My OperaSo farewell then Bert Weedon
Monday, April 23, 2012 12:13:12 AM
I was somewhat surprised by the number of people who asked "Who's Bert Weedon?" when his death was announced. I thought everyone knew. I guess it was a particular time and a particular place.
Bert Weedon was already a session musician when I was born, with the arrival of rock'n'roll he started appearing all over the place, there just weren't many rock'n'roll guitarists in Britain. He had a few hits with other people's songs, but he also recorded the original version of 'Apache' only to see The Shadows getting the hit in the UK and... some other guy getting it in the USA.
But what he should be remembered for was an instruction book. I was the only guitarist I knew that didn't learn via Bert's 'Play in a day' book (With one exception who was a kid whose parents promptly sent him to a tutor...). Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and Brian May all learned to play in a day, heck, even Eric Clapton learned to play that way, and how does the idea of a world without The Beatles and all the people they influenced grab you?
'Play in a day' is still in print, and it's now the best selling guitar tuition manual in the world. In fact on the news they said that it had sold more copies than all the other guitar books put together, and it might even be true.
RIP Bert, the man who taught the world to play.
Bert Weedon was already a session musician when I was born, with the arrival of rock'n'roll he started appearing all over the place, there just weren't many rock'n'roll guitarists in Britain. He had a few hits with other people's songs, but he also recorded the original version of 'Apache' only to see The Shadows getting the hit in the UK and... some other guy getting it in the USA.
But what he should be remembered for was an instruction book. I was the only guitarist I knew that didn't learn via Bert's 'Play in a day' book (With one exception who was a kid whose parents promptly sent him to a tutor...). Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and Brian May all learned to play in a day, heck, even Eric Clapton learned to play that way, and how does the idea of a world without The Beatles and all the people they influenced grab you?
'Play in a day' is still in print, and it's now the best selling guitar tuition manual in the world. In fact on the news they said that it had sold more copies than all the other guitar books put together, and it might even be true.
RIP Bert, the man who taught the world to play.
