“My playing has always sucked, but it sells!”: The guitarist who co-wrote two of the most famous songs of all time admits he is no virtuoso
The guitarist who co-wrote two of the best-known soul songs of all time has admitted, “My playing has always sucked.”
READ MORE: Steve Cropper dismisses claims that he was one of Jimi Hendrix’s biggest influences
Steve Cropper played in Memphis R&B instrumentalists Booker T. & the M.G.’s from 1963 to 2012, who served as the house band for Stax Records and backed such legends as Otis Redding. He’s also recorded with everyone from Queen’s Brian May to John Lennon and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.
In the ’60s, Cropper co-composed the famed pieces Green Onions and (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, the latter of which won the first Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1969. The player reflects on his songs’ commercial and critical success in a new interview with Guitar World, admitting, “My playing has always sucked, but it sells, because I keep it simple, I guess.”
He adds: “I’m not a guitar player, I never took the time. I use it as a tool. I couldn’t afford to hire another guitarist on a lot of Stax records, so I learned to play rhythm and lead at the same time so when I was soloing the rhythm wouldn’t drop out.”
Cropper also tells the magazine why he’s never used a capo. “Randy Bachman from The Guess Who taught me a lick, and it was more of a country lick where you could bend two strings at the same time, but he did it with two fingers. I figured out how to do it with one finger. I’ll never use a capo, either. God gave you a capo right here [holds up his first finger] so I learnt how to play a lot of chords with three fingers instead of four. That was important.”
In a recent interview with Uncut, Cropper dismissed claims that he was one of guitar great Jimi Hendrix’s biggest influences. “I don’t hear one note where I influenced him! He didn’t play like me – he’s his own man,” he said.
However, Cropper did offer an anecdote that revealed how much the two iconic players respected each other. “We played a college gig [with the Isley Brothers at DePauw University in 1965] where they had different bands at opposite ends of the hall. When one band would quit their last number, we’d pick up. And we did that back and forth all night long. I’d go over and watch him play, then I’d look down and see him watching me play. So Jimi was a good friend.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
