Thursday, September 16, 2010

Guitar Workshop: Brian Setzer,
Up Close and Personal

The founder and frontman for The Stray Cats hit the airwaves at full tilt in the mid-1990s, when he revived the swing and jump blues style of music, that filled swing dance halls to overflowing, culminating in the 1998 release of Louis Prima's "Jump, Jive and Wail" as part of his Top Ten album, The Dirty Boogie. When looking for someone to teach Brian Setzer's style, we were fortunate to come across ... Brian Setzer.

In this clip, designed for the intermediate player, he goes through a series of eight well-organized examples (some more intermediate than others, in which case be sure to check out our segments on pentatonic scales; this one, and that one), the culmination of which should give you a pot pourri of playing techniques, if only just a taste. I think this clip was originally sold on the magazine racks, in the form of a disc with an instructional guide. Wish we could find it online. Oh, whatever.

Note that he's playing a full-body electric archtop cutaway, very popular with swing and jazz players. I do believe this one is made by Gretsch, the folks who made signature models for Brian, as well as Chet Atkins.

Rock on.
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