Been listening to alot of Van Morrison lately, and I just cannot get enough of the crystal pure, sweet guitar tone on most of his songs (even the later ones). Googled to find out who played guitar for him, how many different guitarists there were, and what gear they played through (it just has to be Strat, or maybe a Tele; but the amp still eludes me; and pedals?). Could find no info anywhere.

Anyone out there have the bandwidth on this one? Thanks!

I am of the belief that a good bit of it was played by The Man himself...he didn't play all the guitar parts on all his albums, but he had a hand in it.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Seen Van about 5or 6 times through the years and almost every time he had a different guitar player, that said on his LPs there is a plethora of studio players including Eric Gales, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton and also some uncredited guests like Robbie Robertson and Jerry Garcia. Van's guitar playing is pretty rudimentary really, most of those slick riffs were done by other guitarists.

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Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancin'

Hi WTS: just to give this thread legs would you care to name a few tracks you particularly have in mind, so's we have some specific sounds to think about? Or just to give another listen to: always got time for Van The Man.

Cheers - C

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Eric Gales is living, playing, and giving lessons locally here in Mpls. / St. Paul. I have not seen him live but I hear that he really tears it up.....

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I Can't Explain

Ronnie Montrose is the guitarist on the Tupelo Honey album.

John Platania was the main lead guitarist on the two times that I saw
Van Morrison between 1969 and 1981.

He'a also played on many other recordings by others.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Thanks Ceri for giving me some license to post about an artist that I hope our younger folks will seek out. I made a CD that I can play in both the car, and at home, without having to swap out disks. The 20 songs on the CD, and in this order, are (Note: Ceri recommend others that should be on this list. I have some albums, but some of these are mp3 downloads): Gloria, Here Comes the Night, Baby Please Don't Go, Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance, Crazy Love, Domino, Wild Night, Jackie Wilson Said, Tore Down Around Rimbaud, Days Like This, The Healing Game, Precious Time, Stranded, Saint Dominic's Preview, And It Stoned Me, That's Entrainment, Real Real Gone, Bright Side if the Road, Tupelo Honey.

The songs I am most interested in knowing who, what (I am really looking for what these guitarists were using), when are: Brown Eyed Girl, Crazy Love, Domino, Wild Night, Days Like This, The Healing Game (seriously, everybody NEEDS to have this tune), Stranded, Saint Dominic's Preview, That's Entrainment (play a blues lead/fill to this one, made in heaven), Tupelo Honey (mostly for the acoustic work).

Thanks for indulging me and any info you can offer up.

Allmusic.com has album credits. For example, on Morrison's CD "The Healing Game", the electric guitar is credited to Ronnie Johnson. On "Moondance", the guitarists are Morrison and session guitarist John Platania.

Van is a sullen bastard but he does write some righteously fine numbers. Good call on Healing Game. And beautiful playing.

This is a nice thread, WTS. Thank you.

Cheers - C

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We played the Dublin blues fest back in 97...Van was the headliner...and got too drunk to perform...the promoter asked us to play another set..and we said if we get the 5 grand Van was getting...he said no of course ..but we did it anyway and the guy i was with ..Paul Orta and the Kingpins made fun of him the whole set...lol...he's a bad drunk..Van that is...

He's a bad tempered son of a ____ when he's sober. Hate to think what he's liked when he's had a few jars. Whatever, congrats on that gig, FenderFreak.


Ah-ha. Just to keep the thread movin' along, here's a nice live take of That's Entertainment. Nice restrained bit of playing on the Strat here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbxUXAMUeGk

Odd thing. Here we are, living through the slow death of recorded music. And yet the BBC's coverage of live music is better than it has ever been. This sort of stuff was few and far between when I was growing up. Now you can get it every night of the week on BBC4.

Life has its compensations.

Enjoy - C

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No problem...i like Van..but he has a drinking problem and as you say its like pouring gas on a fire..ive battled the bottle for 20 years..but ive never missed a gig..he wasnt supposed to go on till like midnight ...so by then he was blitzed on Guinness...so it happens.. im just glad the place didnt go mad and take it out on us..we played our asses off that night...and got an invite back..

Here's Van doin his thing on The Last Waltz - Caravan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44wDwMQVqCc&NR=1
A storming 100% finish, Van the Man awsome

I'm only 23 but I am fortunate enough to have a father with amazing musical taste. Part of that has resulted on me being brought up listening to Van Morrison :p

First off, Bright Side Of The Road is such a great song!

Second, I've been lucky enough to see Van the man live a few times, and it's always.....and experience. Sometimes he blows you away, sometimes he just blows, and sometimes he decides to play his repertoire in the salsa style, just because.

I saw him once in a tiny church in Worcester playing to no more than 100 people, and it was awesome!