Comments on: Doc Watson leaves us with wonderful music https://www.mikemcclellan.com.au/blog/?p=48 source material for singer songwriter guitarists Mon, 07 Apr 2014 22:20:35 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.36 By: admin https://www.mikemcclellan.com.au/blog/?p=48&cpage=1#comment-514 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:47:48 +0000 http://www.mikemcclellan.com.au/blog/?p=48#comment-514 Thanks Nigel. The inspiration we all get from those with whom we make contact in our lives has a long lineage. I know Doc acknowledged his influences just as warmly as you and I do ours. For me it is a blessing that I have been able, in some small way, to absorb and pass on the impact he had on me as a young guitarist. I guess the real measure of the contribution we might make to the music of future generations is what we might bring to those influences, how successfully we might add to them and grow them. I hope I have been able to do so. If there is a little evidence to be found for such ambition it lies in a note like yours. Thank you. It is that confirmation that has sustained me and encouraged me to devote this phase of my life to making music fulltime.

]]> By: Nigel Foote https://www.mikemcclellan.com.au/blog/?p=48&cpage=1#comment-510 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 04:37:01 +0000 http://www.mikemcclellan.com.au/blog/?p=48#comment-510 Hello Mike
It was your playing of Doc Watson’s ‘Deep River Blues’, at PACT Folk in the late 60s, that made me catch a bus/train/bus from Paddington to your place in West Pennant Hills for guitar lessons ($3.50 for a 1/2 hour lesson back then). I asked you if you would teach me the tune and you said, “You better play me something first”. So I played you a simple accompaniment to East Virginia, after which you told me that I wasn’t ready for ‘Deep River Blues’. When I asked you how long it might be, you said – with a smile – “Maybe ten years.” So you taught me some simpler tunes to build my finger-picking foundation.

You were right, I wasn’t ready, but that didn’t stop me trying to learn ‘Deep River Blues’. I slaved over that tune in my candle shop in Paddo until my fingers tingled, went numb and then bled. Obsessive streak? You bet! The frustrating thing was that I could ALMOST play the tune… but in the end I got so fed up with it that I actually SOLD MY GUITAR! (Maton FG100) to a mate of mine who moved to Byron Bay.

I suffered ‘guitar withdrawal’ for about a month, before buying a plywood-topped Takamine from Harry Landis in Park Street, and I was back in the shop trying to play ‘Deep River Blues’ once again. I finally got it – but it took me five years… and a guitar.

Now, when a new student asks me to teach them an advanced tune that they’ve heard me perform, I say, “Well, you better play me something first”… I’m sure Doc would have a chuckle. I was sad to hear of the death of Doc Watson, and will keep teaching his ‘Deep River Blues’… to those who are ready for it!

Thanks for the lessons Mike – you saved me from having to get a real job.

Always loved your music

Nigel Foote

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