I found Alan Yentob’s programme on the history of the guitar to be superficial and largely unsatisfying but there were two bits in it that made me glad I watched it. The first was Johnny Marr who was charming, unassuming and a joy to listen to, the second was the story of Tony Iommi’s fingers.
I can’t believe that I did not know about Iommi’s fingers. Right at the start of his career while he was still working in a foundry he lost the tips of a couple of fingers in an industrial accident. He had resigned himself to giving up his plans to be a guitarist until a friend played him a Django Rheinhardt record – Django being the virtuoso guitarist who played with Stephane Grappelli in the Hot Club de Paris despite lacking a few fingers himself.
I just liked the idea that Black Sabbath’s monumental black country metal guitar sound was at least partly inspired by 1940s jazz.
The Tony Iommi thing is nuts, isn’t it? My guitar teacher told me about that. I can’t decide whether it’s really inspiring for aspiring students, or just deeply intimidating.
Inspiring? As long as it doesn’t inspire anyone to stick their hand in a bacon slicer to make them play better!