Monday, October 17, 2011

Guitar Hero

I have always had a fascination with guitarists, and love shooting them.  From the lead, to the bassist, the strummer on the acoustic to the metal head grinding away till his fingers bleed, these people create audible and visual magic with their instruments.  There's something very sexy about the way guitarists finger their chords, nimbly sliding up and down the scale, stretching way up the frets for that top note, and blazing down the neck for that full on jam, bringing the song, and the audience to a frenzied climax.  Who doesn't recall their teen years in a montage of guitar intros and solos like a continuous greatest hits loop?  In this blog, I've assembled some deft fingers playing all over Nashville from the sublime to the crazed, the iconic to the local spice. Take a load off and enjoy a little jam with defriezframe:
The One and Only Willie Nelson
If this guitar could talk, the stories it could tell...


Keith Urban - I could do an entire blog on Keith and his incredible guitar playing.  I've got some excellent pictures from his recent tour - Get Closer.  Boy did he!  This guy can wail with the wildest and touch your heart with the most tender lyrics and his gentle pluck of the strings.







Jake Owen - Now here's a guy who knows how to have fun!

                           
Some awesome rockers have come through town, and I wish I could say I had pictures of all of them.  Not hardly. But I did manage to score some pics of some pretty well known rockers doing what we pay a boatload of cash to see them do, and that's the payoff, those killer riffs.
Poison's badass bass player C.C. DeVille
                                                         

 
Mick Mars (above) and Nikki Sixx (below) - Still rockin' after all these years
                                           




                                     Playing guitar doesn't always involve just making music....

Motley Crue

                                

Nashville metal band Harlott - These guys rock so hard their fingers should be bloody stumps!

















 These next few shots were taken at a WRLT show that featured TEN for TENN - 10 amazing musicians that all play for other headlining acts for their day jobs.  They've  together to created their own band to showcase their diverse writing and musical styles.  

 




  
Vince Gill - does it get any purer?

Dynamic Duo Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles wows the crowd with her band mate Kristian Bush on guitar









Lady Antebellum guitarist Dave Haywood

Lady Antebellum's guitar section jammin' on stage at CMA Music Festival.


Train frontman Patrick Monahan with his long-time guitarist Jimmy Stafford
Piano man Phil Vassar with his guitarist at a WSIX listener party.

One of the most successful and prolific songwriters in Nashville - Rivers Rutherford


Blake Shelton


Ronnie Dunn and his guitarists


 Okay, so this isn't exactly a guitar, but it's one of the sexiest instruments I've heard, and I'm not going to do a blog on electric cellos any time soon.  You've heard this on the cool intro to Secrets, from One Republic.  WRVW had a few listeners over for an intimate meet & greet with the band.


Cellist Brent Kutzle





You can't turn on a pop station in America today without hearing Foster the People.  Below are some candid pics...

Mark Foster - Foster the People



Mark Pontius



Bassist Cubbie Fink


  

Luke Bryan - if you've never seen this guy live, you are in for a treat!


Steel Magnolia - Think these two enjoy each other?

Taylor Swift 

A little fine tuning at the Bluebird...


Bassist Reid Perry of The Band Perry



Aaron Lewis - You know him as the voice of the rock band Staind


Aaron's guitar gets a workout














 I've got to wrap this with my own guitar hero, Paul McCartney.  I saw him earlier this year at the Bridgestone Arena here in Nashville for the 3rd time (the first was 1976 - I was a tender and impressionable 12 year old with a "lifelong crush" on Paul). It was, as always, a defining experience for me.  He wrote the soundtrack of my life, and as all things that bring a smile to your face and a pang to your stomach, it never gets old. I just wish the pics were better...that's what I get for bringing a point and shoot without superpowers to the nosebleed seats.


Sir Paul with the legendary Hofner Bass



I hope you enjoyed today's little romp through the guitar heaven that is Nashville.  Go crank up your favorite tune with that mind-numbing solo that used to drive your mother nuts and enjoy!  Catch you on the next installment of defriezframe...