Just A Note Before I Go

Isn't it a beauty? That's "Old Black". Neil Young's legendary guitar, a '53 Gold Top Les Paul that a previous owner painted black. Neil found this guitar around the time he hooked up with Crazy Horse in 1969 and used it on their first collaborative album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (still my favourite Neil album). He later took it to a guitar shop for some repairs, and when he returned some time later to pick it up, the shop had folded up. It came back into his possession sometime around the mid-'70s when he again hooked up with Crazy Horse for his return-to-the-light album, Zuma (which happens to be spinning in my CD changer these days). At some point the bridge pickup had been replaced with one from a Gibson Firebird, which is so microphonic you can actually talk into it and be heard through the amp. That has a lot to do with the unique sound of this guitar.

For more info on Neil Young's sound and gear, look to the Neil Young archives over at Thrasher's Wheat [not to be confused with Neil's "Archives" boxed set(s) which are supposedly finally going to see the light of day next year. Then again, he's been saying that for years].

And before I take off out East for 2 weeks of vacationing, I want to leave you with this exerpt from an interview Neil did with a guitar magazine (available at the aforementioned website). There are so many things I love about Neil's guitar playing--the intensity, the melodicism, the range of expression--but above all is his approach. Check out this little Q&A.


JO: What are your views on people going to college to learn guitar?

NY: Paints a pretty doomed picture of the future, doesn't it? [Laughs.] First of all, it doesn't matter if you can play a scale. It doesn't matter if your technique is good. If you have feelings that you want to get out through music, that's what matters. If you have the ability to express yourself and you feel good when you do it, then that's why you do it. The technical side of it is a completely boring drag, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, I can't play fast. I don't even know the scales. A lot of the notes that I go for are notes that I know aren't there. They're just not there, so you can hit any note. I'm just on another level as far as all that goes. I appreciate these guys who play great. I'm impressed by these metal bands with their scale guys. Like I go, "Gee, that's really something." I mean, Satriani and Eddie Van Halen are genious guitar players. They're unbelievable musicians of the highest caliber. But I can't relate to it. One note is enough."

Amen.