Clarence White Joins The Byrds

[pdorn777]

Clarence meets Barney Fife....it's too much!!!

[rocktenniscat]

"Farther Along" - Remembering Clarence White today: June 7/44 – Julyl 15/73

[itmightbetime2012]

Clarence White, a showoff guitarist? He was one of the most tasteful players who ever lived! I'll be laughing at that one for awhile! Showoff guitarist! That's funny!

[henrynevins]

@itmightbetime2012 Showoff? Clarence was quite the opposite. I saw the Byrds play several times, once in a college gym and literally sat at Clarence's feet during the entire show. Was fortunate to have spoken with him at length afterwards. To accurately describe Clarence, I found him to be humble, soft spoken, friendly, happy to answer anything I asked, a perfectionist and a true professional. He never needed to showoff, his talent spoke volumes for him. Most memorable moment in my life.

[QuickstepBrothers]

Clarence White was a great guitarist for guitarists to enjoy listening to. A friend of mine, that wass a better guitarist than I, discounted Clarence for "cheating" by having a device on his Telecaster that bent the strings with a pull of the shoulder strap. However Clarence did it, it was innovative. I was shocked by his tragic accidental death when it happened. I have seen him play with the Byrds live more than once and loved every minute of it.

[longlivejerryg]

clarence was one of the best guitarists ever!

[adioslounge]

I'd say it would be unfortunate were it not Clarence White on guitar. Also, it was Roger's band, so if he wanted to play more guitar all he had to do was say so. For example, the live tracks on Untitled ... and to a lesser extent the studio stuff ... show that White and McGuinn were perfectly capable of rockin the intertwining, double lead guitars. So, if anyone pushed Roger into the background, it was Roger.

[ajmell7]

an unfortunate consequence of clarence white joining the byrds was that mcguinn as a guitarist was pushed into the background.

[karltstraub]

(continued from previous)

and three, it's harder in a live/loud electric context to keep everything in balance, either in terms of texture or volume. esp back in that era where pa systems and monitors were crude by today's standards.

moreover, on studio recordings the mix helps even the busiest clarence playing sound organic. on live recordings, his guitar is often overbalanced and can give a distorted perception to the listener. he blends into the background pretty well on studio recordings.

[karltstraub]

there are many instances of clarence "overplaying," for sure, but a few things need to be remembered. one, he was committed to a very complex improvisational style, and sometimes following through on all those ideas resulted in busy playing, esp around a vocal.

two, i think he came from a tradition of improvising countermelodies the way a fiddler might in a bluegrass group,

[mellymanfamily]

i don't think he was a show off, hendrix was the total show off, he created the musical masturbation of the 70's. i thought clarence's solo on gunga din was a gas!

[aspersive]

@mellymanfamily Actually, Gene plays that solo.

[clickswitchh]

show off guitarist

[adioslounge]

I think there are moments where Clarence overplays. However, if you factor that against the times he underplays, his sense of syncopation, timing, and countermelody, his revolutionary playing on both acoustic and electric, and the fact no one's been able to successfully reproduce his tone on either guitar ... yeah, showoff is a criticism I can live with.

[diatroptoff94]

@clickswitchh i honestly dont know what your talking about, hes the most reclusive guitar player ive ever seen. He never really takes that long of solos, he just weaves in between rogers vocals making sound so great. you should check out the fillmoe video eight miles high. HE could have soloed the whole 10 minutes but instead he solos all of 1 minute. Hes just a killer guitar player no matter

[elbo33]

What a stud. Got to play on Andy Griffith!

[guyglowmore1]

agree with junkie4vids. chestnut mare!!!!!

[junkie4vids]

Clarence on The Byrds' "Chestnut Mare" was incredible.

[s121s]

I just picked up live at Royal Albert Hall 1972(Byrds) Long live Clarence White!!!Thanks for posting!!!

[yanks46]

This is awesome. His Uncle Joe from Maine was married to my aunt. I have heard some stories through the years, but very little. I never realized how good he was!!!!!

[tonebenderx]

This is really great. Where did it come from? I'd love to see the whole thing.