Do you prefer Elvis's Lyrics or Guitar playing ?

[RouseTheBoroughs]

 

[Tonemeister69]

This would propably work best as a poll.

 

[Voodoo Blues]

Elvis could play guitar?

I've seen him hold one but he never actually played it.

 

[todd richman]

+1 Voodoo, it was always slung acorss his back like a fifties-era Joe perry in the glory days of Aerosmith.

 

[Taller]

Elvis wrote lyrics? I've seen him sing them, but didn't know he wrote them.

 

[dunara]

Elvis could play guitar?
I've seen him hold one but he never actually played it.

There was nothing wrong with Elvis's guitar playing. He may not have been James Burton, but he knew which end to blow into. Here he is .......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2LgYm9khU4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XqmKUOKccA&feature=related

 

[scmavl]

The Gibson Elvis J-200 is the only signature model instrument I'd be proud to own. I've been an Elvis fan since I was about 3 years old, even though he died the year I was born.

 

[LowWatt]

The Sound Hound Lounge
General discussion about anything related to music.

 

[5E3]

IMO, Elvis was all about his singing voice and charismatic character.

 

[dantedayjob]

Elvis could play guitar?

I've seen him hold one but he never actually played it.

Here's a clip from the '68 Comeback special where he is playing Scotty Moore's guitar... Elvis actually was a decent rhythm player.

EDIT: WTF? I just came back to this thread to see what was going on and saw that my link to the clip in question wasn't here! I'll try to find it an repost later... I would like to blame it on a computer glitch, but chance are it was a brain glitch..

 

['70 RS]

Elvis could play guitar?

Hell yes he could.

 

[cob666]

Here's a clip from the '68 Comeback special where he is playing Scotty Moore's guitar... Elvis actually was a decent rhythm player.

I recall reading somewhere that Scotty wasn't too happy when Elvis asked him to switch guitars during that performance.

Both my parents listened to Elvis so that means I grew up listening to Elvis and there's very little stuff I don't like.

An interesting question would be this:

Do you prefer Elvis' singing or Scotty's playing? Of course most of the late 60's, 70's stuff had James Burton on guitar but of the two I think Scotty was a better player and 'suited' E's singing style better.

 

[Whiskeyrebel]

Did he write the additional lyrics on his version of Old Macdonald (from Double Trouble)? If so, I'll vote for his lyrics.

My three-year-old loves that since we found it on You Tube. Strangely, he seems to have trouble pronouncing "oink". With a nyuk nyuk here, a nyuk nyuk there...

IIRC Elvis described his own guitar playing as "sounds like somebody banging on an old see-gar box".

 

[84Bravo]

Listen to the early Sun Records stuff. Elvis had a drivin' right hand and you can hear that D-18 ring. Long live the King.

 

['70 RS]

Listen to the early Sun Records stuff. Elvis had a drivin' right hand and you can hear that D-18 ring. Long live the King.

Exactly.
Anyone can take a solo....it takes a master to lay down the rhythm.

 

[snarkle]

I think I'd take his guitar COLLECTION over his playing or his poetry...if anybody ever sees one of THESE around, let me know. (The guitar, I mean, not the cardboard cutout.)

http://www.giftapolis.com/elprdoneguli.html

Mmmmm...early ’60s doubleneck with standard neck and six-string bass...that's a signature model I'd buy.

 

[Waxhead]

Best thing Elvis did was his singing & dancing IMHO

 

[Funkwire]

From scottymoore.net:

The subject often comes up as to how well a guitar player Elvis actually was. Scotty Moore often says that Elvis was not really an accomplished musician but that he had an uncanny and amazing sense of timing and rhythm. At the very beginning of their performing careers Elvis' accompaniment on guitar was a big part of the sound but in most cases on tour they considered themselves lucky if there was a mic for Bill's bass let alone one for Elvis' guitar. Scotty said that about the time that Elvis started to learn to move on stage to work the audience is when the guitar became more of a prop. Ability aside though, it would be impossible to gauge the impact the image alone had of Elvis on TV and stage with a guitar and how many people were inspired to pick up a guitar and learn to play.

And that, as they say...is that.

 

[84Bravo]

Listen. 1954. One doghouse bass, one electric guitar, one Martin D-18.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIWlWA1YTBw

 

[TenThumbs]

From what I have read and been told, Elvis didn't play a Martin D-18 on his July 5-6 Sun recordings. He played the same guitar his Mother purchased for him on his 12th birthday. Remember, they were dirt poor at this point so he couldn't afford one. The Martin (with tooled leather case) came in around the time he started touring with the Louisiana Hay ride.

As for his playing talents, he did say many times that he wasn't very good but he did have amazing rhythm and timing. He also played the bass and I believe is credited for playing on "Baby, I don't care".

I was raised in Memphis during the early 70's and if he left his house, opened a window or rented out a department store (Goldsmith's), it was on every news channel for days. Needless to say, my folks listed to his music all time so I was literally born an Elvis fan.

His vocals, innate musical timing, charisma and looks are what carried him and made him a star. I guess if you have all that, you really don't have to be a great player.