Scotty Moore, Hard-Driving Guitarist Who Backed Elvis Presley, Dies at 84

In 1954, Mr. Moore was performing with a country group, Doug Poindexter and the Starlite Wranglers, and recording at Sun Records in Memphis when Sam Phillips, the label’s owner, asked him to audition a young singer his secretary kept mentioning.

And the rest is history.

On a related note, a while back we were talking about bad guitar solos. I mentioned one of my classic examples: Scotty Moore's solo on Elvis' "Too Much" (listen around 1:29, not that I could play it or anything.).

Here's his explanation:

“I don’t remember now exactly what I had nailed down for the solo instrumental part. It was in an odd key … well, for most guitar players, I would say. When my instrumental part came, I absolutely just got lost. I didn’t know where I was at. But from the experience we had already gained in these months behind us, in playing on stage, you go ahead, you just keep on going, and this is what I did. And this was the take that was released.”

In his 1997 book, That’s Alright, Elvis, Scotty again described his guitar solo, this time attributing spitefulness to Elvis in his decision to use that particular take: “We did several takes, but on this particular one, I just got lost. I just kept chunking away. I didn’t make any mistakes, but it wasn’t the same solo I played on the other takes. Somehow I came out of it exactly where I was supposed to be.”

When the song was over, Elvis called for a playback. As he listened, he looked at Scotty with a grin. “He knew I had gotten lost, but he loved the way it turned out,” said Scotty. “When the song ended, he raised up and said, ‘That’s it,’ and he did it for damned meanness. He knew I had gotten lost and he knew damned well I would have to live with it.”

Old blues players used to say if you hit a wrong note, play it again like you meant it. (Or the corollary: Playing a wrong note is a mistake. Playing it again is jazz.)

Anyway, don't mean to take anything away from Scotty Moore. He's a legend, and there might not have been an Elvis without him. And he inspired Keith Richards, so there you go.