Eric Johnson playing vintage guitars at Norman's Rare Guitars 

Thats when concerts and gigs were cheap and they made their money from albums and other recordings. I remember the first few Rock concert i attended cost 5.75 for a ticket then 6.75. Then along came Napster to steal the recordings and people was downloading the music for Free. Do you remember the times where the DJ would talk during the beginning of each song all the way up until the singer started in. And then they would chop off the end of the song. Its because everyone was recording the music off the radio. Now we have Free recordings and outrageously high prices for concert tickets

I was there too, great era for Lubbock and Austin.🎉

Adjusted for inflation, it was $12. Which is still a steal! Bonamossa cost me $200 last time I saw him and I was in the back row 😂 still worth it!

I wish I was there . But happy to still be . Thanks for this Normans Rarities.

Every New Year day I recorded the top 100 with my portable cassette recorder. Had to be quick deciding if I wanted to press record since the DJ didn't give a heads up.

😂 I would totally get down on that.

@@Shamwilder That makes it three of us. :)

here another, four then

make it five 🖐

I get plenty of enjoyment watching Greg Koch try out guitars for wildwood.

He looked like he just had a shot of white lightning 😛

Plant based diet.

​@@FearzeroGrow up

he always looked wayyy under his age

@@NoName-ql1wk As far as I know he is in fact a vegetarian

Nice qualification (“good for 70”). 😂

$25,000! Damn! lol

Sounds massive!

@@danimal0974 when it comes to vintage gear $25k is an insanely great deal. I have my eye on a left handed 1961 Stratocaster for $76,000…

@@danimal0974 Yeah, I chuckled as well.

@@danimal0974 Yeah, but he DID get the $4,000 "Eric Johnson Discount..."

I saw him in a small club in North Carolina. Just a fantastic show that will always be one of my favorites. He always came across as a low ego guy who should have been more famous than he is.

My story is the same. One of the only artists that was so kind to me and my wife. There some cool cats, but EJ is the coolest of em all 😎

@@jamiemiller6156was it the show Adrian Legg opened for him? I went to that show in Raleigh in the late 90s.

@@907KodiakAviator No, it was Ziggy's in Winston Salem.

Funny...he doesn't look like Buddy Guy at all.

The red carpet was rolled out! He clearly has the store to himself!

​@@bootdaclownthere's many legends, EJ is one of them. So is Buddy Guy.

Enthusiasm to be rip-off? Vintage guitars sound great, but asking 25k for a 1962 is just absurd.

@@PedroMiguel-if3ll he said twenty five hundred = $2500

​@@KibatsuMusicsounded like he said "twenty five grand"

you can't hear the proper sound up close, you have to stand a good 8 to 10 feet away depending the speaker. Its night and day difference!!

There are bootlegs of that performance, and or part of it on one of the CD's that were released.

@@ksharpe10 very cool.

3 incredible players. You’re clearly a man of culture.

Stairway is a forbidden rift in all guitar shops

@@Knards I know that 🤨this was about sarcasm.

He did his own solo for Stairway on Rick Beatos channel. It was a beautiful solo, and he really sounded like HIM, he didn’t sound like EJ trying to play like Jimmy Page. He put a totally different feel to it. Amazing.

@@zenlandzipline Oh I have to check that out. Thank you for the info.

@@zenlandzipline it is a running joke from Music Is Win.

It's the driver, not just the car.

For sure. I' had the honor of watching him play in a strip club/bar down in Beaumont, Tx ( the Foxy Lady off the hwy heading toward Lamar Tech, as it was called at the time) on an off night. I was a player too and our band had the night off. I saw his name on the sign outside the club and decided to check him out. I was also into photography at the time, had a pro-level camera, and snapped some pictures of him and his band. I eventually sent some prints to him. I was one of about twenty people in the bar and I was sitting about twenty feet from the stage. They were promoting their album (this was mid 70s) and played Zap, among some other amazing tunes...I was absolutely and totally blown away with the tone, touch, and blistering clean speed. Two Twins and a sunburst Strat and he absolutely cranked. Tremendous player, very humble guy. I'll never forget those times.

The noodling did not impressed me much..

​@@bogarbill6331This is guitar testing like testing new car.

Eating a plant based diet has its perks. I have all my hair still at age 53, 23 years into eating only plants.

@@Fearzero I bet you swallow cucumbers whole!

@@bogarbill6331 Oh gee bogarbill-youve done it now! Im sure once he discovers you weren't "impressed me much" he will never pick up a guitar or show his face anywhere again!

i heard 25k too...WTF ? lol

For 25K it should at least stay in tune.

Yeah! You heard it right. I’ll bet he walked out without. I know I would have.

No way he bought it.

He could play one costing $2500 and sound about as good.

I wouldn’t even have the courage to approach him. I’d just lurk from a corner. 😂

@@UnboundOdysseus So I'm not the only one, eh? 😄

Not to worry. Eric will not be buying it. Musicians are poor. Movie stars can afford to buy it. Musicians get their instruments stolen too. Better to buy something cheap and get it set up nice.

I was in a music store and asked to try some 335s. I’m playing this amazing guitar and I said this one is outstanding. The guy helping me says, “it ought to be for $6k.” I immediately stopped playing and very carefully passed it back to the man.

🤣

Yeah and Good luck finding any real 59 Burst for $100k. Player grades are going for $400-500k (aud) atm

That’s a great point. I’ve never understood why everyone acts like they didn’t make lemons back in the day.

@@marshfreeman1559 Oh, dealers know very well the lemons from the great ones and with vintage you have two areas of risk 1. The factory produced a lemon, which was actually much more common in the 40s/50s/60s/70s than it is today. Today guitars are much more consistent. 2. The guitar wasn't stored properly, absorbed too much moisture, etc.. more a problem for vintage acoustics, but still a potential issue. What makes "good tone" is subjective, so they price'm like everything else, supply and demand on specs you can objectively quantify.... Lots of snake oil in music gear market and industry in general. That's why shops like Norman's are sought out by players.

Isn't that what Norm basically did?

All us “old guys” have stories like that……who’d a’thunkit at the time 🤷‍♂️…..I guess guys like Norm did

New guitars from sixties😂. But yes nice to see...

Anyone who complains about Gibson Custom guitars are just mad they can't afford them. I'm a Strat player with a few $5k relic Strats, and at $5k, they're nowhere near my $5k Reissue Goldtop. I got lucky to play a 59 Reissue, and that was also incredible, but I'm waiting on a Custom 68 Black Beauty. Don't have to change pickups, don't have to have them set up, they're perfect straight from the factory. Gibson pleks them.

@@lelandgaunt7130 anyone who complains about any Gibson guitar just doesn't know quality. I don't think that its always that they can't afford them, either way anyone dissing Gibson is not guitar knowledgeable, Gibson though overpriced in some cases, makes great guitars.