Album Thirteen: Davy Graham

How I discovered the greatest acoustic guitarist of all time:

When the internet was just a puppy one of the most wonderful things it offered was Tablature for guitar pieces.  For those that don’t know, Tablature is a method used to write down music for the guitar, it takes a schematic approach and is immediately accessible, more so than the standard way music is written.  In the communal spirit that the internet has continued to demonstrate, musicians would transcribe pieces of music by ear, write down the Tablature and share their work online.

I had been listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s record ‘The Sound of Silence’ on a CD my mum had bought.  Paul Simon is a phenomenal musician, before the duo hit the big time, he travelled around the UK busking.  He delved into the rich folk scene that the UK could boast in the mid-sixties.  Sat at the feet of people like Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, he lapped up traditional pieces.  Back in the US, inspired by what he had discovered, he made a huge splash in the popular music world.

One piece, a fingerpicking guitar instrumental called Anji, that features midway through ‘The Sound of Silence, caught my attention.  I’d never heard such craftmanship on the acoustic.  Like every kid my age I idolised the electric guitar gods.  But suddenly here was mastery of the instrument of a different kind.

So ambitiously setting out to learn Anji I found the Tablature online and printed it off.  Unusually however the author had included some notes with the transcription, information about the piece.  I discovered that Anji was not in fact an original piece by Simon, nor was it a traditional piece.  It had been written by a man named Davy Graham.  So began the musical love affair of my lifetime with the guitar playing of this Englishman. 

I read that as a young child his family had been invited on a picnic with the local GP’s family.  When the Graham’s arrived the GP was playing an old acoustic.  Davy was mesmerised and decided, with the stubborn streak that he was famous for, that he was not going on the picnic, but he was going to learn this piece.  When everyone returned a couple of hours later, he could play it perfectly.

People would say that Davy could take a whole orchestra and condense it down onto his guitar.  He was interested in what is now referred to as ‘World Music’.  He wanted to learn Eastern pieces, he invented the tuning DADGAD.  He was before his time.

The album I would have liked to use to promote his work is called ‘After Hours’, however the full record is not on YouTube.  This was made in a student bedroom at Hull University after a gig he had played there.  He had a friend who studied at Hull and had invited him back to hangout with some friends.  The friend had an old tape recorder and recorded, along with the occasional chatter of some of the pals who were making merry, an hour-long masterclass in guitar playing.  Covering everything from Classical, to Blues, to Indian and much in between.

The album I will provide the link to is called ‘Large as Life and Twice as Natural’.  This showcases his interest in crossing over styles.  He starts with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’.  He plays Ragas and Blues.  It’s a great listen.  My hope is that if there are any budding guitarists reading this they go out and seek Davy Graham, the greatest acoustic guitarist that ever lived.