Anyone played the guitar of a famous guitarist??

[rgregg48]

I played Chet Atkins Hascal Haile guitar.
In 1997 I played Tommy Emmanuel's Maton guitar. I think he has a better model Maton
now.

The great thing about Bluegrass is that most of the musicians are still very approachable, within the limits of good sense of course. Of course, compared to Eric Clapton, few Bluegrass musicians would qualify as "famous". I've been fortunate to be at jams and festivals with lots of well known Bluegrass musicians and many times I've been offered the opportunity to play their guitars and mandolins. That says more about the culture than me. Some of these folks were meeting me for the first time. It's a long list as I sit here and think about it.

[s2y]

Nope. Charlie Hunter once played my Greg German archtop 7 string. Now my guitar knows what a good guitarist sounds like.

[PiousDevil]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

My wife and I had been at a Tommy Emmanuel workshop and we had been there the year before also, so we knew Tommy reasonably well and he knew us by name. When we bumped into him at the airport as we were heading back to Seattle by way of Chicago, Tommy called out to us, "Hey kids!" He was over in a group of chairs at a gate that was not in use, and he was working on a new song, which later showed up on his "Little By Little" album. The song was called "Waiting for a Plane." It was unfinished when he showed us how far he had gotten.

Then he asked me what I was working on, and I told him that I had been working on his "Lewis & Clark" song. I later recorded this song and discussed it in the AGF Show & Tell section. http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...ighlight=Lewis

He then handed me his Kalamazoo guitar and said, "Show me!" So I took off my jacket and got out a thumb pick and my capo and sat down with his guitar and then realized that my hands were shaking. Tommy looked at my hands and said to me, kidding around, "You need some medicine??!!" Well, I just laughed out loud and that seemed to take all the pressure off. Then I was relaxed. Tommy did give me some pointers that really helped me. It was one of those experiences that when you are in the middle of it you keep saying to yourself, "I can't believe that this is happening!" It was something I will always remember.

- Glenn

Maybe you have some insight on this. The Lewis and Clark expedition is clearly part of American history and the American mythos. I'd be surprised if they get much mention in history classes in the rest of the world. What inspired Tommy, an Austrailian, to title a song in their honor?

[Eldergreene]

Played a Martin 000-28 EC belonging to Eric Clapton that had been in for fixing ( we use the same repair guy ) - I was in to pick up my '33 L1 after a neck reset, & had a quick noodle on EC's EC ( as it were ) while I was there; strangely unremarkable in both setup & sound, as I recall - my L1 was louder & sounded better, to my ears - wouldn't've minded swapping tho, that would have taken care of my pension!

[mtcross]

The local stringed instrument pusher had a Mandolin for a while that had been owned by Bill Monroe. While I can pick one out of a line up I have no idea about how to play a mando, still I had to pluck a few strings just to say I had.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by PiousDevil

Maybe you have some insight on this. The Lewis and Clark expedition is clearly part of American history and the American mythos. I'd be surprised if they get much mention in history classes in the rest of the world. What inspired Tommy, an Austrailian, to title a song in their honor?

Ken Burns.
His shows are extremely well done and always rate well down here.
'Vietnam' finished a few weeks ago.

[gfspencer]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

The great thing about Bluegrass is that most of the musicians are still very approachable, within the limits of good sense of course. Of course, compared to Eric Clapton, few Bluegrass musicians would qualify as "famous". I've been fortunate to be at jams and festivals with lots of well known Bluegrass musicians and many times I've been offered the opportunity to play their guitars and mandolins. That says more about the culture than me. Some of these folks were meeting me for the first time. It's a long list as I sit here and think about it.

Speaking of Bluegrass . . . John Starling (Seldom Scene) and I once traded guitars for a few songs.

[Goodallboy]

At Rudy's Soho (NYC), he handed me Mark Knoplers' red Stratocaster and told me to play it.

It was intimidating. I sounded nothing like Mark.

[Chipotle]

Nope. but Pat Metheny once played the Gibson ES335 I now own. Previous owner showed me the pics, and it was before Photoshop so they were probably legit. :-)

[Brendan @ Heartbreaker Guitars]

When I was visiting the Rick Turner Shop in Santa Cruz, I played Lindsey Buckingham's #1 Model 1 which has long been retired for a number of reasons. it looked like hell, but just to hold it was an honor. It was barely playable, but man what a cool moment!

[C.F. Angee]

Pete Seeger handed me his famous banjo. Freaking put it right into my hands. And I froze. I had gotten my first banjo weeks before, and there was no way I was going to embarrass myself in front of Pete. It was years later that I gained wisdom, but I've never had that chance again.

[SongwriterFan]

I played a couple of all-koa Taylors owned by Clint Black when he had them for sale at Gruhn's about 15+ years ago (back when Gruhn's was on Broadway).

Wasn't impressed enough to come home with either of them.

[SongwriterFan]

I played (and bought) a McKnight guitar that Bob Minner (of Tim McGraw's band) played. Apparently he didn't want that exact one or wanted to wait a while (he told Tim to set aside woods to build one just like it).

Glad he didn't get it, as it's still my favorite guitar.

[jricc]

On different occasions, I played guitars of 2 guys from one band. At my wedding I had Bruce Foster (great grand son of Stephen Foster) playing. Bruce brought along his 12 string Ovation owned by Richie Sambora and given to Bruce. I jammed with Bruce at my wedding and used the 12 string while he played piano.

10 years later I played Jon Bon Jovi's main black Takamine. It was in for service at my guitar tech's shop.

Proud to be Jersey boy