No guitar website should be considered complete without talking about Buddy Guy, a living legend and a man guitar players all over the world owe so much to.
You might be asking: why is he so important? If you agree on the impact people like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page had on modern music, then you must think about him too.
If you’ve ever been or seen footage a Buddy Guy concert, you’ll know what I’m talking about. He’s not only an amazing musician, but also a great performer who inspired countless guitarists both musically and in style.
He was one of the pioneers of loud settings when playing the blues (along with Guitar Slim). This innovation is one of the factors that evolved into the rock scene of the 1960’s, particularly the UK blues/rock scene. In addition, he’s always been a great and explosive blues performer. Many of his “moves" were later adopted by rock guitar legends.
Although Buddy Guy is an icon of the Chicago Blues scene, he grew up in Louisiana. He started his career as a blues guitarist in the Baton Rouge area. Thankfully he moved to Chicago later on. There, his life turned around when he joined the Muddy Waters’ band in 1957 and became a side guitarist for who already was a famous bluesman.
He is very humble when mentioning this period and mainly describes it as a learning experience behind the legend Muddy Waters. He managed to establish a reputation and, on his own merit, moved on to his own projects.
It was during the early 1960’s that Buddy Guy adopted his explosive style in live performances. It’s interesting that his recorded material doesn’t show that, though (due to the Chess label preferences). During this period is when the loud amp settings and theatrics inspired people like Jimi Hendrix.
He signed with Chess Records from 1959 to 1968 and there is a lot of controversy about this period. Chess is accused of holding back Buddy Guy’s style in the recording studio. While he was already known for loud and distorted sounds, Chess advised him to play a more traditional style that resembled pretty much what B.B King was doing.
The 1970’s were particularly hard for him as he witnessed other guitar players’ careers take off, as he inspired that generation. Audiences were eager to hear rock/blues music, but not the roots. He spent those years, and also the 1980’s, in the local Chicago blues scene and with some British and French labels. He spent a lot of time in his bar, the Checkerboard Lounge.
In 1991 he released You’re Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues following an invitation from Eric Clapton to a series of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This is a great album that brought long deserved attention to the blues legend. This album won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album and big time re-launched his career, which hasn’t slowed down a bit since then!
Guitar Style
There are many distinctive features about his playing, but one that stands out is the use of Dynamics. He can play some phrases at the lowest levels, making them nice and expressive and the next second he can just crank up the volume and bring his explosion of blues sounds! Doing this requires an amazing control of the instrument and a great confidence as a front man, plus a great taste in choosing the right time to do it.
Like most great guitar players, he has developed his personal phrasing style and licks. The most distinctive ones rely on minor pentatonic phrasing, although at the beginning of his career he would play many B.B. King inspired mixolydian licks. To this day, he still plays them in some songs, specially the slow ones.
If you listen carefully, there is a lot of Albert King in Buddy Guy’s playing. Specially when doing those extended notes based on the minor pentatonic, one can really hear Albert King in it. But he then goes back to his trademark Buddy Guy’s phrases.
Going back to Buddy Guy’s personal style, he has the ability to play extended notes like few guitar players. He relies on a nice overdrive sustain to do this and a great control and “cool factor" that only he possesses.
There is one quote in this video that summarizes his style very well: "I wanted to sound like B.B. King, but I wanted to play guitar like Guitar Slim.". Guitar Slim’s most famous recording was “Things That I Used To Do" and many guitar players, from Jimi Hendrix to Angus Young have mentioned him as an inspiration for their performances.
Buddy Guy has been a fan of Fender equipment for quite some time, starting with the Tweed Bassman 4x10. When he chooses a Bassman, these days he plays the Fender Vintage Reissue '59 Bassman LTD. He still keeps his original 1959 amp, which was spared by whoever stole his guitars some time ago.
If you want to get that Buddy Guy sound, a good alternative is the Fender Cyber-Twin amp which has a patch named after him. The man himself has made some great comments about this patch and has even played live using this set up. This amp is a great alternative if you’re open to using digital circuitry once in a while (on top of its analog circuitry).
Recently, the company Chicago Blues Box has released the Buddy Guy Signature Amp. This is the amp he’s been using on tour (I saw him in November 2008 and that’s his equipment). This amp is a sonic reproduction of his favourite Fender Bassman 1959 amplifier, although it doesn’t have the exact circuitry.
Of course, I can’t miss mentioning his Fender Signature Strats. There are two main models, one is the Fender Stratocaster Signature Polka-Dots finish with a V-shaped neck, standard 3 single coil pickups and 5-way switch. This is a low cost model with very good value for anyone’s money. Buddy Guy’s preference for maple fret board is part of his signature bright sound.
The second Signature Model is closer to a 1950’s Stratocaster on the outside (of course it has a maple neck), but with some important differences in the circuitry: the 25dB boost preamp plus 3 Gold Fender-Lace pickups.
If you’re wondering about the 25dB boost preamp, it’s pretty much what it sounds like. It is an addition to the traditional built-in circuitry of the guitar and delivers a hotter signal to the amp by avoiding elimination of harmonics and frequencies otherwise lost in the traditional circuitry. This feature is also present in the Eric Clapton Signature Model. You have to be more aware of the volume and tone controls of your guitar when using the 25dB boost preamp. If you like to have more control on the tone straight from your guitar, then this is an excellent choice for upgrading your guitar.
The Fender-Lace pickups are known for having slightly less noise generation as most single coils while delivering a brighter sound. If you’re looking at some noise reduction, they’re a good alternative to the noiseless Fender pickups, which have less gain and brightness. If you’re OK with not having a lot of presence in your bass notes you won’t be disappointed.
When he plays acoustic he uses a Martin JC Buddy Guy Signature Model (if you were wondering, it also has polka-dots!). This is a jumbo body, spruce top and rosewood back. A great acoustic instrument.
Album Highlights
This album contains sessions between 1960 and 1964, during Buddy Guy’s years in legendary Chess Records. He worked with Chess Records from 1960 through 1967, years when he collaborated with almost every big name in the Chicago Blues scene while building his solid reputation as a blues legend himself.
In this album, you can hear his amazing energetic sound with some strong influence from B.B. King. During the Chess Records years, Buddy Guy was somehow restricted to record a more traditional blues style. At a Buddy Guy concert, he was a pioneer of loud amp settings and a more explosive showmanship. While Jimi Hendrix and other UK rock blues legends were following Buddy Guy’s live style, he was forced to record more conservatively.
History has made Buddy Guy justice and he has received the recognition he deserves after all the impact he’s had on modern guitar music.
This is the album that re-launched Buddy Guy’s career and made the world remember what he is made of. After slowing down a little in the 1970’s and 1980’s, he released You’re Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues. A Grammy winner, this album is an instant blues classic. All the tracks are powerful and show us his talent in handling dynamics on both slow and melodic phrases or explosive attacks. The title track is an amazing display of the legend’s Chicago Blues energy, while songs like Rememberin’ Stevie or Five Long Years show us his amazing melodic and slow blues finesse. This is one of the most precious CD’s in my blues collection.
One thing Buddy Guy excels at is his ability to surround himself with top-notch talent. Bring’Em In is a great example of this as he teams up with people like Carlos Santana, John Mayer, Tracy Chapman, Keith Richards and Robert Randolph to name a few. The intention here was obviously not to make a classic blues album, but to blend the blues with familiar songs to the general public. It’d be great to watch a Buddy Guy concert with all these stars, wouldn’t it?
This album features covers such as I Put a Spell on You, Ain’t no Sunshine, I’ve Got Dreams to Remember and Lay Lady Lay plus some great blues tunes. Some critics didn’t like this album, but all I have to say is that it brings a very enjoyable set of songs with his superb playing. He shows respect to the blues and his name in this album, which is really a great piece of work. To put it short, this is the type of material can find a good place in anyone’s collection, blues lovers or not.
