AC / DC rocker Angus Young recently named music legend Chuck Berry his "rock god" in an interview.
While appearing on The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker during the Rock God segment, Australian legend chose Berry as his ultimate pick.
“Chuck Berry was probably one of the greatest rock & # 39; n & # 39; roll guitarists. He combined a lot of elements – he combined blues, a bit of jazz and his own unique style, ”explained Young.
"He was fusing all these different genres of music, but he seemed to bring them together and bring them out and they (came out) in this rock and roll style – so plain and simple, but so effective."
Young continued, “I could play a little guitar, but I really focused on that when I was around 12, well into my teenage years, I started to focus more on it. And when I was about 13 or 14, Jimi Hendrix appeared on the horizon.
“And when I heard the song 'Purple Haze' for the first time, I was absolutely thrilled: 'How does he do it?' I was just so impressed with it. Besides, Malcolm my brother, we'd seen a couple of shows too. We were gone, the two of us, and we'd seen people like The Yardbirds; they had come to Australia.
“And at that time the line-up had just changed. I think they originally had Jeff Beck. But then, when we saw them later, they didn't have Jeff Beck; they had Jimmy Page on guitar.
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“So that was good, because back then that kind of sound, especially for guitar, jumped past you, the sound of it jumped away. So that was really good. But then when Hendrix came you said, 'Woah! It's another level of the guitar. ‘So I was a huge fan of that,” added Young.
He continued, “I wasn't exactly a good grade picker. Folks, they could hear a song and just record the notes. I used to say to Malcolm, 'You take the notes and show them to me.' So he did. He picked all the notes from whatever I wanted to know, and then he just showed me and then I played it like he showed me … But I had a variety of styles.
“You hear a bit of Chuck Berry, a bit of blues, and some folk songs from other family members who have played. So I had a little bit of a variety of different stuff – even some early traditional jazz stuff. My sister used to give me different records and stuff because she knew we were interested in doing things. It wasn't that much guitar.
“I heard Louis Armstrong play the trumpet, did a solo, and said, 'I like the notes' and I learned the notes… So I had a lot of variety. If I look at all of the players I admire, there are a lot of players. You can go from A to Z – there are many players. "
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