Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Guitarist , James Williamson of the Stooges, teaches "Search and Destroy" ,a song from their 1973 album Raw Power to the Rochester MI School of Rock!
With everything that the Stooges accomplished, and the sheer talent of James Williamson, I'm surprised this video doesn't have millions of views. Every aspiring guitarist could learn something from this man.
Its also youtube. For some reason i missed out on this video. Probably seen every Video James has done on Guitar stuff but this one for some reason pops up in my feed after 13 Years.
Although I was hip in '73 to the first two Stooges albums .....this totally hit out of the blue . Raw Power had such unprecedented uncompromising aggression. Thank the Cosmos these guys lived to see justice and are recognised as the true innovators they were.
I like some of the stuff he's saying in this video. Raw Power is one of the few albums I've heard that I'd describe as legitimately life-changing. And one of the things that really stood out to me was James Williamson's guitar playing. It really popped out and made me think, "Holy crap, what is that?" He really deserves to be listed among the all-time greats in my opinion.
Hehee, cool guy. Gotta love those dead-pan tips. "Dress like you're from outta town". And his rhythm parts on this, simple on the surface but so nuanced below the surface. Hope to see them live some time.
If y'all want to hear something REALLY wild, find the early cuts of the Raw Power album which were the primitive demo tracks made before Bowie (blessed is his name) came in and neutered it a bit. It was released in album format in the '90s as Rough Power, and is currently available on RU-vid.
great video, raw power and williamson have my favourite rhythm guitar playing. cool tips too, e.g. playing down strokes for aggressive feel (i usually alternate pick always). I'm going to try and polish my search and destroy using this, thx for uploading.
Was only able to buy and hear all of 'Raw Power' (I'd heard 'Search and Destroy') around 1977 here in Aotearoa/New Zealand, so had heard quite a bit of punk rock by then and was concerned that 'RP' wouldn't be 'powerful' enough to foot it with the punks. Not a problem; got it home, put it on and it made the Sex Pistols sound like Mud (the raucous pop band, not the substance). Even the Ramones sounded a little bit like the Archies in comparison. It was that GUITAR; shrieking, snarling, pedal-to-the-metal weapons-grade rock'n'roll... I'm 60 now, never stopped practicing and I can play a lot of my favourite music now, but I'll always listen to this guy (and a few others, too) about the technical ins-and-outs of playing such fantastic music. There are things which can't be taught, primarily attitude and the all-important Swagger (in the solos as well as the chord-patterns) which one needs to supply oneself, but any hints and tips for playing things like 'Search and Destroy', the greatest rock song ever written (in my own humble opinion) are received with gratitude and thanks. Thank you, Mr Williamson.
So funny listening to James dissect his riffs while the drummer in the background is trying to get his double kick patterns going but failing miserably. 🤣
I think James is underappreciated since most people lump the "Raw Power" album in with the earlier and later lineup with Ron on guitar. I personally find the Williamson lineup has a certain "danger" to it that the other lineup lacks.
There's a mistake at the 7:07 for those going of the chords they put of on screen - the note should be C# instead of B at the end of the first line. Awesome lesson none the less by one of my all time favorite guitarists.
it depends on keys. older folks and trained musicians refer to it B as C Flat, sometimes to avoid confusion and to see how it fits in the key. Esharp is sometimes referred to F though. Again, to make things easier, since students are used to hear sharps and flats when talking about chord progressions.
I love your playing, man, and thanks for the video lesson! 1 thing--the chords are kinda confusing because you list chords like Cb (C flat) when there's no such thing, really--there's no sharp or flat between the notes B-C & E-F, so a Cb is really a B. Know what I mean? Obviously, you are an excellent example of how one can throw theory out the window & still come-up w/some of the greatest riffs & songs ever! Glad to see you're still rockin' hard!
Dude, I saw them just last week. At one point, Mike just started fucking his amplifier with his bass. And I don't just mean he was kinda humping it, I mean he was assaulting that amp. It was great.
A real rock guitarist will be fed up after a minute of the "how to" blahblah, do the guitar just as he/she wishes, warts and all. Rock is about HOW NOT TO, not how to. If James had learnt from tablatures, he would not be in the Stooges, and instead, would play covers in a band on his days off. I mean, this ain't no Bach, no Schubert, it's rock and it bleeds and stains...
