Mick Taylor: Rock, Blues & Slide Guitar

I don't know anything about playing guitar, I'm strictly a singer, but I still found this video interesting. I happened to spot it at my local library and couldn't believe that it was THE Mick Taylor doing an instructional video. I might not have picked it up if it had been anyone else.

I am ashamed to admit that I've pretty much ignored Mick Taylor since he left the Stones. I have heard rumors that he was doing fine with a solo career, but I haven't heard any of it. Since I don't know anything about the technical aspects of playing guitar (Blues or otherwise) I won't comment on Taylor's ability. I've been told by people who know about such things that he is "$#%^$ Great". I bow to their expertise. I know that I liked what I heard during this video. I had never heard Taylor's speaking voice before. He seemed rather shy and avoided looking at the camera, certainly more at ease when playing.

The first part of the video has him alone demonstrating a song called "Catfish Blues." He talked about various elements of the song including String Bending. I remember the string bending because Taylor seemed to slip into a time loop. We actually get his demonstration of string bending three times before he moves onto something else. It's fairly obvious that these videos are low budget and meant for serious musicians who don't want the frills, but some simple editing would have speeded things along.

After the introduction, Taylor is joined by a man I didn't recognise. From what transpired, I assume he was someone connected with Hot Licks Productions. The rest of the video had this man questioning Taylor about various technical aspects of his playing. At various times, Taylor asked "Can you show me what you mean?" after the man had asked him to explain something he had played.

The video doesn't get into Taylor's career. The interviewer mentioned that he thought Taylor's contribution to the Stones was the country influences. Taylor replies, "they had the country influences with Honky Tonk Women." It was interesting to hear about some of Taylor's influences including: Albert King, B.B. King, Elmore James and Little Walter.

As an instructional video, Rock, Blues & Slide Guitar is packed full of useful information for guitar players. For example, I learned that Taylor prefers a copper/brass

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