet Tony Zemaitis in the mid ’60s. I asked him to make a 12-string for me, bigger than he’d ever done before and inlaid with silver. I wanted it to be incredibly ornate. I wanted to explore everything we could. The heart shape and the four-leaf clover on the headstock were my ideas.

So he made this guitar, it probably took about a year, and it was massive. It’s reputed to be the biggest 12-string in the world. It’s about the same dimensions as a mariachi bass. Tony really did a beautiful job. I used it with Blind Faith and I did some other material with it.

“I was involved in a very, very stormy relationship at the time. During one of our big rows, I took the guitar and I demolished it. I took it by the neck and I banged it against the wall until there was nothing left. Then about five years later—I still had the neck—I took it back to Tony and said, ‘I’ve got to tell you a terrible story, forgive me I can’t bear to be without it,’ and I apologized and made all the excuses I could think of. He was shocked, but he understood, so he built another body onto the neck. So this is Mark 2—the first one was destroyed, but the neck is original.”


clapton_fav_guitars-4.jpg

1980 SANTA CRUZ F 

Serial Number: 13
Body: Maple back and sides, spruce top, bound, sunburst finish 

Neck: Mahogany, 20 frets, bound ebony fingerboard with slotted diamond inlays 

Headstock: ‘SCGC’ logo inlay 

Bridge: Ebony ‘belly’ pin bridge 

Pickguard: Imitation tortoiseshell

“I don’t play the electric guitar much at home. In the ’80s, I usually played these acoustics that I got from the Santa Cruz Guitar Company because they had a nice sound.”


clapton_fav_guitars-5.jpg

1995 GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM FLORENTINE 

Serial Number: 5 9476 

Body: Mahogany, single cutaway, maple top with f-holes, sunburst finish

Neck: Mahogany, 22 frets, bound ebony fingerboard with block inlays

Headstock: Split diamond inlay, Gibson custom shop transfer on back 

Bridge: Gold-plated Tune-o-matic with stop tailpiece 

Pickups: Two single-coil Alnico V soapbar pickups 

Controls: Two volume, two tone 

Switches: 3-position pickup selector
“I used this guitar primarily for writing.”
 

CodeMonkey

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OK I did my homework. The band isn't named after a home-made roach clip after all... from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Airplane

...

The origin of the group's name is often disputed. "Jefferson airplane" is slang for a used paper match splint to hold a marijuana joint that has been smoked too short to hold without burning the fingers – an improvised roach clip.A popular conjecture suggests this was the origin of the band's name, but band member Jorma Kaukonen has denied this and stated that the name was invented by his friend Steve Talbot as a parody of blues names such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. A 2007 press release quoted Kaukonen as saying:

"I had this friend [Talbot] in Berkeley who came up with funny names for people," explains Kaukonen. "His name for me was Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane (for blues pioneer Blind Lemon Jefferson). When the guys were looking for band names and nobody could come up with something, I remember saying, 'You want a silly band name? I got a silly band name for you!'"

...

So there you have it! BTW, Leonard Skynard was a name the band came up with as a mocking tribute to a high school P.E. teacher named Leonard Skinner who hassled them about their long hair.
 

Prime Time

PT
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Peter


Any acoustic arrangement of Layla is an abomination. It sounds like an old man on quaaludes, lol. Love Clapton, and that song is one of my favorites and a masterpiece, but please it lacks power and passion and should never be attempted on acoustic only, imo. It's like playing AC/DC' "For Those About To Rock" on a nylon string guitar.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEx9O9x8Jnw


In this next video, the band Van Halen sounds fine but David Lee Roth is just mailing it in. Sounds like his voice is shot. What do you all think?


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RaoMXV87Q