THEE reason I decided to learn guitar.
RIP Chuck

Paul
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He was one of THE pioneers.. RIP

Bold statement: the reason you don't think "piano" when you think "Rock&Roll"

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ElMonstroPorFavor wrote:

Bold statement: the reason you don't think "piano" when you think "Rock&Roll"

Ironically enough, he developed those riffs trying to emulate the piano playing of his sidekick, Johnnie Johnson.

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Last edited: Mar 19, 2017 09:01:51

Yep. And T-bone is my main man. Chuck is a very close second. Can't get enough of that style. I'm very sad today. Think I'll spin The Great 28 all day.

I did Golden Decade last night too. Also my Chess 10" of Maybellene.

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When I got my first electric guitar, my mom asked if I was going to play "that loud rock and roll guitar", and I assured her I wasn't. The first thing I recall really learning, at least to the best of my ability, was the intro to Johnny B Goode. I don't know if that qualified as loud rock and roll or not, but I sure did like it. Chuck is the man when it comes to rock and roll.

First wave surf music doesn't have too many guitar solos, at least not in the traditional sense, but when they do, it's almost assuredly a Chuck Berry riff. RIP Chuck.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

From the Wall Street Journal:

Chuck Berry (1926-2017): Remembering a Rock ’n’ Roll Founding Father
The musical pioneer enduringly bridged the gaps between blues, country and R&B

By JIM FUSILLI
March 18, 2017 9:47 p.m. ET

Singer, composer, guitarist and showman Chuck Berry, who died March 18 at age 90, bridged the gaps between blues, country and R&B to become one of the founding fathers of rock ’n’ roll. A dominant talent in the late ’50s and early ’60s, Mr. Berry, unlike many of his contemporaries, never seemed relegated to the distant past. With their wit and vitality—and in no small part due to his guitar playing in tandem with the mighty contributions of pianist Johnnie Johnson—Mr. Berry’s hits remained as engaging in later years as they did when recorded.

Mr. Berry knew how to spot a good thing and make it his own. A student of blues singers like Jay McShann and Muddy Waters, he was sidetracked by a stint in prison for armed robbery while a high-school student and then dedicated himself to learning guitar, playing at clubs in and around St. Louis. In 1953, he joined Mr. Johnson’s trio and added to the band’s repertoire, in an acknowledgment of their structural commonalities, a hybrid of the blues, country and R&B. Taking more than a little from R&B giant Louis Jordan—Mr. Berry lifted the now-iconic opening riff to “Johnny B. Goode” from Jordan’s guitarist Carl Hogan—that multigenre blend became Mr. Berry’s trademark, along with a gift for showmanship and an uncanny ability to size up an audience and deliver what it wanted, at times in ways it may not have known were possible.

Early on, Mr. Berry determined to appeal to white music fans as well as African-Americans who favored blues and R&B. In 1955, he had his first hit, “Maybellene,” which scored on the R&B charts and pop charts. It was a synthesis of styles: An adaptation of Bob Wills’s 1938 Texas swing version of “Ida Red, ” it featured Johnson on piano, Willie Dixon on bass and Mr. Berry’s guitar that chugged in relentless rhythm until he stepped out with a biting solo. Mr. Berry’s lyrics revealed his gift for populist storytelling: Rich with jargon and detail, the song is as much about a race between a speeding Cadillac Coupe de Ville and the narrator’s V8 Ford as it is about the unfaithful title character—and it delivers a satisfying ending. He followed it in 1956 with “Roll Over, Beethoven,” in which he declared that rock ’n’ roll was here to stay: “Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news,” he sang in an upbeat, rockabilly-influenced tune he cleaved with a guitar solo that is as familiar as any of its period or later.

Mr. Berry continued to release rock ’n’ roll songs that married driving rhythm to lyrics aimed at teenage record buyers. He was 30 years old when he recorded “School Days,” with its anthemic tag line: “Hail, hail rock ’n’ roll / Deliver me from the days of old.” Between 1957 and ’59, he wrote and issued “Rock and Roll Music,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Carol,” “Little Queenie,” “Back in the U.S.A.” and “Memphis, Tennessee,” all essential contributions to the rock chapters of the Great American Songbook. In addition to the clever lyrics that forever characterized him as one of rock’s great storytellers, each hit featured Mr. Berry’s equally clever guitar playing.

Mr. Berry had hits in the early ’60s, including “Nadine (Is That You?),” “No Particular Place to Go” and “You Never Can Tell.” By then, he was a formative influence on all the great bands of the emerging rock era, including the Beatles, who included many of his compositions in their early live performances; the Rolling Stones, who had success with more obscure Mr. Berry compositions like “Around and Around,” “Come On” and “Let It Rock”; and the Beach Boys, who used his “Sweet Little Sixteen” as the basis for the hit “Surfin’ U.S.A.” Mr. Berry was celebrated in the 1987 documentary “Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll,” which featured an all-star band led by Keith Richards, with whom the irascible Mr. Berry quarreled on camera.

A deeper investigation of Mr. Berry’s recordings reveals a side that seems in conflict with the teen-oriented pop for which he is celebrated. His early recordings for the Chess label include smoky covers of blues and R&B standards. But back then he seemed to be inching toward his approach to rock ’n’ roll that redirected the course of popular music. For his effervescence, guitar performances and his witty and insightful lyrics, Mr. Berry will be long remembered—and rightly so.

—Mr. Fusilli is the Journal’s rock and pop critic.

Ivan
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Well, sad news for sure. The man that put poetry into rock and roll.

I was fortunate to see him in the early 90s. He strolled on and started playing a few songs, Sweet Little Sixteen was one of them. He struck a few poses, while the local press took photos. He really was going through the motions and my heart sank at the thought that I'd just paid to see an old man run through his songs. Then, after three songs the press went and Chuck Berry started to perform for his audience. And what a star. I still rate that show as one of the best gigs I've ever seen.

Part way through the show his guitar broke, something fell off the bridge. He gave it to the bass player to sort out. International rock and roll star Chuck Berry travels the world with one guitar. While the bassist was searching for the missing bit, Chuck started an improvised poem. It rolled along, funny and witty, relevant and rhythmic - it really was foot tapping. Then the bassist handed him his guitar back, he wrapped up the poem and he carried on. Brilliant.

I've been thinking about how the world has changed in his lifetime. From segregated audiences to having your song put in a space ship and sent off deep into the galaxy.

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Last edited: Mar 20, 2017 07:33:46

I can't stop thinking about his passing and need to post this tribute which was one of my first real loves of rock music. From my sister's collection which I inherited for $30. 50-60 albums at least.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

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