Classic Rock Anyone?

I must admit, I was struggling to come up with a classic rock guitarist who was influential, talented and charismatic. Then it hit me, Ritchie Blackmore! Whilst his name and the bands he is associated with might not ring a bell, his music certainly will!


Many music compilations with titles along the lines of, 'Best Rock', 'Classic Rock', 'Monsters of Rock', and so on, will almost certainly include at least one of the songs he has been involved with.



Ritchie Blackmore



His playing style is instantly recognisable and he is sited by artists as diverse as Slash through to Kurt Cobain, as being a major influence. His style is based heavily on classical music, and he was one of the first players to use modes like Aeolian and Phrygian rather than the genre standard Pentatonic scales. He was basically the first commercially successful guitarist to employ non-Blues based licks in the Rock genre.

The bands he played with were mainly vehicles for him and keyboard legend John Lord to flex their musical muscles with catchy and equally challenging pieces.



With Deep Purple he brought us 'Smoke on the Water', one of the most commonly covered songs in guitar shops the world over, not that he'd be thanked for that! Deep Purple were essentially one of the first bands to make Prog Rock popular, even though many would consider their style of music too successful to be true Prog Rock. His next venture, Rainbow, was much more clearly defined as a straight ahead Rock band. The hit single 'Since You've Been Gone' is probably their most famous song, and whilst it does not show Ritchie in his full on guitar-hero mode, it is a fine example of someone playing for the song not their ego. Enjoy!