Chords for George Gruhn on Mike Bloomfield's Guitars
Tempo:
70.825 bpm
Chords used:
A#
F#
D
C#
G
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
banjos, but I think that the electric vintage market really basically did not
exist until about [A#] 1965, at about the time when players like Mike Bloomfield and
Eric Clapton really appeared on the scene playing electrically.
Now my own
personal [A#] opinion is that in the United States, certainly [D] in the Midwest where I
was at the [F#] time in Chicago, that Bloomfield was the most [C#] influential
player of them all, insofar as not selling records but selling guitars.
There's a
big difference between selling records and selling guitars.
There are some
artists who sell millions of records, but guitar players don't necessarily look up
to them.
Like Elvis Presley, for example, used a guitar as a stage prop, but very
few guitar players really care that much what kind of guitar Elvis played.
If you have a genuine Elvis-owned guitar, that'll bring a lot of money on
today's market, but it will bring it not as a guitar but as an Elvis collectible,
and it doesn't translate into that model in general.
But Bloomfield was really a
phenomenon unto himself.
When he first started playing electric guitar with the
Bloomfield Blues Band, he used a 52 Tele, and I saw those things go from about
$75 right on up to about $600 almost overnight, and this period like
64 and 5, $600 for a guitar was a big amount of money.
There wasn't much in the
way of new guitars that cost that much.
I knew Bloomfield from before the time he
even played electric.
When I first met him, he played acoustic blues only.
When
he switched to electric, that was quite a thing.
Then he switched from playing
that Telecaster to playing a 1954 Les Paul Standard Goldtop, and the Teles went
down almost overnight, [F#] and the 54 type Les Pauls went from $75 to about $800 in
a matter of just a few months.
[G] And I would have to [N] attribute that to Bloomfield
and his enormous impact.
In fact, at that time people were commenting that these
Les Pauls were just wonderful, and that they couldn't understand why Gibson had
switched later to those humbucking pickups which had a sort of sickly sweet
syrupy sound, and the tunamatic bridge which even though it might have given
good intonation, supposedly killed sustain and didn't give the tone of the
old stud bridge.
In fact, at that time, occasionally I would find one of these
guitars that had this cherry red and yellow sunburst finish and these metal
covered humbucking pickups, and dealers would tell me, George, you found the wrong
color guitar, it's got the wrong pickups, it's the wrong this, you know, we could
give you $600 for it if it was gold, but only $250 for this version.
Now today, of
course, it's the other way around.
In fact, a short time later, Bloomfield switched
and he got a sunburst Les Paul, and within a matter of just a couple of
months, those went from cheap to expensive, the Gold Tops went down in
price, and the very same people who told me that the Gold Tops had the better
pickup and the better bridge, couldn't recall having ever said that.
So I think
that Bloomfield [D#] was one of the most influential players that the 60s saw.
He
never had a hit record, but guitar players idolized him.
I've heard others
say that it was Clapton who popularized the Les Paul, but to my knowledge, Clapton
didn't ever play a Gold Top first, and then a sunburst, but I clearly saw the
market go from Gold Tops to sunbursts, and every time Bloomfield switched from
one thing to another, the market followed lockstep right behind him with no more
than about a 30-day lag time.
So that means that, in a way, collectors, especially those who are doing it for investment purposes
exist until about [A#] 1965, at about the time when players like Mike Bloomfield and
Eric Clapton really appeared on the scene playing electrically.
Now my own
personal [A#] opinion is that in the United States, certainly [D] in the Midwest where I
was at the [F#] time in Chicago, that Bloomfield was the most [C#] influential
player of them all, insofar as not selling records but selling guitars.
There's a
big difference between selling records and selling guitars.
There are some
artists who sell millions of records, but guitar players don't necessarily look up
to them.
Like Elvis Presley, for example, used a guitar as a stage prop, but very
few guitar players really care that much what kind of guitar Elvis played.
If you have a genuine Elvis-owned guitar, that'll bring a lot of money on
today's market, but it will bring it not as a guitar but as an Elvis collectible,
and it doesn't translate into that model in general.
But Bloomfield was really a
phenomenon unto himself.
When he first started playing electric guitar with the
Bloomfield Blues Band, he used a 52 Tele, and I saw those things go from about
$75 right on up to about $600 almost overnight, and this period like
64 and 5, $600 for a guitar was a big amount of money.
There wasn't much in the
way of new guitars that cost that much.
I knew Bloomfield from before the time he
even played electric.
When I first met him, he played acoustic blues only.
When
he switched to electric, that was quite a thing.
Then he switched from playing
that Telecaster to playing a 1954 Les Paul Standard Goldtop, and the Teles went
down almost overnight, [F#] and the 54 type Les Pauls went from $75 to about $800 in
a matter of just a few months.
[G] And I would have to [N] attribute that to Bloomfield
and his enormous impact.
In fact, at that time people were commenting that these
Les Pauls were just wonderful, and that they couldn't understand why Gibson had
switched later to those humbucking pickups which had a sort of sickly sweet
syrupy sound, and the tunamatic bridge which even though it might have given
good intonation, supposedly killed sustain and didn't give the tone of the
old stud bridge.
In fact, at that time, occasionally I would find one of these
guitars that had this cherry red and yellow sunburst finish and these metal
covered humbucking pickups, and dealers would tell me, George, you found the wrong
color guitar, it's got the wrong pickups, it's the wrong this, you know, we could
give you $600 for it if it was gold, but only $250 for this version.
Now today, of
course, it's the other way around.
In fact, a short time later, Bloomfield switched
and he got a sunburst Les Paul, and within a matter of just a couple of
months, those went from cheap to expensive, the Gold Tops went down in
price, and the very same people who told me that the Gold Tops had the better
pickup and the better bridge, couldn't recall having ever said that.
So I think
that Bloomfield [D#] was one of the most influential players that the 60s saw.
He
never had a hit record, but guitar players idolized him.
I've heard others
say that it was Clapton who popularized the Les Paul, but to my knowledge, Clapton
didn't ever play a Gold Top first, and then a sunburst, but I clearly saw the
market go from Gold Tops to sunbursts, and every time Bloomfield switched from
one thing to another, the market followed lockstep right behind him with no more
than about a 30-day lag time.
So that means that, in a way, collectors, especially those who are doing it for investment purposes
Key:
A#
F#
D
C#
G
A#
F#
D
_ _ _ _ _ banjos, but I think that the electric vintage market really basically did not
exist until about [A#] 1965, at about the time when players like Mike Bloomfield and
Eric Clapton really appeared on the scene playing electrically.
Now my own
personal [A#] opinion is that in the United States, certainly [D] in the Midwest where I
was at the [F#] time in Chicago, that Bloomfield was the most [C#] influential
player of them all, insofar as not selling records but selling guitars.
There's a
big difference between selling records and selling guitars.
There are some
artists who sell millions of records, but guitar players don't necessarily look up
to them.
Like Elvis Presley, for example, used a guitar as a stage prop, but very
few guitar players really care that much what kind of guitar Elvis played.
If you have a genuine Elvis-owned guitar, that'll bring a lot of money on
today's market, but it will bring it not as a guitar but as an Elvis collectible,
and it doesn't translate into that model in general.
But Bloomfield was really a
phenomenon unto himself.
When he first started playing electric guitar with the
Bloomfield Blues Band, he used a 52 Tele, and I saw those things go from about
$75 right on up to about $600 almost overnight, and this period like
64 and 5, $600 for a guitar was a big amount of money.
There wasn't much in the
way of new guitars that cost that much.
I knew Bloomfield from before the time he
even played electric.
When I first met him, he played acoustic blues only.
When
he switched to electric, that was quite a thing.
Then he switched from playing
that Telecaster to playing a 1954 Les Paul Standard Goldtop, and the Teles went
down almost overnight, [F#] and the 54 type Les Pauls went from $75 to about $800 in
a matter of just a few months.
[G] And I would have to [N] attribute that to Bloomfield
and his enormous impact.
In fact, at that time people were commenting that these
Les Pauls were just wonderful, and that they couldn't understand why Gibson had
switched later to those humbucking pickups which had a sort of sickly sweet
syrupy sound, and the tunamatic bridge which even though it might have given
good intonation, supposedly killed sustain and didn't give the tone of the
old stud bridge.
In fact, at that time, occasionally I would find one of these
guitars that had this cherry red and yellow sunburst finish and these metal
covered humbucking pickups, and dealers would tell me, George, you found the wrong
color guitar, it's got the wrong pickups, it's the wrong this, you know, we could
give you $600 for it if it was gold, but only $250 for this version.
Now today, of
course, it's the other way around.
In fact, a short time later, Bloomfield switched
and he got a sunburst Les Paul, and within a matter of just a couple of
months, those went from cheap to expensive, the Gold Tops went down in
price, and the very same people who told me that the Gold Tops had the better
pickup and the better bridge, couldn't recall having ever said that.
So I think
that Bloomfield [D#] was one of the most influential players that the 60s saw.
He
never had a hit record, but guitar players idolized him.
I've heard others
say that it was Clapton who popularized the Les Paul, but to my knowledge, Clapton
didn't ever play a Gold Top first, and then a sunburst, but I clearly saw the
market go from Gold Tops to sunbursts, and every time Bloomfield switched from
one thing to another, the market followed lockstep right behind him with no more
than about a 30-day lag time.
So that means that, in a way, collectors, especially those who are doing it for investment purposes_ _ _ _ _
exist until about [A#] 1965, at about the time when players like Mike Bloomfield and
Eric Clapton really appeared on the scene playing electrically.
Now my own
personal [A#] opinion is that in the United States, certainly [D] in the Midwest where I
was at the [F#] time in Chicago, that Bloomfield was the most [C#] influential
player of them all, insofar as not selling records but selling guitars.
There's a
big difference between selling records and selling guitars.
There are some
artists who sell millions of records, but guitar players don't necessarily look up
to them.
Like Elvis Presley, for example, used a guitar as a stage prop, but very
few guitar players really care that much what kind of guitar Elvis played.
If you have a genuine Elvis-owned guitar, that'll bring a lot of money on
today's market, but it will bring it not as a guitar but as an Elvis collectible,
and it doesn't translate into that model in general.
But Bloomfield was really a
phenomenon unto himself.
When he first started playing electric guitar with the
Bloomfield Blues Band, he used a 52 Tele, and I saw those things go from about
$75 right on up to about $600 almost overnight, and this period like
64 and 5, $600 for a guitar was a big amount of money.
There wasn't much in the
way of new guitars that cost that much.
I knew Bloomfield from before the time he
even played electric.
When I first met him, he played acoustic blues only.
When
he switched to electric, that was quite a thing.
Then he switched from playing
that Telecaster to playing a 1954 Les Paul Standard Goldtop, and the Teles went
down almost overnight, [F#] and the 54 type Les Pauls went from $75 to about $800 in
a matter of just a few months.
[G] And I would have to [N] attribute that to Bloomfield
and his enormous impact.
In fact, at that time people were commenting that these
Les Pauls were just wonderful, and that they couldn't understand why Gibson had
switched later to those humbucking pickups which had a sort of sickly sweet
syrupy sound, and the tunamatic bridge which even though it might have given
good intonation, supposedly killed sustain and didn't give the tone of the
old stud bridge.
In fact, at that time, occasionally I would find one of these
guitars that had this cherry red and yellow sunburst finish and these metal
covered humbucking pickups, and dealers would tell me, George, you found the wrong
color guitar, it's got the wrong pickups, it's the wrong this, you know, we could
give you $600 for it if it was gold, but only $250 for this version.
Now today, of
course, it's the other way around.
In fact, a short time later, Bloomfield switched
and he got a sunburst Les Paul, and within a matter of just a couple of
months, those went from cheap to expensive, the Gold Tops went down in
price, and the very same people who told me that the Gold Tops had the better
pickup and the better bridge, couldn't recall having ever said that.
So I think
that Bloomfield [D#] was one of the most influential players that the 60s saw.
He
never had a hit record, but guitar players idolized him.
I've heard others
say that it was Clapton who popularized the Les Paul, but to my knowledge, Clapton
didn't ever play a Gold Top first, and then a sunburst, but I clearly saw the
market go from Gold Tops to sunbursts, and every time Bloomfield switched from
one thing to another, the market followed lockstep right behind him with no more
than about a 30-day lag time.
So that means that, in a way, collectors, especially those who are doing it for investment purposes_ _ _ _ _