"Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

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"Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Mister Moon » Sun May 20, 2018 9:46 pm

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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Pacer » Sun May 20, 2018 9:57 pm

Well, there are a lot of songs where elvis ' own guitar playing is very prominent.
The sun sides wouldn't be what they were without his rhythm guitar playing.
Neither would be reconsider baby from 1960.
Elvis underestimates himself ( he also said in one interview that on the the sun sides his guitar playing was mixed out or down which is not true for anybody who has ears. So it seems elvis forgot about the sound of his sun records. I mean.....thats all right did start with his guitar. But Elvis wasn't always the best historian concerning himself. Sorry...that goes for tiger man too ;) )..which is refreshing compared to a lot of other stars who think of themselves so mighty big.
While he wasn't a virtuous guitar player......on the early sides his rhythm playing was important to the final sound.
I mean: mystery train would lack a lot without Elvis ' driving rhythm guitar.


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby elvislady » Sun May 20, 2018 10:17 pm

Thanks for sharing Mister Moon, This story made lol, I could just imagine elvis doing this to scotty.

Scotty Moore’s guitar

However, there was one more classic Presley guitar moment in his career. Elvis asked Scotty Moore to participate in the memorable “sit-down” jam session for Presley’s 1968 NBC-TV special. Dickerson relates Scotty’s story of what happened.

“When they walked out on stage, their guitars were already in place. Scotty had his Gibson 400 Sunburst and Elvis had his Gibson J200, a natural-grain flattop model that Scotty had obtained for him from the manufacturer. They began the show with some of their early material … During the first couple of songs, Elvis kept glancing at Scotty, who was sitting to his left. Scotty’s brightly colored guitar shone in the camera lights. It was bigger than Elvis’s guitar, it was better looking, and it sounded better than his guitar. Elvis decided he just had to have it.”

Also on the stage was drummer D. J. Fontana. He continues the story.

“Scotty was playing lead for a while and all of a sudden Elvis wanted to play lead. So he goes over and grabs Scotty’s guitar. I thought, ‘What are we going to do here.’ Scotty wasn’t very happy about that. Elvis was a flogger and I knew Scotty was afraid he’d scar up the guitar. It worked out, but oh boy, he doesn’t like anyone to touch that guitar.”

Dickerson added the story’s ending. “Elvis played Scotty’s guitar for the remainder of the show… If Scotty was fuming on the inside, he never showed it. He kept going, never missing a beat … Elvis was the star, so he wanted the biggest, flashiest guitar.”

So, was the King of Rock ’n’ Roll a real guitar player, or just a pretender wielding a prop? Either way, the perception lives that he was, and they say “perception is reality.” For me, it all goes back to what James Dickerson wrote about the young Elvis Presley strumming his guitar on his front porch in Memphis.
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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Mountain Mist » Sun May 20, 2018 10:26 pm

I think Elvis was comparing himself to classically trained guitar players, as he was certainly a lot better player than many musicians (who do not play music to how it is written) today.

I am glad that Elvis did not give up the guitar.


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Pacer » Sun May 20, 2018 10:43 pm

Don't think that Elvis was comparing himself to classical trained music player
I think he was a fair guitar player. Not outstanding by any means (even compared to contemporary guitar players).
He wasn't per se better than the usual guitar player then and now. And certainly not even in the same league as a serious rock guitar player.
And Elvis knew that (that most other guitar players were a lot better than him)
But his playing was effective on some records.
And he downplayed that.


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Pacer » Sun May 20, 2018 11:19 pm

elvislady wrote:Thanks for sharing Mister Moon, This story made lol, I could just imagine elvis doing this to scotty.

Scotty Moore’s guitar

However, there was one more classic Presley guitar moment in his career. Elvis asked Scotty Moore to participate in the memorable “sit-down” jam session for Presley’s 1968 NBC-TV special. Dickerson relates Scotty’s story of what happened.

“When they walked out on stage, their guitars were already in place. Scotty had his Gibson 400 Sunburst and Elvis had his Gibson J200, a natural-grain flattop model that Scotty had obtained for him from the manufacturer. They began the show with some of their early material … During the first couple of songs, Elvis kept glancing at Scotty, who was sitting to his left. Scotty’s brightly colored guitar shone in the camera lights. It was bigger than Elvis’s guitar, it was better looking, and it sounded better than his guitar. Elvis decided he just had to have it.”

Also on the stage was drummer D. J. Fontana. He continues the story.

“Scotty was playing lead for a while and all of a sudden Elvis wanted to play lead. So he goes over and grabs Scotty’s guitar. I thought, ‘What are we going to do here.’ Scotty wasn’t very happy about that. Elvis was a flogger and I knew Scotty was afraid he’d scar up the guitar. It worked out, but oh boy, he doesn’t like anyone to touch that guitar.”

Dickerson added the story’s ending. “Elvis played Scotty’s guitar for the remainder of the show… If Scotty was fuming on the inside, he never showed it. He kept going, never missing a beat … Elvis was the star, so he wanted the biggest, flashiest guitar.”

So, was the King of Rock ’n’ Roll a real guitar player, or just a pretender wielding a prop? Either way, the perception lives that he was, and they say “perception is reality.” For me, it all goes back to what James Dickerson wrote about the young Elvis Presley strumming his guitar on his front porch in Memphis.

It was nice that Elvis played the electric guitar on "baby what you want me to do " and a couple of others....but if Scotty would had his electric guitar back (to actually play lead) we would have been fortunate to actually have real lead solos on songs like "blue suede shoes "and even more on "tiger man".
Elvis wasn't able to do lead guitar (he was more a rhythm player)...so on the spots where the lead guitar should have been doing a solo....he repeated the chorus instead or was ad libbing stuff (on tiger man). I would have loved to have Scotty played a lead guitar solo there, because Elvis obviously wasn't capable of doing so.
At least Scotty had the lead guitar on that's all right before Elvis took over so we were treated with beautiful solos on that song.


Like I said, it was great that Elvis played on a couple of songs the lead electric guitar. But on some others I wished Scotty would have played the lead electric guitar again-and not Elvis.
Last edited by Pacer on Sun May 20, 2018 11:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.



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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Mountain Mist » Sun May 20, 2018 11:21 pm

Thank you for the replies, Pacer, I am really enjoying them. I love details.


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Pacer » Sun May 20, 2018 11:25 pm

Its just my opinion.
I am no guitar expert by any means. I don't even play a guitar, but don't have to for my opinion.
But still it's my opinion.
Maybe some other person who is a guitar expert can chime in and express his opinion.



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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Mountain Mist » Sun May 20, 2018 11:32 pm

Pacer wrote:Its just my opinion.
I am no guitar expert by any means. I don't even play a guitar, but don't have to for my opinion.
But still it's my opinion.
Maybe some other person who is a guitar expert can chime in and express his opinion.



Thanks, Pacer.

:D


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Pacer » Sun May 20, 2018 11:35 pm

For what?
I am no expert on guitar.
But still I missed the solos on some songs of the 68 special.



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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby Mountain Mist » Sun May 20, 2018 11:42 pm

Pacer wrote:For what?
I am no expert on guitar.
But still I missed the solos on some songs of the 68 special.



The detailed replies, I appreciate them. I like detail to put everything together, to add to what I think and feel as a basis to go from there.



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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby cadillac-elvis » Mon May 21, 2018 1:37 am

Mr. Moon, notice they say doesn't play guitar on one, but during "house of sand" he does have a guitar.

Also, I like that last line, "so giving up guitar isn't about to hurt him"......ok, so we are to believe that
giving up guitar didn't hurt him, because making a movie like, Paradise Hawaiian style is great for his career?

It's funny how lots of money distorts all common reason.


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby SteamrollerBlues » Mon May 21, 2018 4:39 am

Elvis wasn't an amazing guitarist, but he was surely better than most (including himself) give him credit for. He was incredibly unique and that made up for any lacking of technical skill.

Like most instruments, guitar is mostly about feeling, and Elvis had that feeling in spades.


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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby elvislady » Mon May 21, 2018 8:12 am

I love 'Baby what you want me to do' from this show, Its my favorite track. I see your point on the solos, elvis was the boss...I do think it worked well in the end.
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Re: "Alas, Elvis has given up his guitar" - 1965

Postby John » Mon May 21, 2018 8:17 am

Pacer wrote:Well, there are a lot of songs where elvis ' own guitar playing is very prominent.
I mean.....thats all right did start with his guitar.

Even though he came in a bar late with the vocal on the master of TAR.

Elvis was a really good rhythm player, and he had a few licks and runs he threw in, but he was no more than that.


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