Bertie Fridays #8: "The Most Influential Guitarist of all Time"

There may not be many more Berties left in Bertie the dog's record collection, but I couldn't let this series close without paying tribute to the first British guitarist to have a hit record in the UK singles chart...

Bert Weedon was born in That London in 1920. He started learning the guitar at age 12 and formed his own groups (Bert Weedon and His Harlem Hotshots & the Blue Cumberland Rhythm Boys) soon after. He went on to become a session musician for a number of big British stars (Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Adam Faith et al.), and the odd American who was slumming it (Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole).

Then he wrote a million-selling book about how to play the guitar... a book which was devoured by everyone from The Beatles, The Stones and The Who to Eric Clapton, Brian May, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, Robert Smith... even Sting. It could therefore be argued that without Bert, none of those guys would have learned to play their guitars the way they did, and the world would be a much poorer place.

He also recorded the first version of this, so Hank Marvin owed him a pint too...