Daddy had a 1964 Harmony Rocket H59 guitar that was given to him for Christmas in 1964 by a friend of his. He loves this guitar. Back then you could get them mail order. Daddies was sunburst black trimmed.
Back then, that day he sat me up in the middle of the bed where I could not fall and placed his beautiful guitar on my lap, it was too big to hold on to. I didn’t know what to think when he put the strap around my neck and placed my fingers in the frets. This was my first chord.
The first thing Hideaway Slim showed me was a HONKY TONK riff, like Jimmy Reed. As a nearly 4 year old it was hard to bring out the full sound at first. You ever heard of Black Diamond Strings? Well, they were the strings on that guitar and it felt like cable. He told me, it's going to hurt before it sound good but you gotta work it thru.
Playing my Gibson over the phone as I talk to Daddy I get him to remember that day and how he called out the names of the chords. You see, most of the older players did not have guitar lessons, or knew the chords by name or even knew they had a name! They played from the heart the truth of life came out in your guitar picking. As a black person in America, this was your voice, how you got heard, before Dr Phil, Oprah and all the talk shows, before the equal rights movement, this was how we told our story.
So lessons were not to be. Daddy would call 1st change, 2nd change, 3rd change. As we know it today the 1, the 4 and the 5 of a 12 bar blues. You make do with what you got. I was so eager to learn that he would show me something to practise and then off he went to shoot basket ball. On his returned I would be playing what he showed me, as well as what was in my head all those sounds were taking over. There was so much I wanted to say. I also reminded him of something he told me.
TO BE A GOOD LEADER, YOU MUST LEARN TO BE A GOOD FOLLOWER
He would tell me to keep the timing with my feet, pat your feet to the song. If you miss it, catch it the next time it comes around.
Talking to daddy makes this day special and made who I am today. He helped me bring out the music, the sounds that were playing in my soul. The sound today is as strong as it was in 1967. I named this Guitar after you Daddy, as it is Hideaway Slim that is with me around the world, in every song, in every riff, in my teaching and in my living.
Daddy still has the H59 Harmony Rocket, but it's laid back these days. I will always remember that guitar, the sound of the blues.
One day Daddy came home with an unbranded guitar with only 4 strings on it, we made the best of it. I would earn the other 2 strings, by working hard. If Daddy broke a string, he would teach me how to repair it and re-use it as my 5th string, and eventually I had all 6.
My 1967 Gibson S-330 was made the same year, but a far cry from the price back then. Whatever guitar I happen to have over the years along this road, I will always remember where I came from and the roots of the music that I have taken all over the world.
I look forward to bringing new and wonderful sounds thru 2010. I thank God, my Daddy and all the friends and fans for being there with me. No way will I slow down...
Thank you all.
EUGENE HIDEAWAY BRIDGES
