{"id":27373,"date":"2024-05-03T05:30:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T09:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27373"},"modified":"2024-03-27T11:30:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T15:30:19","slug":"roger-mcguinns-signature-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/03\/roger-mcguinns-signature-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"Roger McGuinn\u2019s Signature Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roger McGuinn is largely responsible for one of the most distinctive sounds in popular music. Though his musical career began in the folk idiom, McGuinn \u2013 like countless others in 1964 \u2013 was captivated and inspired by The Beatles. He formed a Los Angeles band, first called The Jet Set and soon renamed The Byrds. With its animal name and alternate spelling both nods to The Beatles, the group\u2019s sound was innovative. \u201cThe combination of putting a Beatle beat to folk songs seemed like a really great idea,\u201d says McGuinn. Even then he knew his band was doing something groundbreaking.<\/p>\n

And when McGuinn and his band mates saw the Beatles\u2019 debut film A Hard Day\u2019s Night<\/i> in the movie theater, George Harrison\u2019s chiming Rickenbacker guitar caught their attention. McGuinn soon applied the electric 12-string\u2019s signature sound to his band\u2019s rock arrangement of a Bob Dylan folk song, \u201cMr. Tambourine Man.\u201d The rest is history.<\/p>\n

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Photo by John Chiasson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI just love the sound\u201d of a Rickenbacker, McGuinn says today, some 59 years after The Byrds\u2019 recording of \u201cMr. Tambourine Man\u201d hit record store shelves. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the greatest sounding instruments in the world.\u201d And McGuinn looks back at the time when that record \u2013 The Byrds\u2019 second single \u2013 topped the charts. \u201cIt reached number one for a couple of weeks,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe fans were screaming and following us around. It was a wild, surreal thing: it was just like A Hard Day\u2019s Night<\/i>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Though The Byrds\u2019 lineup would be in constant flux \u2013 none of its \u201860s-era lineups would make more than two consecutive albums \u2013 the band scored seven hit singles on the Top 40 charts, and placed every one of its dozen-plus albums on the Billboard<\/i> 200. More significantly, The Byrds inspired a generation of musicians. And as members went on to other projects, those groups found success as well. Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Firefall and the Desert Rose Band would all count ex-Byrds among their numbers.<\/p>\n

During The Byrds\u2019 time together (1964-73) Roger McGuinn was the group\u2019s sole constant member. When the group finally disbanded, he went on to a successful solo career. Since The Byrds\u2019 dissolution, the singer-songwriter-guitarist has released nearly a dozen studio albums under his own name, plus nearly twice that number of live and\/or collaborative albums. And while McGuinn\u2019s solo music has explored musical areas beyond that of his old group, that Rickenbacker jangle still figures prominently in his work. Few musicians are as closely associated with a single instrument model as McGuinn is with his 12-string Rickenbacker.<\/p>\n

And McGuinn brings that signature instrument along with him when he plays live, though it\u2019s merely one of several guitars. Each has its place in a set filled with Byrds classics, solo songs and stories. McGuinn describes the format of concerts on his current run of dates as \u201ca one-man play.\u201d It\u2019s an autobiographical evening of music and memories. \u201cThe whole thing is about my career,\u201d he explains, \u201chow I got into music, the people I met along the way, and the songs that came up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those stories shine a light into some areas of McGuinn\u2019s past that fans might not know about. For example, in his pre-fame days, McGuinn worked in the Brill Building, the New York City edifice legendary as the base of operations for a generation of hit songwriters. A list of those who worked at 1619 Broadway in Manhattan could fill a book; some of most well-known names include Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Otis Blackwell, Sonny Bono, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Shadow Morton, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Neil Sedaka, Paul Simon and Phil Spector.<\/p>\n

And Roger McGuinn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been working as a sideman for Bobby Darren,\u201d he recalls. McGuinn played casinos in Las Vegas, Tahoe and Reno, backing Darren on guitar and vocal harmony. But when Darren developed problems with his voice, the singer took time off from performing. \u201cHe decided to open up a publishing company in the Brill Building,\u201d McGuinn says. \u201cAnd he invited me to move to New York and learn how to become a songwriter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Darren, McGuinn missed the road, so that time behind a desk would be a short one. But he holds memories of just what a special place the Brill Building was. \u201cIt was an early iteration of \u2018vertical integration,\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cBecause it had publishing companies, record companies, and recording studios all in the same building. You could take the elevator, get a record deal, get a publishing deal, [cut] a record and put it on the street, all without leaving the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuinn says that his time in the Brill Building did serve him well. \u201cI learned how to put songs together,\u201d he says with a smile and a chuckle. \u201cAnd that came in handy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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