taildragger51 (August 22, 2008 at 2:22 pm)

edchuckndoug: Yes, i believe Hendrix was about to learn theory (classical & jazz). He always wished he had and stated this several times. He was about to embark on a jazz journey with Gil Evans' Orchestra but died just before. But you are right; Django, Wes, Tal Farlowe and even Allan Holdworth never read a note of music. They knew no restrictions.

taildragger51 (August 22, 2008 at 2:19 pm)

edchuckndoug; Gypsy guitarists are gifted! They nearly all play by ear and their technique is astounding. Just consider Stochelo Rosenberg. Unfortunately most of us don't possess this natural talent and are left to analyse and learn theory. I don't think Django actually had parts of fingers missing (excuse my impertinance). The 3rd & 4th were fused together because the skin had shrunk. He was able to use them for some chords.(mostly augmented)

edchuckndoug (August 22, 2008 at 1:42 pm)

It would've have interesting to see what Hendrix would have been able to do if he had studied music theory and learned to read music. the great one's, in my opinion allready know theory, by ear.

edchuckndoug (August 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm)

I've heard this too. Which bring us back to the age old question, are classically trained musicians better to play with? I have played with both and I will take the untrained improviser any day of the week over the classically trained musician as they tend to not be able to improvise. Django's playing is amazing especially since he was missing parts of his fingers from a fire.

taildragger51 (August 16, 2008 at 1:07 pm)

ironlungbongrip; I had a friend called Ike Isaacs (famous guitarist/teacher) who met Django many times in the 40s. He said only two guitarists stunned him in his life...one was Wes Montgomery and the other was Django. Ivor Mairants, who had loan of Djangos 'Selmer-M' for yrs, said the same. Andres Segovia scorned jazz guitarists until Django played a classical piece for hours . Andres asked him "where's the sheet music for that?" Django laughed " Oh, I was just improvising"

taildragger51 (August 16, 2008 at 12:58 pm)

ironlungbongrip: I agree with you 100%. I loved Jimi and saw him many times onstagebut comparing him with Django is ludicrous. Two different styles of music for a start. Jimi was essentially an unbelievable psychedelic BLUES guitarist. If he'd lived who knows how he would've matured.(?) But Django could play anything and all at great odds with his handicap. The test is ..take away the 100 watt amp and see what you can do with an acoustic. It's easy to hide behind wattage.

bhuygen (August 12, 2008 at 6:01 am)

Yes he was one of the first to put the guitar on the map!

meisterslx (August 9, 2008 at 7:00 pm)

Thanks for posting you did this clip really well.Echoes Of Spain.

jazzflutist (August 9, 2008 at 5:16 am)

Pure magic. Hendrix and Reinhardt played different instruments - although both had the same number of strings. Not sure what Reinhardt would do on an electric guitar, although the sound would probably drive him nuts. Reinhardt: pure beauty. Henrix: earthshattering.

dropmolly143 (August 5, 2008 at 11:07 pm)

he is amazing still wonder how he was able to play with only two fingers