Arthritis has taken a toll on his fingers.

another fine example is Les Paul. Saw a documentary on the man a year or so ago, and right up until his death he was still playing, and playing almost as well as he ever had. He had terriffic speed and dexterity, that you would never imagine by seeing him without a guitar as he looked so old and frail. as you say, some folks are just blessed.

I was just reading some replies about BB and Buddy getting slower...
BB - ok, his shows are like a comedy show nowadays. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way.. I mean he is actually funny.
But Buddy Guys got slower?! Crikey. I don't believe that for a second.

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Wow, Chuck Berry.....born in 1926 so when he was doing this "Strat" thing he was 83....I will not criticize...I hope i can still play when I am that old...if I am still alive! A Strat? Ummmm Seems like he played ES345s and ES355 most of the time....

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I posted this some time back. Here's an Internet set of pics. The book has some others.

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... 64&start=0

With that in mind, my constant comment on him was that he never played live as technically well as he did on his studio recordings. His stage work was more for show and his 'duckwalking' than to enhance the song. Berry is known in the business for 'winging it.' Coming in, on the fly, no rehearsal. Wham, bam, thank you m'am!

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I have to admit, that is my style too....I mean, the winging it part. I can often improvise something really cool and then two weeks later it is like, wow, what did I do on the tune last time???!! The older I get, the worse it is....no duck walking here! LOL!

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[/quote]The improvising something real cool part is fine. The not doing justice to the song part is another. For example: Eric Clapton has done 'Crossroads' in a variety of different tempos, styles and arrangement, but his guitar playing has always remained true to his capabilities. Berry, on the other hand, has a catalog of creative, and well-played guitar solos which have never ever translated on to the live stage. It's as if he is really not interested in going the mile for either his art, or his audience. Perhaps he doesn't see himself as a guitar virtuoso. For that matter, Keith Richards is far more polished in his studio work than he is in live performance. Perhaps Berry, as his mentor, has had an influence there, as well.

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The improvising something real cool part is fine. The not doing justice to the song part is another. For example: Eric Clapton has done 'Crossroads' in a variety of different tempos, styles and arrangement, but his guitar playing has always remained true to his capabilities. Berry, on the other hand, has a catalog of creative, and well-played guitar solos which have never ever translated on to the live stage. It's as if he is really not interested in going the mile for either his art, or his audience. Perhaps he doesn't see himself as a guitar virtuoso. For that matter, Keith Richards is far more polished in his studio work than he is in live performance. Perhaps Berry, as his mentor, has had an influence there, as well.[/quote]

Mr. ZZDOC, you play with a group, or studio or home picker? I saw your email regarding the tune you cut some years back. That was really interesting! I do mostly studio work now and play with foreign exchange students who are from places like Germany and Czech Rep. Some of these young men can really play!

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[/quote]Mostly at home noodling at present. Every couple of months the dregs of the bands from 50 years back gather at the home of one of the drummers nearby and play for a couple of hours. The five of us constitute a group of players who worked together collectively and severally among several bands starting in the mid-fifties and for at least 30-40 years hence. The keyboard player was a member of a '50's recording group "The Rocking Chairs" and co-wrote a couple of local hits. He presently teaches music in NYC and had a full life as a musician, writer, and teacher. Another, a guitarist and the last playing member of my old band, was a recording engineer for Columbia Records for 18 years and presently works as a building contractor. The drummer is a school principal. The bass player is retired.
Several of them worked society gigs with the Lester Lanin Orchestras, and have played Inaugural Balls and other events of that ilk. Our other drummer lives in Florida. A former Phys Ed teacher from NYC, he presently runs the aviation division for a private corporation and functions as their chief pilot. He has enjoyed a successful 30+ year career in general aviation. Look to YouTube and the Rescue 911 episode "Terror in The Skies'', you will see Ken's 15 minutes of fame. Ken is also proud to have been Andy Gibb's flight instructor and was very close to that family.

Yours truly holds degrees in education and dentistry and a career embracing clinical practice, academics, administration, and supervision.

ZZDoc was the handle given to me by a patient, an ardent follower of that' l'l 'ol band from Texas', when he learned I was a player.

I'll turn 68 in August. By recent internal survey here, appears I'm the old man in the Forum.

Can't say its been boring.

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Mostly at home noodling at present. Every couple of months the dregs of the bands from 50 years back gather at the home of one of the drummers nearby and play for a couple of hours. The five of us constitute a group of players who worked together collectively and severally among several bands starting in the mid-fifties and for at least 30-40 years hence. The keyboard player was a member of a '50's recording group "The Rocking Chairs" and co-wrote a couple of local hits. He presently teaches music in NYC and had a full life as a musician, writer, and teacher. Another, a guitarist and the last playing member of my old band, was a recording engineer for Columbia Records for 18 years and presently works as a building contractor. The drummer is a school principal. The bass player is retired.
Several of them worked society gigs with the Lester Lanin Orchestras, and have played Inaugural Balls and other events of that ilk. Our other drummer lives in Florida. A former Phys Ed teacher from NYC, he presently runs the aviation division for a private corporation and functions as their chief pilot. He has enjoyed a successful 30+ year career in general aviation. Look to YouTube and the Rescue 911 episode "Terror in The Skies'', you will see Ken's 15 minutes of fame. Ken is also proud to have been Andy Gibb's flight instructor and was very close to that family.

Yours truly holds degrees in education and dentistry and a career embracing clinical practice, academics, administration, and supervision.

ZZDoc was the handle given to me by a patient, an ardent follower of that' l'l 'ol band from Texas', when he learned I was a player.

I'll turn 68 in August. By recent internal survey here, appears I'm the old man in the Forum.

Very cool! nice retinue of former band members. I have not got together with my old band members for a long time. We use to do it once a year and then people started moving, doing house bands, and then the years slipped by and some of them were polarized by person issues. So now just studio work creating ambient music for video and jamming with a few old friends and 18-22 year old guys! thanks for sharing mr ZZ!!!

Can't say its been boring. [/quote]

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Well I think some guys are being a bit harsh here, ripping up on guys in there 80s. BB cant even stand anymore and Chuck actually duck walked at 84. Most of us will be dead or dribbling in a home let alone on a stage at that age. And Buddy Guy looks great for 73 and can still do his thing.

Now when I saw Chuck at the Ritz in 78 which is 32 years ago I can honestly say he put on the worst I am here for the money and will talk every song and not play lead guitar show I have ever seen. At least now he has an excuse.

Now there's an 'I second that emotion' for ya!!

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If you can dig up the video of Chuck's 60th birthday bash where Keith Richards put together a good band to back Chuck....it pretty much tells the story of how Chuck traveled when he was touring.
He booked a show,told them to have a backing band,and that he was to be paid before he played,and showed up right at showtime to collect the money,wing it through with no set list rehersal or anything,and then split.
I think it was in that video where they compared his signature licks and weird key sigs. to his piano player,Jimmy Johnson I think it was,he copied the guys piano intros...it was obvious.
But hey...he's the famous one.

That's an interesting concert to watch and quite ironic in parts. Considering the fact that the man hardly plays a creative lick when he performs, his abuse of Richards in failing to execute that bend in the intro to 'Carol' is nothing short of criminal. Here's a sycophant, an accomplished artist in his own right,, worshipping at the feet of what is likely his major influence, and being treated with great disrespect. But that's Berry. The incident is merely a restatement of what the industry already knew about the man. Richard's error comes from years and years of playing it wrong, taking the sound from the recording, and not knowing,first hand, the nuances of the hands artist who created it. It's seems to be a prebend into the note, but Berry's hands are enormous. You need to watch closely when he plays. He looks like he could literally break that neck in half with ease. Those hands are the secret behind the way he executes his doubles stops, trills, grace notes, and triplets and without hands like that, it's going to be a reach for anyone else to match it. (Suggest you listen to the guitar solo in "Sweet L'il Rock and Roller as an example) IMHO Dave Edmunds is probably one of the few accurate interpreters of Berry., and I've heard him dime that one.

Where the intros are concerned, that's a creative modification of the classic slide riff used by many Delta Blues players, notably Elmore James.

The film also treats the history of Berry's ascendancy, joining JJ's band and then making it his own. One must give musical credit to the place of that piano in the 'Berry" sound. Though one cannot deny that Berry created the backbeat for rock music with that alternating power chord riff, it was Johnson's piano that served as the engine driving that train. Alternate takes are out there, sans piano and, believe me, the feel is not the same.

I consider Berry the King of Rock and Roll, and I am not pleased that he was ripped off by people like Alan Freed who took writer's credit for 'Maybellene" as payoff, but Berry owes a debt of gratititude to the players who worked with him and helped forge his place in the history of the genre.

Doc

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