A legend takes the Rainbow Bridge

December 16, 2008 10:06 PM

The great British guitarist Davey Graham died Monday at 68.Every aspiring acoustic guitar player who came of age during the 60s knew of Davy Graham, composer of Anji and inventor of the DADGAD tuning. His own records were never commercial smashes, but his influence was felt by all his contemporaries in the world of folk music and by legions who came after who knew nothing of him personally. The Guardian has a brief obit and assembles a fine video tribute .
posted by rdone (18 comments total)

I spent countless hours learning to play his amazing compositions. He was a hero of my old teacher Duck Baker and became one of my guitar heroes as a result. What an incredibly gifted guy, and a sad loss.

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posted by ORthey at 10:14 PM on December 16, 2008

Way cool to have had Duck Baker as a teacher, ORthey: an amazing guitarist in his own right.

Davy's influence was spread stateside through Paul Simon and Stefan Grossman, both of whom spent formative time in London when DG was at the top of his game. Simon popularized Anji for many a guitarist who had no idea that he had copped it from Davy. Duck was part of Stefan's axis of brilliant guitarists who idolized Davy, including the astounding Ton van Bergeyk.
posted by rdone at 10:25 PM on December 16, 2008

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posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 10:25 PM on December 16, 2008

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Here's a live session of Graham playing a medley of "Blue Raga", "She Walked Through the Fair" and some other business.

And a previous mention of Graham here on the Blue, from last year.

Many around here may know that Graham is almost single-handedly responsible for Led Zeppelin's sound but received neither credit nor compensation for it.

Apparently, it was a rich cultural moment in and around London during he early '60's. The aforementioned link offers something of a tribute and explication of Graham's influence.
posted by vhsiv at 10:59 PM on December 16, 2008

I did a double take in one of the videos when I thought to myself "He's playing a Zeppelin song!"

Never heard of him before. Very interesting.
posted by bardic at 12:16 AM on December 17, 2008

He's more famous in Britain, I think, bardic. I know all my guitarist friends here heard him before I did.

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posted by chuckdarwin at 12:54 AM on December 17, 2008

Damn, I was listening to him only the other day.

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posted by mandal at 2:03 AM on December 17, 2008

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Listening to him right now and having a quiet sob.
posted by El Brendano at 2:10 AM on December 17, 2008

I have been learning Anji for thirty years. It never gets old.

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posted by RussHy at 4:09 AM on December 17, 2008

To claim that Graham was the "inventor" of the DADGAD tuning is to needlessly overstate the case; it's like claiming that someone invented 5/4. Graham was a great guitarist, and his work inspired many other guitarists to try different tunings, certainly including DADGAD.
posted by pnh at 4:52 AM on December 17, 2008

Thanks for the introduction and the notice. Another example of someone I don't know influencing the music I play. As a youngster, I figured out that I had to tune to DADGAD to play "Black Mountain Side. Every time I hear that tuning (or any lower-tuned guitar), I get a small rush of good emotions. Thanks for living, Mr. Graham.
posted by not_on_display at 4:59 AM on December 17, 2008

Many around here may know that Graham is almost single-handedly responsible for Led Zeppelin's sound but received neither credit nor compensation for it.

Dont you mean Bert Jansch?
posted by the cuban at 5:36 AM on December 17, 2008

Via Wikipedia:

Herbert Jansch (born 3 November 1943), known as Bert Jansch, is a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and, in the 1960s, he was heavily influenced by the guitarist Davey Graham and folk singers such as Anne Briggs. He is best known as an innovative and accomplished acoustic guitarist but is also a singer and songwriter.

posted by vhsiv at 6:55 AM on December 17, 2008

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posted by motty at 7:45 AM on December 17, 2008

Sad to learn about.

May he rest in peace.
posted by nickyskye at 8:49 AM on December 17, 2008

And here I thought it was Roy harper that heavily influenced Page, but when I heard the embedded audio on the OP, and saw the tributes from Renbourn & Jansch, I thought, ooooh kay, this guy goes back there too. Nice stuff. Sorry I had to learn about him this way.
posted by beelzbubba at 12:01 PM on December 17, 2008

Another man done gone.
---the end of an epoque?
- may he rest in peace.

The folky music scene in England of the 60's was an amazing time. God how I miss it - there were so many good musicians. All learning from each other (and from american records) and developing there own personal styles. They branched out in many directions. Some like Clive Palmer and Wizz Jones went to Buskers paradise (Paris ..erm France). Clive started The Incredible String Band with Robin Williamson and Mike Heron but left before they recorded and before they played Woodstock (not included in THE film)
Davey hung out with John Renbourn and Bert Jansch who later formed Pentangle. In St. Albans Mac Macleod was teaching his mate fingerpicking. Who put it to good use later.
And recently John Renbourn teamed up with Robin Williamson as The Impenetrable String Tangle.

Now, sadly, Daveys gone - but his music lives on.
The folk process.
posted by jan murray at 2:03 PM on December 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Good God, why did the Guardian include that last video? Romanian style or not, that was painful.

Still, great post about a player that I hadn't heard of before, but has clearly been a major influence.
posted by jpdoane at 2:09 PM on December 17, 2008