When most musicians pick up a guitar or a drumstick for the first time, they usually imagine themselves growing up and performing with their favourite artists. Even though the wall posters can be intimidating, it only takes a small amount of bravery. Declare that you’re willing to take a chance and become a professional musician. This way, you can meet and mingle with your idols. Even though most people would give their left arm to write anything even remotely as good as Keith Richards can, the master of riffs has always been in awe of various bands.
Throughout his career, Richards never stopped listening to the greatest names in rock, blues, and everything in between. He is also credited with inspiring some of The Rolling Stones’ greatest songs. For Richards, the sounds of musicians like Robert Johnson embodied the essence of the blues. However, it was all about bouncing off the other members of the group.
Playing in a group is vastly different from solo jam sessions in your bedroom. Ultimately, giving a performance is a group activity. The only way to evaluate your skill as a rhythm guitarist is to lock in with a drummer. Start your internal metronome until you’re at ease.
Even though Richards’ position as the permanent rhythm guitarist occasionally seems like a criticism, it’s likely that he would view it positively. Good rock & roll acts know how to deliver a groove. Richards knew as a teenager that the groove always returned to the titans.
Richards expressed his wide range of musical preferences when asked which bands he would have loved to perform with. He stated, “I could have done with being one of Elvis’ original band, being one of the Crickets, being one of the Blue Cats.” Like a million other people, I could have used to be in Little Richard’s band in the 1950s. If only I had been a member of Muddy’s band in the early 1950s. Would have cherished being a part of Louis Armstrong’s group in the 1920s.
However, playing the guitar in any of those bands entails taking on an entirely different role. Even though Presley’s backing group and The Crickets were more traditional rock and roll acts, it takes skill to play with a player as great as Muddy Waters. That usually entails exchanging musical ideas while each string bend is crafted to resemble a vocal melody.
Working with Armstrong was similar in that most jazz musicians were renowned for crafting their melodies as the song’s primary hook each time they performed it. In this sense, it goes beyond a song that induces foot tapping. Every time someone picks up an instrument, it’s about putting their skills to the test.
Even though Richards was not able to perform with those acts, he was fortunate to collaborate with legends like Tom Waits and Gramme Parsons throughout his career, either by taking inspiration from them or by using their guitar parts in his own music, whether it was with The Stones or on his own. Richards’s dream band includes so many legends; that alone should tell fans more about the man behind the scenes. It’s best to sample every song you hear because he doesn’t care what genre you listen to.
