Happy 80th birthday to Neil Young!
Do you have one guitar that is so rare you don't even dare play it?
Neil : No, I don't ever have that sort of reaction. I have a guitar that Hank Williams owned, but I use it all the time. It's an old Martin D-28 and I bought it from Tut Taylor. Its always great to realize the history that you are holding in your hands...to understand the importance and the influence of Hank Williams for all of us. People are almost scared to be in the presence of something he could have touched...almost to the point where they think that just touching the instrument will elevate them to another plane. It's wonderful to have that guitar for those reasons. Most of the people who should have used that guitar have used it. I'm very careful with it, but I use it constantly. It's not on some museum wall.
Q : Of all the guitarists you know, who has made the biggest impression on you?
Neil: Bert Jansch is the best acoustic guitarist ; he's my favourite anyway. For electric guitar, I'd say Jimi Hendrix.
Q : In your opinion, why is he still considered the best?
Neil : He was excellent. He was one with his instrument. At that time, no one had pushed the electric guitar so far, and that goes for today, too. He was over everybody. Totally gone. So fluid, using the feedback to create such beautiful things. For a guitar fan like me, it was a revelation. But as for acoustic guitar, Bert Jansch is on the same level as Jimi. That first record of his is epic. It came from England, and I was especially taken by The Needle of Death, such a beautiful and angry song. That guy was so good... And years later, on On the Beach, I wrote the melody of Ambulance Blues by styling the guitar part completely on Needle of Death. I wasn't even aware of it, and someone else drew my attention to it. I'd met him in England in the early 70s, with Pentangle, but I this huge limousine and all that shit and they had a strange attitude with me, considering me as one of those bonehead superstars.
Guitare & Claviers Magazine Interview 1992
Photo: William Coupon
1 comment:
Congratulations to a guy that keeps ploughing his own field.
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