THUNDERBYRD

SOME GUITAR HEROES ARE ESTEEMED FOR THEIR TECHNICAL FLASH. BUT THERE ARE OTHERS WHOSE GUITAR WORK IS UPSTAGED BY THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS AS SONGWRITERS, SINGERS, TRENDSETTERS AND TASTEMAKERS — GUITARISTS WHOSE SOUND IS SO INEXTRICABLY WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF ROCK THAT THE WHOLE THING WOULD BE UNTHINKABLE WITHOUT THEM. THAT’S THE KIND OF GUITAR HERO ROGER McGUINN IS.

- ALAN DI PERNA

NOVEMBER 1990, I SAT IN THE CONTROL ROOM AT CAPITOL RECORDS’ STUDIO B IN HOLLYWOOD AND WATCHED ROGER MCGUINN RECORD 12-STRING ELECTRIC GUITAR OVERDUBS FOR “SOMEONE TO LOVE,” THE LEAD TRACK FROM HIS BACK FROM RIO ALBUM, RELEASED IN ’91. THE ROOM WAS AWASH IN THAT GLORIOUS, PLANGENT RICKENBACKER JANGLE THAT IS MCGUINN’S GREATEST GIFT TO THE RICH LEXICON OF ROCK GUITAR STYLES. I WAS BOTH IMPRESSED AND INSPIRED BY HIS NUANCED COMMAND OF THE SIGNATURE MODEL RICK 370/12 HE WAS PLAYING AT THAT TIME — TRYING OUT SUBTLE VARIATIONS IN PHRASING, PUNCHING IN A PULLOFF TRILL TO END A LINE MORE GRACEFULLY.

There was something familiar in the song’s ascent from E minor to G major, via a D passing chord with F# in the bass. Producer David Cole called out, “Hey, how does ‘Eight Miles High’ go?” Without missing a beat, McGuinn played the entire iconic solo that he’d recorded nearly a quarter of a century earlier, note-for-note, flawlessly.

Because I’d started playing guitar in the mid Sixties, McGuinn had always been a major hero. Not just for his playing and singing, but also the aura of serene cool he emanated back when he was still called Jim McGuinn. In junior high school, I’d had my McGuinn-style “granny” sunglasses confiscated by the school’s Dean of Discipline. Lots of kids wore them. Factories started mass producing the things when McGuinn’s band, the Byrds, became one of the biggest rock groups on the planet with the 1965 release of their debut single, an electrified cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”