Get Real On Guitar

Known for his fiery guitar work and achingly soulful singing voice, Jose Feliciano is one of the greatest music artists of his generation. Perhaps he is slightly lesser known as the first Latin Artist to cross over to the English music market, allowing other artists that followed an easier time to enter the commercial thus lucrative pop mainstream industry. 

Yet he is mainly known for his version of “Light My Fire” and his own “Feliz Navidad,” both of which became international sensations. 

Jose mostly plays an acoustic nylon string, or “classical” guitar, and with his adaptation of flamenco picking approach, which evolved into a wild unique masterful blending of styles – rock, latin, jazz, classical, soul, blues genres, and who knows what else!  

Feliciano was discovered in 1963 while performing at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village and was immediately signed to RCA Victor. He released a single in 1964 with some success, and in 1965 and 1966 he released his first albums: The Voice and Guitar of Jose Feliciano and A Bag Full Of Soul. Jose’s popularity grew, and Jose has at this point, 2022, recorded over fifty albums worldwide, in both English and Spanish. 

Born blind in Puerto Rico, the fourth of eleven sons, Jose was first exposed to music at the age of 3, accompanying his uncle’s quatro playing on a cracker tin. At age 5 he moved with his family to Spanish Harlem, New York City, where he made his first public appearance at a Latin community music hall in the South Bronx section of New York City at the age of 9.

Jose taught himself accordion at age 7, revealing a knack for music. Then at age 9 his father gave him his first guitar, which he would play in his room for up to 14 hours a day, learning by listening to rock and roll on the radio, and records of jazz great Wes Montgomery and classical legend Andres Segovia, his favorites, among others. After attending The Light House School for the Blind in NYC, Jose left high school at 17 to help support his family. After meager “pass-the-hat” earnings from frequent gigs in the Village, Jose made his first contracted professional performance at The Retort, a coffee house in Detroit, Michigan. With his innovative Latin-infused stylings not too far off in the future, Jose was soon due to become JOSE FELICIANO, international music star!

After performing in Argentina the RCA Victor executives were so taken by Feliciano that they insisted he record an album for them in Spanish. He did, and as they say, the rest is history. With so many accomplishments, accolades, honors, etc. it is impossible to cram even a tenth of them in here. Yes, at this date, January 2022, Jose is anxious to get back out playing for his fans. Unreal! In my book, Jose Feliciano is a superstar by any standard and is helping to bring Latin and English speaking peoples closer together. Bravo!

OK, let’s get down to business. Who is the greatest all-time rock guitarist? It’s a debate that has been going on for decades. It would be electric guitar. (Guitarists love to argue about their favorite guy ‘till they are blue in the face.) Jeff Beck? Eric Clapton? Jimmy Page? Actually Brian May of Queen just won a big Greatest Ever Rock Guitarist poll. Jeeze, I guess England had a few greats. Something in the water?

The U.S. though, had a few guitar gods of our own: Chuck Berry, Eddie van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and yes, Jimi Hendrix among many others. 

Jimi was born in Seattle, Washington, yet ended up in England in the mid 1960’s and wowed the English guitar gods as well as the Beatles on their own turf. Indeed he opened a London performance with “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band,” shocking the locals just three days after the Beatles’ famous album release in England. Paul McCartney seems to love telling this “Pepper” story, and also about how much he loved Jimi and his musicianship.

Jimi’s accolades were practically numberless in his short career, but to mention a few, he had won Best Guitarist, Best Album, Performer of the Year, Artist of the Year, World Top Musician of 1969 and 1970, for starters. And his three studio albums Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland all were ranked in the top 100 greatest albums of all time in Rolling Stone Magazine’s listing. Not bad for four short years of a recording career.

Jimi had a very unsteady and problematic upbringing which may have contributed to his extreme shyness and mild temperament but also his wild stage clothes and flashy antics. And possibly his deep, deep soulful drive for …..excellence? fame? glory? …who knows. 

But as to who the greatest electric rock guitarist of all time is? My humble opinion, no question, hands down, is Jimi Hendrix by a country mile. Countless guitarists have tried to learn his style, play faster, and possibly equal him. But no, not after fifty some years has it happened, nor will it ever. There will only ever be one Jimi Hendrix. Trying to out-Jimi Hendrix Jimi Hendrix is about as futile as trying to out-Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder. It ain’t gonna happen Junior!

Bob Marley (1945-1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician. One of the pioneers of reggae, his music was a blend of reggae, ska and rocksteady, with unique vocal and songwriting style. He helped popularize Jamaican music worldwide.

Born in Nine Mile, British Jamaica, Marley began his career in 1963, after forming Bob Marley and the Wailers. Their 1965 debut studio album, The Wailing Wailers, contained the single “One Love/People Get Ready”; the song became popular globally, making the group a well-known reggae combo.

Few names in the popular music world conjure up the immediate fullness of the term legend. But Bob Marley was a cultural force that went far beyond normal legendary status.

There are a number of legendary-level musicians from the post-20th century era that enjoy this status. Miles Davis, now there’s one. Even jazz insiders and critics revered Miles. In fact, he seemed to scare most of them out of their wits. Duke Ellington, arguably the greatest modern composer ever. Stevie Wonder too, of course, moving forward in time. And then there’s Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eddie Van Halen, all rock guitar gods, to mention a few. 

But, those three guitarists could probably outplay Bob Marley with one finger! However, Bob had something big and deep to say, that needed no fingers. He was a visionary. An avatar. There was a spiritual dimension to his work, his music, that allowed a place at the table for the poor and common folk.

Although Rastafarianism is the mysterious religion closely associated with Marley, he was not overtaken by it. As far as I can tell, losing yourself in the music was the religion. Bob’s vision, which seemed to harness an unnameable magnetic force, was at once electrifying but with a calm center. Love, positive vibrations and joyful music appeared to be his message. Bob died at 37, way too young, from cancer. Wow, the things he could have done! But the things he did do are left for us to enjoy. 

That’s right, guys, women get the blues, too! Here’s a short look at one of the greatest all-time female blues artists.

Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being “Bumble Bee,” “Nothing in Rambling,” and “Me and My Chauffeur Blues”. I have known about Memphis Minnie, but I admit that I was unfamiliar with her songs, so now I come to find out that the song “When The Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin was written and recorded by Memphis Minnie and her husband, Kansas Joe McCoy, in 1929, two years after the Great Flood Of 1927, the most destructive flooding in U.S. history. This same area, around New Orleans, Louisiana, was the place that Hurricane Katrina wreaked such havoc in late August, 2005.

Born in New Orleans, the oldest of thirteen children, her family worked its way up through the Mississippi Delta and settled outside Memphis around 1910. Having an early start, she was already performing on the streets of Memphis and in traveling shows while still in her teens. In the 1920’s she was frequently seen on Beale Street as well as in juke joints and house parties down in the Delta.

After her recording career began in 1929 with her then husband Kansas Joe McCoy, the couple moved to Chicago, the center of blues recording in the 1930’s. By 1939, when she teamed up with her second husband, Ernest Lawlars, who became known as Little Son Joe, Minnie was at the peak of her popularity.

Minnie had a driving rhythmic guitar style, and basically fingerpicked on acoustic, with a steady-thumb Travis type sound. Then around 1941 she began to play electric guitar which must have caused a wave of excitement weaving in and out of the low-lit nightclubs and dance halls. Big Bill Broonzy said that she could “pick a guitar and sing as good as any man I’ve ever heard.”

Also of note, Jefferson Airplane recorded “My Chauffeur Blues” and Donovan adapted her song “Can I Do It For You” to his own style, which shows that the newer generation of musicians were doing their homework. This is just a tiny peek into the life of a little known, but great, American musician. Dig it!

Thank you for massively and irrevocably expanding the scope and depth of the art of the popular song around 1962, in an explosive way. And the pieces are still falling to earth.

If ever there was a legendary blues mystery award, then Robert Johnson would easily walk off with the trophy. Dying mysteriously at 26, before any inevitable acclaim found him, his accomplishments were amazing. It’s almost like he was a fictional character. But no, he was real all right. His stature is hard to exaggerate.

Surely almost all of the blues greats were influenced in some way by him, many of them profoundly. As the story goes, Robert was learning guitar from blues legend Son House and his playing was just “o.k.,” but he went away for a little while and when he came back, well, uh, he completely blew everyone’s mind. And kind of shook up the neighborhood. He was seemingly suddenly so good, it was rumored that he had made a deal with the devil down “at the crossroads” in Clarksdale, Mississippi, trading his soul for a massive surge in musical skill.

Of course that’s impossible, because even Satan knows that the only way to rapidly improve is to practice like the devil! All the legendary stories are just the human’s need to fabricate a little excitement. But Robert needed no fabrication.

Robert’s story is rife with rumor and conflicting accounts of what exactly went down, but the important thing is, he did it. And he certainly earned the title of “King of the Delta Blues Singers.” His songs “Sweet Home Chicago” “Crossroad Blues,” “Come On In My Kitchen” and other timeless classics are still being played today.

Robert was definitely a bonafide genius if there ever was one. He could deliver a vast range of musical accompaniments on guitar. And by conveying his subtly powerful poetic lyrics with a tragically aching singing voice, the overall impact says it all. His recorded output of a mere 29 songs over 80 years ago was enough to compel Eric Clapton to call him “the most important blues singer that ever lived.”  Long live Robert Johnson!