homepage Forums SimHQ Community Music Gary Rossington was 71

RIP.

Gary Rossington, original Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist, dead at 71 (last surviving original member)...
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/gary-rossington-original-lynyrd-skynyrd-guitarist-dead-71

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesday's Gone - 3/7/1976 - Winterland (Official)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7p2ogicS1U

I recently read the details on what caused the plane crash in 1977 and it's an utter tragedy and shame that the cause was insufficient fuel for the flight. They almost made it to their destination too.

Lynyrd Skynyrd is my favorite band. I've told the story here before of meeting Ed King.

As a kid I began playing guitar about ten years of age. Skynyrd was one the bands I liked. As a guitar player I loved the way they so effortlessly weaved three separate guitar parts in their songs. Guitar players hear the songs a little differently i think. We feel each one, the brain picks each one out. In their music it is so neatly complimentary, and I suspect most folks will never pull it all apart like that. And I wouldn't expect them to. But the players in Skynyrd were masters of the craft. I would spend countless hours playing along to songs like On the Hunt, That Smell and I know a Little. Using a record album as we did in the old days haha, lifting the needle and trying to put it back down in the right groove to go over that lick again and again. How nice it would have been to grow up in the digital age! (not really, honestly, glad I grew up when I did, but guitar players have it far easier now)

Gary Rossington was a massive influence on me, as were all the players Skynyrd employed. Allen Collins was there throughout. Ed King left and was eventually replaced by Cassie Gaines' brother, Steve, who was a phenomenal player. These guys influenced my playing, and what I came to like about guitars and how to play. They showed how it was possible to have three guitars but never feel like one was stepping over the others. It really is quite brilliant music, and no other band does it.

In the world of solid body electric guitars there is one specific model, from one specific year, that is considered the grail. That is the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard. Gary Rossington had one. He called it Bernice. He was always playing that guitar. It's on the album covers, and nearly every stage shot you see of Gary and he's playing it in the video Mark posted above, To me it was like a mythical thing. Bernice was probably responsible for my life-long love of the Les Paul. But it wasn't until I was in my thirties that I could finally afford to buy them, and now I have two. Of course they are not '59 Bursts -- who has a million to blow on a guitar after all -- but they are wonderful guitars.

Rossington wasn't the only famous player to wield a LP, but for me he was the one that exemplified it. It's sad that he is gone. What a life. What wonderful music. Rest in peace Gary. I reckon you've earned it.

Here's the man himself playing the '59 LP Bernice. Allen Collins with a Gibson Explorer on the left. Steve Gaines with Fender Stratocaster on the right, with Rossington in the center




And here are my Les Pauls. Inspired by Gary Rosington more than 40 years ago.

^ Guitar porn.

Love your 'Skynyrd stories, DBond.

So are we all agreed that "Freebird" will still be played and listened to 100 years from now? It's the Southern Rock equivalent to "Stairway to Heaven".

Oh absolutely. To me, the big four are:

Freebird (Southern Rock)
Stairway to Heaven (British Rock)
Hotel California (California Sound) <- yes, that's a thing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_sound)
More Than A Feeling (Arena/Anthem/Corporate Rock [AOR])

Four songs that I never need to hear again for the rest of my life!

Until I hear them again.

LOL Mark!

I think more than anything else what makes "More than a feeling" timeless are the unreal vocals by Brad Delp. It's hard for me to even comprehend that human vocal cords can emit sounds like that.

+1

Indeed

Can never go wrong posting guitar porn as far as I am concerned. The LP on the right come pretty close to Bernice in that stage image. That finish is called sunburst, and why Bernice is referred to as a '59 Burst. In 1959 there was only one sunburst color, and it was simply called sunburst. Today we refer to it as Cherry Sunburst, and the outer edges are a brightish red. Like below


Les Pauls (and others guitars too) are finished with nitrocellulose lacquer to seal it. Less expensive guitars tend to use polyurethane, which is more resistant to scuffs and scratches. One of the downsides to nitro is that it doesn't protect well against sunlight. In 1959 the Les Paul wasn't a popular guitar, sales were disappointing. The Strat was king then. As a result, many of the 1959 models sat exposed in music store windows, fading. The bright red color faded away.

Today, there are a million finish and color options. The guitar of mine on the right is called honeyburst, and is obviously an attempt to replicate the store-window faded look of the vintage Les Pauls.