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Mark Waldrop of
Guitar Tex, San Antonio, kindly sends his own
memories of the great man... Great
to read about the Ukulele Heroes. I
don't have a lot to add except that I did, for
several months, take guitar lessons from the
great Roy Smeck. As a denizen of Greenwich
Village, performing regularly in the coffee
houses in the late 60's, I realized that I needed
to improve my skills as a player so I sought a
teacher. Other folkies sought out people like Rev
Gary Davis or Stephan Grossman, but somehow I
opted to seek a teacher through the phone book
and was struck by an ad for lessons with "The
Wizard of the Strings".
I
called and arranged my first lesson, taking a
long subway ride uptown to his apartment, which
was filled with vaudeville memoribilia and his
signature instruments. He seemed dejected when he
learned that I knew of him only through his ad
and not his global reputation! I learned much
from Roy and was always charmed by his warmth and
energy. Unfortunately, what I wanted to learn was
improvisation, jazz and blues - not his area of
expertise - so I eventually strayed to another
teacher. I now listen to the old recordings he
made in the 20's and 30's with awe, but at the
time I thought him quite the cornball. I remember
him showing off for me by performing the 1812
Overture on guitar complete
with cannonfire. It was obvious that the man
was in a class by himself. One
thing that has endured is that he gave me an
appreciation for the ukulele. Most from my
generation know only of Arthur Godfrey or Tiny
Tim. I'm most grateful that I had a personal and
wonderful relationship with "The Wizard of
the Strings".
Mark
Waldrop
(owner, Guitar
Tex, San Antonio)
Thanks,
Mark! Great to have your memories for the site.
Speaking of Tiny Tim and Arthur Godfrey - can
anyone send us memories of those great stars
please?
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