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I’m With The Band

This month’s Woodstock feature got me thinking about the importance of the audience in making great music happen. Surely only the musicians make the music, you might ask? On the contrary, the audience play an under-acknowledged role in summoning up magical performances on stage. An ecstatic response from the crowd sometimes elevates agig from merely great to historic. That’s because experiencing live music is not a passive activity, like watching the television. If the performance

is good, the crowd roars and that spurs the band to greater heights – completing a feedback loop that brings thousands of people together in a glorious moment of shared worship at the alter of music. That’s how it should be, anyway.

Sometimes you wonder if the modern gig-goer is losing the knack of being an audience member. For example, I went to a gig at an intimate but well-respected venue in Bristol a couple of years ago. The guitarist in the band had just embarked on a superb, spine-tingling slow-blues solo, in the style of Zeppelin’s Since I’ve Been Loving You. As the band hushed things down to a reverential whisper, so you could have heard a pin drop, a guy in the front row turned to his mate and said in fog-horn tones: “The bus goes in 15 minutes. Do youwant to stay to the end of this one or go now?” Of course, the rest ofaudience swiftly invited him to shut up – but the spell was broken. I suppose that at least the twit had paid money to see alocal gig, rare enough these days – but if you want to get the best from a band, put down the phone and give them your undivided, because you’re part of the music, too. Generally, though, the best way to get an audience hanging on your every note is to play a blinder. With that in mind, I strongly recommend you check out Richard Barrett’s Woodstock-vibed Blues Headlines lesson on p150 and Phil Hilborne’s Thin Lizzy tutorial on p146 – they’re chock-full of stellar licks that’ll keep you busy until next time. Enjoy the issue.

Editor’s Highlights

All That Jazz Despite being almost never used for jazz,Fender’s Jazzmaster is an icon of cool and a real tone machine. Read how it evolved on p86

cover Lloyd cole photo byBril/ulstein bild viaGettyImages; Dove graphic inspired byoriginal poster artwork byArnold skolnick

JamieDickson Editor

King Of The Hill It’s impossible to read Dave Hill’s account of his rise to fame with Slade and not admire his humble,hard-working attitude to guitar.Feel the noize on p80

Super Supros The latest batch of electric guitars from revivalist US brand Supro blends retro looks with slick playability – plus something for slide fans p102

September 2019 Guitarist

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