RANDY BACHMAN SHUFFLED across a Tokyo concert stage and quietly embraced his long-lost girlfriend for the first time in 46 years. It was a quiet, somewhat awkward moment, and the aging Canadian rocker, perhaps overcome by emotion, said little. He was finally holding his hit-making Gretsch guitar, an instrument he'd once compared to a lover. After decades of fruitless searching, the guitar had been located and would at last be going home.
Bachman's July 1 reunion with his Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins model brought one of the guitar world's greatest mysteries to an end. In 1976, the guitarist was on top of the world. His band Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) had topped the U.S. and Canadian charts the year before with Not Fragile and followed it up with the successful jazz-influenced single "Lookin' Out for #1." He built a mansion with its own recording studio and bowling alley.
Then came the a gut punch: In a hotel outside Toronto, a thief stole his treasured Gretsch guitar. Bachman was devastated. The Gretsch had made him a star. He looked everywhere for it, enlisting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and searching through guitar and pawnshops across North America for years. But the guitar was gone without a trace.
Bachman grew up in Winnipeg. He played classical violin until one day in 1956, when he saw Elvis Presley gyrating and strumming his Martin D-28 on The Ed Sullivan Show. His parents told him it was rock and roll. Bachman borrowed a cousin's guitar and was hooked. "I found out the guitar is the most intimate instrument there is," Bachman says from his home in British Columbia. "It's the only one you hold next to you, with both arms around it, like a person. Your whole body resonates with what you're playing, and it's very special."
Denne historien er fra November 2022-utgaven av Guitar Player.
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Denne historien er fra November 2022-utgaven av Guitar Player.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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TRANSCENDENTAL MAN
Luther Dickinson interpreted a priceless work of art in music. In the process, the blues guitarist wrote his own next chapter.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Together with Tony Levin, Adrian Belew and Steve Vai join forces for a Robert Fripp-endorsed revival of King Crimson's groundbreaking 1980s music.
I'M 100 PERCENT HAPPY WITH THE WORK I'VE DONE WITH PINK FLOYD. BUT...'MY FOCUS IS DIFFERENT RIGHT NOW'
Leading a rock group and being a solo artist were \"not what I asked for,\" David Gilmour says. For Luck and Strange, he assembled a team that shared the weight of his creative efforts. The result? \"The best album I've made since The Dark Side of the Moon.\"
DOUG GILLARD IS INDISPENSABLE
His six-string genius has proved vital to the music of Guided by Voices, Nada Surf and other indie-rock favorites. But all he really wants is to make good music.
Sol Salvation
The genius of Sol Hoopii is preserved in 16 timeless cuts on Master of the Hawaiian Guitar.
Pickup Artist
With its Wide Range humbuckers, the 1970s Fender Telecaster Thinline scores better than most of its contemporaries.
MY CAREER IN FIVE SONGS
Joe Walsh's Jazzmaster, Billy Cobham's bass line... As Bush head out on tour, Gavin Rossdale reveals the history behind a handful of their best tunes
TIPSHEET
We asked Brian Ray for his advice on playing Beatles tunes. After all, he learned from the best.
MAN AT WORK
A juke joint just wasn't in the cards. So Cedric Burnside turned the old building into a studio for his hardcore blues workout, Hill Country Love.
MADE IN THE SHADE
The Gibson Custom Shop created just 59 examples of the Jason Isbell \"Red Eye\" 1959 Les Paul Standard. We got our hands on one of them.