Many of Britain’s best-known guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, Hank Marvin, and George Harrison, owe a debt of gratitude to a man born on May 10th, 1920.
All of them, and many thousands more, were guided through their first tentative steps on the guitar by a best-selling tutor book – “Bert Weedon’s Play in a Day”. First published in 1957 and selling more than a million copies, it fuelled the explosion in 1960s guitar groups in the UK.
Born in the London borough of East Ham, Herbert Maurice William Weedon began learning classical guitar at the age of 12. Discovering that he had both a talent and a love for the guitar, he soon fixed on a career as a professional musician and devoted himself to learning the instrument.
Still in his teens, he began taking the disciplines of classical guitar and adapting them to a more modern and popular style of playing, inspired by American players and groups he heard on the radio. During the 1930s he led his own groups, including the “Blue Cumberland Rhythm Boys” and “Bert Weedon and his Harlem Hotshots”, making his first solo appearance at East Ham Town Hall in 1939.
As his reputation grew, he worked with leading performers including George Shearing and Stephane Grappelli and performed in various big bands and orchestras, including those led by Ted Heath and Mantovani. In the 1950s he joined the BBC Show Band and was soon being featured as a soloist, appearing regularly on radio and early television broadcasts.
He supplemented his income by working as a session musician on countless recordings, including those by the UK’s emerging rock ’n’ roll performers, including Tommy Steele, Billy Fury and Adam Faith. He also played as an accompanist to visiting American stars including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Judy Garland. In 1959 he also became the first British guitarist to feature in the UK singles chart with an instrumental hit, “Guitar Boogie Shuffle”.
It was also around this time that he made his most lasting impression on the British music scene, with the publication of his ground-breaking guitar tutor book. Up to that point, people wanting to play guitar either took lessons or used stiffly written text books, both usually aimed at the classical guitar style. Weedon realised many young people wanted to play guitar in the new popular style and set about devising a simple and easy-to-understand method of teaching them the basics.
Perhaps the biggest lure of his new tutor book was its suggestion that anyone could “Play in a Day” instead of spending months toiling over scales and music theory before even attempting a tune. His book – whose full title was “Bert Weedon’s Play in a Day Guide to Modern Guitar Playing” – was also aimed at players of steel-strung acoustic and electric guitars, rather than traditional nylon-strung classical models. It enabled would-be players to emulate their heroes in the new ‘pop bands’.
Many learners soon discovered the ‘play in a day’ claim was more of a marketing gimmick than an achievable reality, but they still mage fast progress using Weedon’s technique and were soon strumming away to tunes they knew, using a few basic chords. For some it was the first step on the long road to becoming professional musicians, while for hundreds of thousands more it was the beginning of a rewarding, enjoyable and often lifelong hobby.
“Play in a Day” sold over a million copies and became the world’s most successful guitar tutor book. Weedon also published a sequel, “Play Every Day the Bert Weedon Way – the Second Step to Modern Guitar Playing”. Though less well-known, it also sold well, aimed at progressing guitarists moving on from the basics. The books enhanced Weedon’s popularity and fame and he continued appearing regularly on radio and TV, including on children’s television programmes.
Three of the Beatles – Paul McCartney, John Lennon and legendary guitarist George Harrison – all began learning with “Play in a Day”, while Eric Clapton said: “I wouldn't have felt the urge to press on without the tips and encouragement Bert’s book gives you.” Brian May, whose distinctive guitar playing defined the sound of Queen, said: “There's not a guitarist in Britain from my generation who doesn’t owe him a great debt of gratitude.”
In 2001 Bert Weedon was awarded an OBE for his services to music. He died in April 2012 at the age of 91 after a long illness. Summing up his musical legacy, the editor of Guitar Techniques magazine wrote: “With ‘students’ that number Eric Clapton, Brian May, Sting, Pete Townshend, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and countless others, Weedon could well be described as the most genuinely influential guitarist of all time.”