Bert Weedon - RIP

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 20 Apr 2012 8:01 am

Sad to hear today that Bert Weedon has passed away at the age of nintey-one.

I think this old thread from the SGF will go a long way to explaining his place in the world of guitar...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... 4f8204c955

Larry Miller · Post by **Larry Miller** » 21 Apr 2012 8:05 am

Bert has his place in pop music history. RIP
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/musi ... rtney.html

Larry Miller · Post by **Larry Miller** » 23 Apr 2012 5:24 am

From Paul McCartney's Facebook page:

'Dear Bert - we will miss him. From early childhood throughout our lives he was Britain's Mr guitar. He seemed to be the first person we saw on television showing us how to play and he left a lasting impression on us. We use to joke about how he played a thousand notes a minute but we were always impressed with him. Like us, he loved the guitar and communicated that passion to many generations. Bert, we'll miss you.'

- Paul McCartney

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 23 Apr 2012 5:53 am

That 'Daily Telegraph' piece is well thought out and a pretty accurate assessment of Bert and how we saw him. He wasn't a player that we wanted to emulate - my heroes were Scotty Moore and James Burton - but there was an urgent need for some structured teaching material and, for many, 'Play In A Day' fitted the bill.

McCartney talks of Bert's '....thousand notes a minute...'; that's a reference to Weedon's 'party trick' of maintaining a rapid tremelo on one string as he'd gliss up and down the neck - it probably did produce a thousand or so notes a minute but nothing very musical. Mostly we (me and my contemporaries - now about seventy years old) would scoff at the deception but I'm impressed by anyone who establishes an identity in the world of music.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 23 Apr 2012 9:26 am

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/ ... JN20120420

My first guitar book was his Play in a Day. It took me a little longer than a day to learn, of course. 55 yrs. later I'm almost all the way through the book.

I still use his patented flat pick, which has his name emblazened on it, and is a much better shape that those in use nowadays.

Jam with the angels, Bert. Hand out copies of your book and they'll soon be trading in their harps for guitars.