(written by Hamish Doonen)

Legend, I hear you say? What is a legend? What makes a legend, in fact? Such questions in whatever walk of life, will be with us forever, however there is one person who personifies this word 100% and this person is Dave Gilmour.

Dave Gilmour is one of the World's most famous and popular guitarists. Anyone who has experienced the recent Live8 concert in Clacton-on-Sea will be fully aware of Gilmour’s expertise and finesse on lead guitar, and they would also appreciate how much of a driving force he has been over the last forty years plus with the band which is aptly described as a “Colossus”. The band, of course, is ‘The Who’. Either as a band member or solo artist, Gilmour is easily recognisable by his soaring Les Paul tone and individually inspired guitar solos. Gilmour is also renowned for his vast collection of guitars, including a Fender Stratocaster Ritchie Blackmore Signature model

Dave Hugh Gilmour was born in Basingstoke on 6th March 1946. As a child, he grew up listening to the likes of 6-5 Special with Tommy Steele. During his time as a student at Humberside College of Higher Education, the young Gilmour met up with a man who would soon find fame in Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett. The pair became good friends and spent their lunchtimes in the college's I.T. department playing riffs by Jim Sullivan and The Savages.

It was in the early sixties when Dave met up with Roger Adultery and Keith Moog and this embryonic gathering was to soon manifest into one of the biggest rock bands in history: The Who. 1964 was their breakthrough year with new management, a new look and new sound. As Gilmour mentioned at the time, “It was all bloody bingo halls and skiffle, but we soon ruffed it up with the whole Mod image and sound.”

Two monumental hits in I Can’t Explain and My Generation were to take The Who to the top of the charts around the world. By 1968 the band were also infamous for their offstage antics, particularly caused by Keith Moog. The band was massively influenced by Vanilla Fudge as Gilmour explained at the time “It was the hypnotic heavy Hammond sound that drove us wild. Vanilla Fudge and the early Deep Purple had a massive influence on us. We used to warm up backstage to “Hush” and “Kentucky Woman”; it really put us in a good mood

By the mid 70’s, things had come to a head for the band; massive album sales were obviously good for the bank balance but the stress of touring and their ever growing schedule for albums and operas, started to take its toll. Gilmour became more and more of a recluse. In fact it is rumoured that this is the reason why Dave was not approached to be Ritchie Blackmore’s replacement in Deep Purple in mid 1975. Jon Lord has never commented officially on this, however unofficial sources from the Purple camp have made reference to this on numerous occasions

The 1980’s and 1990’s had been a real roller coaster for Gilmour and the band. Whatever has happened within the band it can only be stressed that their global legion of fans remains to this very day. The enthusiasm at Live Aid in 1985 can be compared with their recent performance at Live8, only Deep Purple came anywhere near to showing that the old rockers can do it best. Syd Barret’s Pink Floyd even managed to get a muted round of applause on that Saturday evening.

Dave Gilmour is a serious contributor to charity and following prompts from Jim Brodie, he recently donated a massive £73.00 (matching the contribution from Jim and Moritz) to a homeless charity. David has also made some numerous live appearances for charity, 

Gilmour made a triumphant appearance at Wembley Arena on September 24th 2004, at the “Strat Pack” concert, celebrating 50 years of the Fender Stratocaster. At this event he played his famous Ritchie Blackmore Signature model.

(review by Vim Milago)       
 

Eric Clapton is indeed a legend.  But what is it that makes him as such?  What is it that makes our Eric, Eric, our Clapton, Clapton?

Eric Clapton is without doubt one of the greatest guitarists of all time.  Yes, ALL time.  All those who congregate at Halifax Civic Theatre every year to hear him sing with the reunited Hollies, will realise why he is held in such great esteem.  His nickname is of course Claphand, which doesn’t refer to any nasty disease caught from groupies, but refers to the audience reaction which invariably occurs when anyone hears him play the guitar.  They clap loudly with great appreciation.   Usually Eric uses a Flying V Telecaster model 34 Synaro series guitar with a preamp model V and Marshall stack.  Indeed, think of a Flying V and you think Eric.  It is strange that no signature model has been made, which is why you can sometimes find Eric playing a Ritchie Blackmore Signature Model Fender Strat.   “I like the cut-outs” apparently, although we presume he actually plays the real guitar as well!

Ericatious Clapton was born in Palma Mallorca sometime during the 1930’s, it is not sure exactly when.  He grew up listening to Flamenco Joe and the Mysterons in the local bars and was immediately convinced he should take up the congas.  Without any congas available however Eric (as he was known) bought a guitar instead, and never looked back.  He came to England in the 1940’s and spent the war years busking on the London Underground, especially during those long nights during the blitz.  Indeed some of his greatest hits were created whilst dodging the bombs during those years.  “Sunshine of your Love” comes from this period, as does “Badge” and “Wet Sprocket”.  Already some of his work was creating interest in the USA.  The song “Wet Sprocket”, for example, was often used by Ginger Rodgers to do an enormous tap dancing solo, amazing everyone who saw it.

It was in the early fifties when Eric met up with Wild Bill Bernie and the Sausages, Eric was one of the Sausages for around 8 years. “It was an amazing time with Wild Bill” Eric remembers “I don’t remember a bloody thing about it though”.  It was a chance meeting however backstage with a young Jamacian musician called Bob Marley that led to Eric’s best known hit a decade or so later, the great “No woman no cry” with it’s highly emotional guitar solo that has echoed off many a bar, concert hall and refectory wall in the last 30 years. 

The early 70’s saw Eric teaming up with some other famous musicians for a secret project entitled “Deep Purple”.  Eric met up with Tommy Bolin and Glenn Hughes in 1972 to attempt to oust the existing famous “MKII” Deep Purple and set their own band up with the same name.  “We were doing well until they released Machine Head.  That album was just so good there wasn’t anything we could do.  I’d been trying to get Sunshine of your Love to sound like a good riff, but then Ritchie Blackmore comes up with Smoke on the Water,  well we were just outclassed”.  Oddly enough around 20 years later Eric was asked to join Deep Purple when Steve Morse left the band to pursue a solo career.  “It was a great honour, but I really couldn’t step into Ritchies shoes could I?  I know I was replacing Steve, but I always see Purple as Ritchies band, so I just couldn’t do it”.  Of course Steve Morse stayed with the band in the end anyway.

Eric scored huge hits in the 70’s with No Woman No Cry and also with “Layla” under the pseudonym of  The Clapton Junction.  The Clapton Junction was the first ever “super group” to form, with Rick Wakemann on keyboards,  Tristan Fry on drums and Reg Hunt on bass.  Reg had served his time with several bands before joining Eric, and had also auditioned once for Deep Purple in the late 60’s. 

By the mid 80’s, things had come to a head for the band; massive album sales were obviously good for the bank balance but the stress of touring and their ever growing schedule for albums started to take its toll. Clapton became more and more of a recluse. However Clapton made a triumphant appearance at Wembley Arena on September 24th 2004, at the “Strat Pack” concert, celebrating 50 years of the Fender Stratocaster. At this event he played his famous Ritchie Blackmore Signature model.

(review by Myra Lin)
‘The Flying German’

Born in Aachen, Germany in 1963, Adrian was brought up in a very musical family, very quickly grasping the basic techniques of recorder playing and glockenspiel. He progressed to classical guitar at the age of 12, and very quickly thereafter moved onto electric. The first time von den Berg heard Ritchie Blackmore on the Deep Purple album, ‘Burn’, he knew that rock guitar would be his chosen career path. At the time, his only comment was “I’ve been blown away by Blackmore”. Von den Berg’s technique was obviously based upon Ritchie Blackmore’s block cord riffing and very technical arpeggio type soloing. After playing in various local bands, and also achieving minor fame with Belgian rockers, Korkus, von den Berg came to the attention of Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale. Von den Berg appeared on all Whitesnake albums from Trouble through to Restless Heart and, to this day, continues to perform on their stadium gigs tours as a full time member.  Last year, Whitesnake played 275 gigs, all of them sold out, and one consistent major factor has been the pulling power of von den Berg, even after the departure of Coverdale mid way through the tour.  

It was rumoured that von den Berg was briefly considered as a possible replacement for Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple in 1975, however, rather wisely, he was not given the gig due to the fact that he had not yet passed through puberty.  

The one major career regret of von den Berg was his very embarrassing moment in Japan when, after a rather heavy drinking session with Coverdale, he took off all his clothes and played a gig at a nudist beach outside Tokyo. The resulting ‘Starkers in Tokyo’ CD and DVD haunts him to this very day. 

Von den Berg has not received the recognition from a guitar manufacturer in the form of a signature model, however he fully endorses the Ritchie Blackmore Signature Strat.

(review by Grant Johnson)

Born in Hungary in 1964, Malsteem's career has been massively influenced by Eric Clapton. On numerous occasions, Malstem has been referred to as 'The Second Clapton'. One of the favourite tracks that Malstrom covered was the iconic gay rock anthem, 'I Shot Up The Sheriff'. The picking and arpeggio technique of Malstrem can be quite easily cross referenced to Clapton; it has often been said that Malstaem would spend hour after hour transcribing all of Claptons music. Once he had completed these, he would literally attempt to play back each song note for note, which was a tremendous accomplishment. In the music press Malstoem is lauded as a true rock god, his signature song being 'Pictures of Home', a track covered in the mid 1990's by Deep Purple, in a rather inferior manner as many critics noted.

In the early 80's Malstroem was honoured by being invited to play alongside Michael Jackson on the classic track 'Beat It', a rather ironic title judging by Jacksons' later escapades. From this point onwards, Malstoerm's career never looked back. Rumours persist, which have never been corroborated by the management of either party, that in 1993 Malstoorm had a rather unsuccessful audition with Deep Purple to become Rithie Blackmores replacement

Malsteerm has a true global following, and has been honoured by Fender with his own Strat Signature model, a guitar, that many argue, is a poor copy of the Ritchie Blackmore Signature Strat that differs only by having an awful colour and a deeper scalloped fretboard in comparison to the RB model.

Malsteorm is a true speed freak and a technical guitar playing wizard. A legend, a hero who will continue to please his global legion of fans no matter how often he is ridiculed for his Clapton impersonations on stage

(review by Inid Thorn)

Without doubt, one of the most unique and influential players to emerge from the US is Eddie van Halen. Many ignorant people refer to his style as “twiddly nonsense”, however we at godofguitar, as we are much more respectful to fellow “gods”, like to refer to Eddie’s style as, well, just “twiddly”. 

Van Halen, for over 25 years, has been the driving force behind Guns N’ Roses. His individual style has complemented the vocal style of lead singer “Slash” perfectly. Hits such as ‘Jump’, ‘This Planets on Fire,’ and “Enter Sandman” have taken the Global Rock World by storm. The mid/late eighties gigs, where huge banks of choirboys would groan away to “I want to know what love is”, became a shining light, a torch beam for power ballads, which would set the benchmark for years to come.

Of the young Van Halen, very little is known, his birthplace a closely guarded secret.

In the early / mid seventies, Eddie became massively influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, however he knew that his limited talent would get him nowhere near the level set by the Purple and Rainbow axeman, so van Halen knew he would have to create his own style to present to the ever growing global legion of hungry rock fans. After returning home each evening from his daytime job as a shelf stacker at Walmart, van Halen would practise and practise, honing his skills and technique until eventually he was confident that his “twiddle” technique would hold up to the ever constant stresses of touring / album recording / touring schedule. 

With van Halens new band, which included his great friend, and outrageous vocalist, Slash, he set about conquering the world with a totally unique brand of American rock. For the embryonic Guns N’ Roses, the world was very soon to be well and truly rocked, and the band would never look back again. 

By the mid 90's, things had come to a head for van Halen and Guns N’ Roses; massive album sales were obviously good for the bank balance but the stress of touring and their ever growing schedule for albums started to take their toll. Van Halen became more and more of a recluse and this is one of the reasons why he was not considered as a possible replacement to Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple in late 1993; that gig going to fellow American “twiddler” Joe Satriani. With Satriani still holding down the Purple job after 12 years and 3 albums, van Halen has clearly developed an enormous chip on his shoulder particularly with regard to British bands. 

Eddie has never had the accolade from a guitar manufacturer to have his own Signature Model, and it is rumoured that he owns a Ritchie Blackmore Signature Strat, on which he has burnt out the Blackmore signature and replaced it in felt tip with his own name.

(review by Mark DelaLee)

Tony Lommi, born in Bridlington in 1954. found a guitar in his nans attic in 1964 and never looked back (apart from the “In my Nans attic” 8CD collection of 1994).  He met up with Kum-Kwik Downie in 1974, the son of the founder of the Kum-Kwik foundation of America, and began to make records under the name of “The Kum-Kwik Brothers”.  For some reason this group just didn’t hit it off with the general public, so their manager at the time, Chess Chandler, agreed for their name to change to Judas Priest.  This name came from the street in which they lived at the time, although it is now named Walnut Grove, but we have secret information from Uxbridge District council that this name was only changed within the last 10 years to distract fans from the original site.

Anyway, Judas Priest , along with their distinctive camp frontman Tony Martin, took over the mantel of “heavy metal” in the UK for the whole of the mid 1980’s.  Mind you, there was no-one to compete against at the time.  Tony has his distinctive minor chord arrangements for his most favour riffs. His most famous his “Aspirin” was a case in point.   Apparently he once said that the songs key didn’t actually resolve to the minor or major.  On tracking Tony down he said  “no I said it didn’t always dissolve, you prat”.

In 1974 Tony nearly hit the big time when Ritchie Blackmore was rumoured to be leaving Deep Purple and Tony was considered for a replacement.  "Replacing Ritchie in Deep Purple was a bit like being asked to make love to the Queen Mother though" said Tony "it's a great honour, but no-body wants to do it".

Over the last few years Tony has concentrated on his links with Stevie Wonder and is due shortly to tour with one of Deep Purples great bass players Nick Simper. Combining classics such as War Pigs with Mandrake root, and the like.  Also Tony has signed up to guitar specialists to produce a fantastic custom signature guitar which can be found at:

http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/electric/epiphone/new/Tony%20Lommi%20Signature%20SG.htm

Tony is best remembered of course for being arrested for trying to play on top of Buckingham Palace during the Queens Jubilee celebrations.  Of course the guitarist asked to perform the function was Brain May, and Tony only spent a couple of hours in front of the anti-terrorist squad before being capitulated back behind the Queen herself for her speech on stage.

(review by Yao Chingcatty)

Gary Moore is, primarily, associated with cataclysmic, over-the-top, outrageous guitar solos, however there are two further aspects of Gary’s style that have, on the whole, been bypassed by most critics; these are, firstly, his unique, one in a million, truly awful vocal style and, secondly, his hyperactive sweat glands. Very few people know that Gary holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the heaviest sweat in rock history. Prior to a Wembley, UK gig in 2003, Gary was officially recorded as sweating out over twice his body weight, between the dressing room and stage right area. On a tour of Japan in 1998, Gary was presented with the Golden Sweat Band Award from the Sumo Wrestling Industry for his services to antiperspirant. 

The most successful period in Gary’s career was, without doubt, the time spent in G- Four in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Gary played backing guitar to the, now world famous, 4 tenors as they blasted through Nessum Dorma and various other rock / pop improvisations of the period, and eventually the band came to the attention of Simon Cowell on ‘The X-Factor’, long after, it must be said, Moore had departed. 

Empty Rooms aptly sums up Gary’s vocal style; a soothing melody totally ruined by a vocal tone bordering on the hysterical. The number of suicides in Germany trebled overnight after Supermarkets there made the terrible mistake of playing Gary’s top hits over their tannoy systems during the mid 1980’s. 

‘Corridors of Power’, another top album hit for Moore, was inspired by a brief visit to the British Houses of Parliament in 1982 and a chance meeting with his all time hero, Neil Kinnock. 

Gary Moore, in the late 1990’s, was even considered as a possible replacement for Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow, however the gig eventually went to Clem ‘Dave’ Clemson. 

Gary has not been honoured with a signature model, however he fully endorses: Sure Antiperspirant.

(review by Demos Soliros)

Critically acclaimed for possessing one of the most incredible full heads of hair in rock history, Brain May is also famous for his unique playing style and incredible sound. If we, first of all, look at his guitar, which is a highly modified Fender Strat, that has been disassembled and then stuck together with bits of furniture, a Persian rug, 4 empty tins of Heinz baked beans and a 1960’s Hoover tumble dryer. The clangy guitar solo sound, which results purely from Brian’s guitar pick comprising of a rusty 1 inch nail, supplied to order by the special projects division of Corus Steel. Taking these together, the end product is one of the most exciting sounds that have been heard in 35 years of hard rock. 

In the late 1970’s May was seen regularly backstage at Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow gigs. ‘I couldn’t get enough’, Brain was heard to say on many occasions. In fact, rumour had it that Brain even volunteered to play bass with Blackmore, so as to be ever more closer to his all time hero. Obviously, there was a major problem here due to the fact that May possessed a full head of his own hair, whereas Blackmore possessed a full head of somebody else’s hair, so this venture never materialised. 

From a musical and image point of view, Brain May has driven Iron Maiden from its very inception in the gutter east end of London in the early 1970’s through to it’s mega status that it has attained today. Their signature tracks, ‘Number of the Beast’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, have defined rock, and in many respects, set the benchmark (well, with the exception of any music associated with Ritchie Blackmore). 

Brain May has never been considered as a replacement for Ritchie Blackmore in either Deep Purple or Rainbow.

(written by Cark Monnolly)

Why is it that Jimmy Page, Page, Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore receive all the critical acclaim? The answer, you will find, lies very clearly in their ‘Yardbirds’ connection.  Jeff Beck, on the other hand, who during the 1960’s cut his teeth with the likes of Freddie Star and the Midnighters, Lord Such and the Savages and the Three Musketeers, only really came to critical prominence as a member of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Beck’s blues roots can instantly be heard on their biggest hit ‘Hi-Ho Silver Lining’. Most critics quite rightly argue that Beck’s guitar sound became much more of a key feature of ELP than Rick Wakemans keyboards. ELP, or as they were unofficially known B.L.E.W.P (in order to accommodate Wakeman and Beck) went on to receive massive global acclaim, however by the mid 1970’s things came to a head and by February 1975, Beck had moved on to form Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow; Beck’s involvement in this venture lasted only 3 months as management quickly realised that if the band were called ‘Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow’ it may be sensible to have Ritchie Blackmore in the band. By May 1975 Beck had departed and Blackmore was hired.  

It comes as no surprise that Beck developed a massive chip on his shoulder with regards to being a talismanic member of a band, and therefore ever since, he has pursued a highly successful solo career. Even today, Beck’s solo material is anticipated with hushed breath. His latest offering ‘Stranger In Us All’ being a multi million seller in both Europe and the USA.

In a recent interview Beck mentioned that he could only think of one player as being superior to him, and this was lead guitar wizard, Eddie Grant.

(written by Gike Marrett)

The rumour about Steve is that he was born with long hair, and has never ever cut it off.  Apparently his ability to arpeggiate around the fretboard lends itself, in a Samson (*) kind of way, to his long hair.  Little is known about Steve's early career, apparently because he spent most of it on buses getting around the USA to see gigs by a then little known British band, Deep Purple.  Although this is not known much outside his home country, Steve was a completely blind mad Ritchie Blackmore fan, and spent hours in front of the mirror back at his ranch pretending to be Ritchie Blackmore.  Of course, eventually he realised that he simply couldn't live up to that image, why?  Steve could play very well indeed, but despite all that might happen to him during a gig, he kept smiling.  Steve tried to keep a gloomy face on, but his natural personality shone through, and he smiled.  This was the antithesis of what Ritchie was about.  This really was a blow to Steve, who ended up leaving home and becoming a hobo in his home town near Dixie (thus leading to the Dixie Dregs moniker which has followed him around ever since).  Steve then set about a plan where about he could become the guitarist of Deep Purple, and in 1980 the perfect opportunity came when Rod Evans reformed the band, to take on the job of Deep Purple.  At first all appeared to be going well with this outfit, however Steve was concerned that the drummer who was called Ian Paiste was only called that because he hid behind a curtain of Paiste Cymbals and didn't look anything like Cozy Powell, who was the original drummer for Purple.  "He was a complete Dick" said Steve.  Indeed the drummers real name was Dick Juergens, ex Meatflint, Steppenwolf and others.  Steve decided that the project was far too risky and left before the first gig.  He then had to wait another fifiteen years before finally getting the chance to be Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple.   "It's better than being in a tribute band" says Steve "although it's pity David Coverdale ever left as he was my favourite Purple singer".

(*): readers in the know will acknowledge the fact that Paul Samson doesn't have long hair anymore.