We are drawing nigh on summertime again here in the U.S. and I find myself in a sentimental mood.  It wasn’t too long ago that I would be cruising my faded late 80’s Toyota Corolla and wallowing in the sheer delight of what crackled from my cheap factory speakers.  It was during those long summer days and nights that my confused teenage soul fell in love with the power chord.
 
The electric guitar is what drew me to rock music in the first place but it’s the power chord that keeps me coming back.  It is the easiest thing to play on a guitar, every kid with a beat up Stratocaster is probably in his room right now bashing away at a power chord.  Therein lies the beauty of the power chord and it’s role in rock and roll music, it doesn’t matter if you are in a garage or Madison Square Garden, a power chord will ring fiercely and majestically.  
 
Of course once that power chord has been unleashed it has to go somewhere and that somewhere is the riff.  Lyrics are inconsequential; drums mean nothing to me but a good guitar riff means everything to a song.  It may be a simple pleasure and a less sophisticated version of music, but if I have a choice between AC/DC or Beethoven it will be AC/DC every time.  Beethoven couldn’t write a riff like “Highway to Hell”.
 
I know that I am not alone in my admiration for the guitar, too many magazines and websites stand committed to sharing praise and how-to’s for the electric guitar and the noises that iconic players elicit from its fret boards
 
One of those iconic players was Dimebag Darrell.  That man played riffs that could break the foundations of Fort Knox.  The title “guitar hero” doesn’t really do justice to the people that it is given to and it may seem overdramatic to have such a vested interest in just a musician.  
 
But for most of us music and the people who make it mean a whole lot more.  Guitar players are my superheroes in the same way people hold on to Superman or Batman.  It’s just that my heroes have names like Dime, Joe, Angus and Malcolm.  So this is why I get excited for new albums or concert tours, hopefully somebody somewhere will give me the same feeling I had when I heard “Sweet Emotion” for the first time.
 
Rock music is currently about as exciting as a trip to the optometrist’s office (at least dentists have a drill), which is why I continually look to the past for something new.  I whine and complain about the current state of music like so many other people do but there is no point in wasting our breath.  Until we decide to pick up guitars and make them scream with aural delights there is no one else left to be our heroes.  Just one more round of overweight has-beens and annoying English brit-pop. 
 
So here I will wallow in my sentimental blubbering for all things guitar hoping for the day when an essential rock and roll riff will tear through my speakers blowing away everything I have heard before.  
 
 

Your turn. 

Fan Speak:


Posted by GTD:
hikingartist, you have earned one of the most mightiest of hails. Hail! FZ was sick on the axe, and funny as hell on the words. Kurt didn't kill himself, Adam, but it's known that he wasn't exactly right in the head. Instead of bashing someone like him, someone who took his limited guitar wank skills and f'ed up life and created damn good tunes from it, just give him a bit of credit.

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