Neil Young - Guitarist

I am apparently incapable of making myself understood. No matter how many times I plead my case against technique being viewed as the NUMBER ONE or MAIN criteria by which a musician’s playing is judged, I still am perceived as being anti-technique. Why is that? No one would accuse me of that if they had heard the playing of Danny Gatton, as I said, one of my all-time favorite guitarists. You can’t play like Albert Lee without having technique to spare. Everytime I go to an Albert Lee live appearance, the place is crawling with guitarists, their eyes glued on his hands.

Of course technique is a required element, and a major one, in playing any instrument. Everybody knows that. But I hear a lot of guitarists and drummers who make it an end unto itself, rather than a means to an end. They sacrifice musicality at the alter of technique, using the music as a platform for expressing themselves purely through their instrument, rather than playing that instrument in service to the music. For those who don’t hear it, or aren’t bothered by it, consider yourself lucky.

Jim Keltner was asked for advice on rudiments and other technical matters, and his response was: learn them, then forget about them. In other words, don’t intentionally go out of your way to use them just for the sake of using them, but have them at your disposal when the music calls upon you to use them. That’s called musical wisdom, and it is a rare commodity. Another old axiom, attributed to both Duke Ellington and Count Basie: The notes you don’t play are as important as those you do.

Jim also said his favorite drummer, who he wished he played more like, is Roger Hawkins, one of my three favorite drummers of all time. Talk about musicality! He also played a press roll as well as Buddy Rich. Do Rock music listeners agree with Jim? Do they even know who Roger Hawkins is? Do you, dear reader? He is never mentioned here when people talk about the great drummers. That's what happens when you don't play the obvious, gratuitous fills I hear so much of in Rock music. Roger Hawkins could play rings around John Bonham, but he has too much class to play that way.