BUDDY GUY

     Born in Lettsworth, Louisiana George "Buddy" Guy is one of the greatest guitarists and preformers in history. He started playingn bye learnining on a two string homemade guitar and eventually upgraded to an acoustic guitar. He was influenced mainly buy Muddy waters. Buddy earned his break after a guitar competition and was quickly signed by Cobra Records. Although great he held himself back due to his personality. As apposed to a standared recording artist Buddy would record like he played live, with screaming endless improvisations and by talking during a cease between solos. He is characterized by his live preformances where his personality is conveyed through the music. on stage he jokes around with the crowd and engages in ridiculous antics such as playing his guitar with a pair of drumsticks. The appeal of his music is that he is in the music, you will always feel the presence of Buddy Guy whenever you hear his tunes.

     Guy's style is distinct as he will frequently open with an extended solo, transitioning into a pause with a muted standard 12 bar blues playing in the background, he uses this time to do the majority of his singing and then goes back into another solo. His solos have a distinct sound as they a fast paced, screaming and swampy. They really match his flamboyant personality in their pace and tone.

"I've Got my Eyes On You"

     This song is preformed with G.E. Smith and the SNL band. The opening is played by G.E. Smith and involves a standard twelve bar blues with slight alterations. He Slides and taps the notes of the last chord instead of playing the chord itself. After playing the twelve bars. Buddy comes in with a full solo holding and bending notes so that the guitar produces a scream. After his solo he stops playing and statrs singing, after 24 bars he goes back into another solo and so ends the song.

"Talk To Me Baby"  

    This song was again preformed with G.E. Smith and the SNL band. He opens with a twelve bar blues but makes the chords minor and alters the style of picking to achive a more melancholy sound. This time he goes into his singing right of the bat. He plays a more mellow style solo while he sings When he stops singing he goes back to his stlye of fast paced music and chords played during the solo.

"Let Me Love You Baby"

     This song like the others alters the picking of the 12 bar blues. The bass uses eigth nots in place of quarter notes to create a more fast paced feel. Again like his other songs he opens with a solo, goes into a singing part. In between sentences during the chorus Guy plays bending single notes in very short solos until the chrous unds and he then goes into another full in solo. One may notice that all the songs seem to be love songs, he talks about seeing beautiful women and talking to them. He asks them to love him, and he compliments them. his lyrics are very much alike in most of his songs. His mucic is more instrumental than lyrical, the lyrics don"t mean so much as the guitar does. This may be why he plays the guitar parts before and after he sings but not at the same time, he does not want to take away credit if you will from the instrument.