Is my time up?

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) was one of the pioneers of American blues guitarist. Sadly, he died at a young age of 27, apparently poisoned. He was also rumoured to have sold his soul to the devil at the crossroad. It was believed that the devil seemed to have successfully claimed his soul. Well, they said. And it looked very true, indeed.

Robert Johnson

Eerily, he wrote many songs that centred on devils. Here is an excerpt of one of his very famous songs ‘Me and the Devil Blues’.

Early this mornin'

when you knocked upon my door

Early this mornin', ooh

when you knocked upon my door

And I said, "Hello, Satan,"

I believe it's time to go."

Robert Johnson wrote dozens of songs which include Crossroads Blues, Hellhound on my Trail, Sweet Home Chicago, Kind Hearted Woman Blues and many many more. Robert Johnson was a great influence on many blues guitarists especially Eric Clapton and many other hardrock blues band like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and Fleetwood Mac.

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Jimmy Hendrix (1942 – 1970), the outstanding blues guitarist who choked on his own vomit when he was 27. He is left handed and yet he did not use a left handed guitar just like how Paul McCartney uses a left handed bass guitar. Instead he turned over the guitar to the other side and played as normal. That’s why people said he played the guitar upside down. Can you do that? Ain’t Jimmy awesome!

Jimmy Hendrix playing the right handed guitar the other way around

The usual guitars are designed for right handed people. If you are left handed, you got to find a left handed guitar in order to play it. What Jimmy did was just extraordinary.

He gained fame when he set up a band called The Jimi Hendrix Experience in the 1960s. I love the song ‘Hey Joe’. Go listen to it. I like playing the solo in that song.

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Another awesome guitarist is Kurt Cobain (1967 – 1994) who died at a tender age of 27, but he is not exactly a blues guitarist. A grunge musician, I would say. He blew his head off, literally. Yes, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head using a shotgun. A shotgun!...not just an ordinary pistol. You can imagine the sight, yourself. I’m not going to explain it further. Yea, you know, pieces of brain everywhere when they found him. Ok…nuff said.

The left handed Kurt Cobain

I love ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Come As You Are’. It is very grungy. Go listen to these two songs written by Kurt Cobain. He is the lead guitarist and lead singer for the all time famous grunge band Nirvana in the early 1990s. I love strumming my guitar to the tunes of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

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An amateur blues guitarist, Gabriel Gim, is now down with a serious lung infection. Is my time already up? In four months time, I will hit 27. Will the devil begin knocking on my door in December?

But hey, I'm no famous guitarist! And I have stopped playing the blues right now!