Lindsey Buckingham

stufisher

I started a thread a few days ago about Andy Summers and it led me to a whole new world of appreciation.

Well, I've just stumbled upon this:

and it has completely done in my brain. I always thought this was a straightforward thing to play and never give it a thought when I hear it on the radio ... but now I want to be able to play this.

Is Paul David's exaggerating? Is Lindsey Buckingham just a genius? Are there other Fleetwood Mac tracks with such intricacies?

Does anyone play this? What tips have you got for learning it because I surely ain't no high quality finger-pickin acoustic player.

All comments muchly appreciated.

Ta.

LPManic

Without clicking the video I guess this is Never Going Back Again?

The trick for me was after memorising the fingering to not to think about it and let my thumb and fingers fall into the rhythm of the song. Keep repeating a certain section until you lock into the rhythm, rather than thinking "right, thumb A string, index finger, middle finger, thumb D string" etc etc. You will get it wrong a million times but then suddenly the different parts will come together and you'll stop thinking it and start playing it.

LPManic

And just to add, some of the Beatles songs on the White Album are good basic but challenging fingerpicking songs to learn as well. Dear Prudence and Julia and there might be others I can't remember.

Tannin

Yes, Lindsay Buckingham is just a genius. It is quite difficult to play some of his stuff rather badly. It is really effing hard to play it properly. And - as Paul points out in the video, then the bastard goes and bloody sings at the same time!

sjo89

The Likes of Buckingham, McCartney, Knopfler etc. are all pretty much self taught players who learned in relative isolation of "conventional" technique, meaning that each of theirs is very idiosyncratic and unique. What feels completely natural and automatic to them feels very alien to the rest of us. Take the Money for Nothing riff for example; virtually impossible to exactly replicate what Mark did there. Or Blackbird (which most people play wrong btw) with Paul's weird flicky index finger technique.

Buckingham, from a technique standpoint, is relatively conventional in that it's all based in travis picking i.e. the thumb pounding away on the 1/8th note pulse constantly and the fingers filling in the gaps. What makes him tricky is his constant and subtle variation of the rhythm from one phrase to the next and his syncopated stabs he likes to throw in. Take the chorus of his acoustic version of Big Love as an example.

Oh, and the fact he does it all whilst singing incredibly over the top

Sambostar

So we do this cool sliding thing that sounds a bit like Jackass intro tune   Townes Van Zandt Pancho and Da Lefty is another good one to learn the technique and easier.

CaseOfAce

sjo89 said:

Buckingham, from a technique standpoint, is relatively conventional in that it's all based in travis picking i.e. the thumb pounding away on the 1/8th note pulse constantly and the fingers filling in the gaps. 

This bears repeating - anyone coming to Buckingham using Travis picking will discover Buckingham pounds away using thumb on the 1&2& etc.... WHILST using fingers - not just the usual alternating thumb on each beat (1, 2, 3, 4 ) of the bar. Particularly evident on his Big Love solo acoustic thing he does live.

He's a complete force of nature. One of those players I just sit back and listen to without intending to appropriate.
Interesting rig as well.. Turner Model electrics, 2 Boss pedals - a delay and an overdrive, Mesa Recto for his electric, trace elliot amp for his acoustic and his nylon stuff is direct to house?
All that and lead, harmony vocals, production skills and songwriting. Yowsah!

Chris.B

All that skill and creativity but he was still sacked from Fleetwood Mac. I wonder if we will ever know the true reason. 

stickyfiddle

Chris.B said:

All that skill and creativity but he was still sacked from Fleetwood Mac. I wonder if we will ever know the true reason. 

I’m pretty certain he’s a colossal controlling bellend. But also a genius. They’ll have him back for one more tour I reckon. 

Chris.B

stickyfiddle said:

I’m pretty certain he’s a colossal controlling bellend. But also a genius. They’ll have him back for one more tour I reckon. 

You may well be right, I've seen a couple of documentaries about the band and there are some interesting personalities involved.  Few bands have such a fascinating history from the Peter Green days through to the present day. 

guitarjack66

stickyfiddle said:

Chris.B said:

All that skill and creativity but he was still sacked from Fleetwood Mac. I wonder if we will ever know the true reason. 

I’m pretty certain he’s a colossal controlling bellend. But also a genius. They’ll have him back for one more tour I reckon. 

Probably true of most successful bands though,I imagine. I'm sure musicians dont al, tend to hear things in the same way and can get very precious if others arent on their wavelength. 

Pickie

Love the timeliness of this thread: it'll be my first time seeing him play live next week in London and I'm so stoked! 

Lindsey Buckingham is pretty much the reason I got back into guitar playing. Big Love and Never Going Back Again were the first new songs I learnt after years of atrophy, because I had the same reaction as OP in that I find nothing more curiosity-spiking / motivating than people saying a song is at best "difficult" and at worst "impossible." 

Blueingreen

Chris.B said:

All that skill and creativity but he was still sacked from Fleetwood Mac. I wonder if we will ever know the true reason. 

Like a lot of cases of egos in band politics, he couldn't accept where the power actually was. 

Once a band gets that big and all leading separate lives, a major tour will start with negotiations, often involving lawyers. The harsh reality for other FM members is that, whatever each individual contibuted or thinks they contributed, Stevie Nicks is by far the one the public is most interested in seeing.  People are not buying FM tickets to hear Dreams sung by a session singer. FM without Lindsey Buckingam is a far bigger draw than FM without Stevie. 

Lindsey regarded himself as the most important member of the band and thought his voice should carry more weight than it did.  Stevie disagreed.  Obviously they have history and some of it was no doubt personal. Lindsey bluffed on the basis that he didn't think the band would tour without him.  Everybody else knew what side their bread was buttered and sided with Stevie.

roberty

Just had a go at that, it's quite fun. I might try and get it up to speed

That Travis thumb pattern should be automatic after a while, the syncopation on the high strings is tricky but not beyond reach

soma1975

I think Lindsey is one of the greatest guitarists the world has ever seen. Probably top 5 or at least top 10 for me. 

But he's not as good a guitarist as Stevie Nicks is a singer and frontperson and the public (and band) agree.

Nobody cares about what he comes up with now. They just want the hits and those parts have already been written and can be copied. NOBODY sounds/is like Stevie Nicks and if she can't be fucked with putting up with his bullshit he is gone. 

LPManic

After looking at this thread, I went back and listened to Rumours again for the first time in years. Pure magic. It must be in the top 10 albums ever. Maybe even top 5?

soma1975

LPManic said:

After looking at this thread, I went back and listened to Rumours again for the first time in years. Pure magic. It must be in the top 10 albums ever. Maybe even top 5?

Greatest pop album of all time. 

TheBigDipper

CaseOfAce said:

sjo89 said:

Buckingham, from a technique standpoint, is relatively conventional in that it's all based in travis picking i.e. the thumb pounding away on the 1/8th note pulse constantly and the fingers filling in the gaps. 

This bears repeating - anyone coming to Buckingham using Travis picking will discover Buckingham pounds away using thumb on the 1&2& etc.... WHILST using fingers - not just the usual alternating thumb on each beat (1, 2, 3, 4 ) of the bar. Particularly evident on his Big Love solo acoustic thing he does live.

He's a complete force of nature. One of those players I just sit back and listen to without intending to appropriate.
Interesting rig as well.. Turner Model electrics, 2 Boss pedals - a delay and an overdrive, Mesa Recto for his electric, trace elliot amp for his acoustic and his nylon stuff is direct to house?
All that and lead, harmony vocals, production skills and songwriting. Yowsah!

Slight derail. Another person doing something similar is Richard Thompson. He uses a flatpick and fingers 2,3 &4. The acoustic version of "When The Spell Is Broken" is a perfect example. 

stufisher

Just been watching this footage on iPlayer ... yep, it's nearly 25 yo but feq me some of this stuff is timeless.

If you go straight to 39'19" on the timeline then you'll be rewarded with some astounding all round musicality and ability ... the man's an uber-artist

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0014bg7 via @bbciplayer ;

markslade07

stufisher said:

Just been watching this footage on iPlayer ... yep, it's nearly 25 yo but feq me some of this stuff is timeless.

If you go straight to 39'19" on the timeline then you'll be rewarded with some astounding all round musicality and ability ... the man's an uber-artist

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0014bg7 via @bbciplayer ;

Blimey...how the bloody hell does he play that while singing! Jeez!

guitarjack66

soma1975 said:

I think Lindsey is one of the greatest guitarists the world has ever seen. Probably top 5 or at least top 10 for me. 

But he's not as good a guitarist as Stevie Nicks is a singer and frontperson and the public (and band) agree.

Nobody cares about what he comes up with now. They just want the hits and those parts have already been written and can be copied. NOBODY sounds/is like Stevie Nicks and if she can't be fucked with putting up with his bullshit he is gone. 

Sex (appeal) sells.