The guitarist whose books taught The Beatles, Queen's Brian May and Robert Smith to play guitar has died aged 91. Bert Weedon, who played with stars including Frank Sinatra, wrote the 'Play In A Day' books which have been used by millions to learn to play the guitar. He published his first book i...
The guitarist whose books taught The Beatles, Queen’s Brian May and Robert Smith to play guitar has died aged 91.
Bert Weedon, who played with stars including Frank Sinatra, wrote the ‘Play In A Day’ books which have been used by millions to learn to play the guitar. He published his first book in 1957.
Weedon was born in east London in May 1920 and had been ill for some time, according to his friend John Adrian. He died at his home in Beaconsfield.
As a solo guitarist Weedon had a number of hits, including ‘Guitar Boogie Shuffle’, ‘Apache’ and ‘Nashville Boogie’. He became the first solo guitar player to top the Official Top 40 album charts in 1976 with ’22 Golden Guitar Greats’.
Weedon later played for numerous stars including as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Judy Garland. The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon all admitted to using Weeden’s manuals to help them learn guitar. Eric Clapton has said in the past that he had “never met a player of any consequence” who had not learned from his ‘Play In A Day’ books.
In 2001 Weeden was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to music. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
