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From: 4engle
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  • Danny picked the guitar all day, then went in the garage and blew his brains away... doo-da...

    "Welcome to America".

  • This is when I think Danny was at his best, just hanging out informally and playing off the top of his head. Amazing! His improvizations sound better than most composed songs!

  • You can sitt for hours listening to guitar shredders playing hi-gain solos at a billion notes per second - and then switch to some Danny Gatton video and he blows them all away just by the sheer COOLNESS of his playing!

  • @toomanygittars Well said, I've been saying the same for ever...it's quality and feeling rather than quantity and speed!!

  • Great to hear Danny being so simplistic about something he made so intricate and complicated that it transcends mere mortal achievement. Th Evil Knievel of the tele-titans!!

  • what a bunch of useless info

  • @JackSquat1960 it's supposed to drive your imagination

  • Not only is this the greasiest dude alive, not only can he rip the Tele apart, That's not enough. No! His watch has to do the perfect star sparkle on top of it all.

  • @skrimpshidy "Greasiest dude alive"?-I wish that were true.

  • what most dont realize when they see three guys playing the country thing is that danny only dabeled in country, he spent more time on other styles than the other two,but yet he is the majic man here.the other two are great players but he is majic

  • what's a telephone?

  • Albert Lee is fast, Vince Gill is fast but thay have to tip their hats to Danny Gatton the Fastest. I think all guitars that run scales should listen to the scales of Danny, and rethink how the scales of Danny will fit any kind of music. Keep Danny alive, keep the videos coming and watch him close.

    Just the best. Long live the king,(Danny Gatton). My hero from the early 80s.

  • At Last!!!!!!

  • @4engle One of the other things you might think about doing is going to Amazon and buying the DVD. He died in the early 90's and all proceeds go to help his family. It's about $10-15.

  • @bashfulbrother , Hi, I checked amazon and don't see it. I still believe this is out of print, and unavailable. If

    not, please send me a link. There are other ones there, but not this one.

  • @4engle I'm sorry but I thought you could still buy it. I will look into it. thanks.

  • @4engle thank you for telling me

  • somebody put this on dvd its amazing

  • so humble...

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  • "Most people who are not musicians, even some musicians, will not understand that this type of feel and tone is almost purely based on his hands, not his amp or guitar, he had paws of a bear." Yes, the tone is in your hands as much as anything, in the way you shape your nails, your attack, your tone settings, where you pick and how, and so on. DG could play any guitar and it would still sound like him. "Paws of a bear"? Danny's hands were quite small, but that did not hold him back.

  • nice

  • DO NOT PASS PITCH.

  • One of the reasons he was called the "greatest guitarist you never heard of". Amazing!

  • CLEAN ,FAST, PERFECTION!!!!

  • give that guy a razorback and WATCH IT GO!!!

  • 1:07 I don't think I've heard anyone pick a scale that fast and cleanly.

  • @Chickenpainter111: Check out Scotty Anderson sometime. Scotty plays faster and cleaner than probably any Tele player who ever lived. Scotty and DG were good buddies, BTW. Tough to pick one all-time monster Tele guy in this country and country-jazz style... Jimmy Bryant is certainly in the mix, Danny, Scotty, guys like Albert Lee, and also someone like Leon Rhodes of the Texas Troubadours, Ernest Tubb's guitar player. DG was definitely unique, though... I miss his playing a great deal.

  • WoW!! Did you mean this guy!! is dead??already that !!!! Sucks!!!!!! all those bad ass guitar player are Dead!!!!!!!!!!!

  • was he already using joe barden pick ups at this point?

  • Virtuoso but total rubbish in linking one lick to the other - there is a very short but noticable pause and this just kills the piece. But who the heck cares, he's a virtuoso, right?

  • Why did he have to put a bullet in his head?

  • You gotta think he was one of the greatest guitar players to ever live!

  • i wish i could have met him once.. just to say thanks for the music ....

  • in sweeeeeeeedeeeeeeeen its a

    (dial tone)

  • possibly the greatest guitarist never known!!!

  • man why do people build up guitarists who arent even close to half as a beast as this man was...

  • What a great video. Loved his down to earth way of expressing himself, in music or in theory. RIP

  • all so interesting

  • #63 greatest guitarist of all time

  • @FyreTiger2K  #63 my ass. He was number 1.

  • @dirtynogoodbum number 2, jimi hendrix is still better

  • @jelledegitaarman you know it.

  • To the person looking for footage of Danny and Roy playing together,they played with Vince Gill. Its on youtube somewhere.3 chicken pickers garaunteed to send all the rest of us running back to hide under the chicken shed.

    

  • Danny and Roy was a weird thnging cause they used to be roomates in Nashville i beleive.I grew up in Leesburg,Va.and Roy walked in the music store.I thought he was some rube.Id heard Live Stock and knew who he was just didnt know what he looked like.Roy ended up trying to hang himself in the Leesburg jail and later finished the job in Fairfax county.Danny i got to know pretty well.Amazing how much they really played alike.Economy of movement.I saw Roy at the Bottom Line.2 great losses for sure.

  • I've had the pleasure of live performances of Danny and Roy. Not an easy biz and that most likely did its toll on each. Chet Atkins made his fortune as a producer not as a picker. What does that tell you about the biz?

  • Why do these people kill themselves?? Makes me sick.. how fuckin sad.

  • Ha Ha... When He said a telephone dial tone was an "F" I picked up my phone and checked....

    Of course he was right. It is!

  • What's really cool about this video is that he hasn't played a note yet, but has given more useful information than most other guitar instruction videos.

  • It´s a typical case that he did not tour withfamous artists - the sad truth is, they don´t want brilliant instrumentalists as they could steal the show from them...

  • Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan the two best tele men in the business. I know they where friends but cant seem to find any footage of them playing together. Can anyone help?

  • HYBRID PICKING! god i didnt even notice he did it untill I paused the video and spotted it.

  • did he die ?

  • what was really great about danny gatton,was the eccentricities in his playing that just made him so unique,one of kind man I wish he was still alive and as famous as he deserved rto be,RIP DG

  • The Telemaster!

  • What amp does he use it is clean or whit overdrive? He has a great tone.

  • To play this is the aim of life.

  • maybe one day i can pick 1/1000 as good as Danny!

  • young guys watching this today are like "what's a dial tone?"

  • @bigbabyjesus12 so tell me, what is a dial tone?..if you know it.

  • @Guitarplayer240 a dial tone is what happens when you pick up a telephone and dont dial any numbers.

  • @tythefrog HAHAHA

  • @tythefrog dial tone is  also in the key of "A"

  • Most people who are not musicians, even some musicians, will not understand that this type of feel and tone is almost purely based on his hands, not his amp or guitar, he had paws of a bear.

  • What amp is he using?

  • Great series! Thanks!

  • Awesome, I never even considered a telephone's dial tone as a way to tune a guitar... And he uses a lot of extra string when stringing his guitar.

  • Awesome, I never even considered a telephone's dial tone as a way to tune a guitar...

  • @AzWicker1 thats because we have easy access to electric tuners now

  • Call him the best unknown guitar player in the world if you will.

    I call him the best guitar player ever and leave it at that.

  • the phone dial tone is classic, in Ecuador our dial tone is A, record yours and run it thru a tuner to check if its really 440 accurate

  • does that plate under his bridge do something or is it just for looks?

  • groso!!!

  • fucker.......wtf?! :(

  • rip a true legend

  • wow...go Danny go

  • About Danny's Picks - The "teardrop" jazz pick Danny used (Fender) is hard to find nowadays, except in the flimsy thin version. However, a Danny devotee from DC turned me on to Clayton picks, easily obtained from the net (Musician's Friend) . The "Clayton Raven" is about 80 guage and has a somewhat rough surface, so do you don't need to scratch it up on your volume pot to prevent slippage.

  • @whitehawkeFLA Hey there.I know your post was a while ago but I was just wondering wether you've tried using the red Jim Dunlop Jazz 3 picks?My friend introduced them to me around ten years ago.I would presume that they're similar to the teardrops.I haven't looked back since.

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  • 1:08 FTW

  • I loved Danny. I am from Northern Virginia, so I got to see him a few times. He is missed.

  • daamn

  • DO NOT PAST PITCH!!! :P Thanks for posting!

  • Whats the shiny metallic part behind the bridge of that tele.

  • @fenderstratplayer14 It's something Danny designed for The Magic Dingus Box, something like a pedal that he designed with his father to control all of his effects. It's just a box with lots of knobs and switches that control his leslie, echo box, and eq that he used to use in the Redneck Jazz Explosion. You can find pics of it on his website. The part behind the bridge was used to hold the box in place on the guitar, as he did with his pinstriped les paul.

  • why leave more string at the tuner when you first put on the strings?

  • R.I.P. Danny....you were the best. This is the most educational and helpful vid I have seen regarding tuning and stringing. Mike...the amp don't matter. Danny would get his sound no matter what he played thru.

  • imagine watching Roy and Danny guitar duel in some little blues bar in DC? Crazy

  • anyone know what amp he is using?

  • @bluepouches Looks like a silverface Deluxe to me. I know he liked using blackface Deluxes in concert.

  • @bluepouches Vibrolux I think....... could be a Deluxe Reverb maybe?

  • That. Was. Nuts.

  • I loved Danny the first time I was turned on to him.

    Thanks for turning me on to Lenny Breau. Never heard of him.

    robo hippy

  • dial tone is Fand A together, a major 3rd used that for years to tune in a pinch :)

  • I really wish that Danny hadn't died, he would be a GREAT teacher for today's youth.

  • Cool! Thanks 4engle!

  • one of the greats.. RIP Danny ...

  • Amazing......a true virtuoso guitarist if ever there was one.

  • redneck jazz explosion cd is a neglected classic,read the sleevenotes pretty moving now in retrospect.nice guy and also a great player.

  • A little Lenny Breau tossed in there yo.

  • Lenny was incredible too. Nice to hear his name mentioned. :)

  • Just bow down and thank god that you got to hear this man!

  • Thanks for posting, this is great stuff.

  • I ordered this video from an ad in the back of Guitar Player Mag in 1989. It took about 2 months to get it! in the meantime I got to see him in a small pub in Fells Point, Baltimore, he signed my "Unfinished Buissness" LP, he was such a sweetheart! what a great soul! RIP Danny! We miss you!

  • @superbeavo Of course it took a long time to receive the video! Everything was six to eight weeks back then.

  • Love the "runway"

  • No one plays a Tele like Gatton! And no one probably ever will. RIP, you talented son of a gun.

  • @ChyronIsChillin Well there was also Ted Greene who recently passed away. Buster B Jones... Just to name a few. Why the fuck they're all dead now is beyond me...

  • @GuitarSlinger2112 guitars are lethal

  • @ChyronIsChillin dude..... jeff pevar....

  • @ChyronIsChillin Roy Buchanan.

  • @TheSebastianreyes To each his own.

    :D

  • @ChyronIsChillin i heard he was a real cunt

  • @outtacastatv All righty. If you believe what you've heard, then you're certainly allowed to believe that. I disagree, however, with the person or source you got that from.

  • @ChyronIsChillin mate you would be surprised he called him a real nast cunt, a dirty motherfucker. they aint no liars either look he might play well but that dont excuse his ways

  • @outtacastatv Well, if he gave them reason to believe that, then I'm sorry to hear that. However, he killed himself, so there's no use talking about him like that now. I'm just here to appreciate his guitar playing, because he was extremely talented.

  • @ChyronIsChillin sorry mate the guy was pure evil his guitar playin is good but do u really wanna listen to a guy that literally caused hell.

  • @outtacastatv Being that Joe Bonamassa is my favorite guitar player and a hell of a guy and he had a good opinion of Danny, I'm gonna believe Joe. Like I implied, it's wasted energy to be mad or upset with a dead guy.

  • @ChyronIsChillin Really? What about Hitler and Bin Laden? Not that I'm comparing Gatton to them, my point is just that regardless of someone is alive or dead, there's nothing wrong with trying to understand the truth of a person's life.

  • @Sco22 This is a Danny Gatton video on YouTube, if you haven't noticed. I'm not here to talk about those things. I simply said there's no use talking about him like that now. I stand by my words. I don't spend my time saying shit about Hitler or Bin Laden either. They're gone. I'm busy trying to better my life and do productive things. Please don't respond to this though, or if you do I definitely won't be back. My first comment was harmless and then that troll started up. No more of this please

  • @ChyronIsChillin Yeah I DID notice that, believe it or not. That's why I clicked it! Gatton is a master, and I wanted to benefit from his video. I also noticed that people exchange ideas here on YouTube in conversations. I saw an interesting conversation and I jumped in. I personally don't care much about Gatton's character. But as a working musician, every bit of info can be useful. I don't believe that ignorance is bliss. If a conversation is too much for you to handle, I'll leave it alone.

  • @ChyronIsChillin Danny was an amazing session cat and all around amazing artist... He was the humbler for a simple reason... very few of his piers could touch him... Joe B is an amazing guitarist... He is no Danny Gatton... I am not saying that to be argumentative or a dick... the truth is that Joe realizes Danny will be the yardstick by which many guitarist will be measured for many years... get a a copy of 88 Elmira St.... it will open your eyes,,

  • @lydian77 One of the best analogy of Danny Gatton I ever read....Gatton was in a zone all his own....

  • what happens if i can hear my dialtone?...MISS  U DANNY RIP!

  • Thank you for posting this. I remember when this video was first made available. It appeared in a small add in the back of Guitar Player magazine along with two other instructional videos by DC blues guitarists Jimmy Thackery and Tom Principato. I talked to Jimmy about these videos once and he said that he never made anything from it. It's too bad that they are no longer available. Who ever owns the rights sure turn them over to the Gatton family and re-release them on DVD.

  • what guage strings did he use??

  • probably 0.11s

  • @thailow117 .10 s

  • @surfco aight, thanks

  • It looks like he is at an airport runway.

  • That strip on DGs guitar is his "magic dingus box," a jury-rigged device he designed to allow him to control his effects, such as the rotorary speaker for his leslie, etc., his vibrato/tremolo, and so on. Don't worry - Danny didn't need it to play out-of-this-world! Just hand him any old Tele, and that was all he needed.

  • @GeorgiaBoy1961 actually, he only had the dingus box on his les paul. I don't know why he had the strip on the tele, but he stopped doing the dingus/leslie stuff in his tele days.

  • What is that long flat metal piece on the guitar that looks like a fat racing stripe running from the bottom strap hook to the bridge? And why is it not on the Danny Gatton Signature Telecaster?

  • Danny used to mount certain effects controls on this piece of metal. He took them off as he was accused of using effects to achieve his playing and did it without to shut up his critics.

  • anyone got the link to download the full clip?

  • "I just don't know why some of the most talented people in their field end up killing themselves."

    I have asked myself the same thing, why do so many great musicians have self-destructive habits or kill themselves outright? How could Danny not know how much we loved his music, and him, too?

    The jazz world is full of promising talents who died young, due to heroin, or by their own hand. Such a shame. DG, we sure do miss you!

  • It takes a different kind of mind to construct the genius that Gatton did so easily, and the same goes for many of the talents we know of that have lived destructively or ended their lives by their own hand.

    And frankly, when you are the owner of that kind of mind, just imagine how alone you must feel. I'm speaking of things beyond simply the music -- these people are WAY more than just their music.

  • GATTONMASTER/DON BLEDSOE will be off-line for a while, all you DG fans, and he has asked me to post his contact information and message:

    Don Bledsoe

    P. O. Box 7284

    Prospect Heights, IL 60070

    He will return soon, until then please forward inquiries to his USPS address.

  • that must have been hard to play spinning around

  • He's THAT good.

  • cant believe hes dead

  • It`s true ...It`s if the best always go first.

  • He was Using Joe Barden Pickups here.

  • I disagree with the 9 miles of string around the tuning machine.

  • I saw him live a couple times in his prime. (late 80s)

    Along with Jeff Beck the scariest guitarist I've ever seen.

  • Best electric player there ever was. Wish I had discovered him sooner. We luv u Danny!

  • "...Here to teach you how to play guitar in probably some ways that you've never heard anybody play it before..." If you go to guitar center on any given sunday, you'll hear several 40 year old men playing this SAME EXACT WAY.

  • These videos he put out were to teach people his style.

    Yeah, you'll see 12 year old kids playing AC/DC but it takes a while to play like Gatton.

  • Bullshit...

    You'll never hear anyone playing like Gatton played...and certainly not at Guitar Center.

    The guy brought most of these techniques to the mainstream. He was the Van Halen of rockabilly.

  • Listen, I'm sure Gatton was great, back in the day. But times have changed. Be glad he somewhat of an impact on modern music. But to say he was unique or that he pushed the envelope on guitar is ignorant. There have been numerous guitarists that have trademarked the sound Gatton claims "you've never heard before." Don't assume guitar is an original instrument. It doesn't work that way. A single player doesn't progress the instrument, it takes a collective effort from an entire generation.

  • if you think he wasnt unique or amazing youre ignornt, gatton was called the humbler by many guitar legends

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  • Same idioms as in his other instructional video (now no longer on youtube.) Not saying that's bad; I play the same idioms over and over and it's totally lame. Maybe it's rare to find someone like Joe Satriani who actually plays a variety of stuff.

  • What a stupid fuck you are, gairibad.

  • I can tell you're smart because you managed to spell my username incorrectly even with it right in front of you.

    I'll express what ever goddamn opinions I want to, dig?

  • Did Fender ever design a Joe Satriani guitar?

    Did Les Paul ever compliment Satriani saying " he's the best guitar player."

    Joey knows all the idioms but when he talks only a few will ever listen, the rest of us listen to music. :)))

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  • I didn't say I was a master. Quote: "I play the same idioms over and over and it's totally lame." When Gatton does it it isn't lame.

    I'm a little curious how you managed to come up with such an incorrect interpretation of my comment.

  • "I'm a little curious how you managed to come up with such an incorrect interpretation of my comment"

    Too much red wine before an excursion on YouTube... :-) My apologies - I have withdawn my comments. Never mind Satriani, did you know that Vai is/was a huge Danny Gatton fan?

  • Quote from Vai on the back cover of Gatton biography: When someone uses the phrase the best guitar player in the world I usually go ..... it's impossible to be considered the best .... But I feel okay in saying that Danny Gatton comes closer than anyone else to being the best guitar player that ever lived.

  • great example of loving human doublethinking

  • No I did not know that.

  • awesome player, i find players that use a pick and fingers insync, the pick 'dominates' in sound, so i prefer something like clawhammering (banjo style) so the tone in every string i play is more balanced and controlled

  • RIP - Oct 4, 1994

  • holy shit... that's the day and year i was born...

  • This guy is the most common sensed thing I ever saw. Every thing he does is so common sensed and a practical nuts and bolts application. All you have to do is practice and develop the skills. Not too hard. It does kinda take that you made every uneconomical mistake you can make to apprectiate this absolutely useful form that rings of Albert Lee and Jimmy Page. All three of these guitar players use a pick and two or three fingers to pick. Danny Gatton /Master.

  • that's some white thrash ghetto tuning technique

  • nuts. way nuts

  • I cant stand country music but that is some very skilled guitar playing

  • that's because you think country music is garth brooks... that's not anywhere near real country music... I felt the same way.

  • Thanks a lot, 4engle. I've been looking for this video for years. As others said, it's the best out of three he made (I own the other two). I just can't stop watching it!

  • It's really reassuring to see a guitar to and echo pedal to an amp.

    No massive rack unit needed just talent.

  • That's awesome. Thanks for posting. Is there any way to get a copy of this?

  • Wow, thanks for posting this rare video 4engle!

    This appears to be superior to Danny's first Hot Licks video. (I have the DVD of Telemaster, and the sound quality is just awful.)

    Danny Gatton had a unique gift of not only being an amazing player, but he was also an awesome teacher. Thanks again.

  • My guitar player took lessons from him in the early 80's and your right he was a superb teacher as well as an extraordinary player. Don' t you think the first run by Danny on this sounds like Howe and "The Clap"

  • the best unknown guitar player in the world.

  • @laricxx its a toss up between him and greg koch

  • Sausage fingers!