HOUND DOG (1956)
Elvis's treatment of Hound Dog is very unlike the 1952 original by Big Mama Thornton, written for her by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. The lyrics were altered to reflect Elvis's gender and to clean up the original's sexual innuendo. Elvis chose 'take 28' of the 31 attempts, but by this time his trusted guitarist Scotty Moore was getting frustrated, so on his second solo - the first is a brilliant spontaneous outing - made a few weird percussive noises and knocked out a couple of random licks. Keith Richards said it sounded like Scotty had thrown the guitar on the floor, picked it up and got the perfect sound.
TOO MUCH (1956)
This track contains one of Scotty Moore's most outlandish solos. We'll let Scotty explain, as he did to Guitarist magazine in 1992. "There's a boy on this tour we just finished, plays every note I ever played - even the bad ones," he jokes. "Too Much was in an unusual key for us at the time. It was in Ab, and we'd done two or three takes, but on this particular cut I just got absolutely bonkers, just got lost, but somehow I came out of it and that's the one Elvis picked. But anyway, this young guitarist would play that sucker note for note!"
LOVE ME TENDER (1956)
This story is from the Summer 2022 edition of Total Guitar.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Summer 2022 edition of Total Guitar.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
POSITIVE GRID SPARK 2
The sequel to the world's most popular smart guitar amp is here
JACKSON PRO PLUS XT SOLOIST SLAT HT6 BARITONE
We get low with this fast-playing, all-black modern metal machine
GUILD POLARA DELUXE
A’70s staple gets a bit of are-jig, o4 years after it was introduced
NEURAL DSP NANO CORTEX
Neural DSP's second pedal might be the ultimate compact all-in-one rig
EPIPHONE JIMI HENDRIX LOVE DROPS FLYING V
Prepare to kiss the sky with Epiphone's latest 'Inspired By...' model
JIMMY PAGE
\"I was using what was really meaty!\"
EDDIE VAN HALEN
“You either capture the vibe or you don't!”
MYTH BUSTERS: THE CABLE DESTRUCTION TEST
Need to know whether gear is worth your cash? Who you gonna call...
JOHN FRUSCIANTE'S LETTER FROM AMERICA
Our July 2006 issue featured none other than John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the cover, with a line of text promising discussion of meditation, drugs, Hendrix and some chat about the band’s then-latest album, Stadium Arcadium.
CHALLENGE CHARLIE
Ata time when TC's staff were getting, frankly, rather silly, one man stood up to take on the daftest of all our challenges...