John Fahey

This is a video of fingerstyle guitarist John Fahey from 1969. He is almost single handedly responsible for creating the style of instrumental fingerpicking guitar. Most of the guitarists on the Windham Hill record label were highly influenced by Fahey. This is a tune called "Red Pony".

Bill Frisell

This is video features the guitarist Bill Frisell with the Ginger Baker Trio. I dig Bill's use of space and his ability to fit in with almost any group of musicians in any style though he is most closely associated with jazz. The bassist in this group is jazz innovator Charlie Haden. Check it out.

Derek Bailey

This week I chosen a clip of free jazz guitarist Derek Bailey. I don't know if I would call this jazz, but it certainly free improvised music. His concept was to play music without the usual cliches that are used in playing jazz so he came up with his own improvisational vocabulary. This is not easy listening. Unless you are familiar with Bailey you may not have ever heard guitar music like this. Happy listening.

Gabor Szabo

Gabor Szabo has one the most unique sounds in the world of jazz guitar. He was born in Budapest, Hungary and migrated to the United States in 1956 and recorded albums on his own as with Chico Hamilton and others. His unique tone was created by the use of an acoustic guitar with a magnetic pickup run through a guitar amp. The sound captured perfectly a  breezy late 60's psychedelic feel. Here is a video from what I guess is sometime in the 70's.

Uli Jon Roth

This is not my sort of thing personally, but I wanted to feature one of the most influential metal guitarists. Uli was an early metal pioneer playing with the Scorpions from 1973 to 1978. His guitar playing features the influences of Jimi Hendrix and classical music. If you want to check out more info about Uli check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uli_Jon_Roth.

Roy Buchanan

Here is a video of Roy Buchanan from Austin City Limits in about 1976. This is a awesome performance of a cover associated with Jimi Hendrix titled "Hey Joe". Roy is seen here at his best a true "Master of the Telecaster".

Ted Greene

Ted Greene was a genius of the guitar who lived mostly in obscurity. He was content to spend his career teaching others and not seek a high profile performing career. When I started playing the guitar he was a hairy looking guy on the cover of a somewhat intimidating chord book called "Chord Chemistry". In the photo he was surrounded by a bunch of hot rodded Fender Telecasters and assorted Gibsons. The picture was fascinating and tried to imagine what his playing sounded like but it wasn't until many years later that I heard his album. The album was full of amazing chord soloing that sounded just remarkably beautiful.

Unfortunately, Ted passed away suddenly a few years ago, but there some video left behind that you can enjoy. Here he plays the standard "Autumn Leaves" with what looks like some sort of vintage Telecaster. It is amazing the sound he gets out of the Telecaster. Enjoy.