RIP Paco De Lucia - Flamenco Guitarist

[MOBirds]

Another great guitarist gone:

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-26351824

 

[carpincowboy]

R,i,p Luca.

 

[ADP]

This is the saddest of news. One of my all-time guitar heroes has gone. I've listened to Paco's music for over 25 years. At a time his solo albums and the albums with McLaughlin and DiMeola were almost all I listened to. I only had a classical guitar for many years and I hammered away on that thing with as much determination as I could muster because I'd seen what it was possible to get out of it. I only ever got to see him play live twice. It was with the guitar trio during their 1990s tour and in the same week. The first time was in Madrid with Vicente Amigo supporting (an incredible talent himself) and then at Montreux. I was in the middle of the front row in Madrid and the back row in Montreux. I was awestruck. I'm still in awe of him.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I was eighteen the first time I saw him play and he changed my life.

Damn, buddy..... I miss you already, thank you for everything.

 

[Goldtop]

Very sad news. One of the absolute greats of all time. Thank you for posting this.

Lloyd

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I only have two guitar magazines that I carry around from house to house that I keep sealed off for when I'm feeling nostalgic. One of 'em I keep because I'm in it, and the other is a brand new old copy of Guitar Player with John, Al, and Paco.

I pulled it out today to read like some old love letters from a past love and wanted to share a really cool excerpt from it:



It's so dope that John and Al felt like they "needed" to find and play with Paco, but it's also super cool to see that Paco was taking a big step in his life and playing to play with the trio.

 

[Shawn@PRS]

I consider myself a guitar player, Paco is most certainly a musician!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I consider myself a guitar player, Paco is most certainly a musician!

Word!

It's cool 'cause he had also talked about how stressed he was having to play with the two of them, he had talked somewhere about staying up all night practicing in his hotel room after gigs to prep for the next night... He was just one of those dudes that had the "it" factor.

 

[alantig]

I was eighteen the first time I saw him play and he changed my life.

Damn, buddy..... I miss you already, thank you for everything.

Dude - I thought of you immediately when I saw the news this morning. Several of the guys who were great inspirations to me, including the guy who got me to pick up the guitar, have moved on, and in some ways I've never gotten over it. But the inspiration is still there, and that's something we'll have forever.

 

[watelessness]

Got home tonight and had to put on _a night in San Francisco_ then sat myself down between the speakers and listened, just listened.

 

[Tono]

I consider myself a guitar player, Paco is most certainly a musician!

That is so true - he could not read any music whatsoever and actually recorded one of the greatest versions of Concierto de Aranjuez just from memory. This is a terrible loss for this country's musical scene.

 

[MOBirds]

He was first guitarist I watched as a kid that made me think - I want to do that! I vaguely remember seeing him on a PBS special in the mid 70's when I was around 9. I had never seen a flamenco guitar player before and was absolutely amazed. So, I suppose he was really the initial inspiration for me. I lost a good friend last Saturday to cancer as well, so Paco's passing just added to a really bummed out week.