April is International Guitar Month, and I couldn’t let the month slip by without giving some attention to my favorite musical instrument.
I hadn’t really planned on doing anything for the month. However, I recently needed new guitar strings and found myself in our local Guitar Center. They had just put out a wall of several new and pre-owned guitars and basses, and it was one of the most beautiful sights.
There is just something about the guitar that grabs me. It can flow like a river or rock like a hurricane. It can be sweet, sacred, or sexy. In the right hands, a guitar can bring you some of the most incredible, immersive, memory-triggering, creatively-inspiring sounds imaginable.
Admittedly, I’m not the right one for that job, but in celebration of Guitar Month, here are some performances and clips of people who are:
Stevie Ray Vaughan changes guitars mid-song.
Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of the guitarists who influenced me the most as a teenager in the 1980s. I will be forever thankful I got to see him perform live twice, the second time just a couple of months before his death. This video has been popping up on social media and is a perfect example of both his talent and his professionalism. You can see that one of his strings broke, and thanks to quick work between him and his roadie… the music never even stopped.
Cordell Jackson rocks out with Brian Setzer
There were actually two guitar players who were my big influences as a teenager, the other being Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats. Setzer also introduced a bunch of people to another performer, the Queen of Rockabilly Guitar, Cordell Jackson. Jackson founded her own music company in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until this Budweiser commercial in 1991 that she really gained some recognition outside of her genre. She was 68 or 69 when it was filmed. No, I’m not endorsing drinking or any particular brand of beer… this commercial is just cool. Even with the very dated late ’80s/early ’90s vibe, this is still such a cool collaboration for Jackson and Setzer.
Kim Jinsan amazes reality show judges with his fingerstyle.
The Korean music competition show Superband 2 was where I first saw acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Jinsan Kim perform this tune, and you can see from the faces of the judges how unexpected it was. This original piece is “Crow,” and if you get a chance, I recommend just listening to his full performance, as well as watching much of his music catalog on YouTube. Beautiful, jazz, folk, flamenco, and blues elements mix, demonstrating everything an acoustic guitar can be from a string instrument to percussion. I hope to see more and more of Jinsan in the future.
Miyavi shreds on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Japanese rock guitar legend Miyavi is always incredible, but about three years ago he put out a live studio high-voltage performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on a Fender Stratocaster during the height of COVID lockdowns. Even with the world now wide open, this one is still gaining view after view. For good reason, too. It is fantastic.
There are so many other great performances and songs I could share from guitarists of various ages, backgrounds, and styles, but for the sake of space, I’ll just give you 50 more. All in one 9-minute piece:
Mark Knopfler gathers 50 “guitar heroes” for a good cause.
This year, Dire Straights frontman Mark Knopfler gathered 50 amazing guitarists for a special recording of his “Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)” to help raise money and awareness for the Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America. You can see a full list of performers from Joan Armatrading to Zucchero and so many others in between, like Joan Jett, Brian May, Nile Rodgers, and Slash. If you want to be extra-moved, the first guitarist heard on this song is Jeff Beck, in his final recording.
One of the coolest quotes about guitar is from a bassist, Grammy winner Victor Wooten who said, “A child playing air guitar plays no wrong notes.”
Trust me, that’s a great place to start, and when each of these former kids featured in this post picked up a real guitar for the first time, the world got just a little more magical.
I am certain there will be more to come in the future, from anywhere in the world. Keep listening for them.
