RIP Alvin Lee.

[Gob]

British rock guitarist Alvin Lee, a member of the band Ten Years After, has died aged 68.



His family announced on his official website that he unexpectedly died on 6 March following complications during routine surgery.

The Nottingham-born musician rose to fame after appearing at the Woodstock festival in 1969.

The band, who had eight Top 40 albums in the UK, had their biggest hit in 1971 with I'd Love To Change the World.

"We have lost a wonderful and much loved father and companion, the world has lost a truly great and gifted musician," said the statement from his wife and daughters.

Lee worked with The Beatles' George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood on his first solo album, On the Road to Freedom, in 1973.

He released his 14th record, Still on the Road to Freedom, in August last year.

He was due to play a concert at Olympia Hall in Paris on 7 April with blues guitarist Johnny Winter.

In an interview with Guitar World he said he still picked up a guitar "pretty much every day".

The Woodstock Festival, held outside New York in August 1969, featured legendary performances from Jimi Hendrix and The Who.

Lee's 11-minute rendition of, I'm Going Home, was immortalised in the 1970 documentary of the event.

"I've still got the original Woodstock 335, but sadly I don't use it these days as it has become too valuable," he said in 2012.

Born in Nottingham, Lee began playing guitar age 13 and formed the core of the band Ten Years After by 15.

The band won their first recording contract in 1967 and travelled to America a year later due to success on underground radio stations.

Ten Years After toured the US 28 times over a seven-year period

[Rick]

Hate It...seriously, hate it...

[dales]

We're ALL growing older.

[Guinevere]

Much prefer Arthur Lee, and Love.

[Joe Guy]

Much prefer Arthur Lee, and Love.

Why, in a thread dedicated to the memory of a certain musician who just died, would someone post how they liked another artist more?

Is it the two of them having the same last name that makes that thought relevant?

Please remind me not to invite you to my funeral.

[Gob]

I always preferred Buddy Guy to Joe Guy.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I like Hamburger Buddy better than Vinegar Joe... oh

Yeah well anyway, it's still a question isn't it - was or was not Alvin Lee the 'fastest' guitarist in the world? I enjoyed his work with Simon and Theodore

Meade

[Guinevere]

Much prefer Arthur Lee, and Love.

Why, in a thread dedicated to the memory of a certain musician who just died, would someone post how they liked another artist more?

Is it the two of them having the same last name that makes that thought relevant?

Please remind me not to invite you to my funeral.

Says the man who inserts random comments all over the place. Where did your sense of humor go, Joe?

Btw, when the time comes, I promise to mourn you and you alone. Ok?

[Gob]

Yeah well anyway, it's still a question isn't it - was or was not Alvin Lee the 'fastest' guitarist in the world?

I very much doubt it, seen John McLaughlin play?

[Joe Guy]

The ability to play notes quickly doesn't make a great guitarist.

There are some guitarists like 'Slash' for example, that bore the hell out of me when they play a bunch of random notes in an attempt to impress a stoned audience. I guess it didn't help that Axel Rose had the voice range of Donald Duck to compliment his playing.

But this thread is not about Gums & Noses. It's now about Guinevere's favorite Lee...

Carry on.

[Sean]

The ability to play notes quickly doesn't make a great guitarist.

While you are asolutely correct Joe they were in fact talking about the fastest guitarist... who (as any fule no) is Albert Lee. Lee is also a great guitarist.

[Guinevere]

The ability to play notes quickly doesn't make a great guitarist.

There are some guitarists like 'Slash' for example, that bore the hell out of me when they play a bunch of random notes in an attempt to impress a stoned audience. I guess it didn't help that Axel Rose had the voice range of Donald Duck to compliment his playing.

But this thread is not about Gums & Noses. It's now about Guinevere's favorite Lee...

Carry on.

Actually, I think it's pretty much about *you* now.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Interestingly, after a relatively conservative youth he became more of a rebel in later life.

[Gob]

While you are asolutely correct Joe they were in fact talking about the fastest guitarist... who (as any fule no) is Albert Lee.

Is/was not.

[Sean]

Actually according to Guinness it's that geezer who played Flight of the Bumblebee at 600bpm...

[Joe Guy]

If you give me enough methamphetamine, I can play guitar much faster than Alvin Lee.

The only problem is, I play so quickly then that only a person thinking at ten times the speed of light can truly appreciate the sound made by my expeditious & brilliant finger picking.

[oldr_n_wsr]

a person thinking at ten times the speed of light

It's all relative.

[Rick]

The only problem is, I play so quickly then that only a person thinking at ten times the speed of light can truly appreciate the sound made by my expeditious & brilliant finger picking.

and there you have it...Pete Towsend started folding his guitar thus preemptively making the FTL player obsolete

[Gob]

I can program my sampler to play guitar faster than any old fashioned "real" guitar player...

[oldr_n_wsr]

I may go far if I, smash my guitar.....