Danny Gatton - Crosscut Saw (excellent audio)

[grahamzhiser]

damn my face definitely got melted

[Gminor7]

Gatton's is the blues solo I've been wanting to hear my entire life - chromaticism galore. Howard Roberts, Hank Garland, Lenny Breau, Johnny Smith, Les Paul, Wes . . . He soaked it all up and painted the most technicolor 3D blues I'ver ever heard.

[banditvibe]

@Gminor7 yes, this might be the coolest, most bad-ass live-performance solo in the "unlimited" category I've ever heard;) He was on fire that night. He throws everything at this solo and it all just fits together really well.

[1zenrn]

Evan is a legendary great!, Never got enough credit...

[Barnekkid]

EXCELLENT! I have EJs autograph around here somewhere.

[GeorgiaBoy1961]

Only Danny Gatton could blow a jazz-like improvization on "Crosscut Saw," and then turn the tune inside out and work all of his favorite licks and moves. No matter what he played, it came out sounding like Danny.... amazing.

[sonhouse50]

That solo was 'FRIGHTENING'!!!!



[Barnekkid]

...wow...just, wow...

[FlipsidesBand]

I believe the guitar in the photo is a Byrdland, a more expensive version of the ES-350; same short scale.

[Satchmoeddie]

@FlipsidesBand I have seemingly inherited a collection of Byrdlands. All have a curved tail piece that has "Byrdland" scrawled into it. I mean engraved or stamped. The 350 has a Venetian cut away, (Usually) My uncle used to play with Johnny Smith regularly, and both owned music stores. I saw more oddball custom Gibson stuff at Johnny's shop than probably on the internet itself. (don't care 2 look) Mom cashed in with a 61 Hummingbird with a 25 5/16" scale neck! She turned down a $42K offer in 97.

[flatpicker36]

i think most of dannys licks are in the key of awesome.

[jmsbk12345]

I'm into jazz blues rockabilly funk 'out of the box' guitar solos and who's the best at that - yeah you've got it!

[MrKingtonejoe]

I'm willing to bet that 'Banditvibe' IS this Evan Johns!!!

[jplent]

Holy Sh*t...

[joshua9312]

Do you have a mp3 for this?

[banditvibe]

@joshua9312 I have AIFF source audio I digitized from my original audio tape using a Yamaha Audiogram3 usb interface and Cubase. The video has an embedded 192k ACC audio track ripped via iMovie.

[joshua9312]

@banditvibe haha....in laymans terms? So no mp3 then..

[stringbender57]

THE MASTER - DANNY GATTON!

[thailow117]

outerwordly

[banditvibe]

I want to give some props to Evan Johns here. He's got own very cool raw style -- he's not just throwing together a bunch of Albert King licks. Listen to Eric Clapton play crosscut saw and what you get is essentially an amped up version of Albert King playing Crosscut Saw. It's probably out of respect -- paying homage and all that -- but still. Evan Johns shows you can play really stripped down blues without aping another player. The guy is cool.

[bluesborn]

@banditvibe You make a very good point.Not everyone can be a Danny Gatton but they can develop a personal recognizable style and express themselves with passion and honesty.Music doesn't have to be about "who is best" or "fastest" or whatever,it's about feeling something and finding a way to say it.

[Satchmoeddie]

@banditvibe Awww! Do I have to!

[15chipshops]

Incredible solo by Danny!!!

Reminds me a little of an awesome solo to one of my fav' jazz tunes called "Seven, Come Eleven" by Herb Ellis & Joe Pass... Check it out!

[hiattfan2]

just the way i like it played rippin with style

[TheBlueFuzz]

One of the best of the best solos, ever…. I have been playing guitar for 40 years and Danny Gatton is the master of the Telecaster…..

As far as speed and tone…..No one except Johnny Winters can touch Danny….

As far as style, many notes Danny hits are right in front of him, motivation is the key….

Danny was and is the best at what he does…..

[Albroon72]

wow ! thats an absolute killer solo ! every style in the book and a few more....

thanks !

[blueshabit]

every time I hear this fucker I quit.

[sherriffofhongkong]

Great Post. thanks so much. I've never heard a bad recording of Danny at any age... As he got older he did alittle more "self editing" but advanced to infinity.....

[xodusattack]

Danny's solo on this is beyond sick!!!!

Thanks for posting this, if you have more, please bestow it upon the world!!!

[bls315]

Dannys first guitar was a martin acoustic

[banditvibe]

@bls315 I know, I know, I know -- I meant "first electric guitar" -- sorry. I can't change that in the video now. See my other video "Danny Gatton plays his first electric guitar" from the same show.

[geetar05217]

when did danny suck at guitar? couldnt have been the day before he picked it up?

[derw22]

@geetar05217 Danny and Evan Johns would do this routine where Evan would call out the names of famous guitar players and Danny would imitate them. Evan would then say "play Evan Johns" and Danny would would play like a 5 year-old who had just picked up a guitar for the first time.

[geetar05217]

@derw22 LOL good story. So in other words, when he shouted Evans Jones, he would play like me.

[awood912]

It wasn't his first guitar, but his first electric was an ES-350, and he gigged with it a lot. I know someone who played in a band with him and actually almost never saw him with the tele.

[MrMudclub]

Its like two bands.... Evan Johns band and then Danny and his one man band playing together.I would of loved to of played with Danny,the things you could learn from a player like him.

[designermite]

Sounds Great!

[billgrant1999]

Thanks banditvibe for posting this! Few, if any, other guitarists could generate that kind of heat and burn down the house like Danny Gatton!

[mecafritz49]

More than great.....Thank you

[EricCirca6566]

The guitar in the picture is an early '60s L-5 with a flourentine cutaway. Thank you for posting and contacting me.

[banditvibe]

Yeah, I just grabbed that pick off the web. I remember the hollow body he was playing that night had a bigsby on it. He may have brought more than that one. A friend of Danny's I recently talked to said that it was unusual for Danny to take his very first guitar out for a gig. He also said something about his first guitar having a smaller scale neck.

[banditvibe]

I meant "pic" not "pick"

[THEBIGCHIEF420]

Nice!

[DangerousBastard]

You hear that sound?... THATS how you play guitar!

Awesomeness, thanks!

[banditvibe]

Thanks to the guys at the Guitar Center in Falls Church for helping me get the right gear to digitize my tapes.

It's a relief to finally have this on the net. I knew I had some good sh*t and didn't want it to fade away on on cassette tapes. I remember thinking at the show, holy sh*t, I can't believe I just got that on tape. Evan Johns is no slouch, and his raw blues on the strat is a nice contrast to DG's fluid, bad-ass chops on the ES-350.

[GeorgiaBoy1961]

@banditvibe: Thanks for posting this, it is a wonderful treat to hear some new DG after all this time. You are right about Evan Johns; his guitar playing is nothing to dismiss and it took some brass to solo before Danny.

[Dazzypig]

@GeorgiaBoy1961 Would you want to go after him? haha

[GeorgiaBoy1961]

@Dazzypig: Are you kidding? I wouldn't even get up on the same stage as that guy! He was known as "The Humbler" for good reason...

[Dazzypig]

@GeorgiaBoy1961 Hell yeah, I've hard a lot of players and every time I go back to Danny it's like, 'wow, there just isn't anyone who can really "play with a guitar" like he did it'. Awesome.

[slownoman]

Albert King is smiling about this. Man, what chops. I saw Albert a lot of times and he knocked me out. Never had the honor of seeing Danny. Thanks for posting this gem!

[banditvibe]

Check out 6:19. Danny throws in 12 bars of blues licks just for good measure. Albert would approve.