George Thorogood's top 5 tips for guitarist
Courtesy - MusicRadar.com
"Don't practice. Practicing is boring and discouraging."
#1 Be Patient
“Playing the guitar well takes a long time, so don’t be in a hurry to be great all at once. It’s not like playing the harmonica, where you can sit down and make something happen right off the bat. The guitar takes time – you've gotta investigate what it can do and what you can do with it.
“Also, you have to find the right guitar. I went through many, many guitars before I found the one I was comfortable with. As my hands and my expertise were developing, my guitar needs were changing. I was lucky and found a Gibson ES-125 at a hock shop. I remember it was a Tuesday and I had a gig on a Saturday. I went in, played the guitar, and it was like it was meant to be.
“If you’re going to be serious about playing the guitar, don’t give up. You’ll hit some bumps in the road, and you’ll also find a bunch of guitars that aren’t right for you. Just be patient and work through it.”
#2 Don't Practice - Just Play
“OK, I know I said 'work through it' with the previous tip, but you can't look at playing the guitar like work. Tip number two: Don't practice.
Practicing is boring and discouraging. Tell a kid to practice and he won’t do it. Just play. If you’re having fun and enjoying what you’re doing, you’ll get better at it faster and you'll keep at it, as opposed to learning scales and doing hard work.
“Think about it: Willie Mays didn’t practice baseball. He played baseball. He got up and played baseball when he was six years old and kept playing baseball till he was 40. That’s good enough for me.”
#3 Find The Right Players
“This can be tricky. It all depends on what kind of band you want. Do you want a band like Count Basie, or do you want something like Led Zeppelin? Either one requires the right set of players, so you have to decide what you want and go at it accordingly.
“Do you want a vocal group like Peter, Paul And Mary, or do you want an instrumental group like Jeff Beck? Again, it all depends on what your goals are and what kind of music you want to make. The same people who were in Peter, Paul and Mary could never be in the Jeff Beck Group, and vice versa. Put 'em in the right band, though, and there you go.
“Whatever you want to do, you need to find people you can get along with, at least for a couple of hours. It’s not always crucial – you’d be surprised at how many great groups or comedy acts can't stand each other. Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster made seven movies together, and they didn’t like each other that much at all. They stuck together ‘cause they knew it was good business. But in my experience, it’s better if you can get along. It helps.”
#4 Get A Good Manager
“Get a manager who knows the business. I learned that the hard way. You can try to learn the business yourself, but then you may as well be a manager yourself.
“You can’t discount the importance of a good manager. What would have happened if The Beatles never found Brian Epstein? Nothing. They would’ve disintegrated. No matter how great they were – they knew how to play and they knew how to right – they needed a guy to guide them, market them, expose them and plot the moves. Same with Elvis. Sure, he had the talent and a certain vision, but it took Colonel Tom Parker to sell what Elvis was doing.
“If you think you’ve got something going, get yourself a good manager, somebody who believes in you. And let's be honest: A good manager is going to think he can make a lot of money off of you. Nothing wrong with that.”
#5 Pick The Right Amp
“It’s like picking the
right guitar, the second piece of the puzzle. To a great extent, it all depends on what kind of music you play. Maybe you play an acoustic guitar – you don’t even need an amp. Problem solved
“If you play electric guitar, what kind do you play? Do you play a Les Paul, a Telecaster, a Stratocaster? Do you play a 335 or a 355? That right there will help dictate what kind of amp you need.
“What do you want to do with your music? What kinds of places do you wanna play? Big places, little places? I’d say, find something that’s versatile. Don’t get something that’s too big – nothing bigger than 20 or 30 watts. You can always mic an amp through the house PA. Hell, you can have a transistor radio, but if you mic it right you can play the Grand Canyon. So get something small and portable, something that sounds good. You can put that through the PA and off you go.
“Get something that fits in your car. Chances are, you’d gonna be lugging that thing around by yourself most of the time, unless you’re lucky enough to get in a big band and you have other people lugging your stuff around.”
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George Thorogood proves he's 'Badder Than Ever' with Allentown, Penn performance
Courtesy - AXS.com
By: James Wood AXS Contributor
There aren't many artists today with the track record and resume of George Thorogood, and for good reason. For the last forty years, Thorogood has released sixteen studio albums, toured with the likes of The Rolling Stones and has written songs that have become the fabric of rock classic radio. Thorogood was also one of the artists asked to perform at Live Aid in Philadelphia thirty summers ago, hopping a red-eye flight from the west coast to make it in time to perform alongside Blues greats Albert Collins and Bo Diddley.
Although Thorogood knows the Lehigh Valley area quite well from his performances up and down the East Coast over the years, his 'Badder Than Ever' tour stop in Allentown, PA last night was actually Thorogood's first visit to the historic Miller Symphony Hall. Arriving onstage to the sounds of Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", Thorogood and The Destroyers began a blistering set of blues classics and originals mixed with a heavy helping of Thorgood-ness!
Thorogood's set included the usual suspects: "House Rent Blues / One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," "I Drink Alone," "Move It On Over" and (after asking the audience how "bad" they wanted it) his signature song, "Bad To The Bone". Thorogood's tasty, slide guitar work was on full display throughout the performance as well as his infectious rhythm section that kept the beat (and party) going.
Read more: George Thorogood proves he's 'Badder Than Ever' with Allentown, Penn performance
George Thorogood & The Destroyers March 7, 2015 Garde Arts Center New London, CT
Courtesy VintageRock.com
Review by Donna Erichsen
Photos by George Bekris
After 40 years on the road, George Thorogood and the Destroyers rocked the house with a good and solid show of pure raw energy in Connecticut. The Danielle Nicole Band warmed up the crowd with cuts from their upcoming EP before big, bad Thorogood hit the stage.
The audience was eager to be bad as well. There was an eclectic mix of longhair 20-somethings and gray-haired 60-somethings, some still sporting their long hair. The outcome of that mix was a pumped up crowd full of energy. Everyone was ready to rock, stomp, clap and shout out the words to the well-known tunes set in stone for the ages from 70s and 80s radio airplay.
Most of Thorogood’s songs are still played daily on stations across the country so his following has done nothing but grow over the years. His ageless sound is still as relevant now as it was back in the day. After all this time, Thorogood still retains the bad boy vibe he’s carried all these years and didn't come up short in this performance.
The band had a good time and fed off the energy of the crowd. The Garde Theater is a relatively small house and intimate enough for a lot of interaction with the audience. Thorogood played to them all from the front row to the back of balcony. He and the Destroyers had all of the tried-and-true hits in the set to satisfy an audience primed up for "badness" and some good down home boogie blues.
Read more: George Thorogood & The Destroyers March 7, 2015 Garde Arts Center New London, CT