Shoutbox

sysmalakian: Birthday month starts now!
362 days ago

diceophonic: Vampiro Classics 2024 reissue
343 days ago

SabedLeepski: Sunburn Surf Fest for some scorching hot surf music: https://sunb...
300 days ago

skeeter: I know a Polish sound guy.
228 days ago

skeeter: I know a Czech one too!
228 days ago

PatGall: Surfybear metal settings
148 days ago

Pyronauts: Happy Tanks-Kicking!
126 days ago

midwestsurfguy: Merry Christmas!
94 days ago

sysmalakian: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
88 days ago

SabedLeepski: Surfin‘ Europe, for surf (related) gigs and events in Europe Big Razz https://sunb...
49 days ago

Please login or register to shout.

Current Polls

No polls at this time. Check out our past polls.

Current Contests

No contests at this time. Check out our past contests.

Donations

Help us meet our monthly goal:

100%

100%

Donate Now

Cake March Birthdays Cake
SG101 Banner

SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

Permalink Nokie Edwards R.I.P.

New Topic
Goto Page: Previous 1 2 3 Next

I'm crushed! Nokie was one of the few giants of instrumental guitar music, and one of a kind. RIP, Nokie. Cry

Bob

I first listened to The Ventures trying to fill out my instrumental tunes, which at the time consisted entirely of The Shadows…

I picked them up on a compilation cassette of the “Great Instrumental Hits of the 60s” variety which turn up everywhere; Walk Don’t Run and Perfidia being the included tracks. My first full-on Ventures purchase was a cassette bootleg cassette from a souk in Kuwait City. I was on school holiday in 1984 and visiting my Dad who was seconded to the air force out there.

It took me a while to get into them; there was a country feel to many of the tunes and there was an echo missing I associated with guitar instrumentals, but teenage perseverance soon had me enjoying them as much as The Shadows.
When I owned my first CD player, two of the first CDs bought were “The Ventures EP Collection” and “The Ventures meet Bobby Vee”. I was a not a very cool early 20-something in the 90s!! Only last year I had my VHS of the concerts The Ventures in LA 1980 (I think), The Ventures 30th Anniversary and Beloved Invaders all transferred to DVD…It’s packaged now in a really cheesy cover from the shop covered in photos of puppies, flowers and grinning families. I’ll have to do something about that.

RIP Mr Edwards and thanks for all the musical memories whatever era we were born in.

http://theventures.com/rip-nokie-edwards-may-9-1935-march-12-2018/

RIP Nokie. Thank you for inspiring all of us.

Cry

Tim O
oestmann guitar

tunes

clips

Post Rare Nokie's!

Jeremy

Last edited: Mar 13, 2018 09:19:50

Man look at those Bell Bottoms! My Father met the Ventures in Holiday Inn where they were playing a show whilst being a traveling member of a band himself in the mid 60's. Said they were all very nice guys.

Jeremy

Last edited: Mar 13, 2018 09:32:26

Nokie and The Ventures have to be one of, if not THEE most influential to surf musicians. For me, he was always a constant reminder of how bad a guitar player I am. He made it look so easy, and yet, after all these years of trying, I still can't play 'Diamond Head' very well. Smile

I love the live clips from Japan in '65 and '66. He just stands there, killing it the whole time. Song after song. The whole band does.

RIP Nokie.

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

I agree Chris. Something about his playing very much reminded me of Chet Atkins and the simplicity with which he would rip out those runs is still amazing by any standard. He had a very unique style that will most likely never be rivaled. He was able to make a very simple guitar part sound very musical, I think that was his essence. And I think he was very much one of the progenitors of surf.

Jeremy

Last edited: Mar 13, 2018 11:05:59

I also blame Nokie Edwards for this.....a "thing" for Mosrites, and Mosrite shaped guitars. Smile

image

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

Nokie was a remarkable talent - a gentle giant and my (and I suspect most other Ventures' fans') favorite lead guitarist of the Ventures. I'm so glad I got to see him play with them back in the fall of '08 - he was still phenomenal! Such a humble, soft-spoken man that never fully got his due in terms of the recognition of his immense talent or his influence. Nokie's playing was obviously an inspiration for MANY, me among them. The Ventures In Space album in particular was a big influence on me when starting the Space Cossacks. Right from the beginning of the band we played "War of the Satellites" and "Journey to the Stars", as well as "Diamond Head", "Walk, Don't Run '64", and ""The Fugitive". I never tried to closely copy Nokie's style as he had an almost country-music technique, not really possible to emulate on a guitar with heavy strings. But I deeply loved - love - his playing, it's a thing of true beauty, even at its rawest.

Here is my humble little tribute to Nokie, playing three of the above-mentioned songs, and doing the best job I can in replicating them as closely as possible. I even wore my Ventures t-shirt, probably for the first time in 20 years! (Who knew shirts shrink just lying in a drawer. Big Grin ) My apologies to the Mosrite loves for not using one, but I have a good excuse: I don't own one! A Strat will have to do. (It's probably what Nokie used to record a lot of these songs, anyway! Smile )

R.I.P. Nokie, and thank you for all the music. You made this world a MUCH better place.

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

(Over on evil FB, Marty Tippens posted the below photo along with the following caption three days ago - just wanted to post it here, too, as justification for me using a Strat in the above video! Mr. Green )

"Nokie Edwards played a Stratocaster for The Ventures before the Mosrite days (about 12 albums where Fender albums). While Nokie is only credited for bass on many of those albums, he actually played much of the lead guitar."

image

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

So true. Even those who don't play surf guitar owe him a debt of gratitude. Back in my day you got a guitar and tried to figure out Ventures tunes. I'm still figuring out Ventures tunes!

RIP Nokie

eddiekatcher wrote:

Nokie, Bob, Mel, and Don wrote the book on this.......

Their influence on my generation of guitarists, and many of those who followed is frankly, incalculable.

So much of his playing has been preserved for the ages.......

We are all so lucky.

God Speed, Nokie.

Eddie Katcher, forever grateful.

All opinions expressed by this poster are well thought out and based on actual experience and/or scientific experimentation, except for those which are knee-jerk reactions or good sounding fantasies.

What an amazing guitarist who gave us so much music. I've been going through my Ventures CDs and LPs today, just marvelling on how great the band was. My Ventures tribute band, the Fabulous Venturamas, gave me and some friends the opportunity to learn so much from the masters. Nokie era releases are by far my favourite, his playing is so smooth. R.I.P., and thanks for the music.

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

Almost 6 years ago Nokie came to my area on the Oregon coast to play a small outdoor festival. I got there too late to hear him, but luckily he was also playing a benefit the next day to cover a young man's medical costs. That's when I got an idea of his heart and generosity. I understand he had roots around here at one time, and it's obvious his presence touched a lot of people. My only regret is that I passed up several opportunities to meet him.

Anyway, he was still an amazing player and covered a wide range of music, including lots of old Ventures classics. He seemed to truly enjoy playing for us. He was funny, and humble, yet confident in who he was.

Not long after that he had a serious heart ailment while in Japan and I realized that I may never have another chance to see him again. But what a legacy and musical treasure trove he left us.

Just a day or two before this was announced, a bandmate and I were emailing back and forth wondering what Nokie was up to these days. Then this sad news came right after. Spooky.

Nokie was my first guitar hero. I envy those who got to see him play and even more, those who got to meet him. Until YouTube came along, I had never even seen any video footage of The Ventures playing. He will be greatly missed in the world of instrumental guitar. Cry

IvanP wrote:

Nokie was a remarkable talent - a gentle giant and my (and I suspect most other Ventures' fans') favorite lead guitarist of the Ventures. I'm so glad I got to see him play with them back in the fall of '08 - he was still phenomenal! Such a humble, soft-spoken man that never fully got his due in terms of the recognition of his immense talent or his influence. Nokie's playing was obviously an inspiration for MANY, me among them. The Ventures In Space album in particular was a big influence on me when starting the Space Cossacks. Right from the beginning of the band we played "War of the Satellites" and "Journey to the Stars", as well as "Diamond Head", "Walk, Don't Run '64", and ""The Fugitive". I never tried to closely copy Nokie's style as he had an almost country-music technique, not really possible to emulate on a guitar with heavy strings. But I deeply loved - love - his playing, it's a thing of true beauty, even at its rawest.

Here is my humble little tribute to Nokie, playing three of the above-mentioned songs, and doing the best job I can in replicating them as closely as possible. I even wore my Ventures t-shirt, probably for the first time in 20 years! (Who knew shirts shrink just lying in a drawer. Big Grin ) My apologies to the Mosrite loves for not using one, but I have a good excuse: I don't own one! A Strat will have to do. (It's probably what Nokie used to record a lot of these songs, anyway! Smile )

R.I.P. Nokie, and thank you for all the music. You made this world a MUCH better place.

Great sounds in such a fitting tribute! -Marty

"Hello Girls!"

I think Nokie Edwards is the Johnny Appleseed of guitar. He planted guitarists all around the world.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Noel wrote:

I think Nokie Edwards is the Johnny Appleseed of guitar. He planted guitarists all around the world.

This.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Nokie was always a huge inspiration to me as he started out on Bass and ended up dominating the Guitar sound of the Ventures. Here he is with Takeshi showing his country-esque virtuoso. Also found this Japanese-english comment on Youtube that really shows what kind of person Nokie was, a proud American!

Video with comments

Can we ask couple of question in Japanese?
How Many times you been to Japan
Bob Bogle-16 times.
what is favorite food of Japanese
Don-Ramen
Nokie-Hamburger
Joe Barile-Okonomi Yaku(Japanese Pizza)
Bob Bogle-Yakiniku

Jeremy

Last edited: Mar 14, 2018 10:59:42

Here's a cool clip from before he and Bob switched -

Bill S._______
image

HELLDIVER on Facebook

Goto Page: Previous 1 2 3 Next
Top