Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, or, You Love that Guitar More than You Love Me

by Will Hodgkinson

The guitar is the iconic instrument of modern popular music. It is portable, it has history, and it will always be hip. But why has the guitar become such a classic? Will Hodgkinson, a wannabe guitar player, whose only experience was an afternoon's bashing on a friend's guitar at the age of sixteen, set out to find out. Along the way he hoped to teach himself a few chords too. His goal was to get good enough to play before a live audience in just six months--even if it threatened to drive his wife and family to the point of insanity. His trip becomes an He chats with British folk legend Bert Jansch, ex-Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr, and reclusive folk guitar legend Davey Graham, as well as Sufjan Stevens, PJ Harvey, and Cat Power's chanteuse Chan Marshall. He travels to America and with a hurricane brewing visits Roger McGuinn from the Byrds. He travels to the Deep South, looking for the spirit of Robert Johnson, and drops in on T-Model Ford, an old bluesman living in Mississippi. Gloriously readable and highly amusing, Guitar Man is classic obsessional nonfiction for a nation of guitar freaks.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2006

About the author

Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London. He has written for The Guardian,The Independent and Vogue.Hodgkinson presents the Sky Arts TV show Songbook, in which he interviews contemporary songwriters.

Written in 2014, The House Is Full Of Yogis is his memoir.

Abridged from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ate this book UP! Maybe it's fueled by my recent obsession with Guitar Hero, but this was the perfect read for me at the moment.

I really enjoyed the way Hodgkinson shares his experience of developing a modicum of facility with the instrument. His story struck a lot of chords with me: sorry, couldn't resist, but the cliche is true.

Just like a novice guitarist, i almost gave up right away, though. The large % of narrative devoted to history and biography (as mentioned by others) put me off a bit. I'm not a fan of either genre. When it was more personal—i.e., recounting his encounters, interviews, and time with notable guitarists—he kept my attention the entire time.

Overall, HIGHLY recommended for anybody who's thinking of venturing down a similar personal goal path, especially if it's a guitar- or music-related one. If you're looking for memoir, then don't bother.

2009 Update: Reading this in conjunction with a Guitar Hero obsession made me want to spend my poker money on a real guitar. But the part of me that knows i'd never devote any time to it won the argument against my friend Scott's best efforts to talk me into joining his fraternity (of axmen). Almost a decade after he kindly set one up for me (polished and newly strung), as a compromise, that Fender sits forlornly in its case, almost completely unstrummed.

Hodgkinson's goofy 1-year venture is laudable and enjoyable. Pick something you want to do and commit to it for a year. I was rooting for him the whole way.

[Paul Edkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring in places if you have ever struggled to learn the guitar. A decent back story running to keep it all linked together. The writer took a very large leap from hopeless to playing a very difficult piece on stage to an audience.
Probably more like 3.7.

[Steven Herod · Rating 4 out of 5]

High marks for the feeling and thoughts that this book reminds us of our own journey into guitar playing. Will Hosgkinson attempts to take us on a simple narrative journey in his quest to learn to play the guitar, however what happens through his story telling is more than he might have imagined. Reading through this book reminds the already seasoned guitarist of the exploration and naivety that fueled our own interest into music and the instrument. Many instrumentalists will assert that retuning to the beginner’s mindset is a necessity for the creative mind. This book reminds us what it feels like to be humbled by what we don’t know and what it feels like to have the desire to know more. For some of us this takes us back to the feelings we had in our childhood years of exploration, for others it may be a great reminder about new experiences waiting for those who are willing to seek them out. Will this book inspire a new guitarist to keep diving? Maybe not. But for me, it did inspire me to return to that beginner’s mindset of exploration. The references and people that Will come across are fantastic and are likely to appeal more to someone who has an inkling if an idea of who and what they are. The narrative takes Will through a journey with a mission....the mission to play guitar at a gig; complete w/ the development of his own basement band (and the arguments that come along with it). Will’s journey is of course better funded than most of ours, taking him quite a distance to encounter extraordinary musicians. Will’s journey was obviously well thought out, but you get the sense from his writing that he becomes more engrossed in the instrument (perhaps “obsessed” is a word that more efficiently tells what happened to him and most of us as we develop). Great read. I’m looking forward to reading his “Song Man” book.....hoping it dives into his emotions that drum up in the creative process more. We started to see carefully guarded version of this a little toward the end of the book, perhaps we will see more.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like "Song Man," Will Hodginson puts himself on an uphill battle to learn guitar and not only that but to have a goal to play in front of a live audience within 6 months of learning the guitar. What's fantastic about Hodgkinson is his personality which comes through the book and his music instincts. He interviews everyone from Johnny Marr to Davy Graham to James Williamson (of Raw Power Stooges era) in the art of guitar playing.

And what you get is a great sense of place in the book - everywhere from Memphis (to learn the Sun Records guitar sound) to his home in London. One thing the book is not is a technical manual in how to play the guitar, but what it does express is the passion and intensity of playing guitar. And all his interviews expresses the desire that goes with guitar playing.

Hodgkinson, with this book, wrote two excellent rock book classics. And yes, he even went to the actual crossroad where Robert Johnson sold his soul to play the guitar.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I'm learning guitar, I'm really enjoying this book. He works in a lot of the history of the guitar-- such as Django Reinhart's life story, and a description of how sharecroppers used to nail broom wires to the front wall of their cabin. He doesn't have a big ego, but he has the chutzpa to seek out beginner guitar lessons from some interesting people, such as Johnny Marr from the Smiths, and McGuinn from the Byrds.

His self deprecating humor is pleasant and disarming. The book description says "hilarious." Hardly. Maybe the person who wrote the description was high.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read about an over-30 Englishman who decides to take up the guitar. While setting out to accomplish his mission of playing for an audience within 6 months of buying his first guitar, he seeks out the advice of great guitarists and some pretty cool musicians including Devendra Banhart, Cat Power, Johnny Mars, Roger McGuinn, The Black Keys, and many more.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This travelogue and musical history by the Times Writer and music critic Will Hodgkinson sees the writer come to grips with the acoustic guitar, the band he forms, the lessons he takes from various famed players and musicians working in music shops, and is a breezy read. Part biography, part music history, and part coming-of-age story, looking at the middle-aged writer putting his teenage dreams to rest.

Having been inspired by the playing of Davey Graham, particularly his most famous composition, ANJI, he sets out to learn guitar and play his very first gig in six months. It is a big ask, as the calloused fingers and all of the bum notes show him how much effort needs to go into the instrument, learning new chords, bending hands and fingers into new and unusual shapes, and not sounding immediately as good as you think you should have all been hurdles that the 1000’s of beginner guitarists in every city have found out to their cost.

However, not every learner gets hints from The Smith’s Johnny Marr or The Byrds Roger McGuinn, but being a leading music critic on a national newspaper often opens doors that would remain shut to mere mortals.

As well as the history of the instrument, his trip across America to discover the roots of the blues, and other forms of music, there are also the stories of forming his first band, Double Fantasy. The clashes of egos, of putting new songs together, and the logistics of organising set lists, equipment, and gigs all help to remove the glamour of the music industry and gives the reader a glimpse of the normal everyday business of playing music.

[Ev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This popped up as a timely recommendation on Twitter when I decided to take a break from hefty history tomes about Eastern Europe. The guitar thing still has some hold over me having played bass guitar in a few bands in my teens and twenties.

It's written above all from a fan's point of view: of post-60s rock, pop and blues, the escapism of the songs and their guitar slingers. His job, as a full-time music journo, opens the doors of some very famous names, while his boy-ish enthusiasm for the guitar thing helps the stars get off the stage and meet him at the same level. His Roger McGuinn lesson, for instance. The author's meeting with James Williamson has a surprise effect on The Stooges' guitarist.

I found it often very funny, thoughtful, warm and sometimes very perceptive. The comparison of the fates of Nashville, Memphis and Clarksville was something I'd not read about in more conventionally reverent rock/pop history accounts.

For his six month mission of getting in shape to play a gig, his experiences with bandmates is a funny subplot. His friend, Doyle, deserves a separate book.

Full disclosure: I've returned to music in a fashion after a break of a decade or more. I am middle-aged. I am a white male. I apologise. With that in mind, I wonder how many guitarists who don't fit this category would find this interesting and entertaining?

If you can get past that concern - or you are such a person - it's well worth reading over a few days.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey no es un manual para aprender a tocar mejor, sino un viaje profundamente humano alrededor de la guitarra y de todo lo que arrastra consigo: obsesión, frustración, ego, romanticismo y, sobre todo, amor desmedido por un objeto de seis cuerdas.

Will Hodgkinson se propone convertirse en “un guitarrista de verdad” y en el camino se enfrenta a maestros, estilos, leyendas y a sus propias limitaciones. El resultado es un libro divertidísimo, irónico y muy sincero, en el que cualquier guitarrista —principiante eterno o músico frustrado— se verá reflejado. Da igual si llevas tres meses o veinte años tocando: reconocerás esa mezcla de ilusión y derrota que acompaña a la guitarra desde el primer acorde.

Me ha encantado cómo el autor combina humor británico, referencias musicales y reflexiones personales sin caer en la pedantería. Es un libro que se lee con una sonrisa, pero que también deja poso: la guitarra no va solo de técnica, sino de identidad, perseverancia y aceptar que quizá nunca seremos quienes soñábamos… y no pasa nada.

Muy recomendable para amantes de la música, guitarristas con GAS crónico y cualquiera que haya pensado alguna vez: “¿Por qué sigo intentándolo?”

[I C Douglas]

A very familiar road

Quite enjoyed this, being an erstwhile "Guitarist" myself, AND have been playing (Dabbling) with "Anji" myself for a year or two i could relate to a lot of Will's frustrations and accomplishments.

Even playing live, I eventually experienced playing live at the tender age of about 37, railroaded into playing rhythm guitar with a local band at a Charity event, utterly terrified and unimaginably elated once it was over, (Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams) but captured on audio tape for posterity.

For anyone expecting this to help you learn this isn't for you BUT, for experiencing the trials of learning, history of the instrument and the Blues, with humour thrown in this is for you.

[Eric]

A stunt book, but an interesting stunt, especially given how many guitarists the author ends up interviewing on his way to learning how to play guitar. Unfortunately he frequently comes off as sexist (especially in his writing on Chan Marshall), patronizing if not outright racist (especially in his trip through the South and writing on T-Model Ford) and generally narcissistically non self-aware.

That being said, the encounters and interviews with Bert Jansch, PJ Harvey, Johnny Marr, Roger McGuinn and especially Davey Graham were informative and delightful. Skim through the rest of the book and settle in with those conversations scattered throughout the book.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this book had existed when I first picked up a guitar, but then the author is around my age and didn’t start playing until he reached his thirties…so not even a Delorean could have fixed that temporal worm-hole. Lots of the history of music is good; the interviews with Johnny Marr, Bert Jansch, Roger McGuinn, Billy Childish, and Davey Graham are wonderful; I found Hodgkinson’s own story a bit of an insipid rubbish-Brit-expects-to-be-indulged tale but he makes up for it with some decent jokes and plenty of historical anecdotes. In general the best bits are about the guitarists he meets. Ignore the chord progressions though - deeply unreliable!

[Dan Baum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my new favorite book. The audacity of a man to pick up the guitar for the first time in his 30s with the intention of playing a public gig six months later. Then the brazenness to reach out to guitar icons, some who are noted recluses, and not only score interviews but have some of them show him how to play. Crazy, funny, snarky and - to fellow amateur musicians - comfortingly familiar. Loved it!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This rating has almost certainly to do with the fact that I simply really don't care enough about guitars, and especially not about all the different brands, so I might have skipped the parts that basically just list the benefits of all different ones. It was okay otherwise.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly harmless.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for my husband who is not a reader but taught himself to play the guitar. He loved it! I loved watching him chuckle to himself and nod in agreement throughout.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re interested in guitars and guitar music this is a lovely read. Warm, amusing and very interesting.

[Will Pittman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I flew through this one and discovered new songs and artists. A pleasure read for sure.

[Shaun Belcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I have taken a break from ‘analysing’ myself in the modern educational manner I have turned to reading for some pleasure and first up this slight yet fairly amusing tome from a journo who hung around the sort of people I knew in London in early 2000s…

From living under Liam Watson (Toe-rag) to fetching up at Tapestry festival our lives almost intersect…I am almost sure I would have stood next to this geezer at a Come Down and Meet the Folks gig at some point. I remember Teddy Paige in Camden and Alan Tyler even wrote a song about him I think called ‘Ivanhoe’. I certainly saw him in jester costume but without sword as I recall.

As music editor and journo for various newspapers etc he had the C.V. that opened doors..even Davy Graham’s slightly bonkers one and this a fairly straightforward travelogue with added six-string footnotes. He tracks down some interesting teachers. It a shame he didn’t track down Jimmy Page himself but Jansch and Graham more esoteric and probably cheaper but not as cheap to interview as T. Model Ford which for me was high point of the tale.

Structurally the book well written, the facts correct ( in a Wikipedia fashion at times) but for me the ending was a damp squib. If he really learnt guitar in six months and played such an effortlessly well received gig he either 1. Lying or 2. Deluded..or possibly both. It may be the truth but a disaster would have been far more in character with the shambles preceding and I did get the feeling that a very large lily was gilded several times over. Maybe an innate hankering after a real record deal ( he went on to launch a label) was actually to explain for the ‘happy’ ending.

Overall worth reading if have time and like I said amusing in parts.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I have read a book I literally couldn't put down. Whilst this isn't literature, Will Hodgkinson, a journalist, certainly knows how to write. It's the story of him learning to play the guitar from absolute zero to doing a public performance in six months. Along the way he investigates the guitar and its role in popular culture. He interviews some of the greatest guitarists of all time, such as Bert Jansch and even manages to ferret Davey Graham out of the woodwork. Blues, folk, it's all there - technical stuff and he even finds himself at the famous crossroads in Mississippi with his guitar trying to sell his soul to the Devil, just as Robert Johnson did all those years ago, only to find that he was the third person that month trying the same thing! As someone who is trying the learn the intricacies of the guitar in middle age, I found a strong connection with this book.

[Michael D · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hugely engaging, heartfelt and surprisingly moving book on the trials and tribulations of a thirty-something, frustrated rocker and his attempts to learn the guitar in 6 months and perform in public. In researching the book Hodgkinson luckily gets to meet some of the most under-rated and quirky twangers out there including Billy Childish, Bert Jansch, Johnny Marr, T. Model Ford, James Williamson and perhaps most interestingly and entertainingly of all, Davey Graham (his guitar teaching technique - he puts on a ravi shankar record, goes to the pub, comes back to change the record over, goes to pub again, comes back afterwards to the student and says - ok thats it can i have a fiver now please?).



Some of the stories contained here are truly hilarious and in general this managres to capture the elusive magic at the heart of the thing we call Rock n Roll.Lovely stuff - I am buying this for all my muso friends and i strongly suggest you check it out too.

[Andrew Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man's attempt to learn the guitar and play a gig in 6 months. It's a lively account of what could be a very dull subject. He throws in some history of the guitar and brief biographical snippets of people like Django Reinhardt. It also helps that he seems to be able to call on the services of Davendra Barnhart, Bert Jansch, PJ Harvey, Johnny Marr and more to help him out.

Well, I read it in about a day. Very entertaining and easy to read. It's a bit of a blokey genre piece in parts, but it's a very warm and engaging one. His journey to the States has some very amusing parts, particularly where he waits at what is thought to be the Crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Unfortunately it's now a filling station and lots of white guitar players keep turning up there. Recommended.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very readable pop-cultural history of the guitar and different playing techniques. Hodgkinson is a likeable writer and his meetings with different guitarists were entertaining and informative. The book comes slightly unstuck though with the details of his personal life that pepper the narrative - the conversations with his wife and friends seem contrived and don't have the ring of truth about them - it seems like he's added a personal angle to fit in with the current vogue of biographical/general non-fiction hybrids (e.g. writer goes on tour of british pubs as a means of exploring troubled relationship with alcoholic father etc). Still interested to read the sequel in which he explores the art of song writing.

[JDK1962 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this shortly after reading--well, starting out reading, then increasingly skimming--Guitar Zero, which is ostensibly about the same thing: middle aged man learning to play the guitar. This book is good in its own right, and IMHO much better and more engaging than Guitar Zero, since it kindly focuses on the journey of a beginning guitarist, and not on a load of cognitive and neuroscience research.

Anyway, an excellent account of what it's like to start guitar in middle age. The narrator is likable, gets to interview a lot of top musicians, and you find yourself rooting for his gig to go well at the end.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great guitar adventure, for the experienced and the novice seeking encouragement. I'll put it on the shelf right next to "Zen Guitar". Although he is reverential l to the guitar and it's history, the author is not afraid to skewer some of the ridiculous notions that accompany the playing of guitar.

Favorite quote: "somewhere in the space between cosmic freedom and a responsibility towards the people you love and who love you lies the answer to life. The guitar is a good place to go in search of it".

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a 90% completed solo on Guitar Hero, I found myself surprised that I'd got this far in a book that I seemed to be reading for practice. It was one of those reads that remind you that there are so many other unread books on the shelves that might be more interesting than this, but to be fair it pulled me past the sixty page mark relatively easily. The problem was, like the Ron Jeremy autobiography, the subject gets less interesting as the book went on and, as I write, it lies unfinished by the bedside. Does he ever master the song he sets out to learn? Who cares?

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it mostly for the excellent passages on Davey Graham and Bert Jansch, as well as a few other little-encountered bits of history on Memphis and the South (that I suspect I could also pick up in greater detail by finally reading the books Hodgkinson cites in the acknowledgements).

Unfortunately his portraits of the women in his life tend to sound a single (shrewish) note, and this does little to broaden the acoustic guitar's appeal beyond its current dreary, white-dudes-in-midlife-crisis demographic (it is called Guitar *Man*, I suppose)....

[Michael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author promised himself he would learn guitar from scratch and play a live gig within six months. Along the way, he seeks advice and tips from a number of rock and blues musicians, all of whom are famous to someone or other. He covers a bit of guitar history, brand name distinctions, and his guitar playing quest. It's a great book, conversationally written, with well developed characters, and enough name dropping that I may order the CDs of a few of more obscure artists he interviewed.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read not only as a resource for all of us struggling to learn an instrument but also as a informative romp around Guitar styles and the development of different Guitars.
To be honest this was a book I 'lucked' upon finding it on a shelf in a charity shop but one which I happily added to a communal shelf at a social resource after reading as it's one that demands reading.

[Ron Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hard time believing the basic story - that the author taught himself to play guitar in 6 months, well enough to play in public (and compose some original songs!). But I enjoyed his conversations and history of various guitar players. I plan to keep the book around for a reference on some easy songs to play.