John Fahey teaches "Auld Lang Syne"

[bungaciput]

Great... love it!

[fellacutie]

I saw John Fahey on robitussin on the Reed College campus in October of 1996. It was cool.

[irchristo]

John Fahey taught us what sounds a guitar has in it.

[IBG67]

is this open d or c?

[trilobite3339]

@IBG67 open c

[1noen1]

"His drinking and illnesses brought him to an untimely death"

John Fahey drank to control his diabetes Which alcohol will do but not very well. He was probably suffering from glaucoma and that may be why he put the sunglasses on. A lot of the alcoholics that you see on the street are actually using alcohol to control a medical condition like diabetes or schizophrenia. It's the only choice they have. They have no access to health care.

[deewilki]

@1noen1 thats what happens when you have a health system that marginalises the poor, care should be for all not the rich and those that have the oppertunity to access care due to social status or wealth.

[franknwalters]

John Fahey the Great ...

[getarslim]

What I always said, he played everything too fast but here near the end we can really hear how he could play,  I'm from Scotland and Rabbie Burns would have been well pleased with this.

[getarslim]

Playing good here, starting to feel his mortality and no longer hurrying tunes. Robert Burns would have liked this, cheers

[tubby6411]

I seen him do a Christmas show in 92. He fell asleep a couple of times and didn't play any Christmas music. It was awesome because most people left. I went up and sat right in front of him. I savored my moments at the feet of greatness.

[blackdeathgrind]

@tubby6411 that's fuckin awesome

[irchristo]

@tubby6411 - I saw him play in a bar on Greenville Ave in Dallas Tx in 1982. He was an hour late. Then he sat there and calmly replaced a string on his guitar. I only remember him saying " I'll fix this string and then I'll play" He was guileless. His lack of ego and complete control of his guitar was awesome. I like you knew I was in the presence of greatness. I think about that evening a lot - continuing to try to squeeze everything out of the memory.

[tubby6411]

I met him when i worked on his old green station wagon - He gave me an autographed copy of God , Time and casualty. I seen him play downtown Portland - He told a joke inbetween songs and NOBODY laughed. I couldn't stop laughing. Eccentric, Odd - GENIUS! His music strikes a cord deep inside. He is missed.

[helmut96]

such great talent and such poor techniques, awesome

[ltcmed]

It is such a shame that a wonderful talent like John Fahey had such a rough ending. His drinking and illnesses brought him to an untimely death a few days short of his 62nd birthday. I am lucky enough to have one of his albums from the 60's. He was incredibly talented.

[cathode1]

It is a shame. I was at one of his last shows. People were DEMANDING their money back. He was that far gone.

[rm3150]

When he describes the "partial F chord," he picks the riff from "Sunflower River Blues," then plays the G that follows in the tune. It's as close as we'll get to seeing JF play his great song.

[Urdatorn]

@rm3150 Lol, Sunflower River Blues is on the same DVD... xD

[Timmybear]

Cliched as it is, Fahey past his prime (which this absolutely is - to my ear, he makes one actual mistake, which is all but unheard of) is still way above most mortal guitarists.

[awol2602]

Nic Jones was listening ... anybody?

[joycejnn]

@awol2602 Nic jones yes sounds as though he was influenced by John Fahey.Did Nic play in D A D G A D tuning ? a lot of the folkies do.

[KaiBailey]

It's John Fahey. I respect your opinion, but I think if you open your mind to his music and listen to some of his other music, you may find he is very, very good. He wasn't exactly in his prime in this video here. :)

[redrock505]

i was just kidding fahey was the greatest

[gnarrwhale]

its so hard to read sarcasm on youtube comments lol, he definitely does seem a bit past his prime though...

[miasm]

man this is depressing on so many levels

[craigdawson2]

You're 100% right. I can't articulate it but I know what you mean.

[BarahSachman]

I want to cry

[neurofire]

This makes me want to dig out my JF vinyls - only prob is I don't have a turntable. He's clearly past his prime in this clip - but the spirit of the man remains.I hope his soul rests in peace. Thanks for it all Mr. Fahey.

[NardDogz]

Thanks for posting this!

I was lucky enough to see him (and the John Fahey Trio) play this at the Satyricon in Portland around Christmastime, 1999 or so.

They passed out bells to the audience to participate.

I miss having him around, there was no one else like him.

[Raymantico]

how I love him...it's hard to explain...

[Krittikas]

Those of us who love him know what you mean; no need to "explain." He was a beautiful soul--and still is, somewhere! No doubt he's playin' up in the clouds somewhere, entertaining other beautiful souls! :)

[joycejnn]

@Krittikas Yes with his friend Alan Blind Owl Wilson.John Fahey christened Alan Blind Owl.

[silentsnider]

this was a gift. thanks

[letebaguere]

so drunk

[bentnosewp]

LOL

[andyschoi]

its so sad that John is gone, what a great ,unappreciated genius.

[ciaranmcasey]

@andyschoi Yeah except that he's widely considered to be one of the best acoustic guitarists of all time. I think a lot of us recognise him for what he was

[Bonzoo99]

You tought me this one, John. Thanks.

[zarkoid]

What a soulful player. Beautiful!

[chiuchiutrain]

Amazing

[mark1800]

poor guy... you can see in his eyes (briefly) the amount of hard times he dealt with.

[hyperpoesia]

beautiful to see a master at work

[lapsteelguy]

The last time I saw John was 20 yrs ago in Vancouver BC. He looked like Hell and told me his Wiesenborn had been stolen. For a moment I thought of giving him my Kona Hawiian. I didn't. I'm still sorry about that.

[wyclifdotnet]

Don't be sorry...he would have sold yours too, possibly the very next day. The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, &c.

[madnell]

thank you. thank you. thank you.

joy, health, love, peace & all that jazz.

[francobegbie22]

good to see he's rocking the trademark combover to the very end

[0re6an0]

more xmas songs by fahey plssssss

[jessupar]

Ho... Ly... SHIT! the last video i watched he had a bald spot but long brown hair. how in the hell did he end up looking like this?

I've yet to hear something he plays that dosnt sound good. the man was quite talented.