Play in a Day Guitarist Bert Weedon Dead at 91

04/23/2012
. (Gibson) Guitarist Bert Weedon, whose Play in a Day tutorial manual served as an early guide to such greats as Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Brian May, died Thursday (April 19) after a long illness. He was 91.

Weedon was an orchestral guitarist during the post-war big band era, and later played on countless pop hits by the likes of Cliff Richard and Billy Fury, but it was his famous instruction guide for which he will be best remembered. Published in 1957, Play in a Day went on to sell more than two million copies, and was translated into dozens of languages.

McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon all said Play in a Day was instrumental to their early development as musicians. Clapton said Weedon's tips and encouragement gave him the motivation to press on, when he was first learning to play. May was even more effusive in his praise, calling Weedon "a legend" and a "guitar wizard." Weedon remained in Great Britain throughout his life. He was awarded an OBE � Order of the British Empire � in 2001 for his services to music. more on this story

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