R.I.P. "Mr. Guitar" Bert Weedon

Bert "Mr. Guitar" Weedon

A sad bit of news today, Bert Weedon, known as "Mr. Guitar" has passed away. He was 91 years old. Weedon was born on May 10th, 1920 in London England. Weedon began his career by playing classical guitar when he was twelve, then opted to pursue a professional career in the 1930's playing in a wide variety of groups. In the 1950's Weedon joined the BBC Show Band and began working as a professional session guitarist in the London music studios. He would ultimately play on over 5,000 BBC radio and television productions.

His best-known contribution to the world of music was his guitar how-to book titled "Play in a Day", first published in 1957, which many stars claim was a major influence on their learning and playing. He later wrote a follow-up, Play Every Day. His playing style focused on both rhythm and melody, and was itself influenced by the jazz guitarists of the 1950s, notably Les Paul. Weedon placed a lot of emphasis on control of tone, and wanted to make the guitar the star of his music.

Among those who were influenced by Weedon, or learned to play guitar from his instructional books were Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Brian May, and of course Jimmy Page, who picked up Weedon's book when he was first starting out on the cheap acoustic he found in his house.

He will be missed.