Why Terry Kath is my Favorite Guitar Player
I forget exactly when it happened but I think it was when I was in the 9th grade, 1970 thereabouts. My older brother Mario was one of the writers for the University of South Carolina's newspaper and he was assigned to write an article about the band Chicago who was coming into town (Columbia, S.C.) to play at the Carolina Coliseum. He was given two backstage passes to briefly interview them after the show, and he offered that I come along. I played the sax at the time, it was the instruments my parents loved and bought for me when I was in the 3rd grade when they saw I had musical inclinations. I knew nothing about Chicago, so I was very surprised at the show to see a rock band that had horns! So cool! Horns in a rock band! Maybe Mario knew I would be blown away by seeing a sax in a rock band. I don't remember much about the show because I was not familiar with their music at the time but I do recall Terry Kath doing some 'Free Form Guitar' feedback solo which JUST BLEW ME AWAY. After the show we went backstage and Mario interviewed them for a few minutes in a hallway and I stood there among them. The only face I recall from that moment is Peter Cetera's because he was very blonde and has that distinctive looking bulldog face.
After that concert, I bought my first album ever (of many more to come). It was 'Chicago II.' I started thinking I had a future as a horn player in rock and I played along with their songs a bit on sax. But really what stood out in my mind was the guitar, especially the guitar solo on '25 or 6 to 4' and 'Make Me Smile.' My 3rd album was the 'Chicago Transit Authority' album and OMG, the guitar solos on 'Introductions', 'Poem 58', and 'Liberation' which is all of side 4 hooked me on guitar! So I went down to Woolco on Harden St and bought a brand new $30 electric guitar. It was sunburst, with a brown pearl pick-guard and a rosewood neck. My first amp was an Electro Harmonix Mike Mathews Freedom Amp which was actually a pretty nice powerful little amp I owned for a long time.
I then proceeded to learn to play the guitar by ear. To this day I can't really name the notes on the fret-board. All I did was to try to reproduce Terry Kath's solos. I got a Cry Baby wah and a Big Muff Pi fuzz. I played for hours and hours every day. I never got as good as Terry but I came close on lead and could fake it. When you are a teenager its all about playing fast, and Terry was the fastest guy around. To this day my library of riffs are derived from Terry Kath with some blues throw in. Terry is the guy who inspired me to pick up the guitar and remains my #1 favorite guitar player ever of all time. His solos soar and shred at the same time. The 2nd solo on '25 or 6 to 4' is my favorite guitar solo ever of all time. And if you are not convinced of his greatness, do yourself a favor and listen to 'Liberation' on the 'Chicago Transit Authority' album.
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