(Credits: Far Out / Bent Rej)
The unstoppable guitarist for the equally inimitable Rolling Stones, the walking medical marvel currently defined in his human state as Keith Richards, is a mythical figure in rock and roll. Not only are his off-stage exploits unmatched, but his guitar style, while not always technically proficient, is so unique and utterly dripping with style that he is rightly considered within the argument of the greatest guitarists of all time.
While the brutal snorts of derision towards such an argument are worthy of the plhegm flecked breath used to provide them, there is a whole host of unforgettable rock anthems that simply wouldn’t have existed without Richards’ abilities on the six-string.
Forget noodling solos and unwelcome swishing of extensively over-shampooed hair as spotlights glimmer and fingers work up and down a fretboard like a child’s magician assuring his audience they are, in fact, being dazzled. Richards was the real deal, he was every part of the rock and roll lifestyle and embodied the music that made us all go wild. Without him and The Rolling Stones, music at large, would be a very sombre place.
Not only did The Rolling Stones breathe new and dangerous energy into the pop music scene when they arrived in the 1960s, but they did so by paying homepage to the past. It means that while Richards was the face of a new sound, he was still indebted to those before him, and he knew it.
If there’s one man who has painstakingly given every single bit of his mind, body and soul to the guitar it has to be Keith Richards. An expert player, the ultimate riff machine, an undoubted vibe merchant, and as it turns out, he has fantastic taste in music.
So while we could go on for an eternity about the self-described style of Keith Richards, “five strings, two fingers, one asshole,” we thought we should reflect on those artists whom Richards deems musical heroes. For, looking into the skill of Richards is to see the roots of the genre and the impossibly wonderful guitarists who shaped the greatest rhythm player ever.
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