Leo Kottke - I Yell at Traffic - Don't Call Me Ray

[Facingmecca]

Practice, Practice, Practice... saw him in Madison, WI in the mid 90's, was mesmerized!!! And yes, when you closed your eyes, you could swear it was several guitars playing!

[guitar8166]

As a guitar player, I can't even believe that!!

[peachywonderful]

there's real soul to this.

I was expecting a hoedown

[dogma123l]

I first saw him in concert in the mid 70's..he opened for the Beach Boys...they sucked..he stole the show

[devolve42]

If you like this, go see Adrian Legg before he gets too old to tour anymore.

[jmnussful1]

HE's amazing. but I liked it better before i found out that "I Yell at Traffic and Don't Call Me Ray" isn't one song title.

[moirocks]

@jmnussful1 Here was me thinking I'd finally found the best title for a song ever! I'm as dissapointed as you :(

[jmnussful1]

@moirocks I know. When I meet him in heaven I'm gonna tell him that, and he'll probably whip out a guitar and start playing both songs simultaneously. with one hand.

[Meleasdaddy]

i think Leo was an insurance man for several years before he decided to take back-up his guitar. Aren't we blessed to have one less salesman and a dedicated and bless-ed performer like Leo. incidentally, I sold insurance for 17 years before getting back to acting/performing. Time will tell when i get another video worth anyone elses time through youtube. Anyway.. we love you, Leo.... Meleasdaddy

[fouramhq]

@Meleasdaddy He wasn't an insurance salesman. Can you imagine buying life insurance from him.. He was in the Navy though. Subs.

[ZachYoungMusic]

uhm.....2 people need to go yell at traffic

[Shewolfen]

egads his instrument sounds so buzzy and horrible

[HRW01]

@Shewolfen Probably your horrible speakers. He's also in C# standard.

[Shewolfen]

@HRW01 i have great speaker, and a studio, it sounds like his strings fretting out badly :(

[jsipflatpickd28]

@Shewolfen His strings aren't fretting out... its definitely your computer, the youtube compression probably cannot run for you. Not Leo's playing at all...

[telsport]

Stunning in the 70's stunning now.

All you other musicians have said everything else.

Thank God for the knowledge we received to create recordings.

Music , whether it is intentionally created and performed as a tribute or prayer...is one. Other animals communicate with vocalizations , but only we humans, the crown of creation, can create and perform music. Thank you, God ( hearing Leo reminded me of that.

Tom Loughlin Jr Utica NY

[scottus1955]

I've seen Leo 3 times in Seattle in the 70's and early 80's and each time you could hear a pin drop..i often caught myself holding my breath not wanting to miss a note. if you close your eyes he sounds like 3 guitarists - all of them very good!! thanks for posting!

[erox1622]

3:55 i really like that song

[billandersonful]

Leo Rules. It's really that simple.

[cornflaked]

why does it have to end? his songs should go on and on forever.

[crunkykong]

Kottke's guitar playing sounds at *least* 20 times better than she looks...

[Cj1500]

Supurb! Simply amazing!

[51362879]

Waht kind of tuning is he using anyhow. He's down below EADGBE, drop c maybe?

[EgadOmg]

He's been widely known for his use of open tunings. not sure which one though.

[Ceb773]

i think he's 2 steps below standard, or one and a half

[51362879]

thanks! I know he was detuned, but didn't know how far.

[Tman4000]

He's in C# standard

[Ceb773]

ah thanks. learned to play this but i prolly wont be able to get it to sound like him, his guitar's got a nice jangly sound

[Orsino89]

A great example of Leo's syncopated technique.

[Saoff]

oh boy...what a great ear for music! and that groove....thanks for posting!

[looser4ever]

coz hes the only one playing guitar; u dumb man.

[juiceman1965]

why don't they ever show the other guitarist playing rhythm in the background?

[narrydavis]

I assume you are joking :)?

[juiceman1965]

correct assumption

[narrydavis]

ho ho ho!

[crunkykong]

haha!

[letebaguere]

he he he!

[Neptuneman07]

After hearing about the remarks from my dad's dislike for Leo. I have to say that Leo Kottke is an amazing guitar virtuoso. He can jam along with Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton.

[juiceman1965]

completely different style and agenda from Page and Clapton.Not even comparable.

[sepulchre10]

I don't think they could keep up.

[Cr1msonSkull]

It would take a considerable amount of mercy on Leo's part to play at a level that didn't simply embarrass them, but yeah, he could.

[Tman4000]

Does anyone know what gauge strings Leo uses? Does he different gauges on different guitars (6 and 12-string)?

[Cj1500]

He uses Heavy Gauge strings. .013 I think.

[Tman4000]

John Pearse Heavy Gauge. I'm pretty sure they're .013's too.

[cesardesouza]

O cara é feroz ! Precisava conhecer e tocar com o Yamandu Costa...

[sandletanman]

isnt "Yell at Traffic" a portion of "Bigger Situation?"

[skunkfunk89]

i thought it was

[Danole7]

Hey chaumurky i was there to see Leo at the Enmore theatre and i must say he left me spellbound i would pay to see this man anytime.

[Tman4000]

what tuning is this in?

[jpiir]

I Yell at Traffic - Standard

Don't Call Me Ray - Dropped D

Both tuned down 1½ steps.

[Tman4000]

Thanks

[AtypicalUservice]

@jpiir Great song, I'm really glad I came across this guy, Leo Kottke! I love the vid of him 'meeting Bob Dylan', that is hilarious, check it out.

By the way though, I'm working out how to play this song, and it is not correct to say Drop-D tuning. He has ALL THE STRINGS dropped 1 and 1/2 steps. Drop-D or Dropped D I think means just the low E, 6th string dropped to D.

He has the strings tuned from the 6th string, low E thus: C# F# B E G# C#

Play the chords exactly as in standard tuning.

[weenspod]

@Tman4000

so damm boring,get a life

[bondmatty]

Saw Leo at the Royal Festival Hall, London, many years ago. Brilliant guitarist, probably the best on a twelve string. It takes something to hold an audience spellbound with just a guitar for a couple of hours, but he does it with ease.

[gtrrobster]

Yeah Leo!!

What a player and funny guy....converted me to fingerstyle playing about 12 years ago, thought 'how hard can it be to learn and play

some of his tunes?'

Very hard! 10 years later and still trying to get the 5-6 I began long time ago :)

[coltyank]

coolest thing about leo is he is a diesel boat submarine vet so until you seen him play in his shorts ,sitting on a torpedo tube you aint seen nuttn.

[RickChimera]

When the lights are dimmed, he has caught the audience completely. Fantastic!

[chaumurky]

I can't wait to see him on the Feb 27th in Sydney Australia!!! It's been so long!!!

[ahutch70]

Not to mention getting carpal tunnel syndrome from chronic overuse of the wrists which forced him to take time off from playing his guitar a few years back .

[Truthseekerfinder]

CTS got me too. And two trigger finger operations, to boot.

Fingerstyle with fingerpicks is hard on the hands!!!

[devolve42]

He must have military-grade callouses - trying to play that style of music on a 12-string would absolutely savage my fingers.

[brengun42]

I met Leo in Minnesota outside of the "Scholar" Coffeehouse in 1968, it was 10 below zero and he was smoking a cigarette without a coat on, I said "aren't you freezing?" he replied "Oh I'm way past that!" I asked "are you the bouncher?" He replied "I've been known to clear a room from time to time". I went inside with my girl friend, found a table in a room that sat 30 people, and was totally blown away by his playing !

[orsino2]

After watching this, Kottke is--He's one of those people where no matter what genre or style you pay, your jaw is still agape.

[orsino2]

I miss a lot of the stuff that was on the old TNN...

[E5Bobby]

I saw Mr. Kottke play in Brainerd, MN about 10 years ago. My impression of him, as a non-guitar player is this: close your eyes and you'd say that it's two guitar players, not just one. Gifted, no other way to describe guys like this. He's earned every accolade given to him. Thank you for making this available.

[jeeperforlife]

Man I miss Texas Connection and American Music Shop

[digndrums2003]

my dad played more like chet atkins,leo is a string picker from out of this world!phenomenal

[cscornell]

Excellent version of " Don't call me Ray ". Off the beam just right.

[FumblefingersOHIO]

yeah. i can spell too LOL... ^^ correctly ^^

[FumblefingersOHIO]

if i remember corrently. this is the first leo tune i learned without video or someone showing me. Its fun to play. I love it when people say... what the heck was that !

[rogerthurman]

I just imagine the thousands upon thousands of hours of practice this meister has put in to achieve what he has - humbling.

[mberge1]

Great scene.

Mark Berge

Jersey City, NJ

[nellybligh]

I came to leo accidently from Ry Cooder on Pandora Radio. A remarkable man.

[Rob6648]

Hey Leo I've been listening since 1977,your still the best that there is.

[sicochoco]

Thanks for this one!!

IYAT is my favorite kottke song, always wanted to see how on earth he did that picking so powerful!!

[niskolkaraz]

I've been a Leo fan for some 30 years. It's always great to see the mater in action. Thx.

[Ballslaw]

omg i go there all the time i wish i was older when this happened lol

[mida87]

This has so much power in it. Leo Kottke is one of those guitar players that can completely blow you away.

[RussellK9]

Definitely incredible. Anyone see him perform his "Easter and the Sargasso Sea" = My favourite.

I wonder if it is on vid too?

[3ffigy]

Thanks for the vid! Guitar wizardry at its finest.

[martinaxman]

Leo=incredible. If you like this, check out his 6&12 String album.

[masterbutthead]

That was incredible

[giorgiopicker]

:)a beauty

tnx

[fiddlercrab3]

This is just another example of why self-taught musicians change the world. Leo Kottke blows my freaking mind.

[betsareoff]

He makes a twelve string sound like an orchestra.

[nego1620]

Wonderful

[jawmunji]

Impressive.