>>131991630
John Fahey is a fucking legend. He didn't need to know any chord shapes or scales because he used his own tunings so he could just use any scale or chord shape he wanted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4_ODjf-VMs

I recommend learning his songs in alternate tunings of your own that don't match up to the tunings fahey used. It's a really fun way to become more acquainted with your guitar.

>barely knew any chords outside of some of the basic shapes
In other words he knew chords

>>131991680
Those don't count

yeah, you can just pick up or sit down at an instrument and do things

>>131991694
you can't just smash random piano keys and have it sound good though. John Fahey basically proved that the guitar is the ultimate instrument because the ability to tune strings on the fly is what enabled his playing style

>>131991722
you may smash them like a brute but I don't

>>131991630
>greatest guitarist to ever live
no. not even close.

>barely knew any chords outside of some of the basic shapes
you can tell he knew lots of chord shapes by literally watching any video of him

>never practiced scales
okay?

>invented a new genre without even caring
it's just just country/folk

>recorded the one of greatest albums of all time (fare forward voyagers)
no?

>his genius is still admired by patricians while plebs turn to the string juggling jackoffs
he's a literal who

i don't know why you're so impressed that someone made good music without formal training when that's just what the majority of popular music and folk has been like for the past 70+ years

>>131991630
>and none of it could save his hairline
ask any man with a full head of hair if they'd trade places with this dude and be bald with guitar skills and zero would go for it

>>131991630
He is definitely one of the greats.

>>131991880
I'd rather be bald than have long hair, but the in-between thinning shit is like the worst of both worlds

lenny breau

>>131991807
>he's a literal who
Thanks for proving my point, pleb. Brutal self report

>>131991630
Dude played guitar 7 hours a day and was partly inspired by classical pieces.

>>131992605
>self report
this is something only esl third worlders say fyi

>>131991880
women will flock to you if you're bald but fahey levels talented. they didn't really do so to fahey himself because he was a recluse (most likely autistic too)

>>131991647
when's it get good? don't have all day.

>>131991630
John Fahey, Robbie Basho, John McLaughlin, Toti Soler and Roy Montgomery are the greatest recorded guitarists of all time.

>>131991630
Your brain on Scaruffi idol worship

>>131991630
>invented a new genre
“American primitive” isn’t a real genre or guitar style. It’s a pretentious bullshit label for hipsters and academics.

>>131991630
zoomers will read all that and still won't pick up an instrument lol

>>131991807
Folk is so broadly defined that it isn't even an actual genre

>>131991630
>>barely knew any chords outside of some of the basic shapes
>>never practiced scales
I think this is horseshit. If you read his Charley Patton book, it's pretty clear that he was extremely knowledgeable about music theory

>>131991722
>you can't just smash random piano keys and have it sound good though
never heard the cat-walking-on-piano sound effect, i take it

>>131991630
>fare forward voyagers
listening to this now. it just sounds like a guy tuning his guitar and then noodling around inbetween

I get what you're saying, fahey is my favorite guitarist too. What you're implying about his knowledge of music just simply isn't true, as others have already pointed out.
Yeah, he's better than the stupid noodly fast guitarists like steve vai and other assorted garbage. But the thing is is that even though his songs have plenty of artistic value, theyre just really really easy to play. I taught myself his songs before learning anything else, spent a year working on only them and it just made me feel like a retard. They're beautiful, better from an artistic perspective than any of the flashy crap people usually play, but I don't feel like a good guitarist playing them. If you only learn his songs I'm sure you'll feel the same way at some point too. I'd rather be able to play the shitty technical stuff and be above it rather than never learn it and feel like a worse guitarist than people who play garbage virtuoso music
>>131993732
do you even like music
>>131991807
>i don't know why you're so impressed that someone made good music without formal training when that's just what the majority of popular music and folk has been like for the past 70+ years
because fahey didnt make popular or folk music, he made fusion music that conservatory retards would make without even having gone to a conservatory
>>131994717
this is retarded, plenty of regular people have some knowledge of fahey even if its just his christmas albums
>>131995887
if youre not an acquired taste person listen to his earlier more conventional stuff first. the third song on that album youre talking about is the real masterpiece, the other 2 are pleasant but not as groundbreaking

>>131994949
American Primitive = Folk guitar but without standard or consistent tuning. It's meant to re-capture 19th century American folk musicianship, when people either built their own instruments, or tuned theirs on the fly to reflect the piece they were playing, which is something you see less of today

>>131995974
well duh. obviously you don't become a good guitarist from memorizing how to play other people's songs.

>>131996581
see, thats what they never tell you in the regular world. all the kids i used to look up to growing up were frauds

>>131991630
Fahey's a hack. Would have sounded much better if he learned scales.
https://youtu.be/ZNIpnL204f4

>>131991880
Who cares? Why do you want to be a mere object of desire?

File: johnfahey.png (303 KB, 503x540)

303 KB PNG

I literally have the same hairline and hair :( :D

>>131994717
many such cases
>t. likes Fahey
>>131995974
>plenty of regular people have some knowledge of fahey
name two

>>131994717
I first discovered Fahey from my local College radio station though

>>131997814
>name two
Me and OP

His music is soulful on a level no one else ever managed to get to, thats why I consider him the best. Turned the guitar into another instrument

>>131991880
You retarded? Id take being bald with crosseyed eyes to be as good as Fahey. I do have great hair and a family btw

>>131997867
>names two retards
no

>>131997761
>Alan Ginsberg appears on William F Buckley's Firing Line (1968)

>>131991647
Literally one of the proudest reasons to be an American is having Fahey because only our world could've made someone like him, hes like the folk classical composer legend.

You hear fare forward voyagers (song) and it transports you to pioneer america like traveling over undiscovered hills seeing the sunrise on grand vistas, its amazing how he channels that.

>>131995974
His shit is not remotely easy to play. Ive played guitar for 10 years and I can play all kinds of shit but his stuff (on the fast end) is very difficult. For one you have to have amazing ability to play by ear, otherwise youre stuck like me relying on tabs that barely cover 20% of a song. Let alone the fact that playing by ear when theres 20 different tunings is even harder

>>131998195
NTA but apparently it's easier to play if you use his tunings for the songs and not standard tuning but I never tried myself so I don't know

>>131991630
I thought he was great but
>was a lot of a fuck up personally especially late in life
>played music with almost zero commercial potential besides the XMas stuff so won't make it high on lists
>did alternate tuning bullshit so it's difficult for people to cover his songs
I'm def that patrician I have like 10 of his LPs and you remind me to play the one I didn't listen to yet which is Of Rivers and Religion

>>131998195
>For one you have to have amazing ability to play by ear
i dont think so, its easier than it seems. just figure out the tuning (he sticks to like 5 tunings really, its not hard to remember which is which since theyre all quite different from one another) and the rest should be pretty self explanatory. id suggest trying to play what the sun said by ear, the tab on his website for it is atrocious and its actually really easy to figure out (especially the fast parts) if you tune to open G. if theres any song you want help with i could probably tell you how to play it
and im not even saying youre wrong, maybe they are really hard. maybe its the imposter syndrome talking, but i have seen a lot of people have problems with fahey purely because his playing isnt super complicated or difficult

>>131998273
>>was a lot of a fuck up personally especially late in life
Man was dealing with Type 1 Diabetes, I'm surprised he even made it to age 61

>>131998311
it's a pain in the ass to tune a guitar to weird tunings then have to again for the next song even if the songs themselves aren't that hard if you know fingerpicking and improvisation already

>>131998344
NTA but that's the main reason I haven't really bothered diving too deeply into learning his stuff. Having to re-tune my guitar to some random tunings for a couple of songs sounds extremely intimidating and tedious

>>131998311
also i forgot to mention but you can figure out his tunings by listening to the bass notes. you know the droning bum-bum bum-bum ones like in fare forward voyagers? the tuning is always open [whatever that note is]. if its two different notes, its probably open G (G and D). if you know the notes on your fretboard in whatever tuning youre in, try playing each note until it matches the recording and tune as such. he also often uses tunings where he tunes down like a quarter tone, half of a half step. if you cant get the tuning quite to pitch, tune it in between like E and Eb or whatever youre in and it should work. this is the case for example in the original recording of sligo river blues.

>>131998311
>the tab on his website for it is atrocious
*Ultimate Guitar has entered the chat*

>>131991722
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SsBtfuSDxw
it's organ(?) but whatever lol

>>131998311
Ive learned to play Sligo river blues, when springtime comes again, red pony, and a few parts of others, to match his speed let alone learning by ear is not easy

>>131998261
No I wouldn't dare try to play them in standard I know that

>>131998448
The greatest guitarist and the greatest jazz composer in one thread? Let me breathe for a second!